Horsewright Knives and Leather

[Horsewright]

My Horsewright knife has only seen light duty so far - I've only cut food with it. But it is my sharpest knife of the 50 or so knives that I have, and it sits waiting in my top desk drawer until the need arises. It's a great knife!

View attachment 2638246

Great pic! Glad that Cowboy is working out for ya! Thanks!

 

[ephsea]

This hair rope is spun from mane hair from horses. It's called a mecate and is used as reins in certain stages of horse training. This mecate was made by Merlin Rupp a legendary Oregon buckaroo and craftsman. First time I met Merlin he tried to trade me out of Nichole. We did do some trading but I still got Nichole.

Merlin passed away year or so ago, but he was very adept. Blows my mind that he could spin mane hair into a rope, into a specific pattern and then change colors as he goes. Look close at that mecate in the pic above and below and notice the color change. Why did he do it? Case he could and it's cool I guess. Headache? Probably big time.

That's fascinating about the rope Dave, I never knew you could do anything with mane hair. Good thing you're a shrewd trader and managed to keep Nichole Thanks for the tour!

 

[JM2]

My first time with the spalted maple. I've used box elder, a type of maple a lot. I kinda have always stayed away from maple just cause so many other folks use it a lot.

That's interesting. Box elder grows like weeds here. I have a bunch of them on my hunting land. It's in the soft maple category, and while the grain is a bit different, often it's sold as mixed maple. I've not really used it much but I'm going to try it for a box turkey call and see how it sounds.

I have always enjoyed trying new woods. I have some redbud that I'm eyeing, going to make some shooting sticks out of it I think.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Made two with the turquoise spacers in this batch. That Cowboy above.

Really liking several of the knives you've been posting with bone or elk and the turquoise and what looked like jade possibly awhile back. I may have to think about another Cowboy with something similar. Beautiful work!

And in this day of thick "overbuilt" knives they truly are great working knives. Thin stock that takes a great edge and performs really well for actually cutting stuff.

 

[Horsewright]

That's fascinating about the rope Dave, I never knew you could do anything with mane hair. Good thing you're a shrewd trader and managed to keep Nichole Thanks for the tour!

Thought ya might like this pic. These are two mane hair Get Down Ropes we had Merlin make for us. In our style of horsemanship you would never lead a horse by the reins, or tie them up with the reins like in a western movie. Ya just don't. When the reins go on the horse they stay up on his neck until you unbridle the horse. So if you have to get down to lead the horse, open the gate or anything of that pedestrian nature, you use a Get Down Rope. We had two old retired horses that had served very well. We roached their manes while they were turned out to pasture and enjoying their retirement. We sent the hair to Merlin and these are what he built for us from the mane hair of those two old guys.

So notice that not only do they change patterns throughout their length, starting solid, transitioning into what's known as a barber pole pattern and then back to solid in their 16 ft length, but notice too that each is the opposite of the other. One starts black at the knot end and the other is white at the knot end. Just cool. In this pic below ya can see my get down rope coiled and tied on the fork of my saddle. The other end is tied around Spud's chest and if I have to get down and need it I retie it on his neck. But the reins stay up.

 

[Horsewright]

That's interesting. Box elder grows like weeds here. I have a bunch of them on my hunting land. It's in the soft maple category, and while the grain is a bit different, often it's sold as mixed maple. I've not really used it much but I'm going to try it for a box turkey call and see how it sounds.

I have always enjoyed trying new woods. I have some redbud that I'm eyeing, going to make some shooting sticks out of it I think.

Yes box elder is pretty soft. I've always used stabilized box elder and usually dyed too:

Have you ever used Buckeye Burl? Its another soft one that responds well to stabilization and is one of my favs year in and year out:

Well boys kinda a funny deal. Traded that Paisano with amboyna burl for a heifer couple of days ago:

The new owner with his new knife and on a belt I made him years ago:

 

[mitch13]

Thought ya might like this pic. These are two mane hair Get Down Ropes we had Merlin make for us. In our style of horsemanship you would never lead a horse by the reins, or tie them up with the reins like in a western movie. Ya just don't. When the reins go on the horse they stay up on his neck until you unbridle the horse. So if you have to get down to lead the horse, open the gate or anything of that pedestrian nature, you use a Get Down Rope. We had two old retired horses that had served very well. We roached their manes while they were turned out to pasture and enjoying their retirement. We sent the hair to Merlin and these are what he built for us from the mane hair of those two old guys.

So notice that not only do they change patterns throughout their length, starting solid, transitioning into what's known as a barber pole pattern and then back to solid in their 16 ft length, but notice too that each is the opposite of the other. One starts black at the knot end and the other is white at the knot end. Just cool. In this pic below ya can see my get down rope coiled and tied on the fork of my saddle. The other end is tied around Spud's chest and if I have to get down and need it I retie it on his neck. But the reins stay up.

