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bruce johnson

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About bruce johnson

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    Saddlery & Tack Moderator
  • Birthday 06/15/1960

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    http://www.brucejohnsonleather.com
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    Male
  • Location
    Oakdale, CA
  • Interests
    leather tools and history

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  • Leatherwork Specialty
    Leather Tools
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    everything
  • How did you find leatherworker.net?
    Ive been here from about day one

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  1. Divelbiss. They made leather tools in the expansion of leather crafting as a hobby alongside Craftool and a few other hobby craft tool makers - I’m thinking the 1960s
  2. I get them once in a while. Nothing special and on a par with the decent crafters grade swivel knives from the 60s. A step above the cheap bottom end craftool knives. A bit of a collectible for the people who collect swivel knives.
  3. Daniel, one observation here. Do you think it has been rehandled? That purple hue to the finish looks like the handle is more recent and not the original rosewood handles. Any thoughts? Nice clean knife overall.
  4. My experience only - I buy a lot of tools and sometimes one person hobbyist to smaller shops. My basic rule (broken occasionally) is that I don't buy anything with a motor. It makes life simpler - shipping costs from a seller to me to a buyer just makes it harder to pencil out on heavy bulky machines and good chance for damage if not professionally broken down and shipped. I usually tell sellers that there is a local market for heavy sewing machines they may not even know about and passing the word around usually gets them sold. Leather groups, supply stores, someone in the leather community, etc. One of the last shops I bought, the machines sold for local pickup before UPS could get me the tools.
  5. Yes it is. Stirrup plates shorten up the radius on the cylinder arm to make these squarish corners much easier to sew into and over. I did probably a hundred briefcases and a few hundred shaving kits with the stirrup foot.
  6. Here it is, Sits on a workbench in the tool shop. Weaver used to sell this for around $400 with the plates ready to go. The original hydraulic jack was replaced with a 12 ton air/hydraulic jack before I got it. Works well. The bed is 9x15.
  7. The cutting board isn't the limiting factor, the head size and leverage advantage is. Weaver makes an 8 ton manual clicker press. The head size is 12x15. 8 tons sounds like a lot - for big dies it isn't really. Good solid units. I have the 4 ton version and it is good for the rating, but you aren't going to do anything with a lot of edge length - coasters, cookie cutter size figures, spur strap dies is about it. I had an 8 ton last year dropped off overnight for another guy to pickup here. I played a little and it was OK too. If you step over to a converted shop press, you can go up to 20 tons and make the head and bed what ever size you want. You just need to make sure the steel plates are strong enough. If you go that way then a air over hydraulic jack makes life pretty simple. Even with the 4 ton Weaver in my wife's shop, if she has many pieces she hops on out to my tool shop and uses the benchtop shop press conversion Weaver used to sell. Its got the air/hydraulic jack and easier for her.
  8. I can see having two similar machines set up to do different things in your business, I heard how busy you guys are! Here is my take. I just bought my nephew a Cobra 4 and picked it up at the Prescott leather show. It comes with a flat bed table attachment, flat throat plate, holster plate, and stirrup plate - a few different presser feet, and a drop down edge guide. Probably was an option for a wax pot but I didn't get one for his. (I never used one on my Ferdco unless I was sewing doubled latigo reins wide open speed). When I got my Ferdco Art Van Hecke told me on the predecessor of this forum to get every available attachment I could when I bought it. The package price will beat buying the attachments later ala carte. Smart advice but then again I was making a lot of different things. I have used every foot and plate and more they added later. Looks like the Cowboy you have is set up with a wax pot and standard throatplate/presser foot. If you are just doing holsters and no plans for anything else you could duplicate what you've got without a "package". Both places have a reputation for service. Cobra is closer to you so shipping cost might be a factor.
  9. It is called a shell stamp. I’m not sure what Barry calls that pattern but I’ve seen it called loop shell, arched shell, and arc shell. Are you coming to the leather show in May?
  10. The concept is not exactly new but this tooling is. It looks like it is a handy size. Several years ago there was an oscillating handpiece sold with a rotary shaft tool. I can't remember the name but had one. Later JJ Maxwell sold one similar. They worked off the oscillating action and at least the one I had came with a chuck big enough most regular stamps could fit with no modification. Some people use the GraverMax for silver engraving and modified tools to fit that handpiece. Barry King offered to turn down the shanks of his stamps to fit in that handpiece and may still do that on request. I am not going to throw out the baby with bathwater on any of these. Several years ago I had dislocated my thumb (done it a few times) and was facing a bunch of orders with hard deadlines. Swivel knives and a lot of stamping hits were a problem. I borrowed a swivel tip cutter and gripped it with a fist to cut lines. I had the oscillating handpiece on the rotary shaft tool and that ran the walking stamps like bevelers and shaders. It saved a lot of hits. There is a definite place for these type tools, I passed mine on to someone with some physical issues to use when I healed. If this had been 19 years ago, Id have ordered this last Thursday.
