Jeremiah Watt

Oh, it’s been done for awhile and I just have not had the time to get part two written. It’s a special thing for a special guy, my brother, my kids Uncle.

We gott’a have hero’s in life, and he is one of those for me. Always able, always there and always ready with advise when and if it’s asked for. That same brother who sends me his son Walker, to grace my home and saddle shop for months on end, like his father, he also is a remarkable fellow. But enough of the reasons behind going out on a limb with this project, lets talk about the reason somebody would engrave a hand plane in this first place.

It all started as somewhat of a joke on my part but has since backfired in a most resounding way. It was meant to be something akin to the “Last Spike” when the railroad crossed America and arrived on the west coast. You see my brother and his wife had a house fire some 5 years ago that done a huge amount of damage to the original house. For several months the raging debate was, do we rebuild the original, or demolish and commence anew. Well, my brother in his typical fashion decided to just do it himself…….you know, the entire rebuild from the original. And in his typical fashion said the heck with an overpaid Architect etc, he will just design it the way he and his wife would like it to be. It is often said that projects just seem to grow, soon enough they take on a life of their own. This one certainly has done all of that and more. What started as a fairly simple re-model, has grown into a house of better than twice its original size. The white limestone rock that faces the exterior was hauled from Texas, while the Long Leaf wide plank living room floor was drayed in from east Texas. The entire kitchen is done in gorgeous Mesquite, also from Texas, just stunning. The open beam ceiling done in huge Douglas Fir timbers brought in from British Columbia. Proper timber frame construction with knee joints, motise and tenons, scarf's, the entire job has been hand pegged.........not a bolt on the outfit. The ceiling of all the open beam areas was done in Hickory brought in from Tennessee. Rock was used extensively inside the house as well as outside, the floors are all done in Spanish Saltillo tile’s………and my brother done it all. Oh, yes his kids have all helped, it would be unfair to say he done it entirely himself……..but he done it. And in doing so has proved quite a few folks to be wrong yet one more time.

So this hand plane is a momento to my brother, my brother's Last Spike! The house that strated as a burned shell some five years ago, is now nearly done…………..and just in time too as it will bear witness to my brother's first and oldest daughters wedding which will be held in the house my brother Neil built!

So what is it about the hand plane that makes it different for me apart for the reason behind the engraving of it for my brother? Well, as many of you know I am not a steel engraver………no really, I find it very intimidating and painstakingly slow to execute. Thanks, but I will stick with the silver instead.

With this job I wanted to do something that would challenge me, it may be easy for you, but a challenge for me. I single pointed almost all the design, then I removed back ground and made a stipple tool to work the backgrounds down. After all that I had to re-cut most of the edges to get them to appear to be standing up like I wanted. Once I had that stage done I could go in and do the shade cuts to give it some life and expression. From there it was a simple matter of adding a little flat black paint over the surface and then wipe it with the palm to remove the excess.

For me, that was a wrap and I could then find a way to get the item to my brother up in Canada. For most of you reading this Blog, you only now get to see the final finished item. I hope you enjoy the work………and I assure you, I will never venture into the gun engraving arena.

Be well and be Blessed……….better yet, be a Blessing
Jeremiah

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Please PRICE ME!

Let me assure you that no matter what you may think about your inability to calculate a proper price for your handmade item…………you are not alone. Psst, the boat is quite full……….make sure you grab a life jacket while you can.

Secondly, I should as a matter of honesty, tell you that I am but a messenger here and not the Mastermind behind the calculations we will discuss. The concept for this blog article is based in a pricing formula that I received from a friend in Canada. I have a good friend up there by the name of Dave Elliott, he is maybe the leading Bit and Spur Maker in Canada. Dave is a talented craftsman, who knows how to make the best use of his time, taking advantage of every time saving opportunity that comes his way without ever compromising his desire for quality workmanship. For those of you who are aspiring students, I suggest you take time to look Dave’s work up. For those of you who are building collections, then by all means your time will be well spent in finding Dave and Louise Elliott up in Granum, Alberta.Canada at 403-687-3000.

Now, lets get to the third part of this literary revelation, that being the realization of a need for an article such as this, one that revolves around product pricing and being smart about it. I recently attended the GRS -Gathering of the Grand Masters held in Emporia, Kansas back in October of 07. May I first make a strong recommendation to all my faithful friends out there, that YOU also would do well to attend this weekend engravers seminar. I had such a great time, and so much was learned and shared by those who attended. But, more to the point however, was the meeting held for those who attended, over coffee and doughnuts in the GRS Training Center Meeting Room. Not some pretentious affair, just a loose knit group of folks who engrave at differing abilities on items as diverse as knives, guns, coins and cowboy gear. The meeting took in a wide range of topics for some two and a half hours, but the three most heavily discussed where #1-Pricing, #2-Photography, and lastly was a web presence of some form. Yes, even the most masterful of the engravers struggle with proper pricing. Just sitting in on this meeting and hearing the points of concern from men and women who share a desire to be paid for their hard work, and too know that they are in no different business shape than my saddle making friends or my Bit & Spur making friends. In truth, it was this realization that was the impetus for writing this blog article. I hope you enjoy it, and if it happens to somehow offend you………..well, I will apologise now for that but encourage you to read on and see if you can find some truth I the words shared here.

Lets be blunt here since we’re all somewhat friends, can we take the whole phrase of “FAIR PRICE” and toss it out the window onto the scrap pile of real backwards thinking. Since when has the local auto repair shop asked around to see what local cowboy wages are ?? Since when have you walked in to buy the hard pressed ranch wife a new Fridge, and had the Big Box Store salesman say………..”now lets see if we can’t find a FAIR PRICE for you since you work on a ranch at the end of a gravel road with a generator and carry the water to the house from an outside well…………surely to goodness there must be a special fair price somewhere in this book”??? Ah ha…………didn’t ’think so!

Fair Price has to give way to PROPER PRICE, by that I mean a price that allows shop profitability to you as a craftsmen, meaning something you can put in the Bank, enough to pay the bills for power and silver etc, and maybe even print a small catalog or flyer, buy an ad in the Western Horseman etc. Move forward at being in business. Another point about our pricing is that many of us end up placing items in local stores on consignment, or maybe in Galleries, but our pricing is structured so that the entire drop in product price comes directly out of our pocket. Maybe it would be better if we thought ahead and priced our items so that we had the room to negotiate and still leave ample room for profit to you, what do you think?
So, let’s walk thru this process. I first have to tell you that you DO NOT NEED to be an accountant to make this work, however it does help if the IQ is a little higher than a fence post. If you flat hate to keep track of any thing in your shop, including the materials, the time and the amount of rain or when you turned your Bulls out…………..well buddy, we will Pray for you.
THE BASICS REQUIRED ARE-
TIME- you have to have a somewhat accurate assessment of time. Not a guess as you have in the past. It would be better if you took the time to get a little more structured assessment of time. I am a bit of a fanatic about this portion and do it by the minute and second…………….yes, yes, a bit anal but I have employees and want to know as close as possible where my shop time is spent.
MATERIALS- this is maybe the simplest to track since a bill for silver is fairly easy to calculate and track in a per square inch format. Don’t forget you also have steel and welding supplies etc. There is a portion of the phone bill, maybe a little for shop heat etc. There is no need to make the accounting of this portion to demanding.
LABOUR RATE- what are you worth per hour. This may be the very hardest part of this entire calculation but oh so necessary to move forward. Please stop and think, the bricklayer or plumber do not come and ask you what they should charge for their time. I will end it there, because I could be accused of leading you to making an assessment in regards to labour charges.

