JDFred

To piggyback on Tandy if you get on their website and look up your local store they offer classes you could go to typically they are kits you’ll have to buy but they will help you put it together and let you borrow the tools you need for it. That way you can get a feel for what you need. My local store has an open table on Saturday and you can bring in a project that you’re working on and need some help with. I don’t know if all stores have that but it helped me get started tooling.

You’re one mystery braid ahead of me. Looks like you’re headed the right way keep it up.

Been pretty happy with panhandle leather.

Thanks. She really liked it when we dropped it off, especially the brand. It was kinda funny, when the show board changed the rule to have the kids give buyer’s gifts she came to our board meeting and told us she didn’t like the rule change. Fast forward a couple years to when we dropped the purse off she said she remembered coming to the meeting and telling us she disagreed with the rule, then she said, with a big smile on her face “but now look at what I got”. I thought it was kinda funny.

You’re right about a strange situation. But your end of it turned out looking pretty dang good. Hope the other place doesn’t mess up your nice work.

That’s a good idea I like that you labeled the holes so you’re not trying to remember what is what. I might suggest maybe putting a cork plug in the bottom of your awl blade holes so you can keep them point down and not dull them. I get nervous with lots of pointy things sticking up. But a very clean nice looking job.

Pretty cool and clean looking.

Thank you

Thank you Frank

Thank you Chuck

My daughter needed a gift for the buyer of her project at our county stock show. Since her buyer happens to be my boss’s wife I was able to customize a purse for her. I used 5/6 oz Hermann Oak skirting for the panels, and for the gusset some chrome tan that I found at Tandy on clearance I thought look nice. The pattern I used was from Tandy’s purse pattern pack that I modified to have an interior pocket and have a wider gusset with a shoulder strap instead of the wrist strap it called for. I used the tooling pattern that came with it slightly modified to incorporate the brand. I gave it a couple coats of neats foot oil and used mahogany antique and finished with tan-kote. Sewed it together with Maine Thread .040 twisted thread. Here are some pictures, let me know what you think.

I’ve been pleased with Panhandle Leather. I ordered 4 sides from them a 5/6, and a 8/9 oz Hermann Oak skirting, a Hermann Oak heavy harness side, and a Thoroughbred Latigo side. I was quite pleased with all of them. I ordered over the phone and they asked what I was going to do with the leather so they could send something that would work for me. They even followed up the next day as they were filling the order to make sure they were sending the correct leather. Their shipping was also fast, my order showed up about 2 days faster than I thought it would. As a side note as a company they donate to our county livestock show and our county fair, which I think is pretty nice of them since we live about 5 1/2 hrs away from them. Hope this helps and good luck on your search.

Personally I prefer rawhide mallets. I also have a Bakelite mallet from Tandy that I got when I first started and still like. I’ve tried to use mauls and never liked the feel of them. I have a weighted mallet I got as a gift and I have the same problem with it. I personally don’t like the weight in the handle, I like the weight forward in the head. I think it is because that is what I’m use to with the other hammers I use in my life. But a good balanced striking device weather that be a weighted maul or mallet, or a regular mallet is important as is sizing the weight to the job at hand. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I never thought about different alloys reacting in different ways, stuff like that is always good to know. It would seem that their service life is pretty good if they hold up for over a hundred years.

I ended up grinding the edges round on mine to get it to not be as bad about that.

I keep two of those rubber sanding blocks around one which 120 grit and the other with 220. I use them to straighten out any wobbles I had cutting something out and to even up multiple layers after they’re glued together. And I if things get really out of hand and I get a profile way wrong then I will use the belt sander.

Good job, your hummingbird turned out great. I understand the struggle of wallets coming out thick someday I’m going to try some kid skin for lining and pockets. Keep up the good work.

If you’re keeping your blade vertical to the work, which it looks like you are since I don’t see any undercutting, it is probably too much moisture. I’ve never had any success with the fridge method of casing it always comes out too wet for me.

Thank you. It’s the first time I’ve made anything other than reins out of harness it skives and punch holes in it a lot easier than veg tan. Probably from all the oil and wax in it. Have a Merry Christmas. Thank you. I got the lace idea from the one I was coping measurements from. My mother in law saw that and really liked it also. Have a Merry Christmas.

Very nice work. I agree with Tom about the lettering. If the tapering was unintended just claim you designed it like that, it looks really good.

I finished the side pull last night. I ended up using Herman Oak harness leather and hand stitched it with Maine thread. It was a little more involved project than I thought it would be, could be because it was the first time I’ve made something like this. The nose band took a couple of tries to got right. In the end I think it turned out pretty good. Let me know what you guys think about it. Thanks.

Thank you for the help. I like the way you have the nose band come through the hardware on your bridle, but I could see where the leather might bite into the hardware and hang up and a rope wouldn’t especially if one was to pull back pretty hard. I’ll have to watch some more of those knot videos I didn’t know Knotty Girlz had a YouTube channel. My wife found their halters and got one it’s really a well built halter. I found a thread on this forum about someone wanting to change the nose band on one of these types of bridles and Bruce Johnson explained the knot pretty well. I’m not sure how to link things but the title of the thread is “Nose Band On Schultz Bros. Hackamore”. Thank you again for the help.

Thank you for the detailed response. I’m not really familiar with English tack so what I’m copying may not be traditional, but I’ve always been told it is a side pull. I’ll include a picture so you can see what I’m looking at. She was wanting the rope because the horse she has got hurt pretty badly about 4-5 months ago and has some nerve damage in her nose so she may require something a little more. But she wanted the double rope so it would spread the pressure on the horse’s out more, she also wants me to make a removable leather cover for the nose band to soften it some more if needed. The brow band is a good idea I always forget about them since most of the headstalls I use don’t have them. I also like your idea of the crown and the throat latch being one piece it would look a lot cleaner if built that way. I may have to look into getting some bridle leather it’s much nicer looking than harness, however I have harness leather and not bridle that was really what was driving my decision there. Thank you again for the help.

My mother-in-law wants a bitless side pull for Christmas, so I’m looking for some construction and material pointers. I have a side pull in the barn that has a snaffle bit in it so I should be able to copy most of it from that, however I don’t know how to tie the knots for the rope nose band. She found one from Weaver that has a double rope nose band that she likes. I don’t know if you make that from a single rope or two pieces? My current plan is to build it out of heavy harness leather in 5/8” straps with a 1/2” throat latch and use 2” o-rings for hardware. If any one has some advice or tips I would appreciate the help.

Are you wanting to wrap the belt drive to update the drive surface of is this more of for a show cover? If it’s a show cover what you were talking about with a tooled IH emblem and put an end cap on it with Dwight’s tooling idea would look pretty cool. If you’re try to update the drive surface wrapping it might be challenging as the pulley is crowned. Wrapping it will also slightly change the gear ratio when you go to use it, but probably not enough to really affect anything. Yesterdaystractor.com sells parts for old tractors and they also have a forum there. If you’re wanting to rebuild the pulley someone there might be able to guide you along. Good luck and post some pictures when you get it restored.