2016 CLF Auction Item: Hunting Bag and Accoutrements by Jack Weeks

Jack Weeks is a repeat donor to the CL Foundation Auction. Jack is an accomplished maker and a careful researcher. His leather powder funnel with a goose quill spout is a neat and useful addition to the pouch.

Here is a description of the Shot Pouch in Jack's own words.

"When I start a leather project, after some research, I like to imagine I am creating an item that will one day be a family treasure,"part of Grandpa's hunting outfit." A bag that could have been made at home, purchased from an apprentice harness maker or a travelling cordwainer.

I strive for a "used" look but well cared for, fully functional bag and accoutrement. A piece of equipment a hunter, militiaman, or ranger used and relied on.

Description of Donated Items:

1. An 8x9 square bag with a gusset, a fringed welt on the sides and bottom. It is of vegetable tanned cowhide, hand sewn with waxed linen thread and finished with beeswax and Michigan black bear oil. The strap is fixed with aged D rings and an aged buckle that is a reproduction of one found on the Yorktown Battlefield ( Smiling Fox Forge). The bag has a large interior pocket.

2. A vegetable tanned shot pouch with a tooled hex sign and a white cedar stopper.

3. A vent pick with a stone bead.

4. A deer antler powder measure. 60grs.

5. A leather powder funnel with a goose quill extension for filling a powder horn."

Jack Weeks can be contacted by email at jlwweeks@gmail.com.

Copy by Heinz Ahlers & Jack Weeks with photos supplied by the CLF.

2016 CLF Auction Item: Longknife and Sheath by Heinz Ahlers & Joe Seabolt

Joe Seabolt is generous in his support of the CLA. Not only does he always come up with a donation, he is always willing to help out other folks with the team donations. Joe has 3 items in the auction this year. You may have to hunt for the one patch knife.

Heinz Ahlers is the CL Foundation Auction chairman and the oldest apprentice in the Cedar Ridge Apprentice Program. We have included a photo of Joe instructing Heinz in using the Cedar Ridge milling machine. Although both Joe and Heinz have a good eye for style their combined efforts produce a very nice knife. Watching them work together is like watching sausage being made. Last years Seabolt Ahlers knife sold very well at the auction. Heinz also does some traditional bronze castings and had donated one to this years auction. 

This year's Seabolt Ahlers knife is a classic 18th century longknife just over 13 3/4 inches long with an 8 5/8 inch blade. This knife is clearly a Cedar Ridge Forge product with great style and careful aging. The blade is hand forged from 1084 carbon steel, which closely approximates the best 18th century steels. Joe and Heinz started with an almost 1/4 inch thick blank of steel and drew it out into a fine distal taper staring at .210 inch at the hilt and tapering over the full length of the blade. A full 1 1/2 inches wide at the choil the blade has a long graceful taper and a nice false edge. The blade shape is designed for utility, near perfect for sticking, cutting or slicing on the cutting board. Like the best frontier knives it shows it hybrid nature, combining a butcher knife and a dirk. 

The deer leg bone handle is attached with a full tang. The handle has an iron ferrule and butt cap. The blade and handle are nicely aged and the color on the handle is a has a warm amber tone. The blade is Seabolt sharp, you could shave with it, if you can handle over a foot of knife around your chin. 

A bark tanned deer hide sheath with a copper wire sewn rawhide liner accompanies the knife. The sheath is designed to be tucked under a sash or belt with a leather extension and tie to keep it from going astray.

Both Joe's and Heinz's touchmarks are on the blade. The Hershel House made touchmarks are another clue to the Woodbury influence on the Cedar Ridge school

Both Joe and Heinz are staunch supporters of the auction. They feel the CLA provides an excellent venue for both established artists and beginning artists through the shows, the publications, and the CLA For Sale webpage. 

Heinz Ahlers can be contacted by email at heinzahlers@zoomtown.com.

Joe Seabolt can be contacted by email at jseabolt665@gmail.com.

Copy by Heinz Ahlers with photos supplied by the CLF.

2016 CLF Auction Item: American Hanger by Ian Pratt, Maryellen Pratt, & Joe Seabolt

This American hanger by Joe Seablolt and Ian Pratt accompanied by a Strap and Baldric by Maryellen Pratt is a hard to find Frontier item. This style of short sword or cuttoe was a fighting weapon, useful to mounted troops and a mark of prestige for officers. Extremely useful in hand to hand combat, their relatively short length is useful in close quarters.

The reason they are seldom seen today is not their usefulness, it is the difficulty encountered in making them. Ian and Joe forged this one from a large file in keeping with the frontier recylcing heritage of such a sword. The knife smiths out there will quickly tell you that forging an almost 17" blade from the high carbon content steel of a file and keeping the blade straight through all the forging and tempering steps requires great skill. This hanger has a fine blade and a superior edge, as we would expect from these two superior knifemakers.

The blade is not some crude apple seed cross section homemade looking blade. It is properly flat on the sides, perfectly tapered, with a fuller and just vestiges of the file tooth pattern showing near the hilt. It represents the work of a fine smithy with a skilled journeymen at work. The guard and bolster are of wrought iron. The pommel and the guard are elegantly shaped. The turned sugar maple handle show vestiges of red oxide paint, worn by long use.

A blade this large and this sharp needs an appropriate sheath. Well known leather worker Maryellen Pratt made this rawhide lined Baldric with bark tanned deer hide from Adams County, Ohio. Maryellen's skill is apparent in the sewing and edge patterns in a style perfectly in keeping with the American hanger concept. The nicely forged wrought iron buckle finishes the set.

This is the sort of thing you would see carried by John Sevier in the Cumberland or by the mounted militia defeating Tecumseh in the War of 1812. This is a remarkable set commemorating remarkable times. If you pass this up, it will be a long time before you see another. 

The contact information for Ian, Maryellen and Joe are below

Ian Pratt can be contacted by email at ipratt360@gmail.com.

Maryellen Pratt can be contacted by email at mlovepratt@hotmail.com.

Joe Seabolt can be contacted by email at jseabolt665@gmail.com.

Copy by Heinz Ahlers with photos supplied by the CLF.