“It is a totally different process than what I started with.” I start with a half-inch piece of iron, split it and open it up, and then I shape it,” Gilkerson explains. Trying to get that shank perfect on the band was probably the hardest part of the process,” he explains. “With the first pair of spurs, I made the band and cut out the shank, put it together and welded the shank to the band. We both spent five days in Alpine, Texas learning the basics of engraving.”Īrmed with more tools and knowledge, Gilkerson’s metal working process changed. Then, I decided I wanted to go to engraving school, so Jim went with me. “At the time, we had someone put the silver on and engrave them for us.
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“I learned a lot from Jim on balance, feel and just how to make a good bit,” Gilkerson continues. I found out one day Jim made bits and spurs, so I started going to his shop every afternoon, after we finished riding, to make bits and spurs.” “My late wife Sherri was training cow horses in Arizona with Jim Paul, Sr. Mostly, I just learned as I went,” he says. Since then, Gilkerson has become more intricate with his designs. Gilkerson adds, “Sometimes, I think about taking them to the shop and cleaning them up, but then, I decide I should just leave them the way they are.” “They were made with an old buzz box welder and a file. “At the time, I thought they turned out really well, but now, I think they are pretty crude-looking,” he says with a chuckle. Looking at that first pair of spurs reminds Gilkerson of how much he has progressed over the years. That was how I got started making things out of metal.” “People started noticing them and would ask me to make them a pair.
“I really liked how they turned out, and it was a lot of fun to make something,” he explains. Gilkerson shoed horses in his spare time, so he used a couple of old rasps that he crafted into a pair of spurs he could use for bareback riding. That first pair of spurs was a simple design. I never could get my spur to fit right again, so I decided to make my own.” “I had a horse mash me in the chutes, and it smashed my spur into my heel. “I was in rodeo and rode bareback horses in the PRCA,” explains the Sheridan cowboy. Sheridan – When Marc Gilkerson handcrafted his first pair of spurs in 1994, he was making something that would allow him to continue competing in the sport he loves.
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