View Full Version : Ghillie suits
I'm looking at making my own ghillie suit to use whilst watching wildlife, tracking and generally being sneaky beaky. Similar suits I've seen and used in the past tended to be very itchy due to the material being used shedding its fibres :eek: . Does anyone know either how to make this material less itchy or are there any other suitable materials that could be used instead? :confused: .
AAARRGGGHH! Sorry for the doulble posting. Damn technology!
tenbears10
24-06-2005, 13:32
Wolfie, Bambodoggy has a homemade gillie suit which is an old dpm smock with material strips attached. I can't see why this would be itchy at all.
The top tip was using a glue gun to attach the strips to the smock which is much quicker than stitching.
As far as I can see all you need is a smock and some old sand bags or well used dpm kit to cut up. A surplus shop should have some rough trousers and stuff to sell you for peanuts.
bambodoggy
24-06-2005, 13:36
The material used us usually Hessian (burlap) and is cut into strips, brushed with a wire brush to make it more "shaggy" and then sown or gluegun glued onto an old combat jacket. Not forgetting to also sow or glue on strips of elastic to use for attaching local vegitation to so that you blend in better.
You need quite a lot of hessian to make them. They are not at all itchy as the scraggy material is on the outside of the jacket.
Put most hessian on the shoulders, down the arms to just below elbow, upper and lower back and across the chest (don't worry about the tummy as you'll be lying on it mostly). You're also either going to need a hood (The German Flectarn combat jacket is good as the pattern is very good to start with and it comes with a hood - this is what mine is made from) or a jungle hat with an all round softish brim and hessian that up the same so it flows off your head onto your shoulders and breaks up that unmistakeable human outline.
hope that help Matey...
Bam.
bambodoggy
24-06-2005, 13:37
Wolfie, Bambodoggy has a homemade gillie suit which is an old dpm smock with material strips attached. I can't see why this would be itchy at all.
The top tip was using a glue gun to attach the strips to the smock which is much quicker than stitching.
As far as I can see all you need is a smock and some old sand bags or well used dpm kit to cut up. A surplus shop should have some rough trousers and stuff to sell you for peanuts.
Hey Bill...lol...you beat me too it :D
tenbears10
24-06-2005, 13:38
Afternoon mate. I wondered if you were going to beat me to it while I was writing :D
FreshMint
24-06-2005, 13:39
any address where i can buy a cheap ghillie suit ?
bambodoggy
24-06-2005, 13:43
any address where i can buy a cheap ghillie suit ?
You can only really buy the naff "modern" ones which I personally don't like..
On this link click, "Camouflage systems", and then "body veils"....but they aren't cheap... I don't know of cheap ones as they as labour intensive...cheapest way is to make your own :D
US outfitters (https://secure9.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=useg&BusType=BtoC&Count1=310527980&Count2=227668404&CategoryID=55&Target=products.asp)
but a Google search will find you others.....I bought one to try out but prefer the one I made while in the TA.
The genuin hand made ones do come up on ebay from time to time....
Wolfie, Bambodoggy has a homemade gillie suit which is an old dpm smock with material strips attached. I can't see why this would be itchy at all.
The top tip was using a glue gun to attach the strips to the smock which is much quicker than stitching.
As far as I can see all you need is a smock and some old sand bags or well used dpm kit to cut up. A surplus shop should have some rough trousers and stuff to sell you for peanuts.
Cheers tenbears10,
I'm going to base my suit on the Web-tex concealment vest http://www.web-tex.co.uk/accessories_webbing.asp?ProdID =14. I'm looking at making a lightweight suit rather than the walking bushes you often see. I think this vest will let me do this and give me the option of using local vegetation as well.
The material I was looking at using is Jute thread. This is the stuff that tends to shed and get itchy. I have though about using strips of old cammo material but I think that the more grassy effect of the thread type material is what I'm after.
