Here's me opening a case of K Rations during some winter re-enactment.
As it just so happens, I'm a printer by profession. Seeing all the fantasy crap that is being offered on the internet as "museum quality reproduction" ration, I decided to produce my own reproduction K Rations. Printed on a real press and die-cut ready to fold and paste. And affordable too.
No more home printed nonsense with dotted lines where to fold, wrong colors, flimsy cardboard, or absurd dimensions. (Oh, the horror!)
My reproductions are based on original K Rations from my own collection or collections from friends.
My goal is to produce sets that include not only the inner and outer boxes, but also the correct wrappings for the contents.
I'm not really a fan of Farcebook, but I added a Facebook page so I can give a heads up from time to time. Don't expect daily posts, though.
Scroll down for tips on how to assamble individual components.
At the moment the email service of this site is experiencing some problems. You can still send an email, but I will respond thru my personal email (charrybogert@)
K Ration kits (Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper unit)
Click the pictures/link below to go to the reproduction kit page for the different kits and more information.
None of the kits contain any foodstuffs, cigarettes or matches.
If you buy 12 kits of one type you only pay for ten kits!
For my US customers who are interrested in just one or two kits, some of my kits are now available thru Frontline Rations.
Inner and Outer Carton sets
The inner and outer cartons are also available separately. (So you can fill that crate for display.)
Six different sets are available.
Click picture/link below for information:
Solid Fiberboard Box
12 K Rations were placed in a solid fiberboard box before packing the rations in a wooden case. I have recreated this solid fiberboard box
Click picture/link below for information:
Partial Dinner Unit kits
Although the 10-in-1 Ration was a group ration, lunch came in individual packages based on the K Ration called Partial Dinner Units (hereafter PDU). Please see the Partial Dinner Unit chapter for historical info.
Click the picture/link below to go to the reproduction kits.
None of the kits contain any foodstuffs.
The advantage of these kits over the K Ration kits are that the can is issued separately and do not have to fit the box. Furthermore there are no cigarettes in the PDU and they do not have to be waterproofed with wax.
10-in-1 Ration kits
The 10-in-1 kits are made up of two parts: a Menu set and and a boxes set. Both sets comes in different variations. Read everything carefully.
Click the picture/link below to go to the 10-in-1 Ration kits.
Caramel box & Candy Bar wrappers
Reproductions of three different candy bars: Mars bar, Milky Way bar, Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate bar and the Brach’s Caramel colored carton.
Click the picture/link below to go to the reproduction wrappers.
D Ration kits
A reproduction of the master carton with 12 D-bar cartons with 12 cellophane bags to seal the chocolate bar in. There is an early version and a late version.
Click the picture/link below to go to the reproduction kits.
(No choclate bars or mould are included)
British 24-Hour Ration kit
This kit has been discontinued. I have left the link active because it contains info and photos for those interested.
Click the picture/link below to go to the reproduction kits.
Components
A closer look at the components.
These sets will only contain the inner and outer boxes and various packagings and wrappings for the contents. No foodstuff or cigarettes and matches will be included!
Each set will have the packagings and wrappings for its appropriate contents, so all sets will slightly differ from each other, just like the originals. Not claiming that it will be 100% correct, but it will sure beat the fantasy items offered on the internet elsewhere.
Lets have a look at some packagings and wrappings I have finished so far:
Here's a collection of the confections that I have made so far: (clockwise) Assorted Charms hard candy; Fruit Bar; 2-ounce D-bar; Sweet Chocolate bar; Caramels; Choclettos; Malted Milk Dextose Candy.
The Fruit Bar is quite easy to make actually.
You take some dried fruit (1) and chop that up.
Press the minced fruit into a block (2) of a size that will fit the dimensions of the folded greaseproof paper inlay (3).
Place the inlay with the fruit block in the tray (4) and over wrap twice with cellophane (5).
I know, these are not 100% correct.
I used the same die-cut as for the Caramels carton and based the label on photos of the AAF bail-out rations that also contained the Milk & Dextrose tablets.
Used with the Type II K Ration these are easy to fill and use.
One of the often included confection of the mid war K Ration is the Choclettos. It is quite hard to find the right sized candy to fill these trays!
(Five pieces of caramel fudge will fit though. see picture below.)
The kraftboard "Caramels" packaging will be included extra in the set for use as an alternative to the choclettos.
Three types of Caramel packagings are included.
All can be easily filled with the ready available caramel fudge.
Here's that 2-ounce chocolate bar that goes with the Supper unit. These are of grease proof paper printed with black ink. They are the correct size and will fit the shorter D-bar or Sweet Chocolate Bar.
Shown is a mold I made from blue (food safe) two-component silicon putty that I molded around a model I made from plaster. from that mold I casted the chocolate bar.
Although you probably can find a chocolate bar that will fit, it will be worth it to make a mold yourself if you are planning on making more K Ration sets.
The model is made from a block of plaster sized 3 1/8" long, 1 9/32" wide and 13/16" high, shaped with sanding paper. This block has slightly sloping sides with rounded ends and two serrations on the top.