LETS PUT THIS TOO WORK FOR US, Once you decide on this Labour rate you must Multiply you hourly rate by .6 twice or two times. For example: If you are worth $40.00/hour then ($40.00 x .6= $24 x .6 =$14.40.
Next step, use this labour rate in the following equation:
Materials $______
Hours x Adjusted Labour Rate $______
Total ________
Total divide by .6= $______ this gives you a wholesale price
(.6 gives you a 40% margin)

Total divide by .6= $______this gives you a retail price.

Here is an example:
Materials Cost $ 20.00
Hours 15 x $14.40 $216.00
Total = $236.00

Total of $236.00 divided by .6 =$393.33 this gives you a wholesale price
Total of $393.33 divided by .6 again =$655.55 this gives you retail price.

Of course the final judgment is also to look at the existing market and compare your price with what the market can bear as well. If your final price comes in a long ways over what you think the current market price is there are a few places you can begin to look. For instance your assessment of actual time may be a long ways from accurate. Lets assume that your portrayal of construction time is accurate, here is where it may become rather offensive to some of you. It may well be that you are doing things in a rather archaic manner, not taking advantage of time saving steps that are available to all but the most remote ranches in USA today. Lastly if your impression of current market price is based in what others who are also underpaid may be getting for the same type of work in your area………..then may I suggest a general meeting at the local coffee shop and the immediate formation of the Texas Concho Constructors Cartel or TCCC as it will be known. And lets hope that your first chapter President does not stutter, or it just mmm-may never ggg-get off-fff the ground!
This may not be the manner in which Google or Microsoft develope the pricing of product, but it beats the heck out of a coin toss or stab in the dark pricing. And remember that bringing the lowest of our prices up does more for our industry than forcing the highest priced work down. There are after all, a limited number of seats at any SOUP KITCHEN.

Again my thanks go out to Dave Elliott. I have bragged about Dave and his work as a Bit & Spur maker as well as an accomplished silversmith……………but there is an attribute to Dave’s character that is even more endearing to me. Dave is the best darned “Pie Smith” that you have ever met. My wife’s pies stopped our dog from begging at the supper table………….Dave’s could be the cure to world peace they are just that good. They are the only pies that I would put on a par with the pies I ate at Frannies on my bike ride.
Hey good night and God Bless you all, I hope you read and enjoy it.

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 7:05 PM | Permalink

WRCA Finals- and GRS booth

I had the chance to visit with many of you while in attendance of the WRCA Finals over in Amarillo Texas back in November 07. My family the wife Colleen and both kids, ran a booth for JWP and WBS over in one building, while I worked as a demonstrator for the GRS Company of Emporia, Kansas over in another building.
I was assisted in this engraving endeavor by the affable and able Aaron McMicheal who works in sales with GRS. I have never sat in front of folks and demonstrated engraving, not that it was any sort of a problem, but you do get a different feeling when sitting and engraving like I was. I got that “Panda in a Zoo” feeling.

It was a great Show all in all, the ranch cowboys were as you would suppose, the star attraction. We had the opportunity to take in one night of the Rodeo events, and there were sure enough some very talented cowboys present.
Apart from the Rodeo itself, there were a multitude of cowboy gear vendors and gear makers. They came out of the Gramma grass covered plains, and out of the pinion pine hills of the south to show their handmade wares. There was a treasure chest full of silver mounted bits and spurs, and a couple of wagon loads of handmade saddles, with enough braided rawhide around to tie the whole load down if you should need it. If anyone couldn’t find something they liked in Amarillo at the WRCA Finals, then they needed glasses or a thicker wallet.
As for myself, I had a great time. I engraved 2 pair of sterling silver bit cheeks while at the Show, along with two different bracelets. So for me it was entirely productive. I not only got some work done, but I also had time to meet and greet many of you. We had the chance to let folks sit down and try their hand at engraving, and in turn some may also be interested in attending one of my engraving classes coming up this year in Emporia. My classes are to be held in April 21st-25th, and September 15th-19th. If you happen to be interested then by all means call GRS at 800-835-3519.

But maybe the neatest of all, was meeting those fine polite children that ranch families seem to still be able to raise. I was very impressed by the interest and intellect of the youngsters I met over in Amarillo. My hat is off to all of you who have taken time to instill the values and aspirations of America in yet one more generation of American kids.
Good Night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 4:50 PM | Permalink

To say that the LOrd has Blessed my life in many wonderfull ways..............is well, and understatment. I mean from my wife to my kids, to great clients, to the place I get to live and the places I have had the chance to see. These are Blessings to me, and incase you are wondering or maybe you noticed, that I didn't mention money in all this............well, because to me money is a very fleeting thing. Certainly it is needed to get by in life, but how high the stack is not the best way to count our Blessings. Hard to put a value on the things in life that really matter, have you ever noticed.

Over the years I have had the chance to teach and share what I know, okay okay, I will admit it may not be much. The teaching and sharing have given me one very discernable Blessing. That is FRIENDS, wouldn't consider trading one good friend for a new Belt Grinder, and certainly wouldn't swap even one for a thick stack of cash. I like to think that most of us within the cowboy culture would fell the same, maybe that is why the cowboy culture is so rich in character..................and when we have a gather we show up in pickup's not Maserati's.

I recieved a very nice email tonight from a fellow in Texas. Maybe it was just an opertune time to recieve the email, funny how God knows when you need to hear some good news.

-Amongst Friends
it started along time ago, bout 30 years
at a shop on a ranch, cause a town wasn't near
wanted a new bit, but the price was outa sight
so he worked, hammered and filed, till late at night

that was the first one, and now thousands more
God gave him a gift, and that first one opened the door
with a love for God first, and his family always
in this perspective, he followed the way

on to saddles, videos and tools
tig welder now, and his bonny doon
band saw and grinder, a mill and lathe
building a legend, ain't that the cowboy way

just one bit, got the whole thing rolling
but by going ahead, he made quite a showing
from the ranch to arena, the work is put to the test
striving always, to do his personal best

to further the art, and what it means
helping other artists to follow their dreams
good luck cowboy, may your days be blessed
out there in california, which is way out west

tommy d
livingston, texas
august 29. 2007
4:30 pm

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now step outside any Bar, or outside of any Wal-MArt and claim you have $300.00 to give away for free....................any your likley to get trampled before you can reach for your wallet.

Shhhhhhh...................I said quiet out there................can't ya see I am listnen. I ain't heard a footstep yet so maybe I am safe. Now a modern save the planet multi-culturalist would say that cowboys haven't responded because they're DEAF from shooting thier guns off all the time. BUt being a grass eating cowboy, I know different. Its cause ya can't read that I ain't bean trampled yet.