Very interesting Dave

 

[SharpBits]

There's a certain magic to your work that I cannot find the words to explain.

 

[JM2]

I've not gotten the chance to use buckeye burl yet. I've worked some with cherry and maple burls though. I turned several bowls out of cherry burl that turned out pretty nice.

 

[Horsewright]

Really liking several of the knives you've been posting with bone or elk and the turquoise and what looked like jade possibly awhile back. I may have to think about another Cowboy with something similar. Beautiful work!

And in this day of thick "overbuilt" knives they truly are great working knives. Thin stock that takes a great edge and performs really well for actually cutting stuff.

Yes sir my lil saying about that is: "Ya don't use an axe to slice a tomato!" As you say so many knives today are overbuilt. Like to think of my knives as everyday slicers and like ya said designed to cut. Cut real stuff.

The spacers have been very popular, with turquoise far and away the most popular. This material is a gemstone composite. 85 percent ground up gemstone and reconstituted with 15 percent resin. Kinda like a stabilized wood only its a stone.. This has several advantages to the knife maker and to the knife owner as well. 1) It allows me to work this material with out a whole nether set of specialized tooling. I can cut, saw, grind and polish this material with my standard knife making tools. 2) And this is where it benefits me and the owner. It has the ability to take some impact. If you drop your knife it's much less likely to be damaged than a brittle piece of stone. If it is damaged I can probably fix it or replace it. Win win. I make a couple with the turquoise just about every batch and some with the other stones once in a while. I do have an order right now for a grandpa to give to his granddaughter but it is rhondonite, basically a pink turquoise. I think that's gonna be cool and I'm excited to try it.

Here's some onyx and bone:

Some jasper and elk:

Malachite and elk:

Jasper and bone:

And of course the turqouise:

I've never used jade but it is available. If a guy is looking for something specific its usually best to contact me.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Yes sir my lil saying about that is: "Ya don't use an axe to slice a tomato!" As you say so many knives today are overbuilt. Like to think of my knives as everyday slicers and like ya said designed to cut. Cut real stuff.

The spacers have been very popular, with turquoise far and away the most popular. This material is a gemstone composite. 85 percent ground up gemstone and reconstituted with 15 percent resin. Kinda like a stabilized wood only its a stone.. This has several advantages to the knife maker and to the knife owner as well. 1) It allows me to work this material with out a whole nether set of specialized tooling. I can cut, saw, grind and polish this material with my standard knife making tools. 2) And this is where it benefits me and the owner. It has the ability to take some impact. If you drop your knife it's much less likely to be damaged than a brittle piece of stone. If it is damaged I can probably fix it or replace it. Win win. I make a couple with the turquoise just about every batch and some with the other stones once in a while. I do have an order right now for a grandpa to give to his granddaughter but it is rhondonite, basically a pink turquoise. I think that's gonna be cool and I'm excited to try it.

Here's some onyx and bone:

Some jasper and elk:

Malachite and elk:

Jasper and bone:

And of course the turqouise:

I've never used jade but it is available. If a guy is looking for something specific its usually best to contact me.

I had read that bit of info about how your turquoise spacers were made with resin, that's a big part of why I might consider getting a spacer. The durability is a big factor. I don't have many knives with bone or horn/antler but the few I do are beautiful and yours are no exception. The added class of the gemstone and resin spacers really set them off.

 

[cudgee]

Yes sir my lil saying about that is: "Ya don't use an axe to slice a tomato!" As you say so many knives today are overbuilt. Like to think of my knives as everyday slicers and like ya said designed to cut. Cut real stuff.

At what degrees do you bevel your edges at, or do they vary. ???

 

[Horsewright]

I had read that bit of info about how your turquoise spacers were made with resin, that's a big part of why I might consider getting a spacer. The durability is a big factor. I don't have many knives with bone or horn/antler but the few I do are beautiful and yours are no exception. The added class of the gemstone and resin spacers really set them off.

Thank you! Be glad to build ya one when you are ready.

At what degrees do you bevel your edges at, or do they vary. ???

They vary. Each knife is completely hand made by eye, no jigs or grinding templates. They are sharpened the same way by hand and by eye. I do sharpen on my grinder though with the speed turned way doooooown so as not to affect the temper. Old arthritic hands prevent much hand sharpening on stones. I'm a big believer in a semi toothy edge. It just cuts real stuff better. I was into Japanese water stones before they were cool. Got those really polished edges up to 10,000 grit. Wouldn't cut nothing. Slide right off a calf sack, piece of rope, the rope snorted in derision. Heck even hay string. Not great. Toothy is better. What I'm looking for is that thinness in the grind. Too much meat behind the edge is what slows most knives down. I expect my knives to be almost sharp prior to sharpening. In fact about half of them I dull a little before sharpening to get that secondary bevel consistent, they are that thin. Then I sharpen them. I use a 120 ceramic belt to cut the secondary bevel. I then use a worn 220 silicon carbide belt to refine the edge and finally a buff with green scratch remover to take off the burr and polish just the apex of the edge or secondary bevel. Each knife is then tested after sharpening. I expect the edge to slice yellow legal pad paper with three slices with out catching, dragging or ripping the paper. If they don't do that they immediately go back to the 220 stage. Can't say I'm perfect out of a batch of 12 to 20 I'll usually have a couple that I'll sharpen twice. After that its in the box!

