Update on the Copperhead Hat Band.

While perusing my previous posts, I realized that I had never followed up the post A fun Day at the Hacienda de Grande Hombre. Well folks, I followed the recipe:


 Fill a gallon jug two-thirds full of water. Dissolve as much plain salt (non-iodized) in the water as possible. Stir the water as you add the salt and when you see the crystals sinking to the bottom instead of dissolving, that is enough salt. (It will take about 2 lbs of salt to a gallon of water)

 Place the skin in loose fold (not rolled) in the salt water solution.
 Seal the jug, and leave a room temperature (70 degrees) for four days. Rotate the jug gently once or twice a day.

 Remove from he salt water on the fourth day. Rinse for several minutes and lightly pat dry on towels.

 Mix a solution of equal parts glycerin and water. Pure glycerin is available at most drugstores.
 Two pints of glycerin mixed with water is sufficient to treat three medium-sized snake skins.

 Place the skin in the glycerin solution, cover and let stand at room temperature for another four days. Rotate but do not shake the jug daily.

 After the skin has been in the glycerin solution four days, remove and pat dry with a towel.

 Place the dry skin on an unfinished, dry, flat pine board. The boards must be long and wide enough to sandwich the whole skin. Do not stretch the skin to flatten it, just roll it out smoothly on the board. Use the flat of your hand to remove and wrinkles.

 Place a second pine board on top of the skin. The skin must be firmly pressed, so weigh down the top board.

Instead of weighing down the board I used drywall screws and screwed the boards together about every 2 inches around the perimeter. (pictures taken in unfinished kitchen I was working on, this was what I was tearing out when I had the "Fun Day')

 Let dry for four days. It may take a little longer in the dead of winter or in humid conditions.

When the skin is dry, it will be soft and pliable. Put a little talcum powder on the dry hide and roll it around on an old paper-towel roll ( one of those cardboard rollers) and it will keep until you are ready to turn it into a hatband or mount it on a display board.

I of course decided to make a hat band. I went to a local Tandy Leather Store where I explained to the proprietor what I was trying to accomplish, that I need some strips of suitable leather and Rubber contact cement. He helped me find a bottle of the cement which is used for just such purposes. He then gave me some scraps of leather. He even cut several pieces to width for me.

 When I arrived back at the Hacienda, I found that I had more than enough snake skin to make two hat bands, so that is what I decided to do.

Using a razor knife I cut the skin lengthwise down the middle so that I had two pieces approximately the same length and width. I then turned them over and using one of the leather backing strips as a guide, I applied the contact cement liberally in the approximate center of the skins. I then applied contact cement to each of the outside (smooth side) of  leather strips. Once this was completed I had to allow them to "set up" before I could join the skins and leather backing.

Applying rubber cement to the leather backing

Applying cement prior to folding the skin over the back of the leather backing strip

Ready to fold skin over leather backing to finish the 2nd Band trimmed off excess length

I then cut the skin so that there was about 1/2" beyond each end  of the leather backing and I made it square. I then carefully folded the ends over, and pleated the sides and folded them over also.

The two pieces of snake skin completely joined to the leather backing (view 1)

The two pieces of snake skin completely joined to the leather backing (view 2)

Once the skins and leather had been joined I needed to decide how I would join the ends. I decided to use Leather Boot Laces. I then used a leather punch to punch two holes in each end of the two hatbands. I then threaded the laces through them as you would if you were lacing shoes.

Back of Hatband after lacing

Front of Hatband 1

Front of Hatband 2

Top view of the Hatbands on the pine board used to cure the skin

Inside of a hatband, you can see the different type of belly scales on this one

 Well now I had two beautiful custom hatbands, and I still only had a single head, with no hat. I decided that I would make a gift of one hat band to MBB (My Big Brother).

