A few more hand forged bits....

[Ken Knopp]

Thought some of you might be interested in some other hand forged bits I came upon recently at the Nashville CW show............


#1: Here's another hand forged CS "Trooper's Bit". This pattern was used alot (east and west) by the Confederacy and is exemplified by its military "loose ring". It came in many variations, sizes and often with a cross bar (more likely for artillery). They were also made for civilian use. This one was found (excavated I understand) from one of the Atlanta battlefields. It measures 7 inches high with a 4 7/8 inch wide (interior width) port mouth piece.

#2: I call this the CS "Dragoon" style or, "59 McClellan copy" bit because it more approximates those Federal military patterns rather than the typical CS "trooper's Bit" pattern (above) that is so often associated with Confederate production. I believe them to be trooper's bits and don't believe these were typical CS officer's patterns as "in general", CS officer's bits (those of means anyway) were made of brass, sometimes brass or silver sheathed, early Dragoon patterns, imported British or otherwise "fancier". Remember, officers were not issued horse equipments but had to purchase their own. Note its military "S" curve cheek pieces. These hand forged copies also came in many variations including sizes, often with the loose ring and a cross bar. Sorry, could not find the measurements on this one.

#3: "Plain Bit" These non-military bits were simple, easy to make and a popular pre and post war blacksmith-made pattern apparently adopted to some extent by the Confederacy. This one came out of a Georgia antique shop in the Atlanta area. It measures 8 1/4 inches high with a 4 7/8 inch wide (interior width) port mouth piece.

Please understand the above are some of my "opinions" of CS bits. While nothing is "sacred", absolute or "hard n fast" in the world of Confederate military culture these are some fun bits for pondering I thought worth sharing. What do you think?

Ken R Knopp
www.confederatesaddles.com

[Mike Nickerson]

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who can't open the pic links? All I get is a V-bulletin pop-up that says:

"Mike Nickerson, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation."

The Mods haven't been able to help me yet, but they are working on it.

Mike Nickerson

[cavman63]

I actually have one much like the last non military bit pictured that I came across in an antique shop in rural Gordon Co., Georgia. The port on mine is lower and the branches of the cheek pieces wider but other than that the style is the same. Mine is kinda rough looking like it was made either by someone..well....not so talented...or homemade? I suspect they are more recent than "our" period but I wouldn't know one way or the other. Seems to me,some things just haven't changed much over the years when it comes to horses, or, changed only slowly.
They were buried down in a box of old farm junk along with a very nice ring snaffle. This place has been a favorite of mine for a long time because the guy who owns it seeks out farm equipment , horse related trappings (most post war period), most of it local (north Georgia) and is well off the beaten path. My kinda place!

I plan on using both bits.