Well, since I ain't being flocked by takers for the free $300.00 dollars, maybe I can take a little time to flesh out the details of what we have come up with. How many of you have kids, or had kids before ya took the worst one down to the local Taxidermist. Well remember those books that all kids had called "Find Waldo" this character that was hidden someplace on every page. We are going to try something along that line with our trip to Ireland/Scotland/England. We are going to blog SOME, while traveling so that you also can come along and enjoy seeing what we will have the chance to see. I will take my new camera and my 9mm just in case I run into a Librarian...................I am kidding, I dont really have a new camera.
So, we will take pics, and when we have time driving from place to place, we will try to post something say every 2-3 days. Of course there will be text to explain what we saw, and pictures to create more interest to the blog post. Well, within one of the pictures that gets posted, JEREMIAH will be hiding/hard to spot etc. AND YOU need to find each of the pictures with me hidden in it someplace, write down the corresponding number to the picture posted and keep a running log of each blog picture. Then after we are home each interested contestant will send in his entry, and the winner will be the one I choose.................no, excuse me, the winner will be the one whom gets the most hidden JW pics right. There is only ONE winner of the $300.00, and you have your choice of $300.00 dollars of any merchandise that we make or sell, be that JWP, HSBT, WBS saddle deposit, JW Custom Saddle deposit. In the case of a tie, we will flip a coin and shoot the loser. Okay a bit harsh I agree, then how about we ask skill testing questions.................like whats your favorite kind of pie etc. We will think of something.
You can invite your friends to participate, the more the merrier I guess, be sure to stay in touch by going to my regular web site at www.ranch2arena.com since more details may get posted there before we leave next Wednesday. Oh, and by the way, dont be shy, you can Pray we have a safe trip, London just had a heck of a bomb scare this eve.
Let me know if you are interested, otherwise I may just take the 300 and blow it myself some place in the UK.
Good night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I know that some of you probably think that JW parks it at 3:30 and has high-ball and watches tv out on the deck in the evening breeze that wafts in off the mighty blue Pacific. Well almost, but it is usually about 2:30 in the AM. And since I quit drinkin and I am a total bore if I am away from my work...........most folks in Coalinga dont even know my wife has husband..........thats how often I leave home for purely social occassions.

We have been working as of late, trying in vain I think to build a little inventory going into the fall Show season. It just seems that as soon as something is done, a truck drives in and takes away what ever it was that was made up as extra. I am convinced I
need to keep my gate locked.

Since most of our travels takes us to places where folks are looking for that california style work, that is of course the sort of work we produce. Makes sense right, when in Rome do what the English do.................right?
Given that logic, I have to say how much I was caught off guard this last January when I attended the Trappings Show in Alpine Texas. Which by the way all of you should take in at least once, it is a great show. While I was there, I seen plenty of really nice work, but there were 3 makers of bits and spurs that really blew my socks off. Now what surprised me the most was the fact that all 3 of these fella's is a Texas maker. but they brought the cleanest versions of California Spurs that you have seen........and they were from Texas! Let me share there names with you folks, becasue I just know that some of you reading this blog would just love to buy a new bit, and anyone of these threefellas can do remarkable work, believe me. These are not placed in any certain order, just the way they had been written in my little book is all. So here goes, Russell Yates of Paducah Texas, Matt Humphreys of Lubbuck Texas, and Jerry Falkner of Fort Davis Texas. Sorry folks, I do not have there permission to be giving out an phone numbers and what not, so you will have to do a little digging and calling to get the rest.

Anyways, I just finished riding about 35 miles at a gruelling pace of about 15 MPH, the wind about blew my top knot off and it was a real chore to make the ride. So while Mom's in shopping, I sit here sweating away on the keyboard of my laptop. You see this is sort of an experiment tonite, testing the new gear before we head out for the month of July to Ireland/Scotland and England with the kids for a little fun. I plan on doing a few blogs while I am over the pond, and was hoping to show all of you a tad wee bit of what we have seen while beetling about.
I built 4 full Spades during the months of April/May, along with 7 pair of silver mount spurs. That is a lot more than I normally allow time for. That plus 3 sets of saddle silver, and the saddles that go with the silver will keep ya humped up in the corner working. I show you here a few items that we felt photgraphed quite well. These are not our normal work, since there is more single point cutting here. I taught a class on engraving back in Emporia with the good folks at GRS. While there I had the chance to meet a phenominal engraver by the name of Sam Alfano, I can hardly wait to find time to take a class from him. Anyways, Sam,s single point work is stunning and was the inspiration for me to come home and work a little harder in that area of my engraving.
The Santa Barbara Spade has Floral spanish Spade top, and the cheeks are fully striped. The silver is hard soldered sections,some single point cutting and then the oxidized engraving. We do more of our silver work in the Highland Grey than in the traditional hot gun blue. This cheek style is called a Riata when you look at our web site. The other bit shown is built on what we call a Freno Cheek, also quite popular around our shop with the customers. Well, looks like my blogging is over for now, Mom is out with the groceries...................boy howdy, look at that pile of Carrot Sticks she bought.........................., if that ain't the curse of being a chub'o .
Good night and GOD BLESS

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

4952 cuts later,

What comes after 4952 cuts you ask, well a set of conchos and a pair of stirrup bolts for a quite nice Watt Bros. Stock Saddle, that is what you get. We are building the saddle to take to a Show in the not far off future, and I wanted to do something just a little different and I choose the traditional Spinich ….er, oops Spanish Mission window style as my opening shape.
The windows are a mix of round and square placed together, creating what may seem like a 4 point Star, with scalloped edges and a square viewing pane at the center. It’s a “Way Cool” shape as we say out west by the bunkhouses on every ranch when Dad ain’t close enough to hear us.

I choose to cut a border around the squares of each Concho, and a central flower much like is done on a fine shotgun from Italy………….sorry you Italians if ya happen to be reading, hope I don’t insult any real engravers out there. The work I see being done on guns these days is just mind boggling, this is my version. And even if I done my best to copy it exactly, it still looks like crayon work next to their work.

The two stirrup bolts, since they have a closed top dome, then they need a fuller pattern, this the floral rosette cutting form. The string concho’s are slotted, so we laid a wreath of leaves around the edge of the dome and made all the rest the very same as the first two Rossette concho’s

It takes me about 1 hour and 15 minutes to cut the string conchos and about 1 hour and 30 minutes to cut the rosette type. That plus the cost of silver these days, makes this set of conchos rather expensive. I laid this entire design out on the computer, built all the arcs and what not into the design on the computer, then printed that out in a sheet and stuck it to the pre-polished silver sheet. It made it all go quite cleanly, and helped keep things real strait.

I will oxidize the entire set, the set consists of the string conchos, the stirrup bolts and a rather unique horncap. The horn cap is very different, I made a deep domed cap and then depressed a central area within the cap. Into that depression I then placed Oak leaves and acorns that I had cut out, these are silver soldered down into the depressed are which will leave the design below the surface so as to not interfere when a person is roping and dallying over the horn cap later. At least that was my intention behind the design. I will oxidize the area behind the Oak & Acorn rather heavily, the Oak them will carry nicely with the Oak & Acorn that is being carved in the leather.

I don’t think I want to go thru the labor of counting cuts on the 4.5 inch horn cap, so I will stick with the simplicity of 4952 cuts later and you can have the same thing for your next saddle………minus the horn cap.

