Go2Tex

I could do that. The price for each separately would be $193 for the larger one and $186 for the smaller one.

2 new sides of Wickett & Craig brown skirting, heavy, standard. One left and one right side, One is 24.8 sqft and the other is 25.8 sqft. Selling both for $350 plus shipping.

The flower is one of my own creation. Got tired of the same ol' flowers, so I came up with that one. I've since developed another one that works well also. I call it a petunia.

If there was a machine to stitch cantle and horn bindings I'd get one. Well, if it looked as good as hand stitched, I'd surely get one. But, there are things that just can't be machine stitched and that's why I keep the ol' stitching horse around, mostly taking up space, but on occasion, it really comes in handy. And, it's also a good conversation piece.... and foot rest.

The last thing I need is another hat, but I thought you might consider including the hat size......

I have 8 of these 3 1/2" solid brass beveled saddle rigging dees for sale @ $5 each or $32 for all eight. Shipping will be figured at actual cost. Reply to BTubre@Brents-saddles.com

Until you get a letter from a lawyer representing the guy, don't even bother to respond.

Yeah, one of the most frustrating things about machine stitching. I try to avoid the uphill situation for that reason, but it's almost impossible on some things. Once I have the length set up, it's a pain getting is back if I change it. So, when you know you are coming to a thicker area, help it along a bit until you get up onto the level again and your stitch length should equal out. Or, like with your welt with the taper, don't use the motor. Use the flywheel to hand turn it and make sure the needle is in the right location to keep your stitch length the same as the rest. I hadn't considered the cause being the pendulum effect. I just thought it was slipping, but the needle actually bending probably explains why sometimes needles get nicked and burred on the plate.

I hope you have looked at all the member's work shops in the thread on this forum. There is a ton of ideas there. Leather Crafters and Saddlers journal had a short article by Dusty Johnson a while back on his custom desk with the inlayed granite top. Maybe someone has it handy and can put up some pics of it. I agree with the advice regarding the size. Better you have it made in sections. An eight foot piece of furniture is not a good idea unless it is a built-in. Standing or sitting? Well, I like to sit but most of the time I am standing. When I'm carving, I use a stool at my regular standing height workbench. My carving station with a loose piece of granite doubles as an overflow area when I'm working on stirrup leathers and other long straps at the other end of the bench. I also have found that having that raised edge of the granite is useful when you are working on something that is not flat, like a saddle seat or skirts. Plus, I can move it out of the way when I need the space for something else. If you opt for a big thick piece of granite, you'll need a forklift to move it. The grave stone idea is great if you don't plan on ever moving it.

Yeah, on mine there is a little black knob. You turn it to control the speed. It's an ESM 400-2 motor.

Well, I'll tell ya what's perfect for sewing skirts.... a good saddle stitching machine. Nothing like zipping around a set of skirts in a fraction of the time it takes to sew about 12 inches by hand, which happens to be about the same length of time it would take me to start drinking heavily when I was trying to stitch skirts by hand. Even a Boss stitcher is a vast improvment. (btw, I just happen to have one for sale).

Man, you got that right. Nothin' runs like a Deere....owner - back and forth to the parts department for those over-priced green parts. Had mine for 1 year and 11 months and the battery died. Cost me $100 to replace a battery that died 1 month shy of the warranty expiration. On the way home with my new one, I stopped off at the local generic auto parts store and they were selling them for about $40. Yeah, I saw red alright.

I don't know if this is a related problem, but when it's really hot out, (100 degrees), my Toro 3000 just quits working. I step on the pedal and.... nuttin'. After much consternation and bewilderment, not to mention many 4 letter word punctuated temper tantrums, I quite by accident figured out that it was lack of juice. Yeah, my window AC unit was going full blast trying to keep my shop below a comfy 89 sweltering degrees and was robbing the circuit of much needed watts or amps or whatever it needed. So, now I know to try to get all my stitching done in the cooler morning hours or else I'll be doing it without the benefit of the AC. One of these days Maw, I'm gonna borrow some wire and.......

