Black Leather

[Rye Miles #13621]

I know the army had black holsters and belts and I've seen pics of black saddle rigs from that period but other than that has anyone ever seen pics of black rigs from the old west? I've seen various shades of brown but no black. Just wonderin' , Rye

[Col. Roosevelt]

A lot of old west rigs got their start as army equipment and then modified as needed. Flaps removed from holsters things like that. No telling how many mclellen saddles went west and stayed with the trooper who had it.

[Lone Dog, SASS #20401]

Why shore! Ain'tche ever watched "Have Gun Will Travel"?

[Bad Hombre #23212]

The Great book "Packing Iron" Gunleather of the Frontier West, has many of them.

All the way back to 1840s, the 70s and 80s (cowboy times).

Plain and tooled, military and civilian.

The nut dyes + vinegar made black.

 

BH

[Smithy]

I don't know if I read this or watched it so I'm asking for knowledgeable advice, but wasn't black the dye used not only on military stuff, but on premium leather products? And supposedly because of this folks were cautioned because black dyes were also used as a means to camouflage cheaper grades of leather and pass it off as a better cut? Do I have that correct or is there a different story behind old west leather? Smithy.

[Guest Paniolo Cowboy SASS #75875]

I remember getting flap holsters for my 1911 that were un-dyed. We were told to dye them using our black boot dye and use boot polish on them after that.

 

We did it as part of uniformity.

 

It's a good possibility that the ,ilitary of the old west did the same things for their holsters and leather gear.

[Utah Bob #35998]

I remember getting flap holsters for my 1911 that were un-dyed. We were told to dye them using our black boot dye and use boot polish on them after that.

 

We did it as part of uniformity.

 

It's a good possibility that the ,ilitary of the old west did the same things for their holsters and leather gear.

 

Military leather was made in black since after they did away with white buff gear in the early 1840s, and stayed black until the turn of the century. Contracts specified black. I doubt the govt would have accepted any undyed accouterments.

[Trailrider #896]

Military leather was made in black since after they did away with white buff gear in the early 1840s, and stayed black until the turn of the century. Contracts specified black. I doubt the govt would have accepted any undyed accouterments.

 

Howdy, Pards,

Have to dispute the part about "stayed black". Unless re-blacked periodically, the carbon black in the dye rubbed off...all over everything, including clothes! That's one reason most of the original military leather looks like a dark brown/black. Later, the dye manufacturers started stabilizing the carbon black with toluene & xylene. About 30 years ago those were found to be carcinogenic and the "gubmint" made 'em take it out. So the black dyes aren't very stable once more. I mix them 50/50 with Tan, and call it "Faded Arsenal", though it usually comes out looking black, depending on how heavy an application I put on. But it still takes an application of Bag Kote to fix the dye.

 

Ride careful, Pards! There's still snakes out there, even though one of the "heads" got cut off! Godspeed to those who go in harm's way in the defense of Freedom everywhere! God Bless America!

 

Your obedient servant,