making wooly's chinks

[cowhorse]

Have wooly chinks made of bear fur and leather lined with fringe hanging under the hide... long time ago cowboy friend said they should have been built out of canvas with the fur on top of canvas, leather top and then leather fringe on bottom...something about thats the way they were built long ago...tradition...going to build some out of coyote fur any ideas?

[cowhorse]

Hi, have a pair of wooly chinks built out of leather and bear fur...going to copy and build some out of coyote fur... some old cowboy long ago said the bear fur ones should have been lined with canvas not leather...any one know how wooly's were built traditionally? cowhorse

[ClayB]

Most of the woolies I've seen were traditionally built with canvas and you stepped into them sort of like a pair of pants. The wool part was sewed on the front part of the legs. I was told part of the reason for this was that the angora skin was really thin and wouldn't hold up to wear. Not sure if that's the real reason they were made like this or not. I looked around and I don't seem to have any good picture that show how they are made. I know a guy that has quite a few pairs of them in his collection of old west stuff, someday I'm going to have to get some pictures and see if I can make a pattern off of some of them.

[steveh]

most of the old time woolies had a strap leather yoke/belt at the top that fasten in the back with a buckel.,fastened together in the front with a break away lace.the front fur could be of bear goat ect. some where completely lined front and back with ticking.some where lined in front only with a 10 oz. cotton duck, the back side being horse or calf, some where stepins and some had rings and snaps. I have not seen any with fringe on the bottom though.old saddle catalog reprints would be a good resource if you want to make them authentic.

[cowhorse]

most of the old time woolies had a strap leather yoke/belt at the top that fasten in the back with a buckel.,fastened together in the front with a break away lace.the front fur could be of bear goat ect. some where completely lined front and back with ticking.some where lined in front only with a 10 oz. cotton duck, the back side being horse or calf, some where stepins and some had rings and snaps. I have not seen any with fringe on the bottom though.old saddle catalog reprints would be a good resource if you want to make them authentic.

Thank you, you are talking about cotton pillow ticking? I think i'll try the 10oz canvas...any ideas on finding old saddle catalog reprints?

[cowhorse]

Thanks, for the feed back... I going to try 10oz canvas...steveh said that some wooly's were lined with ticking... the pair I have are chinks they have a tooled leatherbelt with the belt in the back...front thong...bear fur front legs...back of fur lined in chap leather wraps around legs...step ins...five slotted conchos hold the legs together and leather fringe hangs down the outside of the leg to the bottom...like chinks...so really they are a pair of chinks with bear fur on the front of the legs... but they are heavy... ok when your on a horse... but heavy walking around...welcome any more ideas...I'll try and post a pic of the bear ones...thanks cowhorse

[ClayB]

Try here for old saddle catalogs. Cabin Creek

[cowhorse]

So I looked at the old catalogs at cabin creek, great! I got side tract looking at old saddles... any ways i cut me some canvas in the shape of chinks but the more i worked and tried to piece everything together i would have had so many seams... to sew & stress...so I dug out some cream colored elk hide and made a chink leg... still working on them....I'll post soon thank you every one, cowhorse