Horsewright Knives and Leather

[echoscout]

Neighbor been weaning calves. Dave working calves. Carrying the Sonoran Belt Knife

 

[RLB0414]

Yeah it seems so. No loss of life that I'm aware of and folks had warning. But there's more coming. They had it tough with wildfires last year. Burns Or, in Harney county is where they are having the trouble

Glad no lives lost. Otherwise it sounds like a tough situation. Hopefully things improve for them.

 

[Horsewright]

Neighbor been weaning calves. Dave working calves. Carrying the Sonoran Belt Knife

View attachment 2835749

ts bout the perfect cowboying knife ain’t it?

 

[Horsewright]

Glad no lives lost. Otherwise it sounds like a tough situation. Hopefully things improve for them.

Yeah their ranch house is bout 20 miles out of town so they seem to be ok. Got some alfalfa pivots near them that are underwater. My son said that except for standing on the shore of the Pacific, he’s never seen so much water!

 

[RLB0414]

Yeah their ranch house is bout 20 miles out of town so they seem to be ok. Got some alfalfa pivots near them that are underwater. My son said that except for standing on the shore of the Pacific, he’s never seen so much water!

Keeping them in our thoughts

 

[Sacto]

Yep I was 6’4” about 200. I remember my fastest time was at the Fife Regional Championships there in Scotland. It was 14.3. Fast enough for a Div 1 full ride offer but I turned it down. I was plagued with injuries and was just tired of standing in a waist high trash can full of ice for a hlf hour before a race and a half hour after a race. I have always theorized that it was that the shoes wern't real good back then and that the tracks were hard. After a lil bit at Hancock there in Santa Maria I quit the hurdles. Still threw the javelin though.

Delayed response here. I was mostly a high jumper and just did the hurdles because I could get points for our team doing it. I don’t remember what my best hurdle time was, I do remember my highest jump was my height, 6’4”. I was on the track team at Cal Poly for a couple weeks. Just long enough to realize that they wanted track to be my entire life and I didn’t. The quality of the track facilities at every high school now just blows me away compared to what we had when I was in high school.

So a funny deal the other day:

PERFUMED COWBOYS:

So was talking with my son Logan few days back and was asking him what he was doing. Logan is a working cowboy on a large ranch in south eastern Oregon. Got his usual answer "cowboy sh.t." What kind of cowboy sh.t? I asked? So he was grafting. He'd had quite a few twins so far this year, five sets out of 30 heifers calved so far. And thats a lot! And he's just getting started on calving for the year, might have more. Twins seldom make it, one usually dies. So you can try grafting one of them onto a cow that lost her calf for whatever reason. This was something I'd heard of but had never done as it's not something that smaller outfits like we were, was gonna be able to do. Ya got to have the numbers. What I mean by that is not only do you have to have a cow that lost a calf to graft onto, ya have to have a calf that needs grafting. We did have several leppies (orphans) over the years but we had an old cow that would let the whole county nurse. So we'd point that peppy at that old cow and she'd adopt it and nurse her calf and that other one two. She was handy to have around. Anyhoo I was asking him about the process. So he'd bring the new and unsuspecting surrogate into a small pen with a head catch and catch her. He'd skin out the dead baby and tie it onto the smaller of the twins. Then he’d put some salt in the cows unhuh. This irritates said part and the cow thinks she’s just calved. Then you let the cow smell the twin with the dead calves skin tied on. The idea being that you’re trying to convince the cow that the twin is her calf since it smells like it. Once the cow starts letting the calf nurse ya can take the skin off. He had a couple that for whatever bovine reason didn’t work out. He even let one wait for a while. Sometimes a tight bag can work wonders. But, in fact she tried to kill the calf. So Logan went to Plan B. Katy Mac, his wife had left a bottle of perfume in his truck. He got the perfume and squirted some up the cow’s nostrils and then all along the calf’s back. Worked like a charm. On both of them. Even the cow that was trying to kill the calf, accepted it with the perfume as her calf. Fact the next morning when he turned them back out she was running off the other cows that were curious. So if you are ever in the north country and ya see a big cowboy that smells sweet……he’s just been grafting twins. echoscout and Sacto and any other bowlegged types in this post!

