The classic Cowboy hat?

[Cornshucker77]

Great looking work Cornshucker! It's nice to see another leather worker here! Here is a holster I made about 35 years ago. Been doing mostly belts and small gifts lately. I would like to see more of your work, also anyone else's work. I will try to post some more.

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Very nice work! Love the tooling you did!

 

[Cornshucker77]

Nice work on the hat and the leather @Cornshucker77 !

Thanks Bob, appreciate it!

 

[Yahoody]

I know what nice leather looks and feels like But I have neither the skills or the patience to cut and sew it myself. Proof of that is shown below.



My favorite horse rig.


lwt, easy access belt holster


Picked this one up 30 some years ago. No maker's mark but truly another artist's work here.
One of my favorites.

 

[Cornshucker77]

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

I know what nice leather looks and feels like But I have neither the skills or the patience to cut and sew it myself. Proof of that is shown below.



My favorite horse rig.


lwt, easy access belt holster


Picked this one up 30 some years ago. No maker's mark but truly another artist's work here.
One of my favorites.

I think if it does the job you want, and it keeps whatever it is suppose to hold in place, it is a good piece of work. I like them. The third photo shows more talent than I have. Using a swivel knife is not something I have tried. Cutting the designs it has is something DD showed in his work. That takes skill.

 

[Cornshucker77]

I know what nice leather looks and feels like But I have neither the skills or the patience to cut and sew it myself. Proof of that is shown below.



My favorite horse rig.


lwt, easy access belt holster


Picked this one up 30 some years ago. No maker's mark but truly another artist's work here.
One of my favorites.

............and I like those pistols! The first one is that the Sheriff's model? No ejector rod or housing?

 

[Desert dog]

I know what nice leather looks and feels like But I have neither the skills or the patience to cut and sew it myself. Proof of that is shown below.



My favorite horse rig.


lwt, easy access belt holster


Picked this one up 30 some years ago. No maker's mark but truly another artist's work here.
One of my favorites.

They are great looking rigs! Function and feel are more important than pretty! Although that tooled rig is beautiful!

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[Yahoody]

............and I like those pistols! The first one is that the Sheriff's model? No ejector rod or housing?

Yes indeed, 3.5" Sheriff's Model in 45 Colt. Handy size in a SAA revolver. With the bobbed hammer and ivory grips it was my favorite gun to ride with. Someone liked it way more than I did. Badgers, wolves or your own horse the most likely use here. If I can't get it done with five likely not going to get it done at all. So the ejector on the gun is no concern to me.

Now I carry a 4" with ejector, in 44 Special. Also like the traditional one piece walnut grips for durability. So I made up a pair. Nothing fancy but extremely durable. Blank was cheap and they were easy enough to cut out and fit. Still on the look out for another 3.5" Sheriff's how ever.

Wood grips and the inherent strength of the 44 Special in a SAA appeal to me. I have also fit a 44-40 cylinder to this one. As a 44 Special this one is a real shooter so that helps as well. Does the same with the 44-40 but shooting a 200gr bullet instead of my 240gr 44 Special hand loads you see on this target.

 

[Cornshucker77]

Yes indeed, 3.5" Sheriff's Model in 45 Colt. Handy size in a SAA revolver. With the bobbed hammer and ivory grips it was my favorite gun to ride with. Someone liked it way more than I did. Badgers, wolves or your own horse the most likely use here. If I can't get it done with five likely not going to get it done at all. So the ejector on the gun is no concern to me.

Now I carry a 4" with ejector, in 44 Special. Also like the traditional one piece walnut grips for durability. So I made up a pair. Nothing fancy but extremely durable. Blank was cheap and they were easy enough to cut out and fit. Still on the look out for another 3.5" Sheriff's how ever.

Wood grips and the inherent strength of the 44 Special in a SAA appeal to me. I have also fit a 44-40 cylinder to this one. As a 44 Special this one is a real shooter so that helps as well. Does the same with the 44-40 but shooting a 200gr bullet instead of my 240gr 44 Special hand loads you see on this target.

I like it. Nice grouping too!

 

[Winston Carter]

Nice thread. Since Resistol hat factory is right down the street I have bought many nice beavers in the last 40 yrs. I re-block, trim brims, re-style and such on new hats. I like a 2.75" brim so you know you have to do it yourself.

 

[Yahoody]

I do a little leather work. Mostly holsters and knife sheaths. I know there are other folks on here who do leather. Would love to see some of their work. DD I know you do leather work. Would love to see more. I made the holster and knife sheath in this photo, but not the cartridge belt.

View attachment 109702

Nice work! What is the caliber on your Schofield ? Curious as to how you like it and do you shoot it much?

 

[Cornshucker77]

Nice work! What is the caliber on your Schofield ? Curious as to how you like it and do you shoot it much?

Hi Yahoody. The Schofield is 45 Colt. I haven't shot it too much. But I did hit what I was aiming at so I think it is a good shooter. A different feel holding it than holding a Colt SAA. The Colt fits better in my hand but the Schofield is so much fun and it is a classic looking revolver so I am happy with it.