Hope this helps.

 

[afishhunter]

I was into Japanese water stones before they were cool. Got those really polished edges up to 10,000 grit. Wouldn't cut nothing. Slide right off a calf sack, piece of rope, the rope snorted in derision. Heck even hay string. Not great. Toothy is better.

An excelent point.

I have doubts taking my edges above 1500 grit on the waterstones I have, and "1000" grit on my diamond plates.
800 is about as fine as I take most of my edges to.

I do reprofile (sometimes ... a couple of my GEC's were already there from the factory) to an acute 10 DPS/20° Includive edge on all my folders.
(A coupe of my FB's won't go that acute.) I never add a micro bevel. (why dull the blade? 10 DPS cuts/slices better than 15 DPS.)
At 10 DPS they hold a working edge longer, too. Stropping brings back the edge.
(BTW: That "razor edge" that "everyone" wants is gone after the first or second cut/slice. I figure "why bother?")

 

[cudgee]

Hope this helps.

Yes it does. The toothy edge part in particular. Many moons ago i had a little knife sharpening gig on the side for some extra income[ Cash Only ] , and some of the workers from the local meat works got me to sharpen their knives when required. They all wanted a toothy edge, especially those in the skinning room of no finer than 600 grit. I was just curious of what angle you sharpened at, but appreciate your most comprehensive run down.

 

[Horsewright]

An excelent point.

I have doubts taking my edges above 1500 grit on the waterstones I have, and "1000" grit on my diamond plates.
800 is about as fine as I take most of my edges to.

I do reprofile (sometimes ... a couple of my GEC's were already there from the factory) to an acute 10 DPS/20° Includive edge on all my folders.
(A coupe of my FB's won't go that acute.) I never add a micro bevel. (why dull the blade? 10 DPS cuts/slices better than 15 DPS.)
At 10 DPS they hold a working edge longer, too. Stropping brings back the edge.
(BTW: That "razor edge" that "everyone" wants is gone after the first or second cut/slice. I figure "why bother?")

Yes sir I'm huge on stropping and one of the characteristics of the two steels I work with almost exclusively, stropping is very effective on them.

Yes it does. The toothy edge part in particular. Many moons ago i had a little knife sharpening gig on the side for some extra income[ Cash Only ] , and some of the workers from the local meat works got me to sharpen their knives when required. They all wanted a toothy edge, especially those in the skinning room of no finer than 600 grit. I was just curious of what angle you sharpened at, but appreciate your most comprehensive run down.

Anytime my friend!

 

[Horsewright]

Kinda a funny story to share:

These two knives were ordered as prizes for a memorial roping held in conjunction with our annual rodeo last weekend. I only had about 10 days to get em built as that's when the sponsor placed the order:

Ya know no matter how many ya do, ya do ya can still sometimes screw things up. Now I was making a batch of 12 knives and these two were the only ones that had a time frame. So of course I stick the blade through one sheath while wet molding it and the stitching fell off the edge on the other. So I jump in get these two knives new sheaths built. Ya couldn't screw up any of the others since they didn't have a time frame, no ya got to screw up the only two that have to be done! Well got em done:

The customer had also ordered one for himself in 26C3 and a matching belt. I told him there was no way that I could get the belt done too by the time frame so he was good with whenever I could get er done. His knife:

So all three knives were ready by Thursday and he came by and picked them up:

We were thinking about going to the rodeo but didn't, so Sunday afternoon I texted him and asked how the roping went. His reply? Great! I won the knives! What's the chances of that?

Got the belt done for him a couple of days later:

Interestingly he gave the high carbon one away to a good friend of his and kept one of the stainless ones. Just kinda funny ya win the prizes ya donate.

 

[black mamba]

Dave, sounds like he might've rigged the competition!

 

[Horsewright]

Dave, sounds like he might've rigged the competition!

He is in all honesty, the guy around here to beat in that type of roping. Plus I'm waiting for the leather to show up but I'll be making him a pair of chaps here soon.

 

[JM2]

I like the Coyote and Paisano, do you have a post or pictures that illustrate the difference between them? Also, do you have a size for them, handle size, and overall size in particular?