barra

here is a previous thread Barra http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...amp;hl=kangaroo

Yes the Brazil saddle is interesting. What is it lined with and also what is it stuffed with? I think I can see glimpses of white serge. I am assuming that the shape of the panel is what keeps it off the horse spine. Barra

I just google mapped Cornish works Sheffield. Co-Incidentally it is just around the corner from Dixon St. Barra

Ray. I can show you where it was made. Barra

I intend to leave mine to someone just starting out. As for age, I'm a mere pup at 45. I was born Nov 05 1963. For those with a British connection. I started life with a bang and hope to go out with a bang. Barra

These are probably your best bet. http://www.birdsall-leather.com.au/category.asp?id=26 http://www.leffler.com.au/saddlery/saddlery_products.htm Barra.

There is a slim chance that I may be able to make it to Sheridan this year. I am not having any luck finding out about this show. Does anyone have a heads up on what is planned for this year. P.S. There is nothing on the LCSJ site as of yet but if I am able to make it, I have to organise travel soon. Barra

http://www.aqha.com/news/2009PressReleases/03122009rayhunt Barra

I also get a kick out of the fact that some kid who is not yet a twinkle in their old mans eye will be making saddlery with my tools and will be able to pass them on. I in turn got most of them from a saddler who was using them when my grandfather was born. Barra

You can also dispense with the chuck altogether and simply tap the blade into the haft. Place the blade squarely into a vice with a scrap of leather to protect the blade. Then line up the handle squarely in line with the blade and using a hammer, tap the handle onto the blade deep enough so that it is in firm. I have awls that have not had blades changed in over 20 years. When I do have to change a blade, I fill the old hole in the handle with wood putty or a putty made from PVA glue and sawdust. When dry I give it a quick sand and it is good to go again. Barra.

Here are a couple of methods I use to stain edges. Pic 1. I use 1/4" engineers felt and a wire coat hanger. From the one coat hanger I get 2 daubers. I fold the felt and wrap the wire around the felt and then either flatten the wire with a hammer or in a vice. On the other end I shove on a cork to both cover up the jaggered wire I have cut with side cutters and it also forms a handle because the wire on it's own is a bit hard to get a grip. Pic 2. This is a stencilling pad. The tin is full of absorbant gauze. On top of this is that wire triffet looking thing. This has a spring on the bottom of it. The lid has a layer of felt under where the hole is. The dauber has a handle and on the base end is a material a bit like synthetic shearling. By dabbing the dauber into the hole in the lid, you are pushing on the spring loaded wire triffet, which pumps the dye/stain onto the shearling of the dauber. Pic 3. Pour the stain into the hole in the lid. When done the hole has a cap so the stain does not evaporate. Pic 4. The home made coat hanger dauber method. My stains are in salsa jars that have a plastic coating inside the lid. If the lid was metal you would eventually get rust in your stain. Dip the dauber in stain and wipe off the excess on the jar lip. The felt slightly conforms to the shap of the leather when applying the stain. Pic 5. Not a very good pic of a quickly burnished scrap of leather after a few licks with my rub rag. I would normally do a few more things to get a nicer burnished edge. I also have a few large felt markers like pictured in the link. You can refill them. http://www.thepenstore.com.au/category168_1.htm Barra

My heart rate is back to normal. Much respect to the Admin team for the guidance on how to use the Options feature. Barra

It might be me doing something wrong but I'm not a fan. If I see a topic that sparks my interest I will go into the topic and have a quick look. I found it easy to scroll down the page. Now it appears you have to click on all the seperate replies. With the antiquated pre dial up speeds I have at the moment it is a Tad painful. As said I may be doing something wrong and may need education on how to navigate the site now. Barra

Lining saddles with felt is fairly common here in Australia where it is commonly known by the following names 1. Saddle felt. (Only by Companies who sell to the Saddlery Trade). 2. Engineering felt. 3. Industrial felt. In North America also try googling SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) felt. Barra

Lining saddles with felt is fairly common here in Australia where it is commonly known by the following names 1. Saddle felt. (Only by Companies who sell to the Saddlery Trade). 2. Engineering felt. 3. Industrial felt. In North America also try googling SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) felt. Barra

Henry. That is my Jones stitcher. Yeah it kinda is a hodge podge of machines. At the moment it is mounted on my 29K13 boot patcher treadle base and that is on wheels. The actual Jones treadle base has had a new top put on it and because it is so solid has become my stamp bench. With the Jones the thread must feed off the spool from the side, so in this case the spool spins. The top thread then feeds thru the wax pot, around 2 tensioning posts before heading to the needle. Any attempt to feed it off the top and it has a fit. I have tried all sorts like cannabalising thread tension discs of other machines and cranking the discs right up. Barra

http://www.ranch2arena.com/videoeng.html In the top right hand corner of Jeremiah's home page you will find CATTLE-LOG ITEMS. This gives you a drop down menu. Select DVD- heritage trades. The one thing that I found was the presentation was pitched as though you were actually invited into his shop, asked to park your butt, grab a Starbucks, watch and learn. His explanations were clear and consise and at the end there was nothing I was left thinking I missed. Some mention has previously been made about the price of his and other similar DVD series. Bare in mind it is not a movie you grabbed out of the bargain bin at Walmart. Without info like Jeremiah's DVD, you would spend far in excess of the DVD price, chasing the same info. Also a DVD you can of course watch it over and over. I sometimes put it on and don't actually watch it and go about doing something else. I have picked up on so much just listening to his commentary in the back ground. Barra