 

[Yahoody]

Neat guns for sure. I had one back in the early '90s. A lot for me to afford back then and had to let it go. Been hankering for another...no clue why though

 

[Yahoody]

... Since Resistol hat factory is right down the street I have bought many nice beavers in the last 40 yrs.....

That has to be entertaining I am thinking we need photos !

 

[Redshoes51]

View attachment 106711

I love the two hats in the middle... wonderful!

~shoes~

 

[Bushman]

So I've read in a few places, that actual cowboys wear straw hats in the summer. In the movies, they always have felt fur all year round. Are the movies inaccurate, or did styles change over the years?

You also see cowboys wearing full length dusters in the Arizona summer heat, and that's on top of the full length shirt, and woolen onesie. I'm gonna go with "it's for looks" but who knows. I do know that "dressing up" as much as possible was common in Victorian Era Europe, as the more fabric you wore, the more wealth you portrayed. I'm certain this would have leaked into American fashions at the time, as it tends to do.

 

[Yahoody]

So I've read in a few places, that actual cowboys wear straw hats in the summer. In the movies, they always have felt fur all year round. Are the movies inaccurate, or did styles change over the years?

Depends on where you live, the weather conditions and what you are doing. For many the "go to town hats" will be a nice felt. Some folks never have weather warm enough to want a straw and others never have weather cool enough to want a felt.

Traditionally, felt hats are reserved for the time period between Labor Day and the long May weekend. Spring and summer months are reserved for straw hats. However, this unwritten rule is loosely followed in warmer climates or for special occasions.

Here we have -20F in the winter and 110+ in the summer. You wear what is comfortable. Even the color of a felt hat makes a huge difference when the sun is out.

Right now it is Spring here. That means rapidly changing weather. Might get to 90F next week but it snowed last week. I have a selection of hats unboxed, a big straw sun hat, a regular straw and a couple of felts, one dark, one light. A month from now if the weather is good I will likely only be wearing a straw while working in the valley. If we head to the mountains before June it will be a felt. But I wore that big straw hat and was happy to have it working horses on the ground this week.


Last Summer and 110F in this photo.

Below freezing in this one...

Cool Spring day where everyone was wearing felt.

 

[Yahoody]

When you start talking about what you wear for clothing on a horse that is another story entirely. Even today it helps to realize that most working "cowboys" get up long before sunrise, and are on the way to work via horse back before it is light or just at sunrise so you can actually see. Most days you (hopefully) get back by dark. So you start out in the coldest part of the day and work through the heat of the day wearing the same clothes and then it gets cold again. Damn little of what you choose to wear is going to be a fashion statement. Then or now, money and your social status will likely show up the first day and not the second. You start looking right quick at what others are wearing to se what works and emulate the old hands.

Few things a working cowboy wears that isn't multifunctional. It might be fashionable, but it is fashionable because it works and likely does more than one job as required. Hat is a classic example as is a vest or a scarf.

 

[Yahoody]

Interesting to me when anyone wants to talk "cowboy".

If you are talking working off a horse (and a good many still do here in the Great Basin area) what you wear and carry during a long day is pretty limited. If you can trailer out and back and avoid a long trot out and back you save yourself and your horse a lot of miles/hrs. Or you might spend the day in a 4 wheeler or a 4 wheel drive. Or you might spend the day in the branding pen with you or your neighbors helping and have a BBQ at the end of that day. You wear your best for that gathering. Extras and the fix'ins in the truck. Kids and wives come along. Or it might be a branding, working a rodear or may be a set of movable steel corrals 20 miles from the home ranch. And no one there but the hired hands.

Might be doctoring new calves a 100 acre Spring pasture just down road. Might be a 18hr day on a horse. Might be an hour or two on a horse. Might be a full day using a post hole digger, a wire stretcher and a load of tools on a 4x4.

Most everyone will have a hat on for sun protection. These days, sunglasses as well. How big of hat depends on what kind of rig you'll be riding in or on and how much wind there is gonna be expected.

A all day branding with several ranches and families helping. Lots of different kinds of hats being worn by real, "cowgirls" and "cowboys". No matter the hat or attire, everyone is getting their job done.

Or working horses in the ranch arena. A 2 minute walk to lunch

Like any other job these days there is no "norm". People pick and choose what works best for them.

A day that barely hit 50F this Spring.

And 90+ last summer

 

[Yahoody]

Glad you are enjoying them! Sun? True that. Not a lot of use for a tanning salon here

 

[Yahoody]

Beef? It's what for supper

Most working ranches do any number of things for a cash flow, raising beef, horses and hay (for your own use) and for sale is common. Making your working ranch into a tourist's "guest ranch" is as well, for the cash flow. Here? Most small acreages are cashing in and moving on, by selling out to developers (who are building housing sub-divisions).

Easy way to make 1 Mil $ on a ranch? Start out with 5 mil

Not a life style for everyone. My family has been involved as far back as I can trace it.