When the Almighty Algorithm kicks up a post that touts a knife “perfect for slipping into your boot before heading out to the frontier,” it’s going to grab my attention. I’m generally not too taken with folding knives. I prefer a fixed blade and am fortunate that circumstances allow me to carry a belt knife as EDC. But the brand new Columbia … [Read more...] about Deadman’s Hand

Here’s to those shirt-tail men and their cursed twisted guns... Hawken Horse has dropped the first single from his new project marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Fringes of Freedom: Frontier Tales of the American Revolution sings the story of the backcountry war that is often overlooked in conventional studies of the … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Cursed Twisted Guns; Protect & Provide; Abandonment

A while back I had my friend Stacey Squire at Sisters Hats + Co. order me up a neckerchief  in vintage duck hunting camo pattern. Don’t really know why — it just appealed to me. And I like the thing so much that I wear it most every day. I have a few wild rags, but this is my EDC. Around here in buckaroo country, they’re known as wild rags. … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Revolution & The Humble Handkerchief

The Great Siege of Malta in 1565 is one of the great epics of military history, where a small force of Knights Hospitaller, men-at-arms, and Maltese militia held off a massive expeditionary force sent forth by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who sought to destroy what he considered a nest of pirates. Had Malta fallen, the conquering Turk … [Read more...] about A Votive Offering Of Sword & Hat

In 1851, Ben McCulloch was in California with hordes of other Americans, seeking his fortune in the Gold Rush that would transform the American West. McCulloch had made his reputation as a fighting man with the Texas Rangers, and he had done great service to his country in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48 both as a scout and as a skilled … [Read more...] about Arming The Mounted Ranger

Nothing stokes the fires of my latent Anglophilia quite like invoking the magical name of Rigby. Frontier Partisans know that my aspirational rifle is the Rigby Highland Stalker.   John Rigby & Co. was founded in 1775 — the same year that the first shots were fired in the civil war in the North American colonies of the British … [Read more...] about Rigby 250

History catches fire for me at the point where Europe hit what is commonly called The Age of Discovery. Sure, I have explored earlier eras when there is some resonance with Frontier Partisan history and culture, but the sense of connection really begins for me with two developments: the early colonization in North America and Africa, and the advent … [Read more...] about Arquebus, Musket & Rifle

“Capstick blew on the embers of Old Africa.” I just love that line from Rock Island Auction Co. It is poetic, and it is true. The days of safari seemed gone in 1977, when Peter Hathaway Capstick published Death In The Long Grass. That book, which became a bestseller, revived broad public interest in African hunting. His second volume was … [Read more...] about The Guns Of Peter Hathaway Capstick

I went to college like they asked me toBut they didn’t ask my friendsI don’t think I seen a single classroomBut I drank a lot of beerMy buddies still love to listen to me when I talk about that year — Charlie Robison, My Home Town My college experience was pretty good — I loved the redwoods of UC Santa Cruz, and I had some really solid … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Mountain Man School, Trench Raiding & A Bodyguard Of Lies