Randy Butters

Spur Maker
1951
LKL: Albion, MI

Randy Butters began making bits and spurs in 1985. Texas spur makers, Ray Anderson, Erlon Shirley, Jerry Cates & Bill Klapper inspired Randy to begin spur making by the quality of their work. Randy then studied the past Texas legends such as McChesney and Kelly Bros, eventually elevating his technique to master the detailed and ornate inlaid California styles of G S Garcia and others. Randy enjoys the challenge of restoration and believes that it is a privilege to restore bits and spurs in order to preserve the early work of the great western artist and makers of "Cowboy Gear".

Randy Butters is a Michigan farmer who met a Colorado girl in Washington D.C. during the Tractorcade of 1978. The couple married, and Butters was introduced to custom-made spurs by his father-in-law, who was an avid collector and admirer. In 1985, during a winter down time, he made his first pair of spurs out of a Chevy log wrench, using the one-piece method. Randy started making spurs on a full-time basis and he has been busy ever since.

“Texas spurs are an extension of the cowboy himself,” says Butters, and he has developed his own distinctive spur style through trial and error, working out of the Texas tradition. He admires the fluid lines of the gal-leg shank, and has developed his own signature swan pattern spur based on an order from the late Buddy Pointer of Abilene, Texas. Randy’s work is often times displayed in museums across the country, and he has become one of the top makers in the United States.

Randy still farms in his home state of Michigan. He and his wife Brenda have five children and one of his sons now also makes spurs. Randy was the recipient of the 2005 award for the Spur Maker of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

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