Couple pictures of my bag and horn

[jbigley]

A braintan shooting bag that I made for use with my trade gun. I tanned the skins, wife sewed the bag. The flap is lined with lightweight canvas.  (Yes, I use a starter; it works for me, and has for the past 50+ years). In the "Bag Open" image, if you look closely, you will see a piece of river cane tied to the inside top of the flap seam.  It serves two purposes: 1) to stiffen the pouch and prevent "sagg", and 2) it is hollow, and can be used as a "blow-pipe" when starting fires.  A very handy piece of gear;  I have several, and keep one with me most of the time.
The powder horn is one that I made about 30 years ago from a small-ish  raw horn, obtained from a "buffalo rancher." When the sanding, scraping, and shaping were done, and the horn was assembled, I coated it with red-brown earth paint.  When dry, I buffed it with a burlap cloth, then gave it a coat of paste wax, also buffed with burlap. I like the reddish under-tones. It is the first --and only --powder horn I've ever made (and that probably shows). The plug is a commercial plug, purchased from Log Cabin Shop.  Spout is also from LCS, IIRC. Strap is finger-woven jute, green and tan, made by me.
The last pic is a priming horn purchased on ebay back when the items weren't so "dear" to the seller. It has a curly maple plug.  I installed the spring-loaded spout.  Thanks for looking --JB

[rich pierce]

Good looking kit there.

[Bob McBride]

Very nifty. First thing I’d do is go shoot about 40 shots so I could wipe my dirty hands all over it. Get that patina rolling.

[jbigley]

Very nifty. First thing I’d do is go shoot about 40 shots so I could wipe my dirty hands all over it. Get that patina rolling.

Harr!! Actually, it was constructed with "leftover" buckskin pieces, and has been used for way more than 40 shots.  The darker spots are dirt, and "slick" buckskin, (from grease and dirt).     Thanks for looking...and your comments. (thumbs up) -- JB

[old george]

Good looking rig and the river cane purpose is a great idea.

george

[DougS]

I agree, nice looking rig.

Great that you and wife are making your own gear.

You should be proud.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Doug

[Greg Pennell]

Good looking gear!  Making stuff is what really attracts me to the whole longrifle culture...seems like there’s always new projects to interrupt my plans...

Greg

[jbigley]

I agree, nice looking rig.

Great that you and wife are making your own gear.

You should be proud.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Doug

Thanks, Doug, Greg, Bob, George, Rich and all, for the kind words. My wife and I have been making our own gear for 35+ years.  We met when I was stationed in VA, (in a unit that got deployed at the "buzz" of a pager.  No cell phones in those days). In my off duty time, which was pretty rare, I taught outdoor and primitive skills at a local park--1,000+ acres of swamp, pines, and cane-lands--and she came to my first class. Our daughter introduced us that day. That was 1983.  We opened an outdoor school upon my retirement, and continued with our primitive skills classes. Up until a couple of years ago, we would braintan about 30 hides per year for classes and various projects.  One year, we had six pretty big mulie hides left over, and I wondered aloud,  What would we do with them? She replied, You know that coat you always wanted? Well, you guessed it, she sewed a copy of the Canadian Jacket shown on P. 4 of the Mountain Man's Sketchbook, Vol. 2. If there is any interest, I will post some pictures of it, and possibly other stuff we've made.
Maybe all this is TMI, so please accept my apology if this "dissertation" has bore-a$$ed you too much. But if you've gotten this far--Thanks for looking. --JB