I gave him the hatband on a trip to his homestead in the great northwest. I described to him how I was thinking of braiding the tails of the laces on my hatband and putting silver beads in the shape of skulls in the braid.  MBB also has a crafty streak in him (in more ways than one). He has made on occasion, very nice zipper pulls he creates out of braided wire, semi-precious stones, silver, pewter and other metals. He whipped out his collection of items he had for the fabrication of the pulls and found several solid silver miniature facsimiles of a Celtic Battle Axe Heads. He gave me one for my hatband and promptly figured a way to attach one to his.

I now had one last item to take care of in order to finish this project. I needed a Cowboy hat. Not just any hat would do, it would have to be either a Resistol or a Stetson. I had the maker somewhat narrowed down, so the final choice would have to be based on style. I had already decided on Black... Yes, I know, in the parlance of my childhood, good guys only wore white or light colored hats.. Except for Paladin of course. I decided that the snakeskin would stand out better against a black background.

It took me a while, but I finally settled on a hat style, I liked the hat that Timothy Oliphant wears as the character US Deputy Marshall, Raylan Givens in Justified. The hat is a Stetson Carson model. Raylan's hat is "Silver Belly", mine would still be black. I went to a local Western Wear shop, determined my size, and ordered a hat.

Black Stetson Carson hat (by the way, this photo was taken in the same general area as the earlier photos of the hatband creation, I finished the kitchen)

Front view of the hat, the black really makes the Copperhead pattern pop.

Side view of the hat, from this view you can see how the hatband stands out, and the sweep of the brim

Rear of hat and Band, I left the leather laces long, added a third piece to make braiding easier. You can see one of the skull beads about 3/4 of the way up, three at the bottom, they are pewter. The Silver Battle Axe head is visible.

Close up of the Skull Beads

A Skull bead and the Silver Celtic Battle Axe

The Front Center of the hatband.

I am very satisfied with the results, I have had many positive comments. Someone even asked if I would sell the hatband or if I would make another. I told him, no, and no... I really don't want to meet another 4' copperhead.

A Practical Demonstration of why a HiCap Magazine ban wouldn't work

This demonstration is conducted by the Hon. Sheriff Ken Campbell of Boone County Indiana. Some of you may be surprised that all Law Enforcement officers don't support gun control and the magazine restriction. In my short 5 year career in Law Enforcement, I found that few if any of my fellow "Road Dogs" or street officers that were in favor of gun control. Only those that were political in nature and kowtowing the the Politicians in order to advance their careers were in favor of  gun control. In fact, most Local Law Enforcement officers (at least those not in large cities) are members of the NRA. In fact almost all Range Officers in almost every Police or Sheriffs dept in the country are NRA Members because they are trained and certified to operate their ranges by the NRA.

Sheriff Campbell demonstrates one exercise with a revolver in which they perform a "New York" reload. I was a little disappointed as I expected him to demonstrate the use of "speed loaders" which was how I was trained in the Police academy. I was able to fire 24 well aimed shots in 25 seconds from 25 yards keeping all of my rounds in the "5" ring. This stage requires three reloads with "speed loaders" which are mechanical devices that hold six rounds in the same configuration as the cylinder of your revolver. You dump the empties, push the speed loader home while hitting its locking button (or turning a knob) which releases the rounds into the cylinder.
  A standard police target at the time contained 5 different rings or scoring areas on a life size human silhouette. The 5 ring would comprise the area normally covered by the 9/10 rings of an FBI life size human silhouette (the Black outlined human target most people are familiar with). I fired the VA Modified Law Enforcement sequence 12 times in the academy, and once a year for a total of 16 times in my short career. I scored a perfect 300 (60rds x 5 points) 11 times. My lowest score recorded was 274 (still considered Expert Marksman). Each stage 3, 7, 15, and 25 yds is timed. There are also several reloads mixed in the stages with the most difficult being the 25 yard kneeling right, standing right and standing left barricade firing the 24 rds.

What I am try to emphasize is that with practice and determination, any shooter can be just as devastating with a revolver as a pistol with a HiCap magazine.

Enjoy the demonstration.