The horn cap turned out cool enough but “boy howdy was it a ton of work. Not sure I can get paid for it, it took me 17 hours of sitting engraving to finalize just the engraving and shaping on the horn cap, that time has nothing to do with all the oxidizing and rubbing the excess off. Anyways the cap has three Oak leaves and some twigs and acorns on the top which are entirely modeled, nothing is cut away, it is all simply pushed around until it takes on a very 3 dimensional shape. All totaled the modeling of the central portion took me a little over 7 hours of rubbing, hammering, and yes some times cussing under by breath that I was stupid enough to start into a project like this right now.

But I worked away, getting coffee once in a while just to give my butt a break and my eyes a rest. Once the modeling was done I spent some time sharpening my stipple point, and pecking away on that background area, behind those oak leaves. Those big silver shiny round things that are in amongst the Oak&Acorn pattern, those shiny beads you are asking your wife about since she knows all about things that grow in a garden, well…………………….those are Oak Balls.

I quit at about 11 pm and headed into the house to look at what happend on the stock market for the day, and to work on a page for my blog. I was up and engraving by 7am, and at first light every thing was looking pretty cool, the center was done, the back ground work finished, and it was framed in nicely, I had done my outside perimeter border and had laid out my floral work and done the outline of each scroll and the bright cut groups. Ah, I was fresh, relaxed with coffee in hand and ready to get at it all over again. By about 10 I had done my liner work, and the shading on my cross overs, as well as shading at those places where scrolls exit from under flowers. All I had left where the flowers, I wanted to make all the flowers of the relieved type, which takes me considerable more time, but hey it was sort of an Art Piece so it was all worth it. Dang, Dang, double dang, its already 2pm, and I am just wrapping up the last flower center.

I am sitting there feeling pretty good about the horn cap as a whole, but knowing full well that I could have done 3 of my usual horn caps in the time I had spent on this version. Worst part of it all, I know I will never get paid what I should for sitting all those hours pecking away at that silver, cool as it may be, I just don’t think that many folks including me up until yesterday can really appreciate all the time it can take to complete a piece of work such as this.
And now for the rest of the story. I will know very well from first hand experience just what I am up against when I get asked for something very unique. I won’t shy away from the chance to do the job, I will just have a much sharper and more experienced pencil in hand when it comes to pricing the job.

Hey, glad your out there……

Good night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Engraving Class of 2007

As some of you may know, I have taken a sabbatical from the teaching of Engraving. No good reason, just the life around here has gotten to be rather hectic, and it seemed that the teaching was getting in the way. Anyways, about 5 years ago, we came to a halt with the classes.

Well this last summer when I rode my bike across USA, I stopped in to visit with the good folks at GRS, and between Kim Pember and my friend Otis Moon, they managed to talk me into the teaching of a class in 07. This class was the culmination of that visit, and you know, I confess……….I really liked the class and the teaching.

Emporia Kansas, Engraving Class of 2007

Things are still hectic, and life seems to move at warp speed……….for all of us I am sure. I have agreed to come back to GRS in 08 and teach two classes. One class in the spring will be another beginner’s classes like all have been to this point. Then in the fall, I want to return and teach a more intermediate format class. With this class, each student will have to know how to sharpen, and we can spend our time on improved cutting, better layout discussions and engrave on projects more akin to what we encounter out here when we are trying to make a living at this game. SO, if you have any interest, I would suggest you call the folks at GRS.

By the way, since we are talking about classes and what not I will tell you that I am just now putting the final details together for a class to be held over in Visalia California, I will take a week in the spring of 08 and teach a bit and spur making class at the Sequoia College at the Ag Dept. Great guy there, Frank Tebeau is in charge so it will be fun. I have never done a class of this type, mainly because the logistics of such an affair will make you pale. We will not do any silver work, just iron work, trying for a pair of spurs and a bit in one week…………but lets get back to engraving shall weeeeee…..

In May, I was in Emporia Kanvas at the spectacular new GRS teaching facility. For those of you who do not know, GRS is the redound manufacturer of air assist engraving equipment and all the accessories you can imagine. Not to mention a roster on engraving instructors with abilities that will make yer knees weak and wobbly…………..and I don’t even include myself in that group. Doubt me, then head to www.igraver.com and take a look for your self.

Once again I was Blessed by the Lord for taking that chance, stepping out and committing myself to teach others that which feeds my family……..the art behind bright cut cowboy engraving. Yes, on one hand I am giving to others the skill to put me out of business……………..but in exchange for pending poverty, I get to call 12 new folks friend. No dollar amount fits when I think of it in these terms.

As is the case when ever I teach a class, I get a real eclectic group from work a day cowboys, to truck drivers and skilled artisans in their own right. It all makes for a memorable occasion thinking back on conversations and topics brought out over that 5 day intense class. There is no doubt about the old axiom of we all learn at different rates, it certainly holds true in each class, and what one person struggles with, on another aspect they will often excel at.

Frustration rears its ugly head every now and again, but for the most part the would-be student can be talked down off the class lampshade without having to call the fire department, and we can all have a laugh and move on, knowing full well that our time of frustration may yet still be coming.

We move thru the basics of tool geometry, and the places we would use each tool. Then into a little cutting with each new tool………so we can break them and sharpen them again…………….right guys. We move thru the cutting and change of directions as well as the prevalent corners used for making our shiny bright cut groups. It all takes time, and there is a lot of left right left right, this way that way, and what the heck corner did you say…………………..but by the fifth day it is actually starting to come together. You can see it in the students faces, that the Deer has left their headlights.

I had ex Pastors, wood carvers, one fellow who has been making bits and spurs longer than I have been alive……………..he’s an old rodeo hand and claims to have seen Jesus “Healing” in Jerusalem……….not sure if I believe him. From a strapping lad who shod horses, to a full time Jeweller, to an avid coin nut, yes I said coin nut. Yes, I see it now, you have that same blank look I had when he mentioned coins……….I glazed over and said something intelligent like…………ah, ah…….no foolin! It’s the same line that Hank the Cowdog uses everytime the Coyotes fool him.

Hobo coins, one of the fastest growing engraving types on the market today, and my friend Steve Cox made sure he mentioned it to me everyday. Steve, a student with considerable skill in place already, walked past me on his way out of the class on that last day and handed me a small box telling me that it was just a coin……..just a coin, see you later on down the road as he left the room. Now at the time I was still working with some of the other students, and so did not take time to open the box right at that moment.

Steve I apologize for not stopping and opening THAT BOX WITH JUST A COIN, right there. I opened it a little later when I got to the Motel Room, and I was awestruck and taken by surprise………..tears welled up and I grabbed a tissue……………..okay, I didn’t quite go to the tissue thing……………but Steve you done a heck of a job on this coin and many thanks for it. I shall keep it close to my heart, until I find a magnet, then I will keep it close to my fridge……………just kidding.

Steve , just wanted to tell you that somehow you missed my earring??

Steve had brought his little Gravermiester with him, and sat in the room at night after class and cut my likeness into the coin…………..so now I sit with the likes of Lincoln, Washington………….and the Queen. Oops, maybe that’s a buffalo on the other side. I look forward to teaching, and meeting new folks with these classes, it’s nice to have a few on the year’s roster of things to do. Thanks to all of you whom attended the class in Emporia, and thanks to the very capable staff at GRS for making it an easy class to teach.

