greg gomersall

Campbell-Bosworth sells Frankel"s liquid stitch wax. I use this in my Pearson. It works well as a wax and a thread lubricant so you might give connie a call and try some. Greg

Go2tex I have a policy thru Zurich Ins. for my shop. It is a seperate building right here on my place. It covers the building, inventory, tools and equipment, etc. It also covers liability if someone were to slip and fall at the shop or such thing but it doesn't cover me for product liability. like yourself I'm not new in this business but they would not even quote me on the product liability end. I pay just under a grand a year for the coverage I have. Greg

Go2tex when I lived in s.w. Alberta I could soak a chunk of skirting till it quit bubbling take it out and lay it on the bench all day, bag it when I went home for the night, unbag when I returned in the morning and it would be ready to go around 1 pm. When I moved to sw Idaho 6 years ago I had to relearn the process. Here the humidity is so much lower and a lot hotter temps, I wet a piece around 7 am and by early afternoon I better have my carving pattern ready cause the leather is. I'm sure you will find the humidity a bigger factor than the heat. Greg

Ashley I quit lacing mine 2 to 2 1/4 " from the back of the skirts. My last lace holes are covered by the jockeys. The reason for this is to allow lots of flex in the skirts over the horses back. Less chance of the skirts rubbing or digging a horse on the back. Greg

Barra is correct plain old household white vineger works excellant for killing mold and its spores on your saddles and tack. Greg

bruce; No they are not ,I use a 3oz. lace or shoe tack (they are a tiny nail) and throw them away after words. Greg

I lay my chinks on a sheet of plywood carefully tack them down making sure to put the laces tacks in a few stitch holes, just enough to hold the body in place. I spray the fringe and then twist them and place a lace tack in the tip of each one. I let it set for a couple of days and then trim the fringe off right next to the lace tack. Its a lot of extra work but I get a really tight twist which I like the looks of. Greg

Bruce you can take a collar awl and grind the point off or double a coat hanger leaving a loop in the end and twist up the rest to strengthen it. Put a slight curve in either and when you do a reline or when you need to just replace one string you can drill right thru the sheepskin pull your string thru the first hole then use the curved awl to pull the sting between the skirt and sheepskin to the next hole then tread back out the top. You now have your new string back where you want it without much effort. Greg

Barra I am looking for good linen to use in my Pearson for some projects. The Barbours works for hand sewing but is so inconsistant in the way it is spun it about drives a guy to the grog when using it in the machine. If you come up with a supply of something different please let me know. Greg

I've been using one of these as my main machine for close to 25 years now. Bought 3 of them from Don King a few weeks ago, have gone completely thru them and have one left for sale. On an original treadle stand, comes with extra bobbins, bobbin winder and an assortmnet of needles. A rare find here in the U.S. and one of the sweetest machines ever designed. $4100.00 firm Greg (208) 278-0133 or Joe (541) 567-3533.

Bruce; Dale was hoping to have this dvd on the market last fall but ran into one road block after another on the production end of the process( the only portion where he had no control ). He has some people helping on the marketing end, if you are not happy with the way they handled things you could call directory assistance for Shelly Idaho, you could then talk to Dale or his wife Karin directly. They are great down to earth folks,Hell the fan come off the waterpump on my pickup and threw itself thru the rad about 10 days ago in Idaho Falls and the Harwood's were kind ofenough to put me up for a day & half. I could post the number here but I don't think that would be proper. I don't know what kind of gambler you are but I would be willing to bet you there is more usable information in the first 10 minutes of this dvd than there is in the entire tape you sell that comes out of Colorado. We are all on a quest for more knowledge in this business, it is rare for someone of this ability to take the time to produce something like this, he could have made more money building saddles for the amount of time they put into this but he chose to help a few people out with some hardlearned information. Lets hope someday Chuck Stormes decides to produce something along these lines as well. Hope you will reconsider your thoughts you will be suprised what you will learn. Greg

I drill. Steve pretty much covered it for the reasons why. I do not cut the rawhide out between the holes but instead french edge some of the material out between the holes on the skirt thereby also offerring a recease releaf for the sting to be pounded in to. I went thru a phase where I was not drilling but on those saddles which were being used hard the strings tended to not stay and after your customer loses enough geag that he had tied on I got the message. Greg

I start my fringe at the top at the angle I want them to hang at. I use a knife and a straight edge on my bench to cut with NOT SCISSORS. As you get down to the corner you are gonna need to cut some pie shaped pieces out completely, cut a small pie then 5 or 6 fringes then another pie then 5 or 6 more fringes then another pie. Work your way around the corner until your fringes are hanging staight down. If you try to take too large a pie out it will be noticeable but if you take small ones it will not be noticable when you are done. As for getting both sides even lay one leg on top the other and cut both fringes at the same time. Make dang sure your knife is extra sharp when trying to do both at once and strop often. Hope this helps. Greg

