Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. Today, we focus on water transfer printing–commonly called hydrodipping. I should mention that for guns and field gear, I recommend that you specify a flat finish. Yes, high gloss looks snazzy, but it really reflects and therefore can be spotted from a distance. The featured photo is a of shotgun stock set dipped by Liquid Transformations of Spokane.
Beyond The Redoubt
If you try your own hand at hydro-dipping, then consider this company that makes a low-cost DIY kit: DecoDip.com
Idaho
I’ve bought several guns that were camouflage dipped by Dawson Ridge, in Moyie Springs, Idaho. Their quality is high, and their prices are reasonable. They even offer quantity discounts. One Proviso: Just don’t plan to bring them any camo dipping work in October or November, because they are usually very busy then with their other side of their business: “Boneworx”. This is where they put skeletonizing beetles to work on big game skulls.
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Adaptive Graphics is located in Nampa, Idaho. Not only do tg]hey dip guns, but also larger items like car dashboards.
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First Lite is a company located in Ketchum, Idaho. In addition to standard commercial patterns, they have also designed some proprietary patterns of their own. I should mention that they are known for both their camouflage hunting clothing and their camo dipping.
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Here is an interesting start-up company in Sagle, Idaho: Rhino Hide. They make bullet-resistant wall panels.
Montana
Montana Copper Hydrographics is a small company in Butte, Montana that does great work.
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Stealth Hydrographics is a company in Kalispell, Montana. Their prices seem to run a bit higher thatn some other companies, but the quality of their work is phenomenal.
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O’Shea’s Aqua Dipp is located in Helena, Montana. Here is a brief ad video that they put together.
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Small Towns Find Footing Out West
Eastern Oregon
HydroDip.com is a well-known company in Baker City Oregon. They offer dozens of camouflage and snazzy colorful patterns for guns.
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HD Hydrographics is located in Redmond, Oregon (just north of Bend.) In addition to guns they also dip car dashboards, Motorcycle helmets, motorcycle fuel tanks, skulls, and many other items.
Eastern Washington
No tally of hydrodipping companies would be complete without a mention of Liquid Transformations, in Spokane. I’ve personally done business with them several times, and they’ve never disappointed me. They also do great Cerakoting work–with both low temperature and high temperature processes. Here is a video that shows what they do.
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In fiery speech, state lawmaker calls for eastern Washington to secede and form its own state. A snippet:
“At the rally, speaker after speaker warned of government encroachment on constitutional rights, especially the Second Amendment. A key focus of ire was Initiative 1639, the voter-approved measure from last November that puts new restrictions on semi-automatic rifles and requires safe storage of guns.
In his speech, Shea warned of a push for “gun confiscation” in Washington state and advocated for what he called “Irish Democracy,” a term that’s been defined as “dogged resistance” to government.
“And that means we will not comply with any sort of gun control that deprives us of an unalienable right that does not come to us from government, but that comes to us from God,” Shea told the crowd.”
Wyoming
Powder River Hydrographics is an outfit in riverton, Wyoming. They do great work.
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If you live anywhere near Cheyenne, Wyoming, then check out Kustom Illusions.
Send Your News Tips
Please send your American Redoubt region news tips and event announcements to JWR. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.
Wild West. I have long thought that the violence in the wild west was highly exaggerated in movies. Recent reports have shown that is correct. I was thinking that in most cases, it was fairly peaceful. It would have to be. And the people who lived out west generally had the mentality that they themselves are the peacekeepers.
Rose, you are nearly correct. In the 24 years we lived in the Redoubt, we visited hundreds of locations (murders, massacres, ambushes, fights) and worked with historians, guiding them to various sites.
The facts are that after the Astorian crew transitted the Redoubt, the population of people who could write and actually recorded what is now historical record for us, was very small until the 1870’s.
Interpersonal violence was present in proportion to the population, and in places like northern Wyoming deadly intent violence was done primarily by ambush or from long range. Conflict between Indians and non-Indians is much more popular information and was so sensationalized that historical documents are widely available.
Face to face killings did occur but were a far smaller percentage, such as one neighbor that killed another at their common mail pickup location along what is now Highway 59 forty miles north of Gillette back during the homestead era.
Killing two cowboys accused of stealing cattle by burning their cabin and shooting them as they ran out of it at Kaycee, or hiding under a bridge to shoot a homesteader in the back as he headed home from town in his buckboard wagon 10 miles south of Buffalo, did occur.
The increased number of homesteading families generally provided a percentage of population that was smaller, involved with violence, but knowledgeable locals can show you many locations where murder and ambush occurred. Of course, some areas had much more than others.
We used to live in Johnson County Wyoming and our kids went to school with the grandkids and great grandkids of the participants in the war between the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association and local ranchers/homesteaders/and sheepmen.
When we lived in the area between Casper and Canada, I had a rifle rack in my pickup window half full, unless my old Ford pickup had the rifle laying on the dashboard (another reason besides EMP threat to drive those 1970’s pickups). My revolver belt was wrapped around the steering column with loaded holster hanging down.
People were friendly from Chugwater WY, and on north to the area from Superior to Wolf Point, MT. But times changed.
The fact is, an armed society is a polite society. A partially armed but mostly defenseless society is an extremely dangerous place to live. Look at South Chicago today.
God Bless,
Fitting in this modern day of insanity.
“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them;
If I find them to obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am responsible for everything I do. An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” ~ Robert A. Heinlen