Good night and God Bless

Just put this in for those of you whom don't know what Jeremiah looks like.......he looks a lot like this and very little resemblance to the Buffalo

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 1:34 AM | Permalink

MOrning all, things are busy round here so I will make this brief. Many of you have commented on the Spiral Concho issue and we thankyou for following along with this blog.
THE DOMING TOOLS, are made by Pepe Tools from Rio Grande. The tools can also be bought direct from pepetools.com

The silver I used for this is Sterling .925 Silver, and I made a set of conchos for a saddle as well as a heavier concho of 14 guage material to be used for an investment casting mold. Making a rubber mold of the item will allow me to preproduce my efforts in a more realistic and timely manner. Sorry if that thought offends you, but I am here to make a living............never have bought into that starving artist garbage.

Yes the new look, well I am 50 now and I think a look of dis-stinkshun rather suits me.

You too can buy a new set of teeth at the local Tennessee 7-11, just like Dr.Dean Edell is synonamous with inexpensive eyewear. You will note that "Cheap-Dentures" are available across the counter in most stores back east.

Good night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Very Cool Concho Form

We have walked thru the formation of a 3D scroll form, and this next issue is an off -shoot of that same exercise, rendering one of the coolest forms of concho’s you have seen.

Lets begin with a circle and a series of how ever many leaflets or divisions that you choose. I think I laid out 8 here. I did the initial layout on E-Machine program and printed it out on a sheet of LABEL PAPER which is the coolest pattern transfer method around. You will see that I am leaving a circle in the center thru which I will pass a screw when the concho is applied later. You will need a circle of approx .200 larger to achieve the final size that you want.

I have used 16GA Sterling here, and feel that it gives the most form and lift to the final concho. I saw the perimeter out using a #2 blade. But once I start cutting the division lines I use a 6/0 or maybe a 4/0 if you are having trouble with excessive blade breakage. Saw each division line and move on to the next, ending each time up at the small center circle.

Once all of the divisions are cut we are ready to begin the primary shaping. Take a pair of small smooth jawed needle nose pliers and gently give each division a slight twist to its linear length. The twist will allow each of the compressed divisions to lay over the edge underneath of it.

Now we can commence pushing the divisions under the next until we have worked several times around the circle and pushed each division several times. As you do this the divisions will begin to force the central area of the concho up. Keep working until the concho is smooth and even in shape.

Next we can place the spiral concho into a large dapping die. Place the appropriate dapping punch on top of the spiral form and dome it gently so as to not crush the delicate edges of each separation. All we are doing here is raising the form or center of the Conch and adding some curve to each division before we move on.

They should be uniform and with a slight curve now to each division. We can move over to the jaw vise to tighten up the concho form now. I have tried quite a few methods of doing this next step but none seem to get me there as easily as a simple old squeeze with the vise.

So do what you have to to protect the surface of your silver conchos, and gently squeeze all around the concho until you have pushed one division under the other enough to solder in place. This step will distort the formed concho a little but the more important thing is to achieve the overlap from layer to layer.

This will give you some idea of what the ready to solder form looks like. Things will slow down just a tad here as we now have to solder each outer edge to one another before

We can move on with more shaping. So place the concho’s on the solder pad, and a little Handy Harmon paste flux, a little heat to get the flux just right and I have used EASY solder for this demo, but you could use MEDIUM or EASY45 if you choose. Carefully solder each overlap at the very outer edge unitl you have worked all the way around the concho. If you only solder a 1/16th section that is fine, in all likelihood it will hold thru the next steps just fine.

You do as you like, and what ever works is what we should end up doing. I have tried placing the conchos back into the dapping block but found it was to easy to crush the edges of each of the delicate overlaps, and once that happens it never looks the same again. So I now form mine using a Nylon hammer and a large dapping punch, with the hammer I gently keep tapping the divisions down onto each other to get them as close to one another as is possible. Keep tapping and tightening, until you get a nice tight crowned spiral form to the center of the concho.

You are ready to head back to the solder pad and walk thru all the same steps, with the fluxing the heating and the very same solder that you had previously used. If you have by chance applied a little excess solder in some places now is a good time to watch what you do and just use heat and skill to let it run and fill the entire joint for each division. BY all means be sure that each seam between divisions is completely soldered with as little or NO solder showing up on the top or front side of the finished concho. For this project you can and should do all the soldering from the back or bottom anyways.

If you played the heat just right and had just the right amount of solder on the concho it will come out of the pickle pot quite nice, something like these have. The clean up will be simple really, a little powered pumice and soap scrubbed around followed by the black emery and a stitched wheel then onto a green rouge on a stitched wheel and finish with rouge on a loose wheel, at that stage they are ready to engrave. You see here I have 3 different sizes and versions. I changed thickness and the number of divisions.

When you are done, I am quite sure you will be as happy with the results as I am here.
Hey, good night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

New Look for stirrups,

Strait from the fashion runways in Paris or Milan is probably your first thought, and I can understand. But really it is strait from a fashion runaway in Alpine Texas……….best term to use for a gathering of cowboys showing there very best collectable wears at an Art show. Where most attendees have faded jeans and a button collar shirt………and the obviously over-dressed man has a starched shirt.

There was a recent fantastic Art Show Gathering held in Alpine Texas, and while there were many folks involved in pulling this Show off………I don’t know them all and so would like to say here a special thanks to renowned braider Leland Hensley for his Curatorial duties of the Show, and of course all the folks who helped. Even more, we should say thanks to the excellent participation by the artists in attendance since it is their work that makes the Show come to life, and it was a Show full of life let me tell you. For all of you reading this, you should consider taking in this fine Show.

I myself, took a saddle that was ……….well, shall I say somewhat different from the ususal. We have been talking for the last few posts about the 3D scroll forms and the silver work done around that form of raising silver. This is yet one more chapter of the work done on the same saddle. In this blog we will deal with how we can impart a very unique look to our stirrups in a very simple manner. I like different………..it matches my personality. MY kids tell me I should call my blog “ life on the Odd Side”

Most of us have done the Tapadero thing, in both short and long versions, problem is that not very many customers want Tapaderos at any one time. Most of us have also done the nice Monel Stirrup with a carved Quarter Cover on the top, then to get even fancier we add maybe some Stirrup Bolts………………and get really crazy and carve the inside liner on the stirrups. I was sitting in the shop one night a little too late and after a little to much coffee, and just thinking how could I take a standard stirrup that almost ALL folks want, and make it a little different, and here is what I came up with.

I put together the entire stirrup in the manner described above, the carved quarter cover, the stirrup bolts, the carved interior of the stirrup. Then I masked off all but the Monel portion of my stirrup using mostly masking tape of the 3” painters variety, but also a few plastic bags covering the top edged and rubbed quarter covers. Once these are in place, I used a piece of .07mm Mylar and took a tracing of the outside metal portion of the balance of the stirrup. Onto this pattern I drew a floral pattern and began cutting with a fresh sharp HSBT bench Knife, I also used a scalpel in a few occasions till I had cut the back ground completely away from the pattern.

This FLORAL PATTERN was then laid and traced by .03mm pencil onto the masking taped sections of my stirrups. Now I used the scalpel the most to cut the masking tape according to the floral pattern until all was cut and each section of what is BACKGROUND is cut away leaving the floral outline in tape. Did I mention it helps to have a mug of the very finest coffee from Trader Joes called Bay Blend Dark Beans fresh ground and hot………………sure does try it some time.
Next, I headed to the shop next door to mine, which is my humble little Bit & Spur shop. I have a bead blasting unit in their which came from my friend Gordon Hayes by the way. I place 1 stirrup at a time in the cabinet, and using 85 pounds air pressure and #50 Glass beads I blast the pattern on each stirrup until I get and even uniform frost pattern from the glass beads. It is really quite clean, and quick to do. The clean up is almost as simple, there is just a little retouching of the once rubbed leather edges and wipe of the Monel sections with a solvent like Acetone being careful around the leather and you are ready.