That’s pretty funny about the perfume. I’ve grafted a bunch of calves but never thought to try perfume. I worked on a purebred operation in Kansas and at that place we used something called “orphan no more”. It was some granular stuff you sprinkle on the back of the calf and it really got the cow sniffing and licking on the calf, worked pretty well. Kinda the same idea as the perfume I guess. Luckily I haven’t had to graft anything for several years. Haven’t kept any heifers for several years either. I kept about 25 this year, so we’ll see how next fall goes.

We’ve got cows calving on three different ranches and just finished processing the last bunch of calves on Saturday. My partner was doing all the castrating so I didn’t cut any with my Horsewright but here’s a picture just to add some knife content. It shows the hamon nicely.

 

[echoscout]

ts bout the perfect cowboying knife ain’t it?

Yup. Seeing your pics always brings back memories.one of the things that came back to me the other day when I saw your pics. Was when I first went to work in feedlots many years ago. I was on the the crew that processed the cattle in. Since I was the new guy I always got stuck cutting tails and branding. Dirty job but I loved it.

Yeah their ranch house is bout 20 miles out of town so they seem to be ok. Got some alfalfa pivots near them that are underwater. My son said that except for standing on the shore of the Pacific, he’s never seen so much water!

That some serious flooding. Hope your son and everyone gets through it ok.

We’ve got cows calving on three different ranches and just finished processing the last bunch of calves on Saturday. My partner was doing all the castrating so I didn’t cut any with my Horsewright but here’s a picture just to add some knife content. It shows the hamon nicely.

Glad you got your calves worked. Nice Mestano

 

[Sacto]

Glad you got your calves worked. Nice Mestano

Thanks David. Feels good to get the calves done. I’ll be out of commission for a bit next month after a hernia surgery so I need to boost them all again and ship to summer pasture before that.

That woolcarta Sonoran of yours is looking nice

 

[Horsewright]

Delayed response here. I was mostly a high jumper and just did the hurdles because I could get points for our team doing it. I don’t remember what my best hurdle time was, I do remember my highest jump was my height, 6’4”. I was on the track team at Cal Poly for a couple weeks. Just long enough to realize that they wanted track to be my entire life and I didn’t. The quality of the track facilities at every high school now just blows me away compared to what we had when I was in high school.

That’s pretty funny about the perfume. I’ve grafted a bunch of calves but never thought to try perfume. I worked on a purebred operation in Kansas and at that place we used something called “orphan no more”. It was some granular stuff you sprinkle on the back of the calf and it really got the cow sniffing and licking on the calf, worked pretty well. Kinda the same idea as the perfume I guess. Luckily I haven’t had to graft anything for several years. Haven’t kept any heifers for several years either. I kept about 25 this year, so we’ll see how next fall goes.

We’ve got cows calving on three different ranches and just finished processing the last bunch of calves on Saturday. My partner was doing all the castrating so I didn’t cut any with my Horsewright but here’s a picture just to add some knife content. It shows the hamon nicely.

That's very interesting. I wanted to be a high jumper but didn't have the hops. Did 5'11" like in the 8th grade and never could improve on it. Stuck at 5' 11". I did the triple jump for points for the team but never scored very high.

Not heard of that stuff that's interesting. Do have a bull outfit (red Angus), in KS that buy quite a few knives. They give em out as gifts to the highest bidders at their bull sales. I've made them all personal knives and a set of kitchen knives too. We were really lucky as we kept a lot of heifers. Never had to pull a calf in over 20 years. Chalk that up to the right bulls. Great pic! Glad that your calves are all done. I had a bilateral hernia repair some years ago. No fun sitting around that long. But sure better than it was!

I was talking with a cattleman in Wisconsin, I believe, yesterday. He ordered a Sonoran Belt Knife we had on the site. He has two but lost one and needed another. He mentioned something interesting. They'd had a bunch of snow but NOAA had said that it was 20:1 snow, in that it took 20 inches of snow to make one inch of rain or precipitation. He said they were in a drought because of that. My son Logan is having the opposite. They had a normal snowfall year as far as amount but the NOAA guy up there said that the snow had 300% more moisture in it than normal and that's the cause of the flooding. Never knew that deal.

