Tony Collins uses wood, steel and cowhide to make western art

Reporter's note: I'm not exactly sure the first time I saw Tony Collins carrying a branding iron, but I think it was at the old "Journal" office. I was quite intrigued with his ability to fashion steel in to the irons that were both useful and artistic. We talked briefly, he gave me a card and I made a mental note to follow up with an interview for a story. Then life intervened and I didn't think about Tony and his Western Arts of Montana business.

Then I saw him at the fair, made another mental note about a story idea...but wrote it down in my notebook this time. Finally, in early March, Tony had a booth at the seed show in Harlem. When things were a bit slow in the exhibit hall, we visited a bit and I made notes.

Talking about making branding irons, with their intricate designs used various type of handles, and looking at the unique wall hangings he creates using real cowhide with brands and homemade wood frames, all made me realize I needed to talk to him in his shop. I needed to see the processes he used to make his artistic and functional pieces. Last week we finally got together at his shop behind his house on Ohio Street in Chinook.

The shop is a classic 'man cave' with everything from an old barbeque sign from some place in Texas to well maintained and organized tools and materials (he had a series of old refrigerators for storing his supplies most susceptible to the environment). A friendly black dog was resting underfoot, a tray of roasted peanuts was on the homemade wood stove and a modern music system was playing old time country music. It was the perfect setting for a relaxed conversation about the items Tony makes.

Here's what I learned about Tony Collins and how he uses steel, wood and hide to make western art.

"Been playing around with metallurgy and woodworking forever"

A native of Texas, Tony told he and a friend had a construction company and at one time they also operated a welding supply business. In Texas Tony made wooden frames for a friend who was doing brands as wall hangings. He said, "I've been playing around with metallurgy and woodworking forever."

He and his family moved to Chinook in 2007 where he went to work for what is now CHS Big Sky. He drove trucks, delivered fertilizer, did a variety of jobs. He began fabricating items the business needed including a tender trailer for a fertilizer truck. He retired from CHS in 2016.

Tony said, "I got into making brands in sort of a backward way. I was making a Christmas wall hanging with a wooden frame and I wanted to decorate the frame with brands owned by the Skoyen family. They had nine brands and I made miniature branding irons for each of the brands plus one owned by a relative to burn onto the frame. When some folks saw the miniature brands they asked if I could make larger ones and pretty soon I was making all sorts of things."

All of his pieces incorporate either his woodworking skills, his metallurgical skills or both sets of skills. Asked about a typical job for a customer, he said, "It varies from the framed brand sign on cowhide to a complete branding iron. I've done small branding irons to brand steaks on up to regular irons for livestock." In the process of doing the wall hangings he's built an entire set of irons for the alphabet, numbers and various shapes like circles and diamonds. He has a set of irons for the small name signs he makes and even has an alphabet set made of 0-pony gauge horseshoes. The latter make rustic signs with letters having the texture and shape of horseshoes.

Building branding irons from scratch

For a regular livestock branding iron, Tony starts with 3/16 by 3/4 inch flat stainless steel. The handles, which don't have to be stainless, are 3/16 rolled steel. He said, "For the symbols stainless steel stays hotter over time and lasts longer." He often gets requests for branding irons that are strictly decorative, "for those I just use mild steel."

When he gets a request to make a branding iron or put a brand on framed cowhide, he asks the customer to draw how they want the brand to look. He laughed when he told, "Two times I've had customers come to pick up the finished product and say, "That's not my brand." We look at the drawing the gave me and they realize they misdrew the brand. Thankfully that doesn't happen very often."

A piece of equipment he added fairly recently facilitates shaping the numbers, letters and shapes for the symbols on the branding irons. A bending machine, mounted to the floor, allows him to make and tweak the shapes more efficiently than when he first started. He explained that to make a branding iron he usually cuts all the pieces for the brand, then welds it together, adding the handle last. In the case of freeze brands, which are made of copper, they are brazed rather than welded.

What's next?

Tony first marketed his Western Arts of Montana pieces mostly by word of mouth. During the last two years he's exhibited at the Montana Seed Show, Blaine County Fair, Chinook Rod and Gun Club's gun show and ventured as far as the Lewistown Winter Fair. "About 20 years ago," he said, "I had a booth at the Western Heritage Show in Abilene, Texas. I lived about 40 miles away and I'd like to go back to show and market what I'm doing now." He also uses social media with a Facebook page (use 'Western Arts of Montana' for the address).

Another project he's working on, with local dentist Dr. Robert Chaffin, is a forge. He said the propane heated forge would allow him to heat metal, then use an anvil to create the shape he wants. From comments about the forge it sounded as if he might be trying his hand at making knives in the near future. With the skills to combine woodworking, metallurgy and cowhides, likely Tony Collins will be creating more new and unusual western art.