Lost and dying arts are taught
each summer at Trinidad State
By Greg Boyce
Trinidad’s Old West heritage
is intertwined with guns. With that
in mind, it is fitting Trinidad State’s
NRA Summer Series teaches gunrelated classes you just can’t find
anywhere else. From Double Guns
(double barrel shotguns) to Revolver
Tuning, these mostly week-long classes
ooze frontier history. From repairing
to refinishing, the summer program,
now 39 years old, brings together
experts and students from across the
country. Sometimes you just can’t find
what you need in a book or video.
Summer 2016 gun-related classes
include checkering, engraving, vintage
metal finishes and stock making.
bone and then filling those holes with
dye. Jim Stevens is an expert in the
craft, despite being legally blind. He
has only a tiny circle of vision in each
eye, a result of shrapnel which lodged
in his brain during the Vietnam War.
Stevens, of Wheatridge, Colorado
leaves his studio to teach only once a
year, and that happens in Trinidad.
“I enjoy knowing that the knowledge
and skills I share in the classroom will
become the foundation of unique
creations in the hands of those who
take what they learn from me and
make more of it,” said Stevens.
Leather work is taught by Bob Calkins
of Farmington, New Mexico. His
students invariably turn out one or
that abounds in Trinidad. “I think
gunsmithing and the product I sell go
hand in hand,” said Vibeke Adkisson,
owner of Purgatoire River Trading
Company on Main Street. She said
she notices a boost in visits at her
store during the summer, mostly from
spouses of those taking NRA summer
classes.
The summer classes are an outgrowth
of
Trinidad State’s legendary
gunsmithing program, the oldest
and by most accounts, the best
gunsmithing program in the country.
The two-year program turns out more
than thirty graduates each year. They
come from across the country and
the world. “The whole program is
so well structured, it’s amazing,” said
historian, author and graduate Gary
Yee of Aguilar. “They start you out
on the basics and assume you know
nothing, which is good. If you come
in here with an empty mind, they can
fill it for you.”
Consider taking a class next year.
Classes start on Memorial Day and
run for nine weeks.
In addition, Trinidad State’s Southern
Rockies Heritage School focuses on
traditional skills unrelated to guns.
Summer classes include blacksmithing,
knifemaking, leather holster making
and scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is an
ancient art involving tiny holes poked
into hard materials like ivory and
50
N
two beautiful custom holsters during
a forty hour class. The quality from
these new students is impressive.
The college believes the summer
gunsmithing series and the new
Heritage School tie in well with
the unique artistry and heritage
Gunsmithing information can be found
at trinidadstate.edu. For information
about the Heritage School go to
southernrockiesheritageschool.org,
or call Donna at 719 846-5541.
New legends magazine