Bootmaker
Raymond “Ray” Dorwart
Raymond “Ray” Dorwart is a custom cowboy bootmaker who started making boots after a horse went down under him while cowboying on a Wyoming ranch. He paid for a two-week apprenticeship in Utah, opened his first shop in Nebraska in 1982, then partnered with Jay Griffith and moved with him to Guthrie, Oklahoma, where Dorwart's Custom Boots opened in 1989. A 2020 profile called him one of the country's most prominent custom cowboy bootmakers.
Known for
Dorwart's Custom Boots, Guthrie, Oklahoma
Related: Jay Griffith
Biography
History
Raymond "Ray" Dorwart, known in the shop as Ray, runs Dorwart's Custom Boots in Guthrie, Oklahoma. In a profile by Brandon King for 405 Magazine (October 2020), Dorwart says the work began in the 1980s on a Wyoming ranch, where he was cowboying when a horse went down with him; a friend from another ranch convinced him to make boots rather than saddles.
He traveled to Utah and paid for a two-week apprenticeship, then returned to Nebraska and started his own shop in 1982. He later met Jay Griffith, the Fairfax, Oklahoma bootmaker who hired him; when Griffith sold his Fairfax interests in 1989, the two relocated together to Guthrie, where Dorwart's shop opened that year, listing prices from $1,500 to $3,000 or more.
Dorwart says he takes the most pride in boots made for people who will actually use them for the work they were built for. No birth year for him has been documented; "early 30s" at the time of his Utah apprenticeship was not converted into a specific year.
Sources
Identification and markings
Maker-specific markings guidance has not been documented yet. Preserve the complete stamp and compare it against dated sources.
Sources and references
Historical references are cited with the history above. Each catalog record includes its own supporting evidence.
Encyclopedia references: CowboyBootsDB and maker archives linked where available. Historical dates and attributions can vary by source.