Much Such Marathon

Horsewright

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,484
Something a little unusual occurred around here. I had some down time in between batches of knives. Just worked out that way, waiting for the next batch to get back from heat treat. So we had a bunch of work to do at the ranch gathering and taking some calves to the sale and then we went and hung out at my buddy's for a few days (Hide House trip). Got back from there and started in on a marathon of leather. Thought I'd share some pics of the things I got done while waiting for my blades.

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Working on some Leatherman sheaths getting em cut out. Got em done. The one on the left is for a Juice and the one on the right for a Wave. The other interesting thing about this down time was these were the only sheaths I made.

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Got Florian's belt done and shipped to Germany.

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Whipped out a couple of pair of spur straps. The pair with the silver buckles sold overnight the other pair was an order.

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A friend brought me his new Henry .22 rifle. With the large loop it wouldn't fit in a regular scabbard. So I modified my design and came up with this for the large loop guns.

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Looking cool with Nichole's Bearcat.

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While I was playing with gun leather figured might as well kick out a 1911 holster.

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Meanwhile Nichole wasn't slacking either. She worked on these five headstalls and was doing some carving for me. The headstall on the left was for my son It used old vintage silver that he got in a trade on a beat to death headstall.

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The carving she did for me was for a pair of chinks. Here she is wearing them for the photo shoot. A friend had ordered these for his girlfriend's birthday so we didn't have measurements as they were a surprise. He said "just build em to fit Nichole". I always get nervous with those kind of deals but it worked out perfect this time.

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Then my pair for my birthday. Course that wasn't a surprise.

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Then I made this pair for stock:

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Phew! Lot of work to get done in a week or so. Sure glad those blades showed up from HT this "vacation" was wearing me out. Thanks for looking and questions and comments always welcome.
 
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No. Not yet, takes about a week by usps priority, and I think customs might want to take a look at it first. But the picture is already looking great.
 
Happy birthday Dave,
Thanks for sharing, was showing my wife your work, and how a real ranch "cowboy" looks like.
 
Just sitting here shaking my head ... WOW!
Tomorrow morning I'll go fling all my leather working tools in the farm dam and give it away:o I am wasting my time.

Only kidding ... nice work (and inspiring)

And Happy Birthday!

Cheers!!!

Derek
 
Happy Birthday Dave,
Those spur straps look vary nice. I like how the old vintage silver looks on the leather headstall.
John S.
 
Thanks guys it was a good Bday! Got togethere with a bunch of friends at a restaurant for dinner. Had a good time.

Elder here ya go a cowboy pic for the wife. This were from the start of the marathon, when we had all that work to do.

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My friend Buck and I bringing in a group. It was windy that day and we're riding into the wind trying to keep our hats on.

Thanks Derek. Did have a cold one. Went out to the ranch yesterday afternoon and as I was opening the gate Nichole noticed that the fence to the right of the gate was down. A big rig had backed over it and had put the trailer duals about 10 feet out into our pasture. Flatened two T posts, knocked down about 100 feet of 5 strand barbwire fence. So we spent about 2-3 hours fixing that mess. 7 or 8 splices and replaced one whole strand. But we got er done and it was hot. Got home, jumped in the shower and went to dinner and had a cold one.

Yeah John we were liking that old silver too. So much so we went by the used tack store in town to see if we could find any. They had some vintage stuff but it was junk so we didn't buy any. Was telling Nichole we gonna have to start hitting yardsales and so on see if we can find more of that. Those headstalls are horsehide lined in the English bridle leather.

Thanks Kaizo. a friend showed up at dinner last night and brought me a Quarter Cask bottle of Laphraoig.

Brian those sheaths are 8/9 oz Herman Oak.
 
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Dave, I've known you guys have been in really bad shape as far as water out there but damn...
We still have our 2 hay burners pinned up instead of out to pasture like we normally would this time of year. The 10 year old keeps trying to grass founder.

Chris
 
cra 1, Yes sir they are beaver tail. Saddle by John Willlamsma there in Guthrie OK, the bucking rolls by his son Logan.

Chris worst drought ever recorded here. Five years now. Two years ago we sold off about 70 percent of our herd cause there was no grass.. It was the right thing to do as our herd now although small is in very good shape. We've got a good supplement/mineral program that is really carrying them through. Somehow they are fat and looking good. However we're running about one pair per hundred acres. Grass founder is not an issue.

Considering our lack of grass I'm really pleased with how our cattle are looking.

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That's my bud Salty in the background. He ordered the white and red birthday leggings for his girlfriend.
 
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I thought they were beaver, I have heard of john, I live 20 miles north of guthrie, you ever get down this way?
 
We have several of his saddles. Really like em. No havn't been down there since I was a kid.
 
Dave,

Over here we have a saying ........ " Living the Dream "
I absolutely enjoy your posts that take us to other places and are not just another sheath type post .
I think I'm going to search out a hat like yours , of I can find one it will put a stir under the locals .

Drought is a unforgiving thing , we have seen a few and are actually also in the middle of one .
Until you have seen and lived it , you will never understand it . You did the right thing by destocking early , there is not a more sole destroying job than shooting stock because you can't feed them and there is no market .

Ken

PS - love those Leatherman sheaths :)
 
Thanks Ken. You know we had quite a few calves die that year. Their moms basically abandonded them as they had nothing to feed them. So we had 4 week old calves basically on their own trying to survive. We gathered em up and brought them into the corrals, one so weak he rode in on the saddle with me. We fed em up and doctored em daily, put em on milk replacer, got em eating hay and calf rations and still lost a few more. Finally after a few weeks took wat was left to the sale and got very little for them as they were puny and at the sale 3 to 4 months before they should of been. As a cow calf outfit those calves are our income, our product. That was a tight year as we didn't get as much for that entire batch of calves as we'd put into em for feed already. So started culling cows. Course if it started raining now we couldn't replace the cows. A bred heifer right now is bringing 3 times what we sold em for. Go figure
 
Dave, you been busy! I tend to finish things in large groups and slack off for a minute. Easier to stay busy and not rush something with a lot in production. Only thing my eye spots is the grip clearance on that 1911 holster right at the trigger guard, folks with fat fingers might have a hard time getting their paw on it. Stamp work is impeccable on everything.
 
That might be something to think on sir, after you mentioned it I spent some time studying that pic and I could certain relieve that area a little. It's not been a problem for me and I've got big ole sausage fingers but on the other hand from all the knifemaking I have a grip like a Wilton vise. I could see where it might be tight for some folks, thanks. Yeah working in batches is the way to go. I can get stuff done that way.
 
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