Just Some Fun Stuff with Leather and Such

Horsewright

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,484
As many of you know I was kinda gone for a couple of weeks. Part of what had me away was that Nichole and our friend Cara were co-hosts here of a Peter Campbell horsemanship/cattleworking clinic, (Paul, in our deal thats Buster Welch coming to town). While all this was going on we didn't get alot of time in the shop either. But did get a few things done, some of em way out of the ordinary. Thought I share a few pics just for fun.

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This is Cara and she's into pink as you can see. I didn't make her charmitas, (leggings) and don't remeber who did but he did a great job. However we did make a few modifications for Cara on these charmitas at her request. She had a pocket on the left leg, mostly for the ever present chapstick that gals carry. However it was just a patch pocket so she couldn't get her hand in it to get anything out. So we popped that off and added a gusset so that it would work. That came out great. On the bottom corner of the left leg there was a heavy veg tan piece with her name on it. The problem was the placement. It was right where the legging should bend over the knee. The heavier and stiffer veg tan prevented that. This is what Nichole came up with:

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Nichole has a reglular embroidery machine. So she found some pink scrap from her purses just the right color and embrodiered Cara's name on a placket just the right size to cover where the old veg tan one had been. This lighter leather gave the leggings the ability to bend where they should as the pic shows. The girls were diggin on that so much that they came up with this on the other leg.

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The Flat Hat Girl is Nichole's logo for her purses. Its very popular among gals of the Flat Hat tradition and Cara wanted it on the other leg to kind of balance the name on the other side. They tried to embroider it directly onto the leg but the machine's carriage wouldn't move the weight of the leggings around relaibly. So they went to plan B and did the logo on a lightweight leather placket and then sewed it to the leg.

Meanwhile back at the ranch (sorry for the pun) us boys were playing out in the shop. Tyler, Cara's husband needed a new pair of leggings. He had several hides he'd collected over the years and we settled on this really cool white hide from Hide House and this red oiltan accent hide from The Leather Guy. Anyway we really liked how they came together.

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I traded my labor for another hide he had and we ended up not using. Its pretty darn cool. Gotta figure out something to do with it.

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Nichole holding rodear on the herd. I made her charmitas and she made her wool vest.
 
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So at the same time still had some real work to do so finished off this damascus bowie handled in mammoth ivory and its sheath. I made a frog for this outfit too but its MIA in the pic. The plackets on the sheath are dyed mahogany and the body of the sheath is just done in warm neatsfoot oil. As most of you know this type of sheath is a little out of what I normally do.

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This bowie went to a great cutomer in CO. At the same time I was working on a set of my Sonoran knives for him, each with an individual sheath and there was also a Pack Pac for the two larger ones. They have his brand etched on the blades and carved into the flap of the Pack Pac.

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Nichole also got to ride the boss's Highbrow Cat mare which was really cool.

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And both gals were sporting Horsewright knives and sheaths:

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High Brow Cat…..now there's a blood line I remember. Might find some Doc hickory in there if you look far enough back. I have two championship buckles attributed to SR El Hickory Leo who was an own son of Doc Hickory out of a King Ranch mare El Leo's Pride. I miss my horses

Good looking leather work and also looks like everyone is having a great time.

Paul
 
Thanks guys. Yeah Paul Nichole's gelding is a Doc's Remedy grandson.
 
Great looking Damascus bowie. Love the handle. Good looking sheath. Besides neatsfoots oil, what else do you apply to keep them water resistant?

I assume the sheaths on the ladies hips are cross draws. I'm still working on that design. That one seems tough.

David
 
Dave I LOVE the knife at the bottom in this pic. What do you call that one?

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Sweet work all around!

Btw, you ever done a Canadian Belt Knife? I bet you would do a fine job of it.
 
David thanks. I just use a couple of thin coats of Bag Kote. Was gonna talk about it in the finishes thread but havn't had a chance yet. Yep they are crossdraws. Probably 98 percent of the sheaths I make are crossdraw. If I can be of help with those don't hesitate to email.

Strig buddy didn't expect to see ya back so quick. How ya doing? Thats my Sonoran Skinner. A2 at 62RC, nickel silver bolster, merino sheephorn handle with Loveless bolts. 8" overall with a 3.5 inch blade ground from 5/32 inch stock.

Here's a pic of Cara out at the ranch with us Sunday afternoon. This one shows the pocket that we worked on too. What we did was pull the pocket off, added the pink gusset and sewed the pocket back on. That way the pocket flap and snap still worked. Looks like shes keeping her phone in there.

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A close up of Tyler's leggings. The more he wears em the more I like em. They are about 10 dyas old here in this pic. I think this pair will really wear in well, develop a great patina. This was Sunday afternoon too.

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Here I'm sporting a new pair of chinks I just finished for a customer in AK. Just a few pics before they get boxed up. Chinks are a different kind of legging than Tyler's Charmitas. They will generally have a heavy veg tan yoke that is often stamped or carved. Nichole flower carved the yokes on this pair. It was the first carving she'd done since recovering from a separated shoulder that had her out of commission for some time. She thought her carving was a little crude, rusty so to speak. Told her she was nuts.