Now since that Show I have done 3 more pair at customers request, I charge for this of course since it does take some time. But in it all, I think that I like the result when the background is left on the stirrup pattern and the floral section of the pattern is pulled up and away. I think the pattern is crisper and more readily discerned by a viewer. I may be wrong but it is my impression at this time.

One last thing that I should mention is the manner of attachment for the stirrup bolts in this case. Most folks solder the Concho to the end of the bolt that runs thru the stirrup. Since this concho was a screw down version with an exposed screw head, I decided to drill and tap the end of each stirrup bolt and screw the 3D Scroll conchos down to that by way of a fine thread machine screw so every thing matched in application and appearance.

Try it, you may find you like a stirrup with a different look. If you do that’s great, I may have a little company over on the “Odd Side” for a change. I hope you enjoyed it my leather workin silver bangin friends, I am not sure how much longer this Blog thing will last, but until next time take care and live Blessed.

Good Night America, and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Yes, even I am happy to have these rascals coming to an end as I have other things to get done and out of this some real neat things have come about. But to say the least and then move on, all that sawing was getting on my nerves.

The 3D Scrolls were carried over to the asymmetrical horn cap, a cool pair of billet loops, and a tiny rope strap buckle. All the mountings are done in a combination of blued steel and sterling scrolls.

Its all fabrication, and time to get a project like this done, there are no boundaries on what may or may not be done it is all within the imaginative limits of the designer/maker. I happen to like the inlaid asymmetrical horncap idea, but I certainly heard from others who thought it was ……………..shall I say “heresy”. Think of it what you will, we done it and will do it again.

The two most time consuming factors here are striping the concho backings and engraving the scrolls after all is said and done. Each concho backing is of 2” diameter, beveled steel washer with about 32 stripes around each backing, that was just plain tedious. There were also a pair of matching stirrup bolts with this outfit.

It was not a matter of being a complicated pattern that I engraved on the scrolls, it was simply laying down a “NEGATIVE” cut around the inside perimeter of each backbone of the scroll. I followed this with a pair of matching bright cuts that peaked at the center over the back bone so that the spine/backbone of each scroll was very bright indeed. From that point I shaded the scrolls to get some added depth where the scrolls passed under/over each other. The only other thing I done was to give any area that was silver but not a scroll form, a hatched pattern using a #50 round graver just for the sake of adding some alternative texture.

Good night and God Bless
Jeremiah

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Back in part 1 of this tutorial we discussed the methods of making an item in silver literally JUMP up off of the surface of an item that you make. It is a really simple process of cutting a scroll shaped form, and then pushing the scroll form up and out of itself………sort of like push up Popsicle.
Now have you given any thought to just how many places that you could then use this form of raising items in silver and steel. I know that it can be done because I have done it in both. And why does the form have to be a scroll, now that you have tried a scroll and understand the format of cutting with the smallest saw blade possible, then lift/push an entity of the design up or down to create the look that is needed to achieve the desired effect.

Tonight however we will work on the application of the scroll forms that we talked about and built earlier in and apply them to the concho while in the flat. Part #2.

Photo by: Jeremiah

Lets begin with a design for a Saddle Concho which is adorned with a series of the raised scrolls. Each concho will have a total of 4 raised scrolls for this tutorial. Most modern saddles have 6 conchos on them, so we need 24 of the raised and pushed scrolls of the appropriate size to complete the design. I have used 14 gauge silver for the scrolls so that I can get a lot of lift in each scroll form. These are then set in place and medium soldered into place around the center. On this particular concho design we will adhere the concho to the surface of the saddle by way of a screw down thru the very middle of the concho dome. Now I happen to like this look on a Concho, while I know that others do not……….yes I know so, because they told me just that!!

Once the soldering is done and the concho’s have had time to sit and pickle to a nice white, we can then start the cleanup. With luck if the soldering is good, the cleanup will go quite quick. On this particular set of conchos I actually bead-blasted the surface first to get a nice even finish that would adhere some Antique which I will apply later. After the bead blast, I then hit them on a coarse wheel with Black Emery compound. When making this pass, I did not try to get into every crack and corner, because I wanted some surface to hold the color which I will apply later. Once the Black Emery stage was done, I put the conchos under my Bonny Doon hydraulic press and by using a male dome and a very soft urethane sheet I domed the concho blanks right into the urethane and had very little if any distortion. All I had to do was work around the edges a wee bit to tighten up the radius of the curve as it came to the lower edge.

Photo by: Jeremiah

With the doming done, I head to the Ultra-Sonic and give the items a good hot cleaning while I get other things ready like the steel sub base for each concho. For the base, I bought heavy bridge washers as are used in heavy timber frame style of construction projects. We cleaned the surfaces down to a smooth matte finish. From that stage we set the table on the Bader 2’ x 72” Belt Grinder and cut the bevel on each steel base. Each of the bases was then inlaid with a radial pattern of silver stripes and cleaned up to a matte finish again.

Now we get to do the hardest part of the whole concho project, and that is create the inverse dome that the screw head will countersink into. Let me explain, we will need to pick a screw size, so for this project I choose a #10 size PAN HEAD screw in Stainless Steel. From that we can measure the head with some Calipers and add to the actual screw head dimension to the total of twice the silver thickness and .050 as extra.
SCREW HEAD DIA + 2 times silver thickness + .050 = the diameter of recess we create

Now we can take a round rod and drill a hole in its end that matches the diameter callout that we came up with above. Don’t worry about how deep you drill the hole, just drill it and we can get on with it. Place the rod into a vise standing up, with hole facing up as well. Now hunt for a dapping punch that matches the diameter of the actual screw head or very close to it. Place the silver dome over the rod with it facing up as well, and place the center of the dome over the center of the rod, place the dapping punch on the center most point and tap lightly, and check the location for accuracy. If it is on the mark, then hit it a little more each time and increase the depth to the extent that the screw head will sit down inside comfortably.

NOTE, there is NO HOLE DRILLED THRU YET FOR THE SCREW TO PASS THROUGH, we invert the screw and check for fit. If we drill the hole to early, it will stretch when doming and no longer fit the screw tightly. With thie particular set of conchos it required 4 scrolls per concho be soldered into place. Thank goodness it was a six string saddle and not an old time 8 string saddle I was making…………..because I was getting tired of cutting and forming scrolls.

Well, there you go with what came of the 3D scroll project. The saddle is done and living quite comfortably I might add at an Italian Villa. I will expound later on the other items I made for this saddle with the 3D scroll effect and the engraving process.

Good night America, and God Bless,
From:Jeremiah

Photo by: Jeremiah

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 10:36 PM | Permalink

Tonight we will discuss a little used but very effective manner of creating the third dimension in our silver work. This is a saw and solder process that is tedious but with a little practice will render astounding results. Lets get started with some of the items we will need to have at hand.

