Spurs

[Slim55]

What metal makes the best sound for spurs? Don't like jingle bob's, but want the spurs to sing a little on their own.

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

If you put your general locatgion in your profile we can often give better answers.  This is a world wide forum and since you are asking about spurs we don't know if you are a cattleman in the Outback of Australia, a Gaucho on the Pampas of Argentina, or a cowboy in the Western USA.

Generally, higher carbon steel has a sharper ring than mild steel.  A dinner triangle of mild steel will clang when hit but one made of higher carbon steel (like an unwrapped coil spring) will give a more bell like, musical ring.  I don't know if this would make much difference in something as small as a spur rowel.  Only experimentation would tell. Having the body of the spur made of higher carbon steel might also improve the pitch since it is a larger oiece of metal and is what the rowl is rattling against.

BTW, I have no idea what a "jingle bob" is.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. As I understand it jingle bobs are little attachments that dangle from the spurs like a little charm, small bell's and had to be earned by the best horsemen. I had to look em up.   https://www.aginfo.net/report/13622/American-Rancher/Jingle-bobs

Most spurs I have seen the rowel's are made out of silver or stainless steel.

[George N. M.]

PS, you might also get more jingle from the rowel by having a larger hole in the rowel so that it rattles around on its pin more loosely.

GNM

[Charles R. Stevens]

I use jingle bobs and large brass  rowells on my spurs. The jingle bobs look more like the clacker from a bell than a bell. I tend to shake my foot as a warning to the horse that is ignoring leg pressure befor tickling them with the spur. A tap of the crop, rein or get down string on the leather of the stirrup or saddle skirt is fallowed buy a gig with the spur if they still don’t listen. Took me a couple of years to get confident with my feet and seat that I felt I wouldn’t tie them buy accident. 

[Frosty]

Gee Charles horses haven't changed?  My spurs were just slit buttons they pulled hair unless you kicked. Dad wouldn't allow rowels on one of our horses but wearing them was more psychology than spurring. We made sure to put them on in front of the horse or they'd ignore them until you gave them a tap, then they got twitchy.  Same for the crop or a switch, they had to know you had it, then they never took more than a touch, almost never had to pop the leather. Standing mounted with the sun at your back so they could see the shadow of the crop as a reminder meant you could usually leave it hang. We cut a switch in front of them, just like putting on the spurs. 

A horse had to be pretty rank to need a touch of spur or pop of the crop. Horses can be oh so smart and oh so dumb at the same time but they're predictable if you know the tricks. Jingle bobs sure make sense if you need spurs.

I can't think of a way to make rowels "sing", nothing damps a bell like hanging it on metal. I wonder if double rowels might clack and rattle like castanets. Could maybe dish them so they'd pop like a clicker as in dog training tool. A web search for, "dog, clicker training," for an illustration. 

I suppose a person could make the rowels large enough to roll on the ground as they walked and make each tine individual and tuned like a music box. You could even pick the tune you wanted but that's a little silly and you wouldn't hear it horse back if you didn't rake them in which case I'd be very displeased about using an idea of mine to abuse an animal. 

If anything else occurs to me out of the blue sky I'll jot it down.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I once rode a retired Rodeo horse that "objected" to the jingling of my chainmail shirt; thought the noise meant SPURS!

For rowels they sell replacement dressing "stars" for grinding wheels.  High C last ones I used and "pre shaped".

[Charles R. Stevens]

Small rowels vs large rowels silver dollar sized rowels exert less pressure on the horse than the small Nickle sized ones. And thus are more humane to use. Folks are under the false impression that the opposition is true. 
In use one actual touches the horse and rolls them against them, gigging will cut the hair and is reserved as the last escalation. 
this is horsemanship, not HollyWood, a large rowel and a pair of jingle bobs with large spur leathers says horseman. 
remember a cow boy only has to be smarter than a cow (most aren’t) now mule skinners are a whole diced t beast!

Oh and a round toe  slip off boot with riding heaps and a generous spur shelf! It’s a price of PPE. 
sorry, grumpy old farrier who is usually the best horseman a horse gets to see. 

[Frosty]

I can't disagree about rowel diameter. We hardly ever wore spurs and Dad was the final word on what was allowed. The rowels on ours were barely larger than the shank around the rowel pin and the shank was really short on the band. That or there weren't rowels at all, just a really short shank a hair puller. it's been more than 50 years and I hardly ever wore them. 

Our horses did what we wanted because they wanted to, the only times I had to try hard commands or force is because I screwed up. If one of our horses refused something, there was something wrong or it was dangerous it was a solid signal to see what was wrong. My gelding Banjo saved me from sitting on a rattle snake once. He literally grabbed me by the sleeve and jerked me away from the down log I was going to sit on. I'd ignored his agitated state to take a break and straighten a sock. 

I don't think I knew any professional cowboys that wore spurs outside the rodeo arena or shows. I was far from a real cowboy, I lived in a suburb and rode the foothills and spent some time roping or cutting at local events. I could cowboy but I wasn't a cowboy. We trailered our horses to interesting trail rides or club over night trail rides. I had a crop looped over the horn by the wrist strap but never did more than stroke Banjo's shoulder with it or pop my boot to put an exclamation point on his acting up. He was a real practical joker, you had to keep on top of things. Messing with an experienced rider was a game for  him, if the rider was a beginner he'd shuffle his feet or hump a shoulder to keep the person in the saddle. 

Frosty The Lucky.