Jump to content
I Forge Iron

branding irons


Recommended Posts

For those of you who have heard of them but never saw one: This is a running iron from a cattle thieves camp I found on my BLM range in NE Nevada.You can see it was pretty old and rusted when I found it.Forge welded.Probably wrought iron. With it you could alter or make just about any brand. My neighbor told me he learned to write with one!!

post-5278-0-39644100-1301813843_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, the workmanship is great! The R and the letters where they join to the cross pieces will smudge though. Here is a brand my soon to be brother in law had me make using forging and fabrication. It was a Half diamond over a 3W in 2 separate brands for ease of application. I cut the flat stock from angle iron so it was tapers. The contact area is 1/8". It was built to his father's spec's who is a brand inspector. Worked great this spring.

post-693-0-05526100-1302331368_thumb.jpg

post-693-0-52638500-1302331458_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites


For those of you who have heard of them but never saw one: This is a running iron from a cattle thieves camp I found on my BLM range in NE Nevada.You can see it was pretty old and rusted when I found it.Forge welded.Probably wrought iron. With it you could alter or make just about any brand. My neighbor told me he learned to write with one!!



I've heard - never checked into it, so this is second hand info - that in some states it's a felony to own a running iron. Don't know if it's true or not.

ron
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Silkhopesmith'a photos are a good example of an early Mexican branding iron. Those irons often had serifs, those extra little extensions on the bottom and tops of letters. The Mexican irons also had square or rectangular connecting rods. I have a couple like that in my collection. I might mention too, that when I demoed in Australia in 2005, I was getting ready to pack for the flight home. One of the students came to me with two beautiful, Australian irons that were old and traditional; they were almost dead ringers for the way the old Mexican irons were made. He said I could have the irons, if I could fit them in my bag. I laid them in diagonally, and they just fit.

Frank Turley
co-author with Marc Simmons; "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork"

Link to comment
Share on other sites


anyone know how to make a cold branding iron, we have been asked to make one and i wanna do it right so figured i would hit IFI and see if we can find some good info as usual...
-FM


Freeze branding irons are made of brass with a high copper content. You could special order the brass; google forgable brass for the proper number of the brass. Something else we do. Santa Fe has three art foundries, and you can sometimes visit and the managers will give you some scrap pieces, usually cutoffs of sprues, gates, and risers. This is silicon bronze (in reality a form of brass) and it is forgable.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know about the legality of running irons I just know that out this-away carrying one could get you a free party and a nice new necktie!

Back in the "Bad Old Days"tm there were some fairly draconian laws about rustling including on here in Socorro County that you could string up a rustler without a trial. As this was open range and everybody's cattle naturally mixed together it was fairly easy for some of the big outfits to just claim it all and call you a rustler if you went after your own beasts. Rough times as even old Billy found out in the long run.

Franks not old he's EXPERIENCED! (and I *never* put any faith in that story that he trained under the fellow who trained under the fellow that invented iron!...Tubal Cain maybe...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Got in an argument with a client today about branding irons. I figured this would be the ideal thread to complain in since it backs up my side of the story. <_< Sorry about the long rant, I'm more upset about this than I ought to be and I need to put it out somewhere.

Guy calls up, his cousin is coming to visit in a few weeks and he wants to give her a present of an iron like the one from the family farm they hung out on as kids. Just a plain old "Z" and his cousin is flying in to visit so hers needs to be short so it will fit in a suitcase and he wants a second one with a regular length handle for himself. I tell him that a socketed handle will be a good way to make a short, but still authentic branding iron and thirty inches is what I've always used for a handle length. I give him a low price since it's a simple brand and it sounds like fun. I've had a shortage of forged work for a few years, so I like it when I can get some. It's still more money than he expected, but he says ok.

I do it just like I was taught and forge down the edge of some 1/4 inch flat bar and bend up some Zs, I even upset the ends a little for a serif. Since their wall hangers I make them a little prettier than something that's gonna lay in a toolshed 364 days a year. Nice forged socket that tapers all the way down to the brand with an old piece of a rake handle whittled down to fit and a nice little scroll on the loop for the other.

Comes in to pick them up yesterday. (Has to come into the city to find a blacksmith, that's ironic.) I hand them to him and his face falls. He straight up ignores the socket-handled one and then tells me what's wrong with the other. OK, he doesn't want a branding iron, what he wants is an exact copy of his childhood memory. Well, my big mouth got me into this so I guess I'll try and straighten this mess out. Basically he wants it to look like a cut-and-weld job and he wants the brands bigger and he wants them to be "more authentic". :angry: I hold my tongue and just say that we might not agree on what is authentic and can he describe it a little more so I can make him what he wants.