A pair of his and her Paisanos for a local elk guide:

 

[Horsewright]

Was going through some pics. Found this thought ya guys might like to see the only machete I've ever made:

Yellow G10 on the handle. Jigged bone on the two Sonoran Belt Knives. on the same page in my pic files a couple of the few of my transgressions into non natural handle materials:

 

[mitch13]

Was going through some pics. Found this thought ya guys might like to see the only machete I've ever made:

Yellow G10 on the handle. Jigged bone on the two Sonoran Belt Knives. on the same page in my pic files a couple of the few of my transgressions into non natural handle materials:

like the bright colours.
The Damascus blade is not a standard option for you, nice!

 

[Horsewright]

like the bright colours.
The Damascus blade is not a standard option for you, nice!

Thanks!

I use to make a lot of knives from damascus. I quit some years ago as the quality of the steel I was able to source was going down. I simply couldn't source reliable Damascus anymore. Thought I had a replacement but they didn't work out either. My 26C3 knives have for all intents and purposes have replaced the dammy ones. Here's an old California Coyote in for a new sheath. This knife is 12 to 15 years old, worn and used daily by a farrier and rancher.

I don't do filework these days either:

Its new sheath:

He ordered a matching belt too:

Shipping out today.

Some older ones.

 

[waynorth]

Here's an old California Coyote in for a new sheath. This knife is 12 to 15 years old, worn and used daily by a farrier and rancher.

Proof of your quality! That fileworked Damascus is now a collector's item!!

 

[mitch13]

Thanks!

I use to make a lot of knives from damascus. I quit some years ago as the quality of the steel I was able to source was going down. I simply couldn't source reliable Damascus anymore. Thought I had a replacement but they didn't work out either. My 26C3 knives have for all intents and purposes have replaced the dammy ones. Here's an old California Coyote in for a new sheath. This knife is 12 to 15 years old, worn and used daily by a farrier and rancher.

I don't do filework these days either:

Its new sheath:

He ordered a matching belt too:

Shipping out today.

Some older ones.

The old sheath and knife are a testament to the quality
Makes sense not using Damascus, if it's not reliable.

 

[RLB0414]

Wow. The work is great. The original sheath looks like it is just getting broken in.

 

[Horsewright]

Proof of your quality! That fileworked Damascus is now a collector's item!!

Thanks Charlie. I don’t remember does your California Coyote have filework too?

The old sheath and knife are a testament to the quality of
Makes sense not using Damascus, if it's not reliable.

Thanks. I was really pleased with how the edges on the sheath were holding up. Edge treatment is one of the indicators of quality leather work.

Wow. The work is great. The original sheath looks like it is just getting broken in.

Thanks Its great seeing your work really being used.

 

[DaveHS]

don't do filework these days either

Stunning work, Dave!

 

[Horsewright]

Stunning work, Dave!

Thank you!

 

[echoscout]

I use to make a lot of knives from damascus. I quit some years ago as the quality of the steel I was able to source was going down. I simply couldn't source reliable Damascus anymore. Thought I had a replacement but they didn't work out either. My 26C3 knives have for all intents and purposes have replaced the dammy ones. Here's an old California Coyote in for a new sheath. This knife is 12 to 15 years old, worn and used daily by a farrier and rancher.

I don't do filework these days either:

Its new sheath:

He ordered a matching belt too:

Great too see that California Coyote and sheath. New sheath and belt looks great also.

 

[waynorth]

Thanks Charlie. I don’t remember does your California Coyote have filework too?

No, it doesn't; but it doesn't need it!I'm amazed that you remember my humble Li'l knife!!! What with your prodigious output and all!!
A nice knife - the textures are balanced, and it's the right size for this City Slicker!! I love it!! It is mostly a safe-Queen though - I should use it more!!
(Scratches are on the scanner glass, not the sheath!!)