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Horsewright said:
Strig buddy didn't expect to see ya back so quick. How ya doing? Thats my Sonoran Skinner. A2 at 62RC, nickel silver bolster, merino sheephorn handle with Loveless bolts. 8" overall with a 3.5 inch blade ground from 5/32 inch stock.
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I'm in pain, but that's nothing new. Gotta hit that morphine button every 15 minutes. ;)

Why A2 on that one? I would think aeb-l would be ideal for a skinner? On the other hand, I've never skinned anything but knees so I don't really know. All I know is that it's a great looking blade. I'm tellin ya, a Canadian Belt Knife would be a cool addition to your line-up. At least to me. You know your clientele better than anyone. :)

Btw, is it weird that I wish I had an excuse to wear those leggings just because they're cool looking? Probably. White leather and me have a thing going.
 
that's just so much cool stuff. i really love your work/the work you are showing. nice work on that pocket too. and the mad dog is there as well! :)
 
Vilepossum, thanks man its appreciated. Different crazy dog. This one is Socks, a Catahoula (mostly me thinks). She belongs to our ranching partner. My crazy dog is running around someplace too. Since there wern't any tennis balls she was grabbing dried cow patties and dropping them on everyone's foot hoping someone would throw it for her. When I told her that will do, she moved to rocks. She was highly disappointed when I told her no on the rocks too. She carried off a rock, layed down and sulked.

Strig on the white leather....maybe the morphine? Tyler has a whole nother side of that stuff that I need to talk him out of. I gotta make him a holster for his .357 Blackhawk, sounds like a trade to me.

On the A2 these knives were envisioned as a heavy duty deal. I made my steel choice off of A Gough's extensive crazy testing, (ya gotta love edge toughness testing by putting the blade in a vise edge up and whacking it with a crowbar). I made up two sets of these three knives one in 52100 and the other in A2, (the smaller knives in the set have always been AEB-L, just the two larger ones are the other steel) and sent them off to a trophy hunting ranch in TX. A buddy had set up a test with the outfitter and guides. They were used on multiple animals daily for months at a time for over two season now, native game and exotic. It was a blind test, the guides didn't know they were different steels, (the boss did). They soon developed an extreme preference for the A2. To the point of arm wrestling at first to see who got to take the ironwood ones (the only difference was the A2 had nickel bolsters and ironwood handles and the 52100 had brass bolsters and cocoblo handles) and then breaking up the set and leaving the other back home. It was not unusual for them to go through multiple animals without having to even touch up the blades let alone resharpen them. Best deal is they used their own money to buy some more. Because its also a working cattle ranch they wear the smaller Sonoran Belt Knife, (top knife in the pic) on a daily basis hunting season or no. I developed the Pack Pac because they said they never actually wore the larger knives in their sheaths, they just kept em in the pack or truck until the animal was down. Heck if I developed another hunting style knife like the Canadian Nichole would kill me. She tries to keep me focused...cowboy knives, cowboy knives,cowboy knives.
 
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Dave, you all are living the life.
Too cool.
Thanks for sharing… don't stop ;)
 
Horsewright said:
Vilepossum, thanks man its appreciated. Different crazy dog. This one is Socks, a Catahoula (mostly me thinks). She belongs to our ranching partner. My crazy dog is running around someplace too. Since there wern't any tennis balls she was grabbing dried cow patties and dropping them on everyone's foot hoping someone would throw it for her. When I told her that will do, she moved to rocks. She was highly disappointed when I told her no on the rocks too. She carried off a rock, layed down and sulked.
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what do you mean cow patties and stones are out of question? gee... :D hahaha, enough crazy dog for everyone! i just love those crazy little furballs... and i believe they have a good life at your place with actual work and lots of activity.

on the leather... seeing all the knife sheaths on the forum is already amazing to witness the craftsmanship with these handmade items. however, seeing the charmitas and stuff and knowing that they are handmade is just mindblowing.
a ruger blackhawk?!? nice, only seen one once, but it looks really nice and stylish.
don't sell anything to anthony on morphine though, he doesn't know what he is doing :D
 
Ebb and Elder thanks. Vilepossum thats what is really cool about this deal. Almost everything is handmade and I know most of the folks that did it. So take that pic of me wearing the chinks on my horse Sonny. The headstall (holds the bit in the horse's mouth) is made by Sara Hagel. The silver on the headstall is all old vintage stuff I'd collected and sent to Sara for that project so its all handmade too. The bosalita (braided noseband under the bridle) is rawhide braided by Vince Donley. Don't know Vince but have a lot of his work. The bit is made by Mike "Tapadero" Vatalero. The rein chains are made by Fred from Applecart Chainworks. The leather rein connectors (between the rein chains and the braided reins) I made. The reins are 12 plait rawhide by Guitrion. The "get down" rope around the horse's chest (this is what we lead the horse with if we get down, never the reins) is 16 feet long and is twisted mane hair (the hair was cut from two of our old retired horses) made by Merlin Rupp. The saddle is by John Willamsma and the beavertail bucking rolls by his son Logan. The spurs are by Mike Vatalero too and I made the spur straps, chinks and belt. Nichole made the red silk wildrag I'm wearing and I made the antler slide holding it on. My hat was made for me by Mackey Hats. There is an appreciation for handcrafted items in this "cowboy" world and a real rennisance going on right now. 20-25 years ago much of this was going away.
 
What a rundown Dave! If you added up the retail cost of all of that I'd imagine it would be crazy expensive. Is there a big culture of trading work with you and your friends? To me that is far and away the best way to acquire stuff.

Florian, they took me off the morphine... and put me on oxy. :o I cannot be held responsible for anything I'm saying or doing. At least that's what I told my wife. :D
 
Yes trading is huge in this culture. Everybody has a "warbag" of stuff they want to trade. Or, you'll see a guy at a show or a roping or something and he'll be walking around with stuff over his arm and you just ask him what he's got to trade. In fact the first time I met Merlin he tried to trade me out of Nichole. Offered me 3 reatas, a mecate and three or four hondos. We did trade but I kept Nichole. I started to go get a calculator to figure a rough retail cost for ya and then stopped and turned back around. Didn't want to know. I have traded off probably a hundred plus knives and sheaths.
 
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