Northmount

Look at Will Ghormley's website. http://www.willghormley-maker.com/MakingHOGRig.html Scroll way down til you get to his rust tank and read through it. Tom

Take a look at Ohio Travel Bag, called key plates https://ohiotravelbag.com/shop/search.aspx?term=key plate#f=&p=1&s= These are not removable, but are close to what you are looking for. I think the removable ones fell out of favour due to loosing keys when they loosen up a bit. Tom

Glovers needles are triangular point, harness needles are round point. The triangular shape has sharp edges and that is what is cutting your thread when doing saddle stitching with them. Get harness needles. Tom

Do a search here for rawhide mauls. There are a couple threads about making your own. You need to take the maul apart, figure out where and how to remove the nuts from the bolt. Then all you do is cut a stack of washers basically and put it back together. These other threads will give you more info. Tom

Newspaper ink smears and leaves marks on leather. Then you have to clean it off! Tom

What do you have? Tom

I've used pine, fir plywood, etc. Moisture is not going to change the shape/size all that much. Plywood might de-laminate over repeated usage. You don't need a lot of pressure, so that shouldn't be a problem. Leather does not normally need to be saturated with water. Wood with rough grain will emboss the leather surface, which you may or may not like. Clamping against a smooth laminate will keep the leather surface smooth. You can varnish or wax wood to reduce the amount of moisture it will absorb. You can also use high or low density polyethylene, like kitchen cutting boards. Or UHMW Polyethylene. You will still need some hand or power tools to cut and shape the material. Wood is easier to cut, carve and sand to the desired shape for molds. Handy hand tools would include a coping saw, hand saw, rasp, mallet and chisel, sandpaper, ... Tom

Reduce the size of your picture, then you should be able to post it. Lots of links here and elsewhere on the web about reducing your picture size. Search them out and give it a try. Tom

Their is someone in the Montana area the flies falcons and makes hoods. http://lchoods.weebly.com/about-us.html Tom

I'm surprised. Sold for less than $50 when I bought mine. Tom

Sold by Tandy 5 to 10 years ago. Nice large diameter barrel. Nicely shaped yoke, easy on the fingers. Bought it because of the yoke and barrel diameter. Not because of the fancy work! Tom

more switchable magnets http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=56000&cat=1,43838,47843 Tom

Sitting on the fence doesn't get you anywhere. Pick a machine in your price range that is in good condition and is suitable for your work and fly with it. There is always something better out there, but in the meantime, you will have a machine to use and build your business with. With the experience you gain, you will be in a better position next time to decide what is best for your next acquisition. And you will have had some cash coming in along the way. To me, the important part is servo motor and possibly a reduction pulley set if you are sewing thicker and harder temper leather. And a cylinder arm is more versatile than a flat bed. Tom

If you are taking an LTO, there is no need to pay out early. Better to take the tax write-off and keep the cash you have in hand to keep your business going. Being able to write-off leasing costs is only beneficial if your business is making enough money to use the write-off. If you are just a small part-time business, hardly making it pay for itself, there is no benefit to LTO. Get a good positive cash-flow if you really want to be in business. Tom

Edit is only available for a short period of time, so after it has timed out, just do as you have, adding a post to the thread. No stitch groove for thin leathers. Probably max #69 thread with max #14 needle size. You can get leather tape, or double sided seam tape so you can turn the edges instead of trying to crease. You should be able to use a home sewing machine since you are dealing with very thin material. Maybe 15 stitches per inch. Too close together and the leather will rip along the perforations. You should experiment with some small pieces first. If the fur gives you a problem, you might need to shave the fur along the stitch lines. Do a search here for sewing fur. You will find several posts. Tom

Look at the 2700 and 2750 at http://www.techsew.com/machinery/industrial-sewing-machines/cylinder-machines.html Techsew is in Montreal and ships to western Canada. Online quote will show sipping cost. I have a 2700 and am happy with it. Also http://www.leightons.ca/catalog-general.html Leighton is near Red Deer, Alberta. Both places may have second hand reconditioned machines so give them a call and see what they have. For bags and such, a walking foot cylinder arm would be a good choice. You can add a flat bed table accessory for typical flat sewing. Tom I see that Leightons is no longer on the web. Must have gone out of business or let their domain name expire.

Nothing wrong with using crooked in a name. We have a pair of lawyers, Richards and Crooks. So their email address is RichCrooks@xxxx. Easy to remember, and catchy. Here is an old brand book if you want to look at various brands for ideas. http://booksnow1.scholarsportal.info/ebooks/oca4/42/albertahorsecatt00albeuoft/albertahorsecatt00albeuoft.pdf It is a large file, takes a couple moments to load. Tom

There are a couple old saddles listed here http://www.kijiji.ca/b-alberta/antique-saddle/k0l9003 that have some similarities. Could be made by Great West Saddlery. Also look at this post. Makers mark is like a horse shoe. More links here https://www.google.ca/search?q=great+west+saddles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=jOqIWJLlA8OmjwTo5bSQCg Tom

FO Baird won't be the Calgary Saddle. Tom

It would be trademark infringement if you use it on items you sell. If you only use it for your own goods that you keep. No one is likely to come after you. Copyright is for intellectual works (writing, books, plays, paintings, patterns, plans, etc.), generally stuff that gets published. There are lots of posts about both trademark and copyright here if you wish to do a search. Some of them may help you understand the issues. Tom

I assume just using the leather with no wool? 1. yes 2. use thin leather, fold halfway closed while gluing. there will be some wrinkling. other members suggest scoring several parallel lines in the fold to reduce the wrinkling. you might like to do as search on the subject here. it is one of the most commonly asked question. applies to wallets, purses, all sorts of covers. another option is to design the liner to slide behind a pocket on one side, and not glue the liner in the fold at all. need to use thicker or stiffer leather so it slides into the pocket without deforming. Tom

Assuming you are referring to Lee Valley. They are a retail business. Not sure if you have to register for an account, likely handled much the same as Amazon. You register for an account with them too. Lee Valley is about 25 minutes away from me on a good traffic day, so I always go to their store. Have pre-ordered on the web so it is ready for me to pick up. They have some really nice stuff, and some very expensive woodworking tools! Most of those tools are way beyond my price range. Tom

Try this url and make sure that you pick US in the top right if it isn't already there. http://www.leevalley.com/us/ Tom

NV is right. If you don't wipe off the excess right away while wet, you will have problems, even more problems. Saddle tan turns dark red if you don't wipe and scrub it off! Tom

Buff well after the dye has dried, before you put anything on top of it. You need to remove the pigment that is on the surface. Adding most any finish on top of the dye before it is buffed well usually results in spreading the surface pigments around instead of covering them. Any solvent will dissolve the surface pigments. Your finishes contain water or alcohol (or other solvents). Tom