"kit" bags

out of lack of something better to call these small bags I'm calling them "kit" bags as they're a perfect size for a fishing kit, gun-cleaning kit, sewing kit or just to carry some extra flints in your shooting pouch, 2"x4" in size made out of braintan deer, the darker one is dyed using walnuts/sumac & they have tin or brass cones with deer hair tassels on the thong & some white pound beads around the outside.

my first flintlock

I got into this hobby as a senior in high-school way back in 1984 & it wasn't long before I had my first smokepole in the form of a Traditions Pennsylvania longrifle in percussion, well, I thought I had the "real deal" but soon realized I wanted a shorter barrel to make it easier to hunt with so out went the Traditions & in came a T/C Renegade percussion, yep, that was the "real deal" for me...UNTIL, the first time I saw someone discharge a flintlock! PRAISE THE LORD! This was like a whole new revalation for me, I've GOT to get one of those!
Enter Curly Gostomski from North Star who I met in '85 at my first real rendezvous, the High Plains in central Nebraska. Well, what a guy & the coolest looking smoothbores I'd ever seen up to this point, the dropping of spare change started in a jar & well it was a couple years or so later I decided I needed to call Curly back about his trade guns. Now for those of you who havn't heard about Curly Gostomski & what he did for the modern day flintlock shooter in his days, you need to ask anyone who's been in this for a few years & hopefully they can set you straight, long story short he started making trade gun parts based on original trade guns that to this day hang in the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, NE

Well, I decided I wanted the Chief's Grade Trade Gun with a 30" barrel to negotiate from a horse & I needed a lefty as I'm a "Southpaw". Curly could set me up but he was way up there in years & having some health issues so he advised me to order the kit & have a reputable builder make it for me. DANG! I felt like it was going to be forever, who do I get to build this thing for me that I can trust for my first flintlock?

HMMM, I remember a guy I had met at our local muzzleloading convention over the past couple years whose handmade flintlocks really stood out, even though they were mostly "those longrifles from back east & an earlier time period" I'll give him a call. Enter Larry Cruise from St. Edward, NE, very talented builder & now proud to say a good friend & fellow Contempoary Longrifle Assoc. member.

Larry Cruise built this up for me way back then in a timely manner & treated me like a friend from the start & I couldn't be more pleased about my "first flintlock" I've used this gun for years in the woods, mostly for quail & rabbits, it's yet to take a deer because another fine Larry Cruise built longrifle took that duty over just a few years after I got this one (I'll save that for a future post) Anyways, it's been a joy to carry, shoot & hunt with this gun & I'd like to thank ol' Curly (RIP my friend) & Larry who's still making some of the finest flintlocks I've had the pleasure of handling/shooting.

Some "edged" tools

My dad collects knives of all kinds & I guess I have a weak spot for edged tools or "weapons" as I seem to have my fair share of them also. these are some cherished hawks/axes that I have, the first one is basically a "skull splitter" known as a spike hawk, it could be used to split kindling but pretty impractical for that.

The middle is my "go to" axe that is kind of like having a swiss army knife along & I keep this baby honed as sharp as possible. A couple years ago my oldest son shot a nice white-tailed buck & ironically between both of us we had no knife, not even a pocket knife (I know, that's just wrong!) I did however have this axe along & it was sharp enough that we did the entire field dressing of the deer with it, sure a lot handier splitting the sternum & pelvis with this than a pocket knife. This & the spike hawk were made by the talented blacksmith Joe DelaRonde, last I heard he was living in Mancos, CO.

Now the third one I've had for I guess around 21 years as I think my wife got it for me for Christmas the first year we were married. It is a Ft. Meigs style head from George Ainslie from Lavina, MT & it came without the handle for $45. He's selling them today WITH a handle for $160! AHHH...Inflation I guess, anyways, for a handcrafted, handforged item that is useful as well as a work of art it's still a small price to pay in my book.

This is my "go to" axe from Joe in a sheath with a shoulder strap that I made for it to carry when in the woods.

Copper powder horn funnels

Somewhere I saw these, not sure if there is any actual documentation for them but Jim Webb's book shows some out of leather & cow horn that were used to fill the powder horn. Anyways, not wanting to spend $20 on one but thinking I "wanted" one (you know how "wants" are vs. "needs") I knocked these 2 out today in an hour or so out of some scrap copper pipe & a couple of finishing nails for the hoops, the one on the left is the size of a quarter & the right one is more half dollar size. They have just enough dish to them to make them work to fill a powder horn & I believe I'll make more to have on hand for my trade blanket for future events.