In October I had the privilege to take several classes being taught at Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana on some leather working for knife sheaths, accouterments and hunting pouch. In addition these classes were taught by Ken Scott. Furthermore, Ken is an American Frontier Artist who has been named one of the top 200 traditional craftsmen by Early American Life Magazine. For the past 30 some odd years Ken has been teaching these class here at Conner Prairie. Ken also offers a DVD on Recreating The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch which I have also purchased before I found out about these classes! I highly recommend this DVD to anyone wanting to better their skills on making hunting pouches.

The First Class

The first class was accouterments leather working which started on Saturday morning. We also had several choices of accouterments to make. Leather loading blocks, shot pouches, flint wallets, leather sewing kit and some others. I made a leather loading block a shot pouch and a little leather sewing kit to keep some needles and linen thread in for some trail repairs.

The Second Class

The second class was custom knife sheath making on Sunday. Whereas I opted to do a rawhide lined sheath for my Weck & Muller skinning knife. I also covered the rawhide with thin sheepskin. It was then saddle stitched from the bottom up to the top. I then folded over the top and has short fringe cut around it. I absolutely love the way it turned out.

The Third Class

The third class started on Monday for the hunting pouch. I have been looking forward to this class ever since I found out about it in June earlier this year. Ken showed how to design and make patterns for different styles of pouches and how to design and lay out different styles of flaps for the pouches. The first day of this class was laying out our style of pouch that we wanted to attempt to build. The other two days was sewing and finishing the pouch. Furthermore I attempted a 4 panel pouch with fringed welts and with Kens experience and guidance I was able to complete my ambitious project.

Also in attendance in this class was Eddie Rector from Can-tu-kee Hunting Pouches and Accouterments. Little did I know that on the first day of class I was sitting with hunting pouch royalty!!! Eddie is a fine well respected hunting pouch maker himself. He is based out of southwest Kentucky. I would like to thank everyone there for their knowledge and their experience that they shared with me on my ambitious pouch! In conclusion I am looking forward to taking this class again next year.