Practice first??? Now where's the fun in that? Naw, just go ahead and dive into some good leather and that really important project and enjoy all the frustration and anger and hours of removing reams of stiching and re-doing it. That's the way to do it, boy. Learn by doing it the hard way.

OK, I'm looking at the 2 different stitching horses and other than the location and slant of the jaws, and the rather interesting, Rube Goldberg tension mechanism of Bruce's horse, it seems to me that you could stitch just about as well on either one, (which isn't very fast or painless), regardless of what you were stitching. Maybe it's the fact that I hand stitch as little as possible, in fact I avoid it like the asian flu, but harness vs. saddlery..... what's the difference? It's not like any horse is strong enough to clamp a saddle to hand stitch the cantle or horn is it? And who besides a total masochists or off-the-grid survivalist would hand stitch skirts? .... or entire harnesses for that matter?

OK, just got the K&S stirrup buckles in and they are very nice. No BURRS!!! Plus, they have locking lugs, or little nipples for the lugs on the slides to help retain them. Sweet. Plus, the leather is nice and clean. Here is the price list they sent.... scan0001.pdf

Brass rivets look even better.

Not a problem that I can recall. I suppose it is possible with really long haired dogs, but just having a collar on the dog will wear the guard hairs down, so it's not really a concern. The dog won't care anyhow.

Copper rivets are much stronger, but for this application, a bit of an overkill. The rivet is just to keep the clip from sliding out of the holder. Not much stress on it. But, I have all but quit using those jiffy rivets. They come off way too easy. Tubular rivets with caps are the way to go if both sides are visible. Otherwise, just pound them out flat on the back after using the setter to split them.

Well, having personally handled working dogs, I can say that the center bar buckle would be much harder to use with a large dog jumping and pulling. Often, while putting the collar on the dog, they are already in the "working" mode, if you know what I mean. The #50 or the #999 roller buckle is designed to allow it to work smoother and not wrinkle and crack the leather grain from the pressure. It's also much more difficult to then put a thick strap down through the back half of the center bar buckle, like a bridle buckle, to retain the excess strap. Center bar buckles do come with a roller, like the #150s. I prefer not to use them except for small straps, like rear cinch hobble straps. They are hard to stitch close to them, unless you hand stitch and if large enough to accomodate a working collar, they would be too large and bulky. I've come the conclusion that if I can machine stitch a buckle, then I've saved enough time and frustration that I can easily make up a leather loop.

You can always just drill out the hole and cut down the rivet. I use tubular rivets and I'm always having to cut them down to fit.

I make my clip holder as thin as possible and still thick enough to not tear out. So, about 3-4oz. Comfort and reholstering is secondary and really, in the major scheme of things, not even much of a consideration to most average John Q's out there. But, if reholstering is important, Kydex IWB holsters are hard to beat and will likely put us leather guys out of the IWB holster business.

A working dog collar is made from a long strap folded in half and stitched the entire length, with the dee located at the fold. The buckle is placed a few inches from the dee with a leather loop placed after that such that the buckle and loop are sandwiched between the top and bottom layers of the strap. It may not be absolutely necessary to both stitch and rivet the collar, but it seems to be the industry standard for maximum durability to rivet and stitch. This is the way military working collars have been made for about as long as they have been making them. The attached pic shows the construction, but with a slight modification. Instead of using one long piece of leather and folding it over, I used 2 shorter pieces and folded the bottom piece over the dee and stitched it. This is a better example:

I really hate W&C's phone answering system. If I call up to order leather, I could give a rat's a** who takes the order. I just want to order some leather. They can all accomplish that simple task. But, they must be on commission, so you are forced to pick someone. If the person you pick isn't there or isn't available at the time, YOU MUST START ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! To make matters worse, THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION!!! That's the kind of customer service ignorance and arrogance that seems to be endemic in modern business culture.

Sure, I'd be glad to.