Bruce when I use blevins I like to use the old hinged style as I feel it allows for a little more flex and also as the holes get stretched you can wiggle it around a little to line them up but I try to steer my customers towards the Superior buckle. It has been around longer than the blevins but never got the marketing behind it in the old days it was called a Kreager Buckle. I like it due to the fact that it is so narrow you do not have that wide hard bulk against your shin. A few of us have been pestering Sonny Felkins to only have 2 holes in the Superior buckle instead of 4, he is open to the idea so if enough of us mention it to him he may change it. thanks for the P.M. It takes all kinds. Greg

David the point of the discussion was not regarding any particular tree maker but whether or not what they are doing works. You jumped down everybodies throat saying they are wrong and that you had arrived with a new concept that is light years ahead of the industry. I was offering you an opportunity to share and test this concept in a working enviorment but it appears you were the childish one and took your toys out of the sand box and refuses to play. If you want to get into personal attacks please keep in mind I am pretty good friends with a couple of your previos employers and as for skeletons in my closet it's full but the closet has never had a door on it to cover the contents. Lets keep the conversation on a higher level. I am still willing to try one of your trees and I am pretty sure we could work something out if you are willing to discuss it. Greg

Montana Silvers majority of products are electroplated brass. It is very overpriced junk in other words. If that is the route you are considering why not buy sterling overlay from Hansen's Silver or Kustom Kraft etc. The price difference between M.S. and these companies is very small and you will actually get some silver from them. Greg

David Genadek it has been a month since I posted my offer to test one of your trees and post my findings here on this website. You have not responded, I guess sometimes silence speaks volumes. Greg

Jeremiah"s saddlemaking tapes are pretty comprehensive and if you have any ability at all you should be able to build a decent rig using them, as for Dusty Johnson's video they are totaly irrelevant to building a quality rig and in reality are more of a demonstration in what not to do.These may sound like harsh words but if you want to learn from someone why not learn from the best instead of someone who needs to get the hang of it to start with. We should be greatful that some of the true masters of the trade are willing to help others. Its sad to say but even most of the instructors teaching at various saddlemaking schools could be better grounded in the fundementals and basic construction techniques. Check out tcowboyarts.com for a good example of some of the finest craftsman of our day. Greg

I have taken a couple of seminars with Dale before and for the meager price of $400.00 you are gonna get inside this mans head and learn things that people will spend 20 years or more trying to figure out and still never get it. You don't have to ruin much leather to add up to that, one bad saddle will do your rep more harm than a hundred good ones will rebuild and to travel some where to get this education will cost you $1000.00 or more. At a seminar if you miss something or forget something it's gone, with the DVD you can replay it over and over. Any body who thinks this Knowledge is priced too high isn't very serious about improving thier skills or is a know-it all that is beyond help. Ifyou can't afford it, go in halves with someone and share the dang thing. Greg

I guess I am pretty fortunate to have half a dozen Don King swivel knives, I use the Extreme Alloy blades made by Henley Mfg. in them. These blades are made in Alabama and they hold a edge like nothing I have ever used before. Clint Fay says with stropping often he can carve a hundred belts between shapening using these blades. Greg

Darcy you are right Bill Knight was the stamper on the Holes pictures, he also spent quite a few years as Hamley's head stamper. Greg

I have 4 Hamley catalogs from the 20's and 30's if you are interested in them . email me or call 208 278 0133 . Thanks Greg

Your machine is a model refered to as #4 mill band machine. It was for sewing extra heavy leather belting for industrial use. It is quite a bit heavier than the #6 pearson. It was made by the same company which was W. Pearson & Sons which was formed in 1877, they later became Pearson & Benyon and then merged with two other companies in 1898 or 99 to form British United Shoe Machine Co. Hope this helps and if you are interested in selling the machine please contact me. Greg

Hello; My name is Greg Gomersall. I built my first saddle in 1985 and have been making my living crafting rigs since 1987. As for Rod Nikkel's trees, I was one of Rod's earilist customers and continue to use him to this day. The construction, appearance and fit is exceptional. Today there are more good treemakers than at any point in history. People like Rod & Denise along with Ben Swanke, Rick Reed, Glenn Christman, Bill Bean, Keith Gertsche just to name a few have elevated the level on what is available to the discriminating maker and consumer. Credit goes to people like Walt Youngman, Ray Holes, Chuck Stormes, John Machoud and Dale Harwood for the basic design and construction style these trees are developed along. Each of these current makers does things a little different from one another just as we as saddlers do little things individually. Mr. Genadek thinks that the Bowdens are produceing the best commercially available tree around but I would suggest he take another look. Trying to compare the Bowden's trees to the ones made by the people I have mentioned above is like comparing a Yugo to a Porsche. I realize that someday someone may develop a better type of tree than what we are using today, many have tried in the past and so far all have failed to top a good handmade wood/ rawhide covered tree. I would like to offer Mr. Genadek to oppourtunity to let me put one of his Trees to the test here in the Great Basin Desert. If he is willing to work with to send me a tree which will fit the type of horses I ride (I also ranch on the side) I will build a rig with it to ride myself for a year and then report my thoughts on the results here on this site for everbody to see and read. David does this sound reasonable to you? Thanks Greg