I am thinking about attempting to make a bandanna water proof. Has anyone else tried that? Was it a good idea?

The aim is to make it better as a head-covering in the rain. I suspect a non-treated one will immediately get sodden and be useless. It might also be better for sitting on or protecting other gear. Ideally it'd be capable of carrying water (if tied into a sack shape) but I suspect that's unrealistically ambitious.

I'm aware that some uses rely on the bandanna adsorbing water (or blood or whatever). However, the ones I have in mind are silk, and thin enough for me to carry more than one, so I'd always have an untreated one available too. There are many uses where water-proofing is irrelevant, but where a bandanna works better than a plastic sheet.

I've not yet found a good source of 22" silk bandannas. I have a 42" one which I've cut into 21" quarters, and some poor quality 19" ones, so I'll probably experiment on one of those first. My favourite size is 34", and that is the size I'd ideally like to be water proof.

I just did a quick search and found this. Dont know about reliability but here you go:

http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/mensfurn/bandanas.html

Perhaps I misunderstand, but wouldn't it be a really bad idea to have your rain gear (bandanna) snug up against your head. Seems like you would probably produce as much sweat and water that you would be avoiding. . .

But if your are bent on doing this, why not just get a piece of silicone impregnated cloth cut to the same size as a bandanna and then use that?

Sounds like a piece of plastic to me...

ok, now, don't laugh... remember when you were a kid, and you took newspaper and folded it into a pointed old fashioned admirals hat...

Well, in a raging downpour, when I gave my rain shell to my kid... I donned a trash bag, and for my hat, I folded my Tyvek trail map into a hat. It actually worked reasonably well when it was just a downpour, but, when we got into some wind I needed to break out the duct tape. I'm glad we didn't get a photo of that, my son would never let me live that down.

Maybe you can carry a Tyvek bandana?

At least you remember how to fold the hat, I don't remember what I had for breakfast...

Thanks. Those all look to be 35" or bigger. I have some of those (from Jinglebobs) and like them; it's 22" I can't find. Jinglebobs have some that are 20" which sounds too small.

The "few stitches" is a bit of a sticking point. As I mentioned, I have a 42" one cut down to 4 21", which is about right, but I'm useless at crafts so they have frayed edges. I am wondering if it is worth buying a sewing machine. If I could convince myself it had survival uses I be more tempted, but they all seem to run on mains power.

I don't think a piece of plastic would be as versatile as a bandanna.

True, but I am wondering if a waterproof cloth would be much of a bandana. Might work tho, let us know if you get it worked out...

What treatment/product do you intend to use for waterproofing?


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Look for a sewing machine like this one. It's hand-cranked. My wife learned to sew on a machine like this and picked one up a few years ago for $90 "just in case" something needed sewing when the power was out. A lot of sewing machine repair shops will still fix this style, especially if you find a Singer or other popular machine. I like this style when I'm just doing straight hems. It's slow, so the accuracy is higher than the electric sewing machines.

-Blast