Horsewright Knives and Leather

[Horsewright]

Wow! That's a helluva good reason to discontinue that product! Good decision, even though we're the worse for it

We stopped making our handmade wool vests at about the same time:

We went from being Horsewright Clothing and Tack Co, to Horsewright. This pic kind of summed it up. We were a lil spread out, since everything we made and sold, was made by our four hands.

So this cowgirl, a good customer in AZ is wearing one of our wildrags, (she has several vests, too), a water buffalo belt, a flower carved pancake holster for her Glock, a knife and sheath and I made her charmitas leggings. Ya can't see her Horsewright spur straps. in this pic.

We was just kinda spread out.

Kinda had a niche market on the vest deal for a while. Nichole would make very large vests for the big guys. Her largest? A 5XLT went to Montana. It took up most of the dining room table here that she would use to make the vests. Made lots of 3XLs and 3XLTs and some 4XLTS. Just nowhere else a really big guy could go.

I'm gonna get going on that batch of knives today. They'll all be ready to buff today:

The finished has dried on these guys. I may hand buff the Osage Orange one instead of machine buffing we'll see.

 

[Horsewright]

That’s a big compliment coming from Bob. I didn’t know him personally but I’ve heard the stories. And he built his knives for use, regardless of price.

Yes sir it was. I've heard many of those stories too!

 

[cudgee]

We stopped making our handmade wool vests at about the same time:

We went from being Horsewright Clothing and Tack Co, to Horsewright. This pic kind of summed it up. We were a lil spread out, since everything we made and sold, was made by our four hands.

So this cowgirl, a good customer in AZ is wearing one of our wildrags, (she has several vests, too), a water buffalo belt, a flower carved pancake holster for her Glock, a knife and sheath and I made her charmitas leggings. Ya can't see her Horsewright spur straps. in this pic.

We was just kinda spread out.

Kinda had a niche market on the vest deal for a while. Nichole would make very large vests for the big guys. Her largest? A 5XLT went to Montana. It took up most of the dining room table here that she would use to make the vests. Made lots of 3XLs and 3XLTs and some 4XLTS. Just nowhere else a really big guy could go.

I'm gonna get going on that batch of knives today. They'll all be ready to buff today:

The finished has dried on these guys. I may hand buff the Osage Orange one instead of machine buffing we'll see.

Another interesting chapter to your story, being an ex ragtrader i like the vests, can even tell by the photos that they were excellent quality. And you're right about spreading yourself too thin, less is more, stick to a what you can manage otherwise your quality will suffer somewhere. You see it all the time in the restaurant industry when a new one opens up with far too many items on the menu, the quality suffers and they don't last 12 months.

 

[Horsewright]

Another interesting chapter to your story, being an ex ragtrader i like the vests, can even tell by the photos that they were excellent quality. And you're right about spreading yourself too thin, less is more, stick to a what you can manage otherwise your quality will suffer somewhere. You see it all the time in the restaurant industry when a new one opens up with far too many items on the menu, the quality suffers and they don't last 12 months.

Yes sir they were proclaimed by Sporting Classics magazine as: "The finest handmade wool vests on the planet. Period." I think the author might have been biased though, he had five or six of our vests and his wife had a couple! That new restaurant deal is a great analogy. Its true. We even stopped taking knife orders for a while as I was so backed up, bout 7 months.

I think that I am in love. That Mestano with the walnut handle scales is beautiful!

