Spurs, Straps, and Fitting

[dangerranger]

Christmas brought me a new pr of spurs. they are heavy.they have a very wide and thick band, made of stainlessteel[ I think]. All of the spurs Ive worn before were of a much thinner material, so that I could just shape them to fitt the heel of my boot. they also all had a slight ridge along the bottom that fit into the space where the upper and the sole of my boot join. I dont often wear spurs so the advise of those that do would be apreciated. I tryed to bend them into closer contact with the boot, but short of a hammer and vise I dont think its going to work. without the ridge will I have to wear a tie down to keep them in place? And last but not least, being much heavier will I have to use a heavy strap? like the dove wing or bib style? thanks in advance. DR.

[St. George]

You can fit them by squeezing them in a padded vise - just go slow and try them to your boots often and the fit should be fine.

As to the straps - a Dove Wing is a great choice.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Sheriff A.E. Moses]

St George told ya right......
Quality spurs need to be fitted to the boot, but will retain that fit always......although they are heavier than the cheapies, they have a better balance and infact will help you pace your steps with more ease.....
Good Luck....

[Carlos Murphy]

And if yer spur shelf don't work right, any competent cobbler can fix em. 

I had spur shelves put on a pair of my boots that didn't have em cause I ware Mexican's with wide heel bands.

[litl rooster]

Personally I just take a striking hammer to mine over the horn of my shoer's anvil..(I pay him enuff to shoe, he don't mind me using his tools) In yer case a ball peen and anvil will work. One of the others said try them often, just go at them a little at a time. Short of heel chains, those rubber tye downs are a pain and normally don't work well. St George and some of the others probably give the history of heel vhains, but they are modern cowboy. As far as dovewings or heavier straps, it's personal taste, and style of spur.

[GunClick Rick]

Hey Dangerranger just get ya some fort frontier tall boots with shelf built on,i love mine.How ya been cowdude?

[dangerranger]

I was finally able to bend them in the vise and hyd press, [ alot of pressure!]  they seem to stay in place with out the spur rail once they were fitted and I put a tiedown on. Ive got one done without scratching them up[ they have some nice engraving on them.] as hard as they are Im shure glad I wasnt the one engraving them!Thanks for the help folks! DR.

[Delmonico]

My understanding is that the spur chains camabout because of the points in rodeo.  You don't get good points if you spurs ain't down where they need to be on a wild ride.

[St. George]

Spur chains actually go back to 'the Days of Old, When Knights Were Bold' - and were made of brass or iron.

Cowboys liked 'em because of the 'music' - just as they liked the jingle-bobs - since it'd advertise their presence in town...

Matter of fact - they'd often loosen their straps to the last hole to accentuate the noise - and that hole was called the 'town hole'.

If you're ever looking to replace a set of broken chains - the style of chain most commonly used is 'Single-Jack - Doubled'.

The problem being that you have to find an 'old' Hardware store that may still have some in the back.

Other styles 'do' work - but this was most common.

It looks like a Figure-Eight - twisted a quarter-turn and doubled back on itself.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[dangerranger]

St George That chain can be had at tack stores , its used on english bridles as a chin strap. by twisting it one link at a time you can make very precise changes in the length.DR.

[St. George]

As luck would have it - I'm headed to a tack store on Tuesday.

I'll check it out.

Thanks,

Scouts Out!

[Russ McCrae]

Blast from the past I know but how do you gauge the length of chain needed for the heel chain? I'm guessing it don't need to be too tight or too long?

[St. George]

There's nothing hard and fast - you should have enough length when attached to the spurs so that the spurs and chains fit over the heel, then they snug up with the leathers.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Russ McCrae]

That's what I thought, I'm buying some spurs without chains and I want to add some too them. I'll make sure to get extra!

[Bonnie_blue1861]

I acquired a few lengths of correct looking spur chain a while back, that I have cut to the exact length I wanted based on the boots themselves and spurs I added them to. 

It was either the Hope Depot or Lowe's that had the correct figure 8 style chain. (cant remember which anymore)

They just cut it to whatever length you want.  I was surprised to see they carried it in both a plain steel chain (that will rust) or a steel chain that has a flat black finish to it.

[St. George]

The correct style of chain - 'Single-Jack - Doubled' - is what you want - but finding it in the right thickness is the difficult part.

You can find stuff that 'looks' right - but in order to find chain that 'is' right - you need to find a much older hardware store than a Lowe's or a Menard's or a Home Depot, and as mentioned above a tack store just may well be the place to be looking.

The original chain on all of my period spurs is made of a somewhat thick brass.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Bonnie_blue1861]

It would be really nice to stumble upon some old "correct" brass chain. The chain I found, looks good, but its still far from correct. Maybe you could find proper looking chain at antique/flea type markets. Who knows what you can stumble upon at one of those kind of places.

[litl rooster]

You might try Jerimaih Jeremiah Watts productions or one of his distributers. For heel chains or spurs needs

[Russ McCrae]

See I'd rather have a steel or stainless steel kind too have a sliver look. Never liked brass except bullets 

[St. George]

The brass chain darkens fast when worn - especially if the varnish (or whatever) is scrubbed off.

The big thing is the thickness of the chain - no matter what metal you decide upon - too thin, and it looks unsubstantial and cheesy.

The thicker chain found on originals gives the spurs a balance.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!