Another Advocate for Gun control

Gun Control Works

This link provided by a prisoner of the People's Republic of California..

Random Thoughts

I have been watching Super Bowl pre-game shows all morning. They are making a big deal about it being the 25th anniversary of Doug Williams being the first black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl. I remember it well because I am a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. Several thoughts about the coverage today:

• Why does Al Sharpton's opinion matter and why does he get the respect that he gets? The man became famous for supporting a girl who made Racist accusations because she stayed out all night and was afraid to go home. He then started two different race riots that ended with the Death of an innocent Jewish man in one case, and the burning of a Korean Grocery store in the other. He is no better in my opinion than infamous KKK leader David Duke.
• As long as we keep making race a big deal, race will be a big deal.

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Retail Closings

There is a list of retail chains that are closing hundreds of their locations. Some could be attributed to the changing tastes of the American public. Most are the result of Americans fear of the current Administration. People with disposable income are not spending their money because of the added Heath Insurance costs brought about by the mandates in Obamacare and the current/future tax situation. Big Mama (just a nickname not a description), a DOD employee has been told that she will most likely be Furloughed 2 days a pay period for a total of 22 days. Therefore we have drastically cut back our spending in order to save for the Furloughs and to cover us for the tax hit we will take because of the new taxes and higher tax rate we are now subject to. There are most likely hundreds if not thousands of couples like us that are moderating our spending. When we do this, restaurants, stores and entertainment venues lose money and therefore layoff employees and close locations. This is the dirty little secret to Obama's class warfare.. By raising taxes on two income couples like us in order to make us pay our "fair share".. Those who voted for Obama in order to get their "fair share' of my income are finding themselves with out any income that doesnt come from the Govt...

That is probably his real plan anyway.. As long as they are dependent on the Govt. They will keep voting for bigger and more intrusive Govt. to keep their "draw' coming. The real question is how long will folks like us keep working and supplying the taxes to fund it all... Not for long..

"Adjunct faculty from at least four universities will see their hours cut as colleges try to reduce the number of full-time employees whose health care they need to cover."

What exactly does this mean? Well in many of our institutions of higher learning they are laying off or restricting "adjunct faculty". These folks are usually retired Business people, retired Lawyers, retired CPAs and or retired Politicians. In other words people in an academic setting that have real world experience instead of theoretical experience as most of the Professors have. Therefore the student taking those classes are going to lose a valuable resource.

Obamanation care strikes again..

Here is a clip of Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School, wherein he takes on a Business Professor's idea of how to run a business in the real world..

Who is the Communist?

Take a look at these political views and see if you can guess who this is:

• Rejected and blasted Winston Churchill;

• Vilified and targeted General Motors;

• Advocated wealth redistribution from (in his words) greedy "corporations" to "health insurance" and "public works projects";

• Favored taxpayer funding of universal health care;

• Supported government stimulus and trumpeted the public sector over the private sector;

• Constantly bashed Wall Street;

• Dismissed traditional notions of American exceptionalism and framed American not as selflessly serving the post-World War II world but instead as selfishly flaunting its so-called "mountainous ego" and "racist-imperialist-colonialist" ambitions;

• Warned God-and-gun-clinging Americans about huckster preachers and instead sought the political support of the "social justice" Religious Left for various causes and campaigns;

• Perceived the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state;

• Confidently declared certain government actions "constitutional" or "unconstitutional";

• Excoriated the "tentacles of big business," bankers, big oil, the "Big Boys," "excess profits," corporate fat cats and their "fat contracts," "millionaires" and "rich men," and the wealthy;

• Attacked "GOP" tax cuts that "spare the rich" and that only "benefit millionaires";

• Singled out the "corporation executive" for not paying his "fair" share;

• Used slogans such as "change" and "forward."

This is a trick question, If you guessed Barrack "Papa Doc" Obama, you would be almost correct. These are the views of Frank Marshall Davis, Barrack's beloved mentor and who was a card carrying member of the Communist Party USA..