I have been wondering about using a cotton or wool thread instead. Any thoughts anybody?
I'm looking at making my own ghillie suit to use whilst watching wildlife, tracking and generally being sneaky beaky. Similar suits I've seen and used in the past tended to be very itchy due to the material being used shedding its fibres :eek: . Does anyone know either how to make this material less itchy or are there any other suitable materials that could be used instead? :confused: .
To avoid itching is very simple and i have made a few ghillie suits whilst i was serving and you do not need to spend alot of money.
Buy yourself an exarmy (can be olive drab) boilersuit or a very cheap DPM tropical shirt.( buy a size that is abit bigger as you will find it easier to get into once you have attached the scrim) and a cheap pair of DPM trousers.
You then need to get your hands on lots of torn/rejected DPM and Olive drab trousers, shirts, what ever you can get.( i use to take a trip up to the QM's dept and raid their bins).
Ask around some army surplus shops or army cadets/TA centres( get it for free!).
Also buy some green and brown jute string and some black or OD elastic strips(this is used for attaching vegitation).
Hopefully by mixing and matching the rags and jute string you should be able to construct a suit that is fairly itch free.( i found in the past that using hessian made the suit itchy).
Failing this you might just find it cheaper to buy a camo net and drape it over yourself( don't forget to use camcream on your hands and face).
P.S. if you do alot of crawling in your ghilie suit you will need it sew on some extra material on your front/elbows/knees to act as padding.
Good luck :)
To break up the typical head and shoulders outline I've got a length of black elastic and tied it in a knot to make an elastic loop that fits over my hat and around my head just at brim level. cut loads of strips of asstd bits of camo/mud coloured/hessian cloth about 2 to 3 feet long. Fold them over the elastic and just staple them so they cant come off. You should end up eventually with something that looks like a bunch of dreadlocks! I arrange them with longest strips to the back and sides and shorter ones over my face.
if you stretch the band around your hat then the "dreads" can be arranged to fall in front of your face like a veil and can drape over your shoulders to break up the outline.
You can insert various bits of foliage, bracken etc into the band vertically as well - works well, dirt cheap and dead easy to make.
George
bambodoggy
24-06-2005, 13:52
I have been wondering about using a cotton or wool thread instead. Any thoughts anybody?
Cotton often changes colour when it's wet, you could find yourself very dark green in a light green enviroment.
Wool would be a bit warm maybe and will hold water so be heavy in the rain.
Both would work though.
Hessian really is about the best you can get...cut into foot long strips about 1.5" wide and then brush with a wire brush.
:D
Thanks for all the advice and info guys. Plenty of food for thought.
Has anyone seen or used this stuff at all http://www.qadinc.com/sneaky-leaf.htm It looks interesting.
tenbears10
24-06-2005, 13:59
any address where i can buy a cheap ghillie suit ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36074&item=6541064627&rd=1
But it looks like you still have to do most of the work yourself so not that cheap.
NickBristol
24-06-2005, 14:08
The PRI Chameleon (http://www.assj21.dsl.pipex.com/chameleon.htm) system is a pretty good modern version that I've used successfully for sneaky beaky purposes - looks a trifle odd on the high street but very good in the woodland.
Deinfitely more fun and more personal to make your own. It's also a lot cheaper and it's a real test of the imagination to make. Best advice has already been given so all I can add is that it really helps with comfort to sew knee to ankle padding into the legs, and elbow to wrist padding into the arms. Depending on personal feelings towards comfort, I'd also put some around the hips.
One last thing - never make a suit that you can't get out of in a hurry when nature calls...
Military style Ghilliesuits are of little benefit for observing wildlife, Ghilliesuits were intended for concealment from people not animals. an invention of scottish game keepers for the perpose of catching poachers and then later used in WW1 by snipers (many of whom were ex scottish game keepers).
1. They are really only of benefit when almost stationary (moving about in one near brambles etc will soon get you caught up).
