The Hartley Horn Drawings: A Collection of Powder Horn Drawings by Robert M. Hartley. A book review.

The Hartley Horn Drawings: A Collection of Powder Horn Drawings by Robert M. Hartley
79 Pages
11″ X 8-1/2″
Softcover
Full-color illustrations and photographs
Presented by The Honourable Company of Horners
Published by the Scurlock Publishing Company

This review of The Hartley Horn Drawings (more commonly called The Hartley Book) is by me, a novice horn maker and the webmaster of The Honourable Company of Horners website. I know more about web design than horns, but I am doing my darndest to close that gap! And this book helps immensely.

What do illuminated script, calligraphy, folk art and history have in common? They all come together in a practical object used by our ancestors in the form of an engraved powder horn! Robert Hartley was inspired by these unique objects used by our ancestors.

Robert Hartley was a prolific collector of Americana and antiques and an amateur historian. He saw a need in the mid-1930s to document French and Indian War powder horns. His technique was to copy the complete three dimensional horns as flat drawings. (Imagine peeling-off a product label from a can and displaying it flat. That is not a great description, but I hope you get the idea.) In the process of copying the horns, Mr. Hartley created his own art that we get to enjoy today.

In the mid-1940′s, as least forty of these powder horn drawings were given to the Margaret Reaney Memorial Library in the Village of St. Johnsville, New York. There they were conserved, but they had not been published.

John Proud, a Master Horner, became interested in the drawings and thought they deserved to be seen by everyone in the form of a book. The result is a 79 page book with color illustration and photographs of the actual horns in a few instances. The book is pre-pended with a history of The Honourable Company of Horners and an informative article on how to render your own powder horn drawing.

This publication has become one of my new favorites. I highly recommend this for your library or as a gift for the lover of history.

Thanks for reading,
Rick Sheets
By the way, please see the review written by my friend, Rich Pierce, as it appears on the HCH Blog. Click here to see it.
To purchase the book, go to Scurlock Publishing. Click here to go to the publisher’s site.

Recreating the 18th Century Hunting Pouch by T.C. Albert

I have been a lover of nice flintlock guns since I was just a kid. However, a real appreciation of the same qualities in accouterments like pouches and horns followed later. At one time a nice gun and just any old bag and horn would do (not so, now). Be warned! Once you associate with folks who produce good stuff, your kit will look different to you and an upgrade will be in order!

Some of us figure out a way to buy quality items for our hobby and some actually make them. I fall into the first category. But I wanted to try to make a bag. And that is how this review of Tim Albert’s book, Recreating the 18th Century Hunting Pouch came about.

First of all the book is published by Track of the Wolf, Inc. The pictures and layout live up the quality one expects from them. Super pictures and patterns are found throughout. Tim’s writing is clear and concise. Nothing is left out. All you need is the book, supplies and a few hand tools.

The book is softbound with 123 (8.5 x 11 inch) pages. The paper has a quality shine to it. The color photos are by the same guys who photograph for the Track of the Wolf website, so you know what to expect!

I mentioned that the book leaves nothing out. I am not kidding. The content includes: tools, types of leather, setting up your workspace, cutting, constructing, attaching everything and dyeing the pouch and strap. As a bonus, Tim shows you how to make and attach a knife sheath and an optional gusset as part of the pouch body. Antiquing techniques are also shown.

The book features pictures and notes about many originals and variations for the novice builder. I took various elements from a few different pouches in the book to make mine. In retrospect, I should have followed Tim’s directions on North Hampton county pouch and built that bag precisely to the instructions. This would have made the process easier I am sure. And I probably would have wound up with a better looking bag!

If you want to try to make a pouch from scratch, this is the book for you. Even if you have made a few bags, I am sure you will pick up some useful tips.

The process of learning to make a pouch was enjoyable and I gained a new respect for the leather worker who does this for a living.

The book can be purchased from Scurlock Publishing using this link.

Thanks for reading this review,
Rick

Notes:
By the way, I used leather from www.leatherbythepiece.com to make my pouch. Their typical 5-6 ounce leather is a bit too heavy for most pouches, but often they will have some 3-4 ounce leather in stock even if it is not on their website. Email them through their site; they are nice people.

The buckles were obtained from http://www.buckleguy.com . They have a good selection and their website is easy to use.

C. Michael Briggs, North Carolina Longrifle Collector and Author

I caught up with Michael Briggs at the Greensboro Gun Show today at the Greensboro Coliseum. He had superlative examples from his collection of original North Carolina longrifles on display. The crowd was brisk at times, but Michael took his time to speak with people coming by his booth, which included me. Thanks Michael. 

 

I first met Michael when he and Bill Ivey spoke at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Old Salem, NC in April of 2008. They arranged for a massive display of North Carolina longrifles (and a few pistols) to supplement the extensive slide show and lecture on NC rifles, their makers and accouterments. I have read everything I can get my hands on about NC guns and gunsmiths and I can tell you Michael has raised the bar of serious scholarship in these firearms, pouches and horns. If I hear about another lecture I will post an announcement here on BlackPowder411. If you can’t see the guns in person, the next best thing to do is get his books. 

Michael is the author of three books. The Longrifle Makers of Guilford County, The Longrifle Makers of Forsyth County & Davidson County and Piedmont N.C. Banded Powder Horns and Hunting Bags. 

Michael has just produced a conventionally bound volume of his work The Longrifle Makers of Guilford County. The pictures are sharp and clear and it is a first class production; you will be pleased with this book. (He does have a few left of this book in the unbound format, which he is selling at a discount. You will need to call Michael if you are interested in the discounted books. See the link below.) 

If you are interested in contacting Michael to purchase his books or want to know a little bit more about him, click on this link to see Michael’s Mini-Site. 

Thanks for reading,
Rick Sheets 

“The Gillespie Gun Makers of East Fork” is back in print. A Book Review.

I was so excited to see that T. Dennis Glazener’s book on the Gillespie gun makers was reprinted I asked Dennis permission to review the book on my black powder website.
My personal copy has been read and reread many times and I have given a couple as gifts. The reason for this is pretty simple; The Gillespie Gun Makers of East Fork is a well researched and photographed work by a shooter, builder and history buff. Plus Dennis is the great, great, grandson of John Gillespie; John was the guy who started it all.
If you enjoy southern mountain rifles and southern history or are a Gillespie descendant, you must have T. Dennis Glazener’s book on the Gillespie gun makers. The Gillespie Gun Makers of East Fork details the genealogical history of three generations of the gunsmithing family as well as many pictures of the guns themselves. The book is clearly a labor of love as Dennis made many field trips and used original sources as well as public documents to bring 150 years of his prolific gun making family to life.
Another great thing about this book is that it has inspired many contemporary builders of flintlock and percussion longrifles to try their hands at recreating the Gillespie rifle. I know I enjoy my modern-made Gillespie long gun. That is it pictured above in the header of this website.

Thanks for reading!,
Rick
The Gillespie Gun Makers of East Fork
84 Pages- 8.5″ X 11″ Color soft cover.
Numerous black and white photographs of the guns, the Gillespie clan and family documents are included.
$22.50 plus $3.00 s/h via first class mail, add $1.60 if insurance is desired.

To purchase the book, make payment to:
T. D. Glazener
917 Manakin Road
Midlothian, VA 23113

To order the book online from the publisher,
click here.