Hard To Find Kit

[Gunnerlove]

I will say again that I have never seen an aluminum canteen cup. There could be aluminum ones out there but I have never seen one. Due to graining many metals can be easily mistaken for another.  I just pulled out the issued cup that fits over my 1L canteen and it is made of .030" stainless and stamped "CAN RJS" on the plate that is spot welded in place to attach the bail handles. Aluminum hates being spot welded due to how it forms oxides when being welded without shielding gas. This is why the handles are riveted on to aluminum mess tins, so if your canteen cup is hard, polishes up nice and has the handles spotwelded on I would wager that it is stainless.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Question maybe a metalurgist could answer.  Can you make stainless steel non-magnetic?  I just pulled out both my canteen cup and my wife's, both marked CAN RJS and couldn't get a magnet to stick.  Tried a metal magnet and a ceramic one.  That would say to me that the canteen cups are aluminium.

 

[Gunnerlove]

Good question, but I have an answer. High alloy stainless is non magnetic as there is so much chromium and nickle in it.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Hmm, maybe.  Doing some looking around on the web the most reliable source I could find was some joining instructions for a US mountain warfare course that list a steel canteen cup for the 1 quart canteen on their kit list.  Mabye someone who is at a DIN workstation could check it out on CGCM, that would probably clear up any questions by looking at the item description.

 

[Arctic Acorn]

I'm not sure if this is a surefire way to tell one way or the other, but I've been doing some searching online, and all the surplus stores that I've been able to find who sell the issue canteen cups list them as stainless steel. For the record, I'm not counting Ebay, as the seller can put anything they want on the item description. It makes sense to me that a business wouldn't mistakenly list an item as being made of the wrong material.

Aluminium canteen cups do exist, though, but they look like attached. (courtesy of US Cavalry)

Maybe that's the source of the confusion.

 

[DropZone]

Gentlemen,

Aluminum canteen cups preceded the stainless steel ones. They were discontinued when it was found that the water purification chemicals would react with the aluminum and make the users temporarily ill.

Some Asian manufacturers still build the aluminum cups for the surplus industry as it is easy to machine and cheaper than S.S.

It is an urban myth that aluminum cookwear causes Alzheimer's.

The insulated canteens were aluminum, but not an issue if you were using hot drinks as there was no need for purtabs.

I hope this clears things up.

Kindest Regards
Brian Kroon

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

If its a myth how do you explain the lack of memory of all the Snr NCO's.  Also why is it that when they get their sash they also get an aluminum spoon?

 

[Arctic Acorn]

Spoon?