Chisholms Trail Old West Leather is a company led by Alan and Donna Soellner. We are dedicated to recreating cowboy gun leather from famous western movies and the actual gear worn by famous outlaws and lawmen.
This quest of recreation is not a action done by someone laid back in their lazy boy recliner with a malt scotch. But someone who will go thousands of miles to visit the historical places in which these items were used and worn. Being personally able to see the pieces of art worn by the legends such as Geronimo, John Wesley Hardin and Wild Bill Hickok was pretty exciting.
Our next adventure is the making of Shane, the 1953 movie filmed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. First we gathered all available photos of Alan Ladd from the movie. We increased the size of all images and examined every aspect of the gun leather from size to construction. On our team of researchers include folks that have collected Indian Tufa cast jewelry and buckles for over 50 years and a foundry that has molded these items for Indians for the same length of time.
During this time we made a source and a new friend that happen to be at the creation of the movie and was kind enough to provide us with hundreds of photos taken during the movie that are not available anywhere else. Soon we will be leaving to tour Jackson Hole where the movie was shot.
We noticed when researching the Shane concho that it itself is huge. Approximately 2 " tall and 3 wide. And the buckle is even larger. Both together were "Tufa" cast. This design of Indian origin is constructed by the craftsman to carve their design into a smooth black of Tufa sandstone. A flat second block is secured to the first one. Once that it is done the careful process of pouring molten silver into the mold takes place. Once the silver cools it is pulled out of the mold, flat on one side and rounded on the other. To get the concho or buckle to curve to the body, the Indians would hollow out a cotton wood stump, place the flat metal over the depression and use a rounded limb as a striker to get the soft silver to take on the arched shape desired.
These silver conchos and buckles were very commonly attached to Western belts and western holsters. The Chisholms Trail concho set and buckle will the closest one to the original ever made and the first one ever cast in the same method.
A collection of the Shane holster and belt buckle photos, that only we have access to, are then put into our architectural AutoCAD program. That will open op the holster photos and provide us with a flat pattern to recreate the original.
The western Shane holster is already on our web site under the Historical button. Trust me it wears comfortably and is lightning to draw from. Rod Redwing, an Indian stunt man in the 1950s and fast draw coach for Hollywood designed this rig. Rod said that he actually bought the conchos and buckle from some Indians selling jewelry along the trail.
Donna and I encourage you to visit our web site and see for yourself our constantly increasing line of Cowboy gun leather. Dont forget to look over our Buckle and Jewelry button with both reproduction western movie buckles and many others from historical rigs worn in the American West. Ride for the brand.
So head on down and check out our classic rigs, not to mention our buckles and jewelry down at Chisholm's Trail Leather an checkout our western gun holsters
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