Thought ya might like this lil tale. Jenny worked at the local bank she was the gal that did the new accounts. I'd known her since she was a young girl. We always called her the Mayor of Tehachapi because she knew everybody and everything going on. Ya didn't need a subscription to the local paper if ya knew Jenny. She calls me one day and says I've got a phone number for a guy you need to call. He's a custom rifle maker and I told him I knew a custom knife maker and you guys should talk.. Well I called Butch and glad I did. He invited me out to his shop in a little desert town about 45 minutes away. Went on out there and wow! Well long story short made several trips out and on one of them I traded Butch for a couple of boxes of stock cut offs. He'd usually just burn them once a year. Now ya got to understand that Butch's rifles (The All American Double Rifle Co) start at 5 figures and hit 6 figures pretty quick. Point is he's not using 2x4s from the Depot for his stocks. I'd taken a friend along as he wanted to interview Butch. My friend a former, Hollywood A lister, (well he was an A plus lister in the 80s), was quite familiar with Butch's work and I wasn't. Taking a custom built .500 Nitro Express double rifle to Africa really wasn't in the thought process of this cowboy. But my buddy knew enough about this deal he could translate. Butch taught me how to finish walnut the same way he does it too on that trip and I still follow his advice on that deal.

So I traded Butch a Sonoran Hunter and Skinner in sheephorn for this. Basically as a knife maker a lifetime supply of Turkish Walnut. This was 10-12 years ago and I have this left over still:

That lil cardboard box in the upper bin has some black walnut in it the rest is all from Butch. So for all you walnut addicts out there, here's my stash.

 

[DavidABQ]

Those are some beautiful pieces of wood! No wonder that knife looked so good!

 

[cudgee]

So for all you walnut addicts out there, here's my stash.

I just love wood covers on a knife, and Walnut is so classy. That was a great trade/barter.

 

[DocJekl]

Thanks!


Ya bet! Might take a while long trotting on my horse but I'm enroute! Opened a bottle of Buillet Rye last night.


All part of my evil plan. Probably more that I forget. So out of that last batch of 103 AEB-L blades I had heat treated, maybe only 4 or 5 Rodeos, same with the Bandito. So I go through all my orders and get those blades ready for that batch then I start grabbing a handful of blades for In Stock. Literally kinda pawing through a box and oh there's that and how bout two of this and maybe one of those. Pure happenstance, I'm not smart enough to have an evil plan.




Yes sir will do! Ready to be buffed here which is the latest. Didn't work in the shop yesterday (was our 19th Anniversary) and have the cutting lesson this morning so probably won't get into the shop until late afternoon. Larry's Ranchero is the knife pictured with the turqouise spacer:

Yes sir! Thank you.

How is the Ranchero coming along?

 

[Murphy Slaw]

So for all you walnut addicts out there, here's my stash.

I'm a wal"nut" myself.

 

[Horsewright]

Those are some beautiful pieces of wood! No wonder that knife looked so good!

Thank you!

I just love wood covers on a knife, and Walnut is so classy. That was a great trade/barter.

Thank you sir!

I'm a wal"nut" myself.

Beautiful! Love the wal pun too!

How is the Ranchero coming along?

Yes sir.
The whole batch is finished. Here is The Ranchero after buffing.

One of the reasons that I like the wax that I use after buffing is that it is an excellent cleaner and will get the gunk left from buffing off the knife. At this stage I do two coats. The first is really scrubbed in and getting the gunk off, the second is more of a wax coat applied install circles kinda like ya'd do the truck or car. This really applies protection and a sheen when it's buffed off. I do the buffing in bright sunlight. There are some scratches that you can't see in more subdued light and vice a versa. So I put the wax on in subdued light inside the shop and I saw several small scratches on the bolster of The Ranchero. So back out to the buffers and re buff the bolster. In a normal batch I'll re buff a couple three or four. knives. Here's The Ranchero this morning. Still dark and so all shop lights but it really shows the sheen that the buffing and waxing provides.

Look at the Bolo handle here, water buffalo horn by the way:

And here after buffing and waxing:

This has been a wonky week and had several days where I wasn't in the shop or just for a few hours. On today's menu will be sharpening all the knives. We're back up to 23 by the way. This three that were on standby got finished and caught up to the rest of the batch yesterday. So we'll sharpen them and then there is another stage of cleaning and hand polishing. That's when the leather lanyard, string, thong whatever ya want to call it will be attached. The knives will be assigned their number in the box and I'll start on sheaths. Several errands to run this morning so probably won't hit the shop till after noon. I have several sheaths for other knives to do at the same time as these and a holster. While the sheaths are drying starting on a pair of chaps:

A few wal nuts:

Interesting story on this one. A local guy had me regrind and re etch this commercial knife and re handle it too. What's interesting is that this walnut is left overs from a shelving project we did here in the house. Literally walnut from Home Depot:

 

[cudgee]

A few wal nuts:

Just beautiful. It is an outstanding wood.

