tack decorations

[bubba.50]

anyone know of any books or magazines with lotsa pictures of guns decorated in the indian style with brass tacks and stuff? or even have same you'd want to sell? lookin' for ideas. thanks for listenin' and have a good'en neighbors, bubba.

[FL-Flinter]

If you look for trade/indian guns you'll find quite a bit, looking for pictures of native Americans will get you lots of tack work. Just don't over do it and make it tacky. [smilie=1:

http://members.memlane.com/gromboug/hawken.jpg

[bubba.50]

thanks flinter,
that's what i'm lookin' for and bein' "tacky" is what i'm tryin' to avoid. just need somethin' to go by so i don't get carried away and overdo it. nice lookin' hawken ya got there. that's sorta what i want to do. thanks again and have a good'en friend, bubba.

[Marvin S]

Not Injun but here is my Paleface tack job.

[405]

Nice stock there MarvinS. Never could build up the courage to tack one of my guns. The only period thing I've tacked was a throwing hawk. I've always heard and tend to agree about keeping the pattern simple and consistent. Usually the fewer tacks the better. The very few sure enough originals I've looked at were on the crude side to put it politely. I've always liked the various cross designs and simple 4 sided starburst designs. Don't forget about the broken wrist rawhide wrap :)

[FL-Flinter]

Bubba,

One thing to avoid being tacky is not to use tacks that are too large for the work. Most of the all-brass tacks I've found are too-large as in the head is either too-high or too big in diameter. The ones seen on Marvin's rifle are the right size for the work, fancy but not overbearing. Best thing to do is come up with the pattern you want, buy sticky dots corresponding to the size of the tacks you plan to use and stick them on to see how it looks (could also punch dots out of tape too).

The style of tack matters too; half-sphere dome head, pan-dome, flattened dome, multi-sided or what have you, if you're worried about being period correct, you'll need to research the type, size and style of tacks as well as patterns. If it's a "for you" gun in that you don't care about PC, get an assortment of tack sizes & styles and see which one you like best.

Avoid brass plated tacks, the plating doesn't hold up and beware of "all-brass/solid-brass" tacks because there are good ones and utter junk with the latter being more commonly found. I don't normally do much tack work and after having gone round and round with utter ****, more often than not, I make my own tacks so I don't end up with problems later plus I can make the head exactly the way I want it.

Mark

[FL-Flinter]

Never could build up the courage to tack one of my guns.

Nothing to fear, just do it! [smilie=w:

[bubba.50]

thanks for the input flinter. got a couple trade rifle books located now gotta wait for the available scratch. like to do somethin' similar to your hawken on one'a my t/c's just for the helluvit. good idea about the dots. sure would be better than tryin' to cover up a buncha little holes for sure. have a good'en neighbor, bubba.

[cajun shooter]

Look at leather supply houses when you want tacks as they have a complete range of tack sizes. The leather gun belt worn by Germino did not have any space left as the belt and holster was covered in concho's and Dot's. Later David