Damascus spurs

I got these finished today. 1018/nickel damascus, 1" band, 1 1/4 clover rowel.

Ground work

I watched my daughter start a young horse this morning. Ground work is what it is called.

Maybe one of these guys can ride him off without much trouble after a few days of this.

http://www.jsartandsoul.com/
This is Jessica's business. To you photographers and artists, she is always looking for consigners.

Irons

As usual I have too many of them in the fire. I try to keep at least two things going in the shop, so when I'm waiting on something to cool, or epoxy to dry, I have something to work on.
I've over done it this time. As as of 5 o'clock today when the 106 degree heat forced me to quit, I had 4 sets of spurs in various stages of construction, 12 won buckles, 2 knives, and 1 set of conchos.

These are the scorpion spurs I sold last week. He wanted his brand added. I will glue the drawing onto silver, then cut it out with a jewelers saw and solder them to the spurs.

A pile of stuff, I sure wished some of it was finished. They should make pretty buckles anyway.

There is a bright spot though, I still haven't had to bale hay, and we are almost done.

Off to the rodeo

Another weekend spent rodeoing with my niece.

She is pretty easy to haul around. She doesn't gripe or eat much, saddles her own horses, and is where she needs to be before she needs to be there. I just hang around and take a lot of pictures that don't turn out and dispense horsemanship advice whether it's needed(or wanted)or not.

Hay and news

Yes, it's that time of year again. Actually it is late, we should be getting ready make a second cutting, but the grass just never got ready. I think the drought has been a lot harder on this country than anyone realizes. I think we will be several years getting back to normal. We have put back a few heifers in hopes that we will have some grass in the future, but we haven't started restocking in earnest yet. I might give it another year and let some pastures rest, they sure need it.
 I have managed to successfully dodge the tractor seat and wrenches so far this year, lets hope my luck holds, as well as Joe and Kyle's health.


I found this article interesting, not because I am for or against genetically modified crops, but because Monsanto somehow has my cell phone number, and their salesmen have called me every day for about a month. Mostly at very inopportune times. For the foreseeable future, I am against anything Monsanto is for, and vice versa.

http://www.naturalnews.com/036254_GM_corn_rootworm_crop_failures.html

I do wish I knew a real farmer that could explain some of this stuff to me. Though I am strictly cattle, corn and corn prices make a big difference to my bottom line.

A few cow pictures where I don't end this mad thinking about tractors and rootworms;

Damascus and burl

This one is headed out west.
5160/8670/15n20 damascus. Amboyna burl handle.
This is the same pattern that I use on my simple cowboy knives, 3" cutting edge, 1" wide, and 7.5" overall length. The buyer wanted that style, just a little fancier.

Pig sticker

I spent most of the weekend at a rodeo with my niece, Kristen, but did manage to finish these in the few hours I had in the shop. She did real good by the way.

Pig sticker/camp knife/fighter/zombie slayer. I'm not real sure what category these fall into, they will probably be used for all of the above at some point.

These are made from A2 tool steel  http://www.bucorp.com/files/aisi_a2.pdf ( for you technical types)
These knives are 14.25" overall length, with a 10" cutting edge. The blade is 1.5" wide, and 3/16" thick at the spine.
I flat ground this knife to almost "0" at the edge, and it is sharp enough to shave with. Had it been a true camp knife, I would have left a little meat on the blade for strength. I also put a false edge on top these, something a camp knife doesn't need.
Whether butchering wild hogs, chopping fire wood to cook it on, or protecting the kill from the inevitable zombie apocalypse, these knives should do nicely.

Marathon pictures

From an old graveyard at Marathon Texas.

I really like the cactus head stone, thats probably what I'll end up with.

Art work at it's finest!

New spurs

It's been a busy week in the shop already. The first set is on it's way to some preconditioning pens northwest of here, where they will see hard use the rest of their lives.

I hope they serve Tim well.

The next set are made using 4140 steel, nickel silver, and buffalo nickels on the buttons.
They are a one piece spur, with a 1" band, 1 1/2" shank, and an 1 1/4" rowel.

These spurs are for sale and can be shipped anywhere in the continental U.S. for 325.00$.

SOLD! Thanks.

Here is some more information on 4140 steel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41xx_steel
I use it because I can lighten a set of spurs up and still maintain enough strength to not bend easily.

Joe's new saddle

Joe Stoker wins using Cunningham spurs.

A better picture.

Riding for the brand, as always.

We are real proud of Joe. He is not only a good roper, but a good team roper;
  He is creative in ways to get home when he has spent all his money on entry fees and beer and doesn't win.
  He has learned to make that one bag of chips he can afford last all weekend.
  And, he knows how to make the trailer lights look like they are working when they really aren't.

All are important things if you are going to be a successful team roper.

Water rights

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/45579

I find it rather telling that I had to go to a foreign country's web site to read much on this.

I've thought for a long time that the federal government would use our water to get control over much of the private land left in the U.S. It has been true since the beginning of time, those that control the water, have total control.
I really don't believe this is about safety, water quality, pollution, or anything else but total control over everything we do. Commie S.O.B.s.
It's the same with the raw milk and farmers market folks. The government is not in control, so they are shutting them down. Nazi S.O.B.s.

Meanwhile, back at the forge

This will eventually be a damascus knife. 5160/8670/15n20 steel in the stack.

Big knives I'm working on while other things are cooling off.

These will have a 10" cutting edge.

 A2 tool steel that will probably spend most of their lives hog hunting. 

Marfa pens

We took a trip to the Ft Davis/ Marfa Texas area to watch a niece graduate high school last weekend. We found a little time to kill, and where did we end up? Cattle pens.

Most people would have played golf, gone fishing, or maybe visited a museum. Anything but what they do for a living. Strange ain't it.