WWI Guards Division Forum

Gentlemen,

Whose Gray back shirt is recommended? I have purchased alot of my WW2 kit from Jerry Lee at What Price Glory and have usually been very satisfied with his gear, but I was wondering how AIF Quartermasters Gray Back is? Thanks for the upcoming advice.

Cheers,

---Scott

I would Really really reccomend the ones that guy gormley has. His are by far the most comfortable to wear and i just love the way they fit. The only bad thing is that his shipping is quite unreliable on some things such as my ground sheet that i have been waiting for for almost 5 months! He really is a nice guy tho despite shipping snafu's, Your best bet is to catch him at an event.

Cheers!
Bomber Macgregor

I totally agree with Chad. WPG makes really nice ones, but Guy at www.aifquartermaster.com makes really nice stuff. Also if you are willing to wait, you could go to Sanjay Suri in India. His are cheap and really nice. Some of his stuff is questionable, but the greybacks are nice.

Jim

I have two...one from WPG and one from Sanjay.

The one from Sanjay is much more comfortable, but thinner, and I don't like the way he did my name tape on the front.

The WPG shirt is thicker and looks more like ones I see in the photos, but it can be scratchy.

Typically at events, I'll wear Sanjay's during the day, and then change into the WPG shirt (a dry shirt will save your life) when I need something warmer--especially in November.

I can't comment on Guy's shirts, but the rain cape I bought from him is top notch.

ok, now that we've established the differences and simularities in shirts, I wanna know, how do you wash that blasted things without shrinking them?
I originally had two light shirts and one heavy.
I came home from my first event and "the Mrs." washed one of my light shirts that was dripping from sweat due to filling a boat load of sand bags.
She handed it back to me and it was shrunk by half.
Love "the Mrs." to dead but can't trust her around the rest of my uniform!!!

Since then, I've washed the other two the old fashioned way. As in:
1) get a bucket of cold water.
2) insert one shirt and add some soap.
3) scrub collar and cuffs with brush and soap.
4) dunk a few times.
5) dump water.
6) get new bucket of cold water.
7) dunk several times until soap off of shirt.
8 wring out water from shirt.
9) hang on clothes line.
10) let the wind etc dry shirt
11) take down and store for next event.
12) repeat 1 thru 11 for other shirts.

As asked above... has anyone mastered the washing machine and dryer on this one and managed to not get any shrinkage on the shirt?

Drop a line,

Steve

Well, I usually wash my WW2 collarless wool shirt by putting into the washing machine in cold water only, delicate mode, and adding a little wool-lite. Never put it in the dryer, always hang it outside or on a line to dry. If it gets really funky I take it to the dry cleaners.

Cheers,

---Scott

I take mine to the dry cleaners. It can be more expensive than washing, but I only need to take them twice a year. Comes out looking great.

I do the same thing as Scott. I wash it on cold and air dry it with tons of success.

FYI I have noticed a few greybacks repops selling on Ebay lately. Going rate has been about 25 bucks. I don't know who makes them, but it is hard to beat that price.

Jim

Speakiing of Greyback shirts, does the color matter for Guards? I see some that are light blue to grey, and others that are darker blue. Are they just variations or did they have a meaning?

The difference in colour has no real meaning. It was primarily the difference in manufacturers. They were constantly different depending on the maker. Also, as the war progressed there was a reintroduction of the pre-Boer War oatmeal coloured shirts in an effort increase production.

My educated guess suggests that lots of shirts coming from the same maker would go to the same battalion as needed, so matching colours would be fine, as would a bit of variety.

Jim

Hello,

I just recieved my grayback shirt from Schipper-Fabrik. It is well made and compares well to period photos. The Flannel has a very tight weave on the outside but with a raised knap on the inside making it comfortable to wear (like ACW issue under drawers)

Ben