Pacific Canvas
& Leather was born as result of Pacific Ordnance. Robert
Thomasser who is President of Pacific Canvas & Leather worked
for Bob Brenner of Pacific Ordnance for many years prior to
Pacific Canvas & Leather.
Sometime in the
early eighties Robert Thomasser was hired as General Manager
for the Machine Shop. Federal Ordnance imported and refurbished
hundreds of thousands of original guns and accessories and thus
there became a need for a Technical Department. Robert Thomasser
was promoted to Vice President in charge of repairs, machining,
Wood Dept., (stocks & grips) and eventually the CNC machine
shop that manufactured the Ranger .45 and Federal Ordnance’s
M-14. He, (Robert Thomasser) gained vast experience and knowledge
due to his employment at Federal Ordnance.
This was only
the beginning. Because of increasing competition with China
and such entities as Norinco, Bob Brenner was unable to match
prices being granted to distributors in the U.S. Federal Ordnance
was closed and a new company sprung from the loins of the old
in the form of Briklee Trading Company. This company was headed
by Richard Siegel, son-in-law of Bob Brenner. The company decided
that “if you can’t beat ‘um then join ‘um.
Briklee started importing SKS rifles and the like from Norinco.
Things went along swimmingly for awhile until Bill Clinton took
office. He, (the President), caused sanctions to be used against
China for human rights violations, trade deficients and other
political violations. He also sent memos to the Justice Department
that caused ships in mid-ocean to be turned back and containers
docked at the port to be denied. Briklee could not stand the
over exertion of the purse strings and folded.
While all this
was happening there was a little blonde, hired in 1988, named
Linda, running around with her hand in everything, (she was
initially a secretary in the tech dept. responsible for the
returns and repairs), she will become important later.
Fed up with the
punitive infringement of the then President’s policies
and other various government guided departments, (like OSHA),
Bob Brenner who as consultant and interested party to Briklee
threw up his hands and decided to get into a more insulated
part of the gun business. He started Pacific Ordnance and began
to import a line of reproduction holsters and accessory products
from the American Civil War, World War One and World War Two
periods. He and his gracious, good wife, Barbara hired Robert
Thomasser and the little blond, (me), to help him set up the
and run the business in an office/warehouse in Pico Rivera,
California.
Unfortunately,
prior to March 2002 Bob Brenner had a stroke and opted out of
the business to rest and recover. The data base and basic idea
were picked up and financed by Robert Thomasser and myself,
(the blonde), to become Pacific Canvas & Leather Company,
Inc. Robert Thomasser and I had objective. We wanted to make
the best affordable reproductive holsters and cases to be found.
We think we are succeeding and will continue to succeed with
the expectation of improvement through feed back and advice
from our customers and friends.
We are now located
in the High Desert in Phelan, California and continue to strive
for quality holsters and canvas holders of original military
design, either through reverse engineering or original government
drawings. We welcome your input and support of our efforts.
