Packing Iron

[ZVP]

 What a book!
I am new to the sport/hobby and after reading 1/3 of the book I realized how little I knew about the old west and it's leather!
What an education this book will give ya.
This book is a "Must Read" for every shooter!
ZVP

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I drool all over it now and then, too. It's good inspiration for ideas when making a new rig.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Best book, well most looked at, book I own. Ideas galore in there!! 

[Buffler Razz]

My copy is due to arrive tomorrow and I feel like a kid on the night before Christmas. I'm new to CAs and have been trying to decide what leather I want for my guns. After hearing about Packing Iron I figured I need a copy for my library.
Buffler Razz

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  You pards, are getting one of the best if not the best book on western gun leather ever printed, I refer to my copy as my Bible for gun leather, this book will give you a true picture of what was actually used in those days, and if you have thoughts of making your own gun leather this is where to look for ideas," Packing Iron " is the book that I use most, and it gets lots of use, it's not a book where you read it once and put away, you will be coming back to it often.

                   Regards, you made a great choice in getting yourselves started


                                  tEN wOLVES 

[daddyeaux]

Well, I got a sewing machine coming, now I gotta buy a book? Did I do this backwards. A friend of mine that owns Black Gold Guns showed me a Colt Single Action 45 that he purchased, original in the 1800s. It was in great condition, beautiful gun.

[Cliff Fendley]

Yes, kinda backwards because if you want to make them period like the old ones in the book then you wont use a modern sewing machine. You will stitch by hand or use a needle and awl stitching machine with linen thread. I have a machine coming too but wont be using it on anything I want 19th century correct. Someday I hope to be able to get a needle and awl stitching machine, it would be great on belts but a holster doesn't take that long to sew by hand and I would be hand stitching the toe plugs anyway.

[Boothill Bob]

I agree with Cliff. I want a machine for my lined belts, then I can cut the time from three hours to 10 minutes. Does anyone have experience of the Tippman?

[outrider]

Cliff,

If you look closely at the cover of Packing iron...you will see that the holster was machine sewn....the sewing machine was in use by alot of the older saddlery's in the 1800's....after all the sewing machine was delveloped in the 1850's  so it would be period correct to use a sewing machine  

[Skeeter Lewis]

What Outrider said. I would guess most saddleries used treadle-operated sewing machines  by the 1880s, maybe before....

[Cliff Fendley]

That's why I said I would like to have a needle and awl stitching machine. I asked Steve if there was a way and he said no to stitching with linen thread and besides you can tell the difference in the stitching done with an awl feed stitcher and a modern walking foot machine.

The older ones in Packing Iron were done as Skeeter said not on a modern style sewing machine. You can see later b western and hollywood rigs in the book that appear to be done on a modern style machine. I've studied all I can find in person and every 19th century piece I've studied was hand stitched or done on an awl feed machine with waxed linen. Most of the Meanea stuff was machine sewn main seem and the plug appeared to be hand sewn as the one on the cover of Packing Iron. Notice the top of the main seem. I've talked with Vernon Weaver about setting me up with a Union Lockstitch and he told me you can't back stitch in the same holes with the awl feed machine is why they have the back stitch beside the main stitch as on the cover of packing iron. I felt like I should get familiar with a modern machine first and would have more use for it. Vernon said he wanted me to come up and spend a day with him when I get a Union Lockstitch so he can show me all about it.

I suppose most of those old holsters were sewn on a Campbell type machine. I'm not sure what else was available then and I've been told those machines were not for sale but leased. I believe that machine came out in 1882 or so.

[Cliff Fendley]

Bob, I talked with a fellow a while back who had a Boss and he said he had gotten by with sewing some linen thread with it. He and his wife do re enactment pieces for Scottish events and since has gotten a different machine.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

   Outrider is right on, sewing machines were used by most of the bigger saddlers, the problem for the goods that were sewn back then was the thread, the thread wasn't the quality we use today, and was very thin and would tend to break and fray, if you look in Packing Iron, at the stitches, on most the gun leather pictured, you can see just how thin the thread is, some saddlers did use better thread, but it wasn't the rule, the thread was almost the same as thread used to sew fabric/clothing, toe plugs were sewn by hand that I can see, and some were not will done, the thread used today in the modern sewing machine is very hardy, but I still prefer the linen thread, and do all my sewing by hand, but there will come a day that I will have to switch over to the machine, just because of my hands, the jury is still out on that, but Packing Iron gives us all this information and the pictures tell the story.

         tEN wOLVES  

[Cliff Fendley]

You can sew them with linen thread on a machine, problem is getting the right type machine like they used in the day. The original holsters also had very close threads. You can't even appreciate it looking at the book. The threads are very close and close to the edge and look very delicate compared to what we produce today. The Meanea work I own is 8 threads per inch and sewn with an awl machine with 5 cord linen thread.

I looked at a Moran holster at the last gun show and the stitching on the toe plug is so close on the inside turn I couldn't see how the did it without pulling their hair out. It makes you appreciate the pride they took in their work. To do this you would need a tiny awl and needles. I strive to make mine correct but this is one area that it is hard to duplicate and still make a durable piece that will hold up to the rigors of CAS.

Many of the original holsters I see(in fact most) have had repairs done or are ripped out in the seems. The ones you see in Packing Iron are some of the nicer ones in collections. The holster on the cover of the book is actually missing it's toe plug and you can see some of the thread missing around the toe. I have a set of Meanea saddle bags with a torn seem about an inch long but otherwise the thread is good. I could carefully repair it but I plan to just leave them as they are.

[ChuckBurrows]

As noted much older gun leather was sewn with a machine, especially by the larger makers who were most often small factories with lots of different powered tools. Although the first practical sewing machine was developed in 1849, their use on harness and gun leather was minimal until the 1880's when the needle and awl machines were developed and even then it was limited to a point and some handsewing such as toe plugs was still required.
As for the thinner thread, etc. most broken threads on older stuff is due to them using the cheaper cotton thread which was easier to spin smoothly and was less expensive. Good quality linen and hemp thread has much less breakage even in the thinner sizes and such high quality thread has been machine made since the 1700's - Barbour's started up in the 1780's.
Another thing to remember is that pre-1900 makers were very proud of their sewing and often used 8-12 SPI with three cord thread (often 25/3 instead of the thicker 18/3 size) rather than the more common thick thread at 5-6 SPI used today - done right it wears well and is just as strong as the thicker wider stitched stuff.

Along with Packing Iron get the Zon Publishing companion book "Cowboys and Trappings of the Old West".
In addition while the normal resources such as Packing Iron and Cowboys & Trappings of the Old West are very valuable, they represent actually a quite small database to work from. To add to one's documentation, look not only at the photos of the period - offered in many different books and from different areas - but also museums and their websites, auction house websites and catalogs, magazine articles, and even private collections can often be viewed when asked politely - Rick Bachman aka Buck Stinson for instance has a collection of several thousand pieces and the Gunfighters and Cowboys Museum in Colorado was once a private collection. Also keep on top of the current offerings, join the Nat'l Cowboy Hall of Fame for  and again keep an eye on western auction sites such as Cowans, Greg Martin, Butterfields, and Gary Hendershott as well as antique cowboy gear sites.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

   Great information Chuck, thanks for letting us know about this and sharing.

         tEN wOLVES 

[Pappy Hayes]

I have been trying to save up the money to purchase mine. I have Guns of the American West and Metallic Cartridge Conversions by Dennis Adler and I look at them all the time. Packing Iron will be the same probably more.