New Southern Gun Bag

[Clifton Hicks]

Howdy all,

Thought I might share a "Southern" gun bag I recently made. Smoked deer hide heavily rubbed with beeswax and neatsfoot oil. I use an early antique awl and mostly Irish linen thread--this bag also has some hemp thread which I hand twisted from scrap pieces of twine.

I live in north Georgia and make plain bags and horns once in a while. Been shooting black powder since I was about sixteen and am now thirty.

Clifton Hicks

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2015/05/southern-hunting-pouch-by-clifton-hicks.html

[Frank Barker]

Clifton.... That is a right nice pouch you have there. I like the design and it looks very neat. Take caution in using neatsfoot oil as in time it will cause leather to rot. Don't ask me how I know that. I to have been shooting black powder guns since I was fifteen and was introduced to the sport by a math teacher who taught me so many things about shooting. I am now 69 and still make a few pouches and shoot flintlocks occasionally.

Kind Regards
Frank Barker

[EricEwing]

Very nice pouch and photos. Looks like some excellently tanned leather too. 
But what makes it southern? I'm always interested in learning something new when that label comes up.

ps. I enjoy your banjo picking very much!
 

[Clifton Hicks]

Frank: I'd not heard of the dangers of neatsfoot before. I picked up the practice of using it from an old leatherworker friend of mine who told me it was a traditional leather oil. He preferred Cod liver oil for his leather work which I have never used simply because it makes everything stink real bad. I use a blend of beeswax and neatsfoot to make a soft wax which I then generously rub into stitching and the entire surface of bags and horns.

SligoBill: I call it "southern" mainly because it's very loosely based off of antique bags I have looked at which were attributed to the southeastern U.S. Most things I make and find interesting are generic but they generally trend toward "southern" generic. Thanks for the kind words.

[T.C.Albert]

Nice work on the pouch Cliffton...

Maybe back in the day pure neats foot oil was good stuff...
then again leather that survives from back then is pretty rare so maybe
it contributed to leather decay over time back then too?

The common stuff today is called Neats Foot Compound...
and like Frank says, use at your own risk.
tca

[Robby]

Very nicely done Clifton!!!!
Robby

[grabenkater]

I love it, looks like an original.

[old george]

Yup! That's a nice simple practical pouch. Looks really nice.

Geo