Breakfast comes with four sugar tablets, so either Jack Frost or Dominos will be included. For dinner the 23 grams carton is used. Four blank sugar tablets wrappings will be included extra as an alternative for variety.
Well, what can I say. The Chewing Gum wrappers are pretty straight forward.
Three identical wrappers will be included with each set. The Type III K Rations will have one "cinnamon" wrapper included extra as an alternative.
Originally there are twelve sheets of 5" by 9" folded together (see "Non-Food Items" chapter), but any tissue folded together forming a tight package will do I guess.
These are the correct matchbook covers for the K Ration. All those fancy "V.D. Warning" or "Buy War Bonds" matches were not included in the K Rations.
My matchbook covers come with a genuine striker strip, not a glued-on piece of sanding paper. So you can really light that match. The matches, however, are not included.
The covers are shipped flat: Fold over the bottom on the crease. Fit in one row of ten matches (taken from a commercial matchbook) into the fold and staple through completely. Fold over the flap and you're done!
The matches that are included with the Dinner unit are placed on top of the can before inserting the can in the sleeve. (Here illustrated with an original can.) The key (not included) is placed under the can when inserted in the sleeve.
Smoke em if you've got em. Being a non-smoker I personally would rather fill these with a block of wood, but they do fit the filterless cigarettes.
Well, just added two new cigarette brands to the ration kits.
The Lucky Strike will go with the Cracker Jack kits and the Chesterfields are going to be included with the Patten Food kits.
Old Gold will still be included with the Hills Bros and General Food kits.
Here you can see how the cigarettes are tucked next to the can (inserted in its sleeve).
The brown color of the inner carton was created by coating the sealed inner carton first with a brown wood stain (varnish) and then coated with molten paraffin applied with a brush.
Here's a recreation of the inner carton coating compared with an original inner carton.
First I coated the carton with a wood stain, light oak color. This is just aplied with a brush like you would do with wood. Let dry completely.
For a darker result use a darker color stain.
Secondly I aplied molten paraffin wax with a brush.
The hotter the wax, the better the results. Careful, don't burn yourself!
Here are the new can sleeves! Now available in both "early" and "late" version.
The nothched "early" type will be included with the Hills Bros and Patten Food kit.
The "late" type will be included with the Cracker Jack, General Food, and the type IV kits.
The sachets for the beverage powders will be adhesive (glossy) paper printed with the appropriate color and design that you will have to adhere onto a small mylar pouch (also included).
The early Lemonade and Bouillon envelopes are transparant sachets with a transparant sticker printed with instructions.
Here are the stickers for the early transparent sachets. One for the Bouillon powder and one for the Lemon Juice powder. The labels are sticked on the sachets, then filled with whatever you like and sealed with a hair straightener.
(Seal no longer then a split second or the sachet will deform!)
I used a whole package of the sugar free Kool Aid for the Lemon Juice powder.
The kit with the late Bouillon powder envelope contains a sticker with a perforation in the middle and a mylar pouch.
Fold the sticker on the perforation and remove half of the backing. Place the mylar pouch in the fold and press down, remove the other half of the backing and press down again.
Fill the pouch with bouillon powder (about a GI spoon full) and heat seal the pouch with a hair straightner. Careful, this is the tricky part.
Well, the same goes for the Soluble Coffee Product. Use soluble coffee instead of bouillon!
An Orange Juice powder sachet to fill with your favorite Jim Jones drink.
How to prepare the beverage envelopes with the sticker and mylar bags:
Fold the sticker on the perforation.
Remove half of the backing and place the mylar bag on the adhesive side. Press firmly.
Remove the other half of the backing and carefully fold over.
Press firmly.
The bag is still open at the top.
Fill the bag with the beverage powder.
Hold the bag closed and flat with the powder at the bottom of the bag.
Seal the opening with a hairstraightner (one or two seconds).
Three large cellophane bags will be included to seal the components in before placing them in the inner carton.
Here's a quick guide what and how to pack in to the large cellophane bag. (I used original biscuits so that you get an idea what they should look like.)
Click photos for larger images. The black object is the Hair Straightner I used to seal the bag.
Breakfast: 4 tablets of Sugar, Fruit Bar, envelope of Soluble Coffee Product and two packages of Biscuits.
Dinner: 1 package of 23 grams of Sugar (or 4 Sugar tablets), Confection, envelope of Lemon or Orange Juice Powder and 2 packages of Biscuits or 1 package of square Biscuits.
Supper: Sweet Chocolate Bar (or D-bar), envelope of Bouillon Powder and 2 packages of Biscuits. (Early Supper units contained 3 sugar tablets, these were later replaced with a package of toilet paper. The toilet paper was not sealed in the cellophane bag with the food components.)
Enjoy,
Harry.
P.S. I have no idea where to find cans that will fit the K Rations. So, please check your local supermarket. Finding correct sized biscuits that will fit the K Ration will be a challenge too.