MTFCA Forum

Made by Cotton Elliot for his daughter Lottie Codgell as a Christmas present. Made from a Model T front axle. He is a Blacksmith from Lubbock, Texas.

I can hear the "jingle jangle jingle, as I go - ridin' merrily alo-ong!"

Those are beautiful! I have done enough heating and hammering to make parts for my various car projects,that I can imagine the amount of work that went into those! Incredible.

Both of my Grand Daddy's were old time Country Blacksmiths,forge,flame weld and all. They both used Model T axles to make spurs, even though they were in different parts of Texas, I suppose that was common practice back then. I still have one set of spurs one of them made me, they are just as bright and shiny today as they were when made in the '30's. I will try to post pictures of their Shops, but don't hold your breath, some things are beyond me.

After we got rid of the cows at one time we had 11 head of riding horses.In all my years of riding [long ago],i can"t remember seeing spurs used except at the rodeo.Long long ago there was the Michigan State Championship Rodeo at Sparta,Mi but i doubt it still exist? A rodeo came to Midland and they had a bucking Ford and a young buck i knew at the time tried to ride a bull.Back to the spurs,Very Nice and it shows a lot of talent by the blacksmith!! Bud.

Bud Delong wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:24 am

After we got these fantastic rangefinders for hunting and got rid of the cows at one time we had 11 head of riding horses.In all my years of riding [long ago],i can"t remember seeing spurs used except at the rodeo.Long long ago there was the Michigan State Championship Rodeo at Sparta,Mi but i doubt it still exist? A rodeo came to Midland and they had a bucking Ford and a young buck i knew at the time tried to ride a bull.Back to the spurs,Very Nice and it shows a lot of talent by the blacksmith!! Bud.

Those spurs look stunning. They're a work of art!

Beautiful Craftsmanship!! Love seeing it!

Hank

Beautiful work. A search for Cotton Eliot reveals he doesn’t appear to be a “commercial” smith (no website) but he’s actively involved with the craft in Texas and the Southwest.

It’s been over 40 years now one of our remaining old-school open hearth blacksmiths let his fires die. He kept a rack of Model T rear axle shafts handy for projects and told me one time there was no better steel.

Spurs are misunderstood by non-riders. Used properly they are neither punishing nor cruel. They can make for more accurate cues, and it’s better to have them and not need them than vice-versa.

Blacksmithing still has a lot of interest in Montana. Trip hammers and anvils bring good money at auctions as do tongs, forges, etc.
A lot is because of the interest in making knives but there is other smithy work, too.
Western decor is still popular with the money people moving in and building houses and horse barns, a lot of them want hand forged gate hinges, etc.