 

[DocJekl]

Thank you!


Thank you sir!


Beautiful! Love the wal pun too!


Yes sir.
The whole batch is finished. Here is The Ranchero after buffing.

One of the reasons that I like the wax that I use after buffing is that it is an excellent cleaner and will get the gunk left from buffing off the knife. At this stage I do two coats. The first is really scrubbed in and getting the gunk off, the second is more of a wax coat applied install circles kinda like ya'd do the truck or car. This really applies protection and a sheen when it's buffed off. I do the buffing in bright sunlight. There are some scratches that you can't see in more subdued light and vice a versa. So I put the wax on in subdued light inside the shop and I saw several small scratches on the bolster of The Ranchero. So back out to the buffers and re buff the bolster. In a normal batch I'll re buff a couple three or four. knives. Here's The Ranchero this morning. Still dark and so all shop lights but it really shows the sheen that the buffing and waxing provides.

Look at the Bolo handle here, water buffalo horn by the way:

And here after buffing and waxing:

This has been a wonky week and had several days where I wasn't in the shop or just for a few hours. On today's menu will be sharpening all the knives. We're back up to 23 by the way. This three that were on standby got finished and caught up to the rest of the batch yesterday. So we'll sharpen them and then there is another stage of cleaning and hand polishing. That's when the leather lanyard, string, thong whatever ya want to call it will be attached. The knives will be assigned their number in the box and I'll start on sheaths. Several errands to run this morning so probably won't hit the shop till after noon. I have several sheaths for other knives to do at the same time as these and a holster. While the sheaths are drying starting on a pair of chaps:

A few wal nuts:

Interesting story on this one. A local guy had me regrind and re etch this commercial knife and re handle it too. What's interesting is that this walnut is left overs from a shelving project we did here in the house. Literally walnut from Home Depot:

That looks great! You know my next one will be a MATCHING RODEO

I think we talked about a buffalo sheath?

 

[oldmanwilly]

Whoa now... is this a variation on the Cowboy model?

That bolster extending into the ricasso is fantastic! Makes it seem more ergonomic.

 

[Horsewright]

Just beautiful. It is an outstanding wood.

I agree and thank you for the kind words.

That looks great! You know my next one will be a MATCHING RODEO

I think we talked about a buffalo sheath?

Thanks and thank you. Yep I just checked and we're gonna do a water buffalo overlay Slotted sheath. First of its kind I believe.

Whoa now... is this a variation on the Cowboy model?

That bolster extending into the ricasso is fantastic! Makes it seem more ergonomic.

Yes sir! that's an older Cowboy. I moved the bolsters back to give me room to stamp my maker's mark and not interfere with the blade length.

 

[Horsewright]

Found this old pic. This is one of Butch's rifles in .700 Nitro Express. At the time of the article by my buddy about Butch there had been nineteen .700s ever made and Butch had made twelve of the nineteen with Holland and Holland making the others. Loaded ammo is $100 a round. Butch didn't have any loaded ammo around but had that empty near the tusk. Those Sonoran knives are in the 9" oal range to give ya an idea of the size of the empty case.

The rifle was in for an additional set of barrels. I was holding it while they were setting up the shot. I asked Butch what the rifle cost and when he told me I handed it back to him, I didn't want to hold it anymore, $125,000! Plus at twenty five pounds it was the heaviest rifle I'd ever held.

 

[RLB0414]

Beautiful work as always. The buffalo horn is awesome.

 

[Horsewright]

Beautiful work as always. The buffalo horn is awesome.