The top thread needs to feed from the top of the spool. Of course the attached pic is not a consew but the principal is the same. Can you see the white thread coming off the top of the spool, over the thread guide before it heads to the thread guides that are actually on the machine. Barra

Andrew. This is not an easy job for the uninitiated. Reflocking is not simply jamming flock in until the seams of the panel want to burst. You have to stuff it so that the panel remains flat. Too much stuffing or placing flock unevenly and you can end up with a domed shaped panel. This reduces the bearing surface on the horses back. If you look at the how it's made-English saddle youtube, you will see the saddler flocking. I assume that the block she is running on top of the base panel is to assist in keeping it flat. Note how she then hammers it flat with a rubber mallet. For this I use my smasher/masher/bouncer. If you place too much flocking at the rear you will have a devil of a time lacing the panel back in. In the E Jeffries clip you can see the start of the flocking of a new saddle 7 Min 7 Sec into the clip. The bulk of the flocking is added thru the long slit (the length of the panel) before it is closed up. Note how the saddler is pressing down with his hand to again assist in keeping the panel flat. 7 min, 37 sec into the clip you can see how this long slit (the length of the panel) has been closed up. The final flocking is now added thu the slits in the panel you can see. When the panel is finally attached to the top of the saddle, these slits will be up against the tree. Some saddlers stitch these slits closed when the flocking is done. Some don't bother as they feel that when the panel is stitched in, that there is no way the flocking can come out as the un stitched slit is firmly up against the tree. There may be a slit or two at the pommel end of the panel and one or two at the cantle end. It is these slits that are used to re-flock for the remainder of the saddles life. Most saddlers use wool to flock. The wool needs to be fluffy and clean with no lumps, bumps or knots in it or you will get the princess and the pea effect. To my wool I add a small amount of curled horse hair as I feel it adds just a little springiness. Now for restitching (front) and lacing (back) At either end of the panel there is a roll of leather. These are called the facings. Place the panel back on the tree by slipping the points of the tree back into the pockets. Now push up the panel back up into the cantle. You should note that there are holes in the base panel ( just forward of the back facing). There should also be corresponding holes on the seat leather at the back of the cantle. When lacing back in, these hole MUST line up or the panel will end up skew wiff. You may see a hole in the skirt, in line with where the lacing starts and ends. Some saddlers place a stitch right thru the skirt to draw the panel and skirt up tight together, some use a bent awl to make a hole into the flesh side of the skirt that will not go thru into the grain side of the skirt. Some don't bother with either. At the pommel there should be a piece of leather with a ridge that has been tacked to the tree (imaginatively called the front peice). When re-stitching in at the front, there is probable an old stitch hole where the front peice meets the flap on both the near and off sides. Re-stitch into the old holes. I stitch in behind the ridge of leather on the front peice. I added the Berney Bros clip because it does briefly show flocking.

I get the impression that Clams are more an English/European saddlers item. Being in Australia we tended to follow the English traditions when it came to saddlers tools. I had only ever seen a stitching horse once in my life until I started to lurk here on LW. I have now made myself a (rough as guts) stitching horse just to see if I liked using it. I find that I would use the horse and Clams 50/50. The benefits of the Clams over the horse as I see it would be that. 1. Clams generally speaking have a deeper throat and are universal for large items and strapping. 2. Also while you are seated at the bench you are withing arms reach of all your tools if you have given some thought to how you have racked them. 3. Clams are light weight and therefore easily portable. 4. It is easy to adjust the height of the jaws to suit individual tastes. 5. Clams come in different jaw sizes to accomodate items like shaft tugs that need narrow jaws. You can then just reach for the narrow jawed clams and not have to either have 2 horses or one with inter changeable jaws. As noted, Clams can still be obtained commercially but it is relatively easy to make a functional set. You can get hold of a pair of barrel staves, add a length of timber to the bottom to suit you and then rasp the top so the jaws meet. I have also made a set by steam bending timber. I used the veggie steamer. Crude but it worked. As a general rule of thumb you steam for 1 hr per inch of timber thickness. Of course you need to use wood that lends itself to steam bending. Barra P.S. Have a look at the on the floor clamp model that Rawhide has made. Works for me.

I'll throw in Saddlers Clams into the mix. The jaws came in different widths. Narrowed ones were needed for making harness shaft tugs. For those not familair with them, they are held between the knees while sitting on a stool at the bench. Depending on your bench/stool height combo, you can add a bit of extra wood at the base to adjust the height. It is easy to then adjust the angle to suit the individual. Some have a hole in one side where a strap can be threaded thru. One end is attached to a staple and the other end attached to a stirrup iron for adding tension to the jaws much like the pedal on a stitching horse. I have never bothered with this though. The bend in the jaws is under tension to keep the stitching job firmly in place as you stitch. Barra

Here is my old Jones Stitcher. At present it is mounted on a boot patcher stand. It stitches super nice when you threaten it with being turned into a boat anchor. Barra

Labdien un laipni aicināti ādas worker. Barra

Hey China. Without trying to hijack your thread. Where abouts are you. I just noted on your profile your in South Australia. I'm just curious because I'm in Adelaide Barra

Jim. Old Ken Howard had a channel board as you described. When I bought my tools of Alf Prisk who started his apprenticeship in the early 1900's with Holden and Frost, he had this obviously home made block like the one in my pics. I had no idea what it was for and when I asked him he demonstrated how he used it for rounding. It was simple and effective. I lost my strap creasing machine. I'd give my right you know what to get another. Barra P.S. I'll get off my procrastinating butt soon and contact you about some of your machines.