19th century bison shotgun chaps

[hickok55]

Finally, I have finished my pair of 19th century shotgun step ins chaps. It took me nearly a year to get them cut out. I went for very simple yokes with no tooling as I'm not very good at it yet and I'm happy with the simple appearance.

The leather for the chaps themselves is from The Hide House. Mocha apache bison vegetable tanned medium hand full grain 4-5 oz 51sqft hide. 

The yokes are 5-6 oz Chestnut Brown Lamport Leather. 

I was able to get the yokes, back belt, and the end pieces that go at the bottom of the leg out of a 30x60cm piece.

Overall, I'm very happy with how they turned out. as I have a lot of leather left over from the hide, so I have enough to make a matching waistcoat.

[chuck123wapati]

those look really nice, a nice western style vest would look great with them

[hickok55]

2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

those look really nice, a nice western style vest would look great with them

Thank you now I just need to find a photo of one

[JWheeler331]

Those are really nice. 

[Bert03241]

Wow you did a fantastic job now go ride

[bladegrinder]

Those look great, nice work!

[hickok55]

Thank you all

[Dwight]

I'm going to have to go off script here . . . and say that you did a good job with all of your work.

Somewhere however . . . you missed the boat on your research.

Now, mind you . . . I'm not an expert . . . but I have made some . . . and have never had any complaints.

The front of yours is all wrong . . . would never be worn that way.

Look at the enclosed picture . . . you will see a small belt pulls the fronts together . . . with a definite opening between the two pieces.  

Using your design . . . on a western saddle . . . if your horst bucks you . . . tosses you forward over the horn . . . and it catches under your chaps . . . you will go to a hospital for a long stay.

OTOH . . . if you have the little belt . . . always made out of lighter leather exactly for this purpose . . . it will break . . . you will be thrown off probably . . . but you can probably dust yourself off . . . hobble off on a twisted ankle . . . and be well in a couple of days.

Cut those laces . . . round the front two pieces somewhat . . . add the  belt . . . and you will be far more esthetically correct.

And yours would be absolutely a pain to wear on a 20 km ride.  that front piece will come up and rub your gut . . . blisters will form . . . and you WILL take em off.  That is the reason that what you see below is all of the guys have theirs with a wide opening between the tops of each leg.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited April 24, 2023 by Dwight

[doubleh]

Although you did a nice job Dwight is right. I don't keep up with the well dressed cowboy, real or wanna-be,  these days but fringe just looks silly on a guy IMO. 

[hickok55]

1 hour ago, Dwight said:

I'm going to have to go off script here . . . and say that you did a good job with all of your work.

Somewhere however . . . you missed the boat on your research.

Now, mind you . . . I'm not an expert . . . but I have made some . . . and have never had any complaints.

The front of yours is all wrong . . . would never be worn that way.

Look at the enclosed picture . . . you will see a small belt pulls the fronts together . . . with a definite opening between the two pieces.  

Using your design . . . on a western saddle . . . if your horst bucks you . . . tosses you forward over the horn . . . and it catches under your chaps . . . you will go to a hospital for a long stay.

OTOH . . . if you have the little belt . . . always made out of lighter leather exactly for this purpose . . . it will break . . . you will be thrown off probably . . . but you can probably dust yourself off . . . hobble off on a twisted ankle . . . and be well in a couple of days.

Cut those laces . . . round the front two pieces somewhat . . . add the  belt . . . and you will be far more esthetically correct.

And yours would be absolutely a pain to wear on a 20 km ride.  that front piece will come up and rub your gut . . . blisters will form . . . and you WILL take em off.  That is the reason that what you see below is all of the guys have theirs with a wide opening between the tops of each leg.

May God bless,

Dwight

Yes, I do completely understand what you mean, but as I said, I based them off original antique chaps.

This is what I was using for reference.

These aren't necessarily for riding. If I were to ride in them I would most likely just unlace them and only lace up the first holes. I have seen that done in some old photos, but they are better for just groundwork. I was very inspired by Andreas Rombach on instagram. He makes a lot of antique reproduction chaps. Thank you for the information, though it is very helpful.