  11. Nate, It took me a while to figure out what this was all about too. I had a few people ask me if had stitching pins at the Prescott show. After I showed the second person the awl blades they explained to me what they were looking for. They are for prepunched or lasered holes on pattern cut pieces. You and I are likely old school - wheel the marks and diamond awl holes or a machine. Glue, bulldogs, and get to stitching - drop the bulldogs in the bucket as you come to them. General question for the people using these. Are you gluing your pieces too? Clamping them in some version of a stitching horse or stitching pony to hold them for sewing?
  12. King's party is outside their store/shop and the Don King Museum downtown. Realistically no visit to Sheridan is complete without visiting the Don King Museum. Saddles, leatherwork, tools, and a lot more that Don King collected or are donated. One highlight for a lot of people is the Stohlman display. Al and Ann Stohlman's original workbench is there along with many of their tools and the original pages, sketches, and leatherwork from the books. Peter Main put it all together and did a wonderful job. You can walk through the museum during the party but for me, I'd allow a couple hours. If you can get there a day or two before the show it's is pretty easy to spend 3-4 hours in there. I spend a few hours at least now and I've been there a bunch. I still see things I hadn't noticed before. I have had two people call me and one email based on this thread. They wanted to know what would be the ideal first time visit to this show. First off, Sheridan is the biggest leather show of them all. it takes time to get the full experience. Getting there - There is a puddle jumper flight into Sheridan but Billings is a couple hours probably and closest major airport. One year Rundi and I flew into Rapid City (three hours or a bit more) and those flights were cheaper at the time. The difference for both tickets paid for the week's rental car vs just the flight into Billings. Not much taxi service in Sheridan but about every hotel is full of leather workers and can give you a ride if needed. Talk to everyone you meet and you'll find that out. King's Party/Don King Museum - see above Classes - start on Tuesday usually and that schedule is out now. There are bunches of classes taught by good instructors. All the classes are at the college now. Used to be some were at the host hotel, some at the college. Most every class you will do a complete project and the instructors provide the patterns to take home to make more. Materials are provided and Leather Machine Company provides sewing machines in each classroom for projects that need to be sewn. My wife does a one or two classes at every show and she's signed up for a Tuesday class with Ryan King on money clip wallets. Last year at Sheridan she did an alligator wallet class with Broderick Vaughn. They were supposed to make a men's or women's wallet from scratch in the two day class. They all got their first wallets done the first day and he provided materials to make another wallet the next day. She made a men's and women's both there and quite few since. Trade Show - tools, leather, machines, pattern packs, hardware. Most all of the major and minor players in the leather industry are there. It is busy and especially opening morning on Friday is crazy busy. This is a new location starting last year for the trade show. They had a couple months notice that the host hotel was no longer available and pulled it together at the new location. It is spread out through the hallways and atrium of the main campus building and takes a little more walking. The layout may be changing up some this year. World Leather Debut is at the campus too - literally the world. There are entries in this judged contest of leather work from around the world in several categories. Mind blowing to see what people can do with leather. Hour or two at least. Other stuff in the area - Little Big Horn is a close enough drive, and if you fly into Billings you drive right by there. Black Hills and Mt Rushmore are a few hours away. One of our early trips we flew into Billings the weekend before and went west. We dropped down into Yellowstone and Teton NP for a few days, then drove over to Sheridan for the show. It was a nice trip. Other trips we have flown into Billings and gone to the Black Hills for a couple days. Now we have to drive with the trailer and tools for the show and take a scenic route. Any other questions - please ask!
  13. There are a few commercial edge treatments that do OK on chrome tan - Martin's Mix and the one Sara Hagel sells. My wife uses Sara's version. I used this procedure. I applied a thin coat of acrylic finish (LeatherSheen, SuperSheen, or Mop-N-Glo). Let it dry and apply another light coat and dry. Then run some fine sandpaper over the edge until smooth. If I edge painted, then this made a nice base. If I wanted a more natural edge then I used wax (you pick - beeswax, paraffin, or Yankee wax). You can rub-rag the wax or heat it with an edge iron.
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