Thank you sir! Neck deep in leather work right now getting sheaths done, a holster, a Pack Pac and a pair of chaps.

Got the chaps all cut out. They are water buffalo. This is the same leather and tannage we use for our water buffalo overlaid items like sheaths, holsters and belts.

Cut out all the sheaths too:

Tooling today.

 

[Horsewright]

Been a few days since I've been able to update here. Been wild and crazy busy. Went and cut firewood again:

Coming back home, that day, entering the Tehacahpi Valley from the east:

Birthday parties, horse deals etc. However I've been working pretty steady in the shop and will have the sheaths for this batch all done probably tomorrow, if the branding we’re helping with this morning doesn’t take too long. Working on getting Larry's sheath sewn up the other day. I think I've mentioned it before but I do all of the same type of sheaths at once, basically breaking the batch up into smaller batches. They all sew different and this prevents OOPS! on my part. So I was doing all the Slotted sheaths first:

Here it is with the welt before putting the welt in:

Tap it down for good glue adhesion:

Trim the excess welt material and glue:

Sand the edges smooth and then put in the stiching grooves:

Then sew:

The three Slotted sheaths from this batch all sewn up. They're hanging out with the parts for the Pack Pac. The pack Pac will be the very last thing worked on as it doesn't require any wet molding. So now the Slotted sheaths kick back with margaritas on the beach and wait for the Horizontal sheaths and the Pancake sheaths to catch up.

They are all tooled and are waiting to be sewn together. Meanwhile Mrs Horsewright kicked these out:

A water buffalo notebook cover. This is the same leather that has been overlaid on Larry's sheath:

And a matching set of our duffel bag and travel bag. These bags are also made from the water buffalo leather.

The dark brown leather (handles, shoulder strap etc) is also water buffalo but tanned differently. The red brown is a cowhide.

She does a magnificent job on these bags.

 

[RLB0414]

Wow Dave. Awesome work work by you and your Mrs.

 

[AusLoX]

Those bags are very nice. Great work!

 

[DocJekl]

Been a few days since I've been able to update here. Been wild and crazy busy. Went and cut firewood again:

Coming back home, that day, entering the Tehacahpi Valley from the east:

Birthday parties, horse deals etc. However I've been working pretty steady in the shop and will have the sheaths for this batch all done probably tomorrow, if the branding we’re helping with this morning doesn’t take too long. Working on getting Larry's sheath sewn up the other day. I think I've mentioned it before but I do all of the same type of sheaths at once, basically breaking the batch up into smaller batches. They all sew different and this prevents OOPS! on my part. So I was doing all the Slotted sheaths first:

Here it is with the welt before putting the welt in:

Tap it down for good glue adhesion:

Trim the excess welt material and glue:

Sand the edges smooth and then put in the stiching grooves:

Then sew:

The three Slotted sheaths from this batch all sewn up. They're hanging out with the parts for the Pack Pac. The pack Pac will be the very last thing worked on as it doesn't require any wet molding. So now the Slotted sheaths kick back with margaritas on the beach and wait for the Horizontal sheaths and the Pancake sheaths to catch up.

They are all tooled and are waiting to be sewn together. Meanwhile Mrs Horsewright kicked these out:

A water buffalo notebook cover. This is the same leather that has been overlaid on Larry's sheath:

And a matching set of our duffel bag and travel bag. These bags are also made from the water buffalo leather.

The dark brown leather (handles, shoulder strap etc) is also water buffalo but tanned differently. The red brown is a cowhide.

She does a magnificent job on these bags.

That slotted sheath ^ looks great Dave!

So... Horsewright Can you invoice me for a second sheath to make for me, or is it too late?

I'd kinda like one similar to this one from my Coyote, so I could wear it on the left and cross draw it with my right hand. And maybe something artsy like the flower stamping too? Worst case I get a less elaborate one like on my Paisano (second pic).

I understand now if it's too late since that style may not be in the batch you are working on next.