century horns, striving to emulate the style of original makers as I continued learning. My background is in social studies education, so I view horn building as an opportunity to highlight a lesser known segment of American history.” Alec Fourman made the fingerwoven and beaded strap for the powder horn. A two-time veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he devoted the past 15 years to preserving and mastering the vanishing traditional crafts of the 18th century Eastern Woodland Indians. He is best known for his exploration of the difficult open face, or oblique finger, weaving technique. His other focuses include brain tanning, porcupine quillwork, and natural dye methods. Dagger & Sheath – A good fighting knife was nearly as indispensable as the gun on the frontier. Double-edged fighting knives like this were difficult to hand-forge and though this “small warrior” could be domestically made, it would more likely be an import. It resembles an English Sheffield trade knife in basic form. Typically, their handles were plain wood with a simple round ball for the pommel. Someone personalized this one by carving the ball into a head and dying the handle red, creating a figure distinctly native in appearance. The high quality and very traditional native porcupine quill embroidery decoration on the neck sheath suggests the owner treasured this knife. This type of embellishment was almost exclusively an Indian art form, used on personal and trade items. Joe Seabolt collaborated on the dagger with Clint Seabolt, his cousin and apprentice. Joe was also on the display fixture forging team. He is a traditional artist and bladesmith. In his shop, located in Goshen, Ohio, he creates traditional hand-forged backwoods knives, tomahawks and various other historically correct tools. Joe has been making handforged knives and tools for over 25 years. He started knife making and blacksmithing in the blacksmith shop at Historic Manskers Station in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Joe 32
American Shooting Journal // August 2018
Webster also teamed with Ewing to make the hunting pouch.
demonstrates and teaches knife making at various venues, including the House Brothers’ knife-making seminars and ABS Hammer-Ins. Clint Seabolt carved the effigy head on the handle. New to the CLA, he is becoming a talented knife maker himself. Clint attended knife-making seminars, including the House Brothers school in Woodbury, Kentucky. He has been wood carving since he was a young boy and has combined this talent with bladesmithing to create some very unique and beautiful knives. Shawn Webster made the quilled sheath for the dagger. He also collaborated with Eric Ewing on the pouch. His interest in quillwork was sparked in 1980 when a friend showed him a hatband made from rawhide and porcupine quills. He couldn’t afford the price tag and decided the only way to get one would be to learn to do it himself. Soon after that, a chance meeting with artist H. David Wright at an American Mountain Man (AMM) Rendezvous resulted in Shawn being steered in the right direction. Since that time, his work has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers. A proud member of the AMM, his
other interests include building flintlock rifles and hunting pouches and attending many rendezvous throughout the year. He makes his home in Cedar City, Utah. Hunting Pouch – Afield, some type of practical bag is needed to carry flints, a small priming horn, bullets and/or shot, patches and a vent pick. Those are the bare essentials to keep a flintlock shooting. Bags varied in design and decoration, just as such things do today. This small pouch would be ideal for shorter ventures into the wilderness, perhaps a few days hunting. It is a peculiar combination of materials and styles. Open-top bags, without protective flaps, were typically used by the Indians. Likewise, the red tassels (made from imported thread), porcupine quill decorative embroidery, and the soft and flexible brain-tanned deer hide used for the face of the bag and strap. However, the body of the bag is made from bark-tanned deer hide, a European method rarely used by the natives. Also, the vine scroll work design of the embroidery is very unusual for an Indian-made item. It mimics the decoration of English trade guns. Was