Dear customer,

a professional blacksmith and reenactor since the late 1980s, I’ve started making the leather equipment of the US cavalry in the early 1990s. By now, I can offer a wide range of articles which I am proud to present you on this website. After years of researching the horse equipment and leather accoutrements of the US-Army from the mid-late ninteenth century, I am now able to reproduce these items in such authenticity that they are as close to the original as possible. The measurements are taken from the Ordnance Manual 1861, the Ordnance Memoranda No. 18 and No. 29 or from original examples in my own collection as well as those of fellow collectors.

I take great care in choosing the correct hardware and leather for the different items. The leather is dyed in the grain only, like the original with authentic iron dye.. The stitching (except for saddle bag bodies and the like) is done by hand in the old saddler technique with awl and two needles. The thread I use is three or four cord unbleached linen thread which I wax with the correct „black wax/kit”, stated in the Ordnance Manual.

Stitching spaces are eight stitches to an inch or ten stitches to an inch on late war cap pouches etc.

The saddletrees are available in spread tree configuration for horses with wider withers and with authentic tree shape copied from an original mid war tree in my collection.

Due to my experience working with leather, I am also able to offer leather accou-trements from other periods on special request, if you can provide information about them.

The lack of good footwear on the reproduction market also led me to start making shoes with the help of an old shoemaker. I put special stress on the shape of the lasts (the last is the wooden form around which the shoe is built). These differ from modern day lasts because they are more straight and square at the toes and have a tapering toe profile..

I make hand sewn, welted sole shoes (these were preferred by the government), machine sewn shoes and wooden pegged sole shoes. The pegged sole shoes have a double row pegging, six pegs to an inch. The heels are attached with the correct square cutnails/shoe nails like the shoes in the Civil War.

Brogans and boots are made flesh side out and finished with a period recipe to achieve a smooth shiny surface.

I usually stamp all leather items with my makerstamp J.H.BERGER similar in pattern and size to an original stamp found on one of my original carbine sockets. However if you do not want a stamp on your item, please tell me when you order.