MHodge

I have been interested in leatherwork all of my life.  In the mid to late 1990's I owned a historical leatherwood's, custom gun leather, and saddle repair shop.  It was nothing to write home about, however, I got to meet, and talk to a lot of the top saddle makers,  at the time.  I learned a lot talking to them, and building "practice saddles", that I used to learn on.  I also had several personal mentors at the time that taught me a lot about leather work, and tooling in general.  A lot of trial and error.  This was the time before the internet, so it took more time, and research to move beyond just what Tandy offered.  In 2000 I had to lay everything aside, include selling my horses, saddle, and packsaddles, in order to support my growing family.  I am now semi-retired, and I am looking to get back into leather work, strictly for my own pleasure.  However, I am always wanting to learn all aspects of saddle making, and I am always wanting to learn about leatherwork whatever I can.  I hope to outfit myself again with gun leather, leather goods, and go on to build two saddles, one Spanish influenced pre-1820, and another based upon the Menea "3/4 seat/plains style" saddle.