2. The majority of mammals don't see in colour, so all the effort of getting the right greens, brown etc goes to waste.
3. They are heavy and you will scare small children :)
For observing animals the only thing you need to attend to is breaking up your head and shoulder profile and keeping down wind.
If you do decide to use a ghilliesuit be aware of the fire risk, a number of military snipers have been killed when their burlap ghilliesuits caught fire, in one case a swedish sniper ignited his suit whilst cooking and his partner (also wearing a ghillisuit) also caught fire whilst attempting to put him out.
Beer Monster
24-06-2005, 15:09
What Stuart said is true ....... would still be fun to make one though ........ then you could flog it on ebay for millions of £££££'s! :D
I saw this a while back and thought it made sense:- Bag Hide (http://www.wildlifewatchingsupplies.c o.uk/baghide.htm)
The whole website has some good stuff/ideas on it ....... aimed at wildlife photographers/cameramen:- Wildlife Watching Supplies (http://www.wildlifewatchingsupplies.c o.uk/)
arctic hobo
24-06-2005, 15:10
If you are in Norway any time you might be interested in the Jerven Fjellduken Hunter. It's designed to be a hunting garment, rather than a military garment, and the camouflage is second to none. It's very baggy, more like an enormous poncho than anything else, which means you can easily answer that call of nature without having to even take it off, and it's not flammable so there's no fire risk. They are ideal, really, and I know a few people who have tried the lot and reckon nothing touches a Fjellduken Hunter. Their site is www.jerven.no, I can't do a direct link but it's on the "Fjellduken" page, and scroll down. Unfortunately they do not ship to the UK :(
I second the Jerven Fjellduken recommendation very good peice of kit
good luck trying to get one in this country though :(
If you wanto make your own ghilie suit there is a very informative guide on http://airsoftsniper.darc.net/camouflage/ghillie%20page/ghilliepage.htm
Ogri the trog
24-06-2005, 20:07
I suppose I've made a ghillie cape,
Using British full size face veils to which I tied different colours of jute string (garden twine) in greens, browns etc. It is surprising how light the greens need to be to blend into grass. One thing that struck me after doing the first one was that the colours need to be blotchy, not thouroughly mixed, as it shows up as an out-of-place blob if its all mixed up. I started using it for shooting, but now use it for wildlife watching as well.
I got a fright though one time, when a bird landed on the back of my leg as I was laid down - I don't know who got the worst supprise, me or the bird who just landed on a live log!
ATB
Ogri the trog
Cheers for all the ideas and advice guys. I've spoken to Wildlife Watching Supplies (great site and really helpful) and have bought some leafcut scrim in Advantage Timber ( lightweight and non-rustle) with a thought to cutting it into strips and adding it to the Web Tex concealment vest that I've already bought.
All I've got to do now is go and cut off ll that itchy jute fabric that I've already tied on :rolleyes:
(If I get it finished in time I'll try and bring it to the BCUK meetup in July)
arctic hobo
27-06-2005, 19:17
http://www.flexiweb.no/media/Temp_Pictures/7635767-preview.jpg
Courtesy of Jerven :D
I attended course number 3 on the L96 held at Officers Division The School of Infantry, Warminster and was then employed in the role of sniper for 11 years.
Some of the others have already mentioned that you do not need a Ghillie suit for watching wildlife, the quickest and easiest method of doing things is to use a face veil (scrim net) just thrown over the head and shoulders.
A better understanding of cammouflage and why things are seen will be a lot more use than a ghillie suit, the use of shadow and depth is the the best bet. Stealth in movement and route selection will be another major factor.
Above all else try and keep anything that you use light in colour as all of the major cammouflage patterns appear black at distance when the pattern merges, a good ghillie suit is shredded with a wire brush so it is a series of fibres, try and keep the length of the fibres short, no more than six to 8 inches in length, only green and sand colours will do as the shadow they cast will be the only dark areas that you want.