For The Love Of Contemporary

Ian Pratt Knives

drop point knife with the elk antler handle

This rifleman's knife features primitive styling and a well used overall appearance . Nicely slim with a carefully tempered, hand forged 7" long spring steel blade, a rustic poured pewter collar, and a whitetail crown end antler handle. Just under 11 1/2" over all length.

Copy and photos supplied by Ian Pratt.

Items in the Williamsburg Dewitt Museum

Doglock

England, ca. 1650

Iron/steel

A new form of flintlock was developed early in the seventeenth century. In this design, the steel and the pan cover were combined into one piece. Many variations in the mechanical details of these locks occurred over the next half-century in an ongoing effort to make them stronger, faster, safer, more convenient, and less expensive. While the snaphaunce form of lock continued to be favored by Spanish and Italian gunsmiths, Northern Europeans adopted this new lock type almost exclusively.

"Dog" refers to the small catch used to hold the cock in a safety position. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, locks with this mechanism generally were called "ketch (catch) locks".

Advantages:

Self-igniting

Could be made relatively weatherproof

Fast ignition

Relatively simple mechanism

Quick to cock

Photos supplied by Ken Gahagan.

Appalachian Style Powder Horns by Jeff Bibb

Small flat Southern Appalachian horn with moon folk art. About 8″ around the slight curve. American chestnut base plug, shaped to horn base.

Small Southern Appalachian squirrel rifle horn. About 8 – 9″ around the curve. Narrow grain pine base plug. Forged nail strap attachment.

Typical Southern Appalachian mountain horn. About 12″ around the curve. Carved, tapered spout. Turned fir base plug with 3 rings. Iron pins, flattened staple.

Copy and photos supplied by Jeff Bibb.

1750 to 1775 era New England Pistol by Eric Kettenburg

.54 caliber smoothbore, 8 1/4" octagon-to-round barrel,

walnut, brass, well aged antique patina finish

Copy and photo supplied by Track of the Wolf.

Hunting Pouch by Harry Hawthorne with a Mike Small Powder Horn and a Kris Polozzi Woven Strap

Here are some photos of my latest hunting bag. I have been wanting to make a fur bag for a while now and found a few nice rabbit pelts at a local Tandy store. The leather parts of the bag are made of double milled, veg tan leather, 5-6 weight. The double milling process gives the leather a nice texture. The rabbit fur is glued to the leather on the front side of the bag. Then the bag was sewn inside out with a welt and soaked to get it right side out. I had to dye all of the leather ahead of time to keep the dye off of the fur after it was glued. An interesting side note to the soaking process was that some of the dye leached off of the leather and gave the rabbit fur a nicer brown tone. The bag measures about 10” square with 1” strap and a brass buckle.

I had an old skinner knife from the early ‘80s that was made out of a leaf spring by Tom Morgan. It’s a great knife with excellent steel, and I decided to put on the bag even though it knife isn’t really a colonial design. Since I plan to use this bag to hunt whitetail this fall it seemed practical.

I pondered about something to stitch on the flap for a week or so, initially thinking a rabbit silhouette or just a decorative flourish, I finally decided to do my initials, however, I’m not totally satisfied that it was the right decision.

I finished off the bag with an antiqued brass button, a D-ring for powder measure and vent pick, and a good rubdown with waterproofing.

The horn is my favorite Mike Small design and I wanted to accent the rig with the perfect strap. I sent pictures to Kris Polozzi and had her make a 7/8” strap to match the bag and horn. I think she made a perfect match for the bag. I then made a few soldered brass rings and sewed on the matching leather ends to complete the strap. A few pieces of buckskin lace finished off the rig.

I am working on a 70 grain antler measure now for the bag. This was a very enjoyable bag to make and I hope to harvest a few whitetails for the freezer this year using this bag.