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 does not take place from a deck of a Lazy Boy recliner with a single malt scotch. It requires thousands of miles of travel and a tremendous expense to actually go to the historical sites where these items were worn and used. Just to be allowed to personally examine rigs such as the ones worn by Geronimo, John Wesley Hardin, or Wild Bill Hickok are 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.

We have also found a source and new friend that was at the filming of the movie and who provided us with hundreds of photos taken during the movie that are not available anywhere else. We will be traveling to Jackson Hole and actually touring the movie location shortly.

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.

Silver conchos and buckles such as these are commonly attached to Western style belts and holsters. Chisholm’s Trail concho set and buckle will be the closest to the original not to mention the first crafted in the same way since the original.

A composite of all Shane holster and belt photos, including those not available previously, is placed on an architectural AutoCAD program. Our modification will open up a holster photo and provide a flat pattern that recreates the original.

The Shane holster is actually on our website already under the Historical button. Trust me when i say that the holster wears comfortably and lightly draws. Rod Redwing, an Indian stuntmen in the 1950’s and fast draw teacher 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 Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

categories: gun leather,gun holster,holsters,leather gun holster,famous leather holsters,western wear,leather parts,leather wear,western wear,classics,leather tailoring

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