Folk Art in Texas Page: 109

                                
GAL-LEGS AND GOOSENECKS: FOLK ART ON THE TEXAS RANGE

spur factories regularly purchased bar and plate steel
in quantity directly from the mills. Individual artisans,
however, sometimes drew materials from novel
sources. J. O. Bass, for example, preferred buggy ax-
les, while L. H. Crosser, who built his first spurs about
1906 in Wilson County, favored automobile springs.
Another of their contemporaries liked the rugged
teeth of threshing machine cylinders. Still others
haunted scrap dealers in order to keep a stock of
choice automobile axles in reserve.
Hand-forging, a time-consuming process done
largely with hammer and anvil, involved the cutting,

Crudely made gooseneck spurs built just before World War I
by a cowboy-blacksmith near Lubbock, Texas. Photo by the
author.
heating, and shaping of a single piece of metal into
the form of a heel band and shank. Once shaped,
the basic spur body underwent a series of grinding,
sanding, and polishing processes designed to pro-
duce a smooth surface and clean lines. Before power
tools accelerated this procedure, spur craftsmen
toiled countless hours at their workbenches
smoothing the rough edges from their creations with
a series of hand files.
After attaching buttons to the now-smooth heel
band, makers added engraved decorative mountings
or inlay work. The simplest form of adornment was
a design punched or etched into the metal, usually
along the heel band and shank. Floral patterns and

simple geometric designs seem to be the most plenti-
ful on surviving examples of the period. Going a step
further, makers placed metal or, less frequently,
semiprecious stones in the notches or grooves. Beau-
tiful inlay work of this sort characterized Mexican
and California style spurs but appeared less promi-
nently in Texas-made varieties.
Most Texas spurs were overlaid rather than inlaid.
Makers accomplished this by attaching or "sweating"
thin pieces of silver, brass, copper, or nickel silver
to the spur body by means of silver solder and heat.
On the most ornamented varieties it is not uncom-

Sporting a simple decorative pattern punched into the metal of
the shank and heel band, this pair of spurs also possesses heel
chains that pass under the rider's instep. Photo by Dwight W.
Huber.
mon to find a dozen or more individual pieces of
overlay on a single spur. Cut out by hand or
punched out by presses using dies, these metal trim-
mings boasted a multitude of shapes. Spades, hearts,
diamonds, and clubs reigned among the most popular
designs appearing on early versions of the Texas
Spur.

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