bruce johnson

Barry, Good job on the site, and all the tools I have from you.

Thanks for all the compliments and suggestions off and on list. This has been a work in progress, and I have to give credit to about everyone I have had the privelige to visit in their shop. In my old layout the bench with the splitters was more to the center. It kind of divided the room, but allowed me to get to both sides of that bench. The splitters were on both sides, the rein rounder sat diagonally on one corner and the crank skiver on the other. I lost the bench spave it butted up against, and most of the work got done on the tool bench or the table. With the new layout, it really opened the space up, but I lost that other side of the bench to work on. I really like having the two Chase splitters set up. The Krebs style are easily changed and can be reset easier than the Chase patterns. I normally will have the Chases set to a specific depth and not change them much now - one at 11 oz and one at 8 oz. The Krebs does everything else. One of the PM suggestions I got was to mount the bench tools on boards that slide into a slot. They can be stored out of the way, and slid into a slot for use. In my old shop which was smaller I dropped an Osborne 84 and broke it several years ago. I got a little nervous after that. I got used to the layout of not having a long bench space to work, but may move the rein rounder, crown splitter, and crank skiver to boards. I use them a little less. Once the electrical work is finished, I can finish off the ceiling. I am going to put in an overhead shelf along one wall. That will free up some storage space under the bench for the tools go under there. One of the better things I bought was the drafting files. All of my cutting patterns fit into them and lay flat. Makes it easier to find them and put them back right away. I got that idea from visiting Ken Nelson in Rapid City last spring. Mine came from an office furniture supplier. At some point I will have a stamping bench with an inlaid stamprock too. Keith, I have been trading up splitters for several years. I like the Chase patterns and I like the Krebs style. (Information - Keith has a 14" Chase style that is very nice. You don't see a 14" everyday.) On the fall trip I got an HF Osborne Chase style from Keith Pommer. After I got back from my fall trip, I ended up with a Randall Krebs style and a 12" Hanson Chase style too. I sold one of the Chase patterns and the Krebs. I have another Hanson Chase pattern and the HF not pictured. Yeah, I'm a splitter fan. Randy, This is the best hardware storage setup in any of my shops or layouts. The saddle hardware is all on the pegboard. On the racking by the patio door is the rest of it. I have 4 18 drawer parts cabinets that back up to each other, and parts drawer facing out on the end too. There are a couple on the shelf below it also. All of the silver is in two of them - sorted by size and pattern. The buckles, snaps, and rings take up two. The other ones have misc fasteners like rapid rivets, tacks, odd nails, etc. One has the oddball stuff - crystal bling, spots, that kind of stuff. It is a lot handier to have the hardware in drawers than taking up way more space on the wall.

Johanna, The shop is actually an attached garage, and the coffee pot is just inside the door. The boom box is in front of the saddlehardware rack,(