gesa

Thank you, it was fun to do.

Hello, last week I restored/repaired an antique riding crop. It was the first time hat I was asked for, so I took a lot of pictures to remember how it was made. First the damaged parts The flap and the button with the braided loop The braided loop was a "mystery braid" I replaced the loop with a 4 strand braid, because my lace was slightly smaller The finished crop. The white stuff at the button is a bit of glue to secure the lace. Gesa

Hi Dutch, I also buy leather at Kobel Tannery, if you are ever in Hamburg or north of it. Give them a call and you can pick your leather from their storage. They also show you around if you like. If you don't mind a few blemishes, ask for their " Untersortiment Blankleder Hälse" , sort of half shoulder piece. They are their cheapest leather and great for small projects. Suppliers: I never bought at these shops, yet expensive, but hight quality http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/category/Leder--und-Papierwerkzeuge-3871_3822.htm;jsessionid=2003582E39BC85942CA489A2F3FE3633 http://www.sattlerbedarf-shop.de http://www.rickert-werkzeug.de/de/Leder-Lederwerkzeuge I buy here sometimes, because it is close to me. I prefer to look at the items I would like to buy http://www.kappey.de/ Gesa

Here I found two pictures, that don't look too different to the working harness like in the picture from the web site of Guedelon. http://www.palm.be/en/er_stoeterij_t_verl.php For the health of the horses I would use the modern harness. It is important that it fits a working horse very well.

Here is the link to the thread about workshops: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=826 There you will find more ideas.....

I have a bowling bag pattern pack from 1986 from Tandy that I would part with. It is only one basic pattern, with two (half) carving patterns: arcorn and roses. Tandy is not mentioned on the envelope. Here are not many people who would buy a leather bowling bag so I don't need it.

Here is the page of Jeff Mosby, to look at the guitar covers and to see his prices. http://www.mosbyguitars.com/gcover.html It is the only one that I know of and I think his customers are willing to pay that much. ...and for the design: what kind of music do your customer play?

I also bought a frog skin from Jerry at the IfolG show in Albuquerque. He has great knowledge of the skins he sells. His website http://vanamburgleathers.com/index.php -> click at wholesale leathers at the left under Links Gesa

I like the ceramic blade very much, but this one is an old one. I bought it on Ebay with a bunch of old stamping tools and liked it so much that I bought also a new one. But I use the new one not very often even after polishing and stopping, then I prefer the old steel blades.

Here is my entry. It took more time to find the second tool than to carve the eagle head. It is not a unique idea, but I like a coarse background so I used a small awl . Gesa

Hello Paedalus, the foot will move together with the bottom feeder to move the leather. It helps to sew several layers of leather. The text also says that the engine is old and propbably need to be replaced soon. I would buy the Claes, It looks well cared for. What do you want to sew with it? Gesa

Hi Knut, they seem to be in very good condition. Lucky you ! You can't have enough tools..... Gesa

These are instructions plus patterns for saddlemaking: http://www.leathercraftersjournal.com/SaddleMakingSeriesNew.html To me it sounds a good way to start. Gesa

You can buy a kit with patterns for 1:9 scale at http://www.riorondo.com/. Gesa

Hello Ray, how do you sharpen your other tools? Do you use a machine or do you use a stone? If you use a stone, I have no advise because I am spoiled at work with this maschine: I can sharpen every type of knife and scissors with it. For scissors besides the edge there is always important that the blade is polished, because any kind of residue like glue , dye or rust will prevent that the blade can cut. Be very careful that the blade remain strait, do not polish the blade edge from that side! This one need polishing: To sharpen the blade is not more difficult than a knife, the only difference I make is that I don't polish it. I only use the sanding belt. This is because I usually sharpen leather scissors, if they are polished the leather slips sometimes. Gesa

I am not sure how old these are but I have never heard of Osborne stamping tools before. Only the one is marked, but the other is so similar that I am certain that it is also an Osborne. Can anyone tell me how old these may be? Gesa

I may be caused how you hold the strip when you skive. I was tought to hold my hand low at the edge of the table. It will help to have firm and stable grip and the hand that hold the knife ( skiver or like I use a roundknive) will not interfere with the left hand. I took two pictures without knife to show you the difference. low at the edge on the cutting surface Gesa

Oh I know....I used an edge guide. I started at the non-carved part and had too much distance to the edge, so the stitches hit the carving. There was also another problem: at one part the thread got caught and now there are a part with smaller stitches. I know I can do better and I would have redone the full belt, if I had charged more than the leather and buckle blank. I have major problems pricing my works if friends/colleagues ask me.

Here they are..... The two in london color are made with a buckle for english stirrup leathers. I only handsew the buckle and loop, the rest was sewn with a sewing machine. I made this belt for a colleague, who wanted a special gift for his brother-in-law. The young man is DJ and use the name Morella Music. Gesa

Hello Ray, I can only tell you about the IfolG show 2006 in Butler, PA. I think it was not a large show, but as here in Europe are none (exept there was the Leather 2000 in the Netherlands) it was great to talk about leather a whole weekend. It was an impressing experience and I have seen so many inspiring works. I entered some items at the competition and attended a workshop. But most important I met a lot of nice people like Johanna. If everything going well this year ( horse healthy, car running) I am probably attending this years IfolG show in Albuquerque again. Gesa

Hi Al, I never build a roman riding pad, but as i looked what "roman riding" means I found this page with pictures. http://www.texastrickrider.com/Roman.html They seem to have two different types a smaller one with one girth and a thick padded large one with two girths.If you write them, they may send you better pictures. Gesa

I ordered several years ago some buckles and liked the quality very much. I remeber that I had a very good communication with them, because they had to send it to Germany. I can not tell you anything about their tools, but I would buy there again. Ask them any question you might want to know about the items you want to purchase. Gesa