We will need some sheet silver, which the thicker the better for the end result. I will use some 14ga Sterling for these scroll bodies I build here with you tonight. We will need a selection of jewelers saw blades, for cutting out the silver disc lets use a #4 size blade. But a little later when cutting the scroll form into the heart of the disc, we will use the FINEST saw blade we can get away with, lets say we start with a #4/0 and with time move up even finer will make our scrolls better. A circle template will speed up the process for laying out the circles. Scribe a 1” dia circle and follow along , by cutting it out after layout.

Next we can draw a concentric scroll within the circle, you can choose just how many revolutions the spiral of the scroll shall have. But for a beginning lets try maybe 2.5 or 3 turns and get a feel for our job. Besure to change blades down to the fine cut #4/0 blade so that the KERF of the cut is left at a minimum and thus make our soldering job all the easier later on.

Now that we have the spiral portion of the scroll cut into the 3-D scroll form, we can then cut a small section of round silver wire of fairly heavy guage. I will use some 10ga, Sterling and the length of this wire is important so listen closely. The length of the wire I cut and solder into the center is: metal thickness x number of turns in the spiral divided by .75…………..CLEAR as MUD. If by chance you are lost, simply strike your left thumb sharply with the ball pein, and wait a few minutes for the pain to subside and you will then be able to see thru the tears just what is happening here.

We need to silver solder this short piece of wire in place with hard solder. If by chance you are from Miami N.M, this means NO LEAD SOLDER is used here. The sterling scroll is hard soldered so that later soldering processes will not come loose as we work thru the process. Amongst silver smiths it is considered to be “UNPROFESSIONAL” to fall to the use of lead solder as a core method of attachment. Now that that little Soap Box statement is done we can next go to work with the RAISING portion of this scroll. We can use almost anything to use as a pushing tool, and starting at the very center by pushing the body of the scroll down onto the center wire it will force the very tip of the scroll upwards. Then with a small pushing tool, you can begin to follow along the spiral cut and gently push the body of the scroll upwards just a little. We will be raising approximately ¾ of the thickness of the silver………hence the division of .75 or for those from home school that is also like ¾ of the thickness for each turn of the spiral form.

Our scroll will take a little prayin, proddin and persuading to come to life. But in the end the very tip of the scroll will be quite pronounced and raised up sharply, then the body of the scroll will gently fall evenly towards its circular base

Its time to do a little clean up. By that I mean we can do a little filing around the edges and maybe even use a pair of pliers to help tighten up the layers of the scroll.

This is the time to cut some small blocks of silver from the scrap silver. The blocks are needed, to be soldered into place as a support for the sawing we have done into the body of the scroll. These will be soldered all along the cut line and filed off later after the soldering stage. For this we will use the very same solder as we used on the central piece of sterling wire.

Solder all the blocks into place and then throw that puppy in the pickle pot and get a cup of coffee. Does this project seem to be coming to life on your bench………..what do ya mean NO. Well toss that chunk of silver and get started on another so that we can have something to move on with.

Lets have a look at the item we just soldered and dry it of so we can see what needs to be filed off to bring the back of the scroll into a flat plane. After we have the back flattened off, we can work around the outer edges with a file and get a nice concentric circle. During this stage, we need to have a careful look at the solder seam, making sure we have No seams that have a gap in them. If there are any gaps, then before we go to the file work, we need to re-do the solder stage.

With just a little practice we can build a nicely shaped 3D scroll in about 15 minutes. These are saved up and made in differing sizes, then soldered to the projects as you see fit. Its not my job too tell you where to apply them, that is what we call “Artistic Interpretation” as we call it in the trade/arts. But with a little imagination we can find a plethora ( for folks from Texas: thats another word for a bunch) of places to apply this and other forms of raised from the base metal shapes within our bits /spurs and silver work.

I hope you had some fun with this skill building session. Its been good to have you in for some fun and sharing of knowledge. It was while my family and I were traveling in Europe that I first had a chance to see this method of adding 3D forms. Of course the work was not COWBOY, but the concept was easily adapted to the sort of work that we do on cowboy gear.

You know I need to close but before I do I want to say a few things that seem to go on without mention. We have troops fighting for the very cause that gives all us the liberty and freedoms we so enjoy, they not only face a very difficult enemy but are backed by a Cowardly Congress………….can it get any more difficult than that? So I will suggest here that we Pray for those troops and the leaders of these fine men. So it is, GOOD night and May God Bless this great Nation………even if at times we do not deserve it.
Jeremiah

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Mongol Bells
Looking thru magazines, more specifically at close-up images of Eurasian horsemen, you may notice the little bell like ornaments hanging from various places of their trappings. In certain places like Mongolia, it may appear to be their favorite form of decoration, these little items look rather like small bells or maybe berries. From the real versions that I have had a chance to view in Museum collections overseas, and the opportunity to then make notes and take pictures I just thought that they would look real cool on the gear that we make over hear. Besides you just never know when that Mongolian fashion statement will sweep the great basin or the sage brush and lave rock deserts of Idaho. Being a fashion trend setter and not a follower I want to be ahead of the curve.

PHOTO BY: Jeremiah and all 3 of his chins

Let’s commence with the basic layout, which is a 5 point affair that looks much like a Ninja-throwing Star. I have built mine within a 1.25 inch diameter circle, and made it a 5 point pattern. The pattern layout can be what ever you dream up as to length of petals and diameter of center circle etc. I built mine out some thin 22 gauage stainless for this pictorial.

PHOTO BY:Jeremiah showing the 5 pointed Star form of cutout in light Stainless

Once the Bell has been cut in the flat, it is time to place it dapping block so that we can commence creating that lovely cup shape. Now at this point I should tell you that if per chance you are doing some stamp work to the surface or maybe engraving a portion of it, then you would be laying the engraved surface facing down for this part of the forming. In that manner we will have the decorated surface on the outside of the Mongol Bell that we are forming here. Find the appropriate fitting dapping punch with a smooth round ball end and pound the Bell down into the corresponding cavity.

PHOTO BY: Jeremiah, as he begins working the Bell down inot a dapping block

We will have a nicely shaped BELL now with a graceful flaring shape.

PHOTO BY: Jeremiah, he shows you a nicely cupped Mongol-Bell

I want to tell you that you can also draw the Bell into a tighter radius by simply going back to the dapping plate and then using smaller radius dapping punch. This smaller diameter ball end will then draw the Mongol Bell into a tighter diameter within the base of the Bell. I think picture E shows us two distinct diameters that I can use in different places and for different applications as we will see in a few minutes.

PHOTO BY JERMIAH: we can see here the first stage of cupping done on two sizes of Mongol-Bells

This next step is often the most difficult, since we now need to apply the tiny Mongol Bell “TO SOMETHING or ON SOMETHING”. This is where that central hole comes into play. It is through here that we will mount it to the ends of our slobber bar as a cover over our clevis cap, or maybe as a floral motif on the center of a slobber bar itself. In my own shop I have done both and liked the look of each application we have tried. I will show you a small tassle that we built for the bottoms of a pair of fancy stirrups as another application. I think the only true limitation is that of personal imagination

PHOT BY JEREMIAH: Showing the BEll has been reversed and set inot the dapping block, now JW is gently tapping on the bottom of the Bell to close of the top of the petals nice and even leaving no marks..

The hardest part is capturing the Mongol Bell in position , usually it will have the stem of a rivet or in some cases the shank of a rivet that holds it all in place theu that central hole located on the bottom-most surface. Now carefully, and using a pair of small pliers to begin this process…………..I carefully coax the ends of each petal to fold over towards it’s own center. If you by chance have a tool designed for hand setting saddlery spots, then this works perfectly since it will capture all of the outer tips of the Mongol Bell in one blow of a hammer. Place the spot setting tool over the tips of the Bell, support the area that you are about to strike on something solid like a bench plate. Strike it cautiously with a hammer, check every few blows for results. Picture F shows me driving it face down inot a dapping plate, so that you can better understand what has to happen to curl the outer edges of the Bell over towards its own common center.

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: Giving you a good view of what the Bell looks like now that it has had the top closed over nice and even like.

Here we can see the final result of closeing the Mongol Bell up capturing what ever we have used to bind it in its given place……………but we are not quite done yet. For instance this version shown her is what it looks like if we use it as a cover on our clevis cap on a bridle bit. We like to doll it up a little by taking the center of the pedals down a little more which I think really emphasizes its shape and folded character.

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: here is where we need to be careful, we gently tap that place where all the petals meet at the top of the Bell, this dents in the top of the Bell which gives it great character as well.

The image shown here, indicates that by placing a fairly small diameter dapping punch on the top of the culmination of petals we can then support the item and once again strike the punch forcing the center of all the petals down and into its self. This is the form that we have seen the most often and also the version we have made the most use of.

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: shows a partially closed Bell, and a fully closed, and as well we have a Bell which has been givena double bend on the petals and is used as a cup to hold a leather tassle

We can see in the above image that we have an initial closing of the Mongol Bell, as well as the fully folded and dapped center…………….but also we have that little tassle with an eye fastened captured so that it can then be screwed into something.

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: Just a closer view especially for you
We can see here in a slightly closer view, that the Mongol Bell that we have used for the tassle cover has been given an extra counter or reverse bend to the end of each petal section by using a pair of round jawed pliers. Do this just before you use a pair of needle nose pliers to close up the top of the petals. Take note that the tassle version has also had some stamped designs done on it while it was still in the flat stage. Close it all up tighly around the leather or horse hair tassle and you have a great looking addition for any sage brush buckaroo
Ya’ just never know, Mongol Bells may be a real hit. Made in Sterling and nicely engraved, very dainty in size and shape………….it just may go some place. Just remember that you seen it here first,……………. and heard about it in Ulanbataar.

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: shows a nice bit on which we used Mongol Bells as the clevis caps on the slobber bar

Good Night and God Bless

PHOTO BY JEREMIAH: a full view of the same bit as above.

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Over the last several years, my wife Colleen and I as well as both our kids, Pine and Nevada have had the chance to travel overseas and take some time to look around, if I can take a moment here to encourage you to consider it as well then let me say it now.

Photo by: Jeremiah Watt
Title- A waiting carriage, Warsaw Poland

Continue reading "Seeking Inspiration" »

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 12:39 AM | Permalink

I make a living, well at least part of my living engraving Silver and Gold. Most of what I do is clothed in the fabric of the old west, silver conchos, silver bits and spurs would be the bulk. But on occassion we do some very unusual stuff. Maybe one of the things that makes what I do a little different, may come from the items that bring me inspiration in the first place. Can I ask you a question, have you looked at anything other than cowboy work as a source of inspiration to whip up new ideas. I am going to go out on a limb so too speak, and tell you that if you engrave for a living. You need to take a trip to Europe, yup, its a simple as that. The stuff you can find in Museums and Cathedrals over there is amazing.

Title: Engraved wood plane
Photo by Jeremiah
Here is a project that has gone on for awhile since it has no real deadline for delivery, just do it is all that the order says. The piece I am working on is a small steel wood plane, we have completely resurfaced the stell walls and sole or bottom of the plane. After that the items was brought to a matte finish on a beartex type belt. The engraving is a releved background type. That means that the pattern is out lined, then the areas that are background to the pattern are cut out and removed. Each back ground area is then given a small tight stipple or dot finish. What you see above is an over view of a nearly completed side.

Title: Close up of detail engraving
Photo by: Jeremiah
We are in a little closer now, and can see the detail work being done with a small square graver. I am cutting fine lines that will be some added shading on the flower that lays along the lower edge of this flower and scroll pattern. The entire plane will be done, all sides and ends covered with a relieved floral pattern.

Title: Outlining my pattern in steel
Photo by: Jeremiah
The view above gives you a little better view of how the piece would start. I of course draw my pattern on the panel or side. Then I cut around all the pattern with my square gravers. Once that is done we can go in with an assortment of different gravers and cut out the areas that are background to the floral work. This is the most tedoius part of the process for me, maybe some other folks will have less trouble at it than I do, but engraving in steel is not my normal everyday routine. I will do my best to show you a shot of this items once we have in completeted.

Title: Engraving a Santa Barbara Cheek
Photo by: Jeremiah
We have a nice Santa Barbara cheek here, most likley the most popular style of cheek in California. This one is done in silver overlaid sections that have been hard soldered in place, but we have also snuck in a little engraved steel with lightly relieved background. When this is done we will give it a Highland Grey finish that was once used by armourers of old Europe. We found the recipe for this grey finish while traveling in Europe, this an others like it used for etching etc, can't wait to try my recipe for Gold Fire Gilding. Anyways, this bit will be placed on the internet when I have it done and then we will worry about finding a home for it. I have been working on several new mouth pieces and will most likely use one of these new 1/2 Spades. A half spade you say........what the heck is that???????? Some sort of cowboy transmission bit????????

Title: Jeremiah using a make shift chasing hammer
Photo by: Jeremiah
For all of you out there that know me, I am not a steel engraver...........I am fascinated by it , and love to look at it........but I am not one. I seldom do any chase engraving, my daily routine is mostly in softer metals like the silver and gold mentioned. We had occassion while traveling in Germany to visit the Merkl Gunwerks, and those folks gave us a spectacular tour of there factory. In one very well lit room, there were at least 30 engravers working away on all sorts of gun parts. All of these men and women were working away with great speed and preceision using chasing hammers, I was amazed and made a promise to come home and try to make better use of that method of work. No matter what method I try, I cannot seem to get rid of that darned ear phone. For guys like me whom like to live as far from town as possible it is sort of our life blood, so it has to stay.

Title: JW engraving some silver for Tapaderos
Photo by: Jeremiah
We have very cool customers, really. We have the ones that just want a nice using rig and all that is needed to just go and cowboy in. And then we have the ones that want that sort of rig but as fancy as we can make it. This is one of those saddlews, that I will make a blog about a liitle further on down the trail. But for now, this week , it has me cutting a lot of quite nice silver that will be antiqued and then applied to a pair of full floral carved 26 inch tap's.
So you see, making a living as a cowboy engravver take on quite a few different looks. We are almost done with a fancy wood plane, then onto about 3 silver mounted items like bits and spurs, and close the week out with a heck of a lot of silver for a pair of taps.
I hope you have enjoyed an over the shoulder tour of my engraving bench. I promise we will do this a little more often as I get used to all this typing..........may have to go see my "fizzy-o-thereapist" tomorrow, got me a bad case of the car-pull tunnel.
Take care and live Blessed. Jeremiah

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 12:10 AM | Permalink