He just wants a plain loop handle and offers to draw it for me. I'm pretty sure I know what a circle looks like so I decline, politely. His cousin is coming this weekend, so he's gonna pick them up today after another appointment. I apologize for the misunderstanding and off he goes.

Today I get a message on the phone, he was up all night thinking about it and he's worried about that thin edge. "It will burn right through to the bone." The edge should be about a quarter inch thick. He suggests that since we might not agree what a branding iron looks like maybe he should draw it and he can mail one to his cousin later.

I figure I ought to catch him before he leaves for his appointment, so I call right back. I say he's obviously got a very specific thing in mind and a drawing is a good idea: give me some stock sizes and a full size picture of what you want the brand to look like. First he's offended because I didn't accept his offer of a drawing yesterday, then he doesn't want to complain about my price, but for what he's paying it ought to be done right. Then he starts in about the thin edge cutting right to the bone again. He's implied that I'm incompetent and that I am ripping him off on the price and I am in no mood to explain how the radiant heat from the iron makes a larger burn than just the area of contact and I don't think he'll believe me anyway.

Fool that I am, I'm still trying to salvage this. "Sir, I don't want to argue about authenticity. I'll make what you want." "I don't want to argue about it either, but why did you make the edge so thin?"

I tell him I've seen branding irons, I've held branding irons, and I've made branding irons that were used on cows. He interrupts asking why I didn't make his right the first time.

I tell him to find someone else to make his branding irons.

The couple of hours (if that long) lost making the irons isn't that big a deal. I'm pretty upset about the insult to my competence and my integrity. I actually put in a little more effort to make them pretty, and it not only went unappreciated but he insulted that extra effort and then went on to prove his ignorance by asking for thick edges.

What really chafes my britches is that I am certain he got off the phone with me, turned to his wife and asked why I didn't just make them right the first time. :rolleyes:

Thanks for letting me rant.

Lewis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

....... What really chafes my britches is that I am certain he got off the phone with me, turned to his wife and asked why I didn't just make them right the first time. :rolleyes: Thanks for letting me rant.

This is one more reason is not good to allow some people to reproduce. I feel your pain.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some people are experts in everything. Especially when they are remembering something from their youth. Time wounds all heals.

They are experts. As my father used to say, "X is an unknown and a spurt is a drip under pressure." If he was so knowledgable then he should have been able to make one himself.

You were right, he was wrong even if he was the customer. You maintained your professional composure admirably.

Mark<><

ps: Hope you faired well with the storms the other day. My daughter lives in Louisville (looville). Wave when you see her. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, not much additional harm last week in loolville ;) Seems like it's been flood warnings and high winds for the last month.

Steve and Mark, thanks for the sympathy. You've cured my fuming, which is why I posted. Anytime you're in Louisville contact me for the historic blacksmith shop tour. (That applies to everyone else too.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear about your encounter with the "gentleman". My humble observation is that the more you accomplish in life, and the more you are exposed to the public, the more criticism you will receive. Also as time passes and the public becomes more accustomed to cheaply constructed products and/or cheaply grown tasteless food, the more the general public will come to see that junk as correctly produced and designed. So between the poor manners of some members of the public and their misconceptions of quality, interaction of blacksmiths with the public becomes sometimes very frustrating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If anyone offers drawings, take them. It they do not offer, suggest they make a sketch of what they want. This allows you to make your product to THEIR specs and it is difficult for them to then come back and say no it should have looked different. On yes, have them initial they drawings (grin).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A smith friend of mine got in a long distance telephone argument about Colonial strap hinge finish. The smith wanted to do clean work, and the customer wanted it rough finished with hammer marks. He even used the word "crude." He was convinced that all old ironwork was crude and distressed looking. The argument turned into a yelling match with finally, an impasse, no order.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

Link to comment
Share on other sites



He just wants a plain loop handle and offers to draw it for me. I'm pretty sure I know what a circle looks like so I decline, politely. His cousin is coming this weekend, so he's gonna pick them up today after another appointment. I apologize for the misunderstanding and off he goes.

Lewis

Sorry to hear about your experience. As Glenn said always let them make a drawing or sketch. You know what you think "it" should look like and they know what they think "it" should look like and usually their communication skills are not the best when being descriptive. If they won't or can't draw it then you should so they both client and smith are on the same page. This guy sounds like he was in another book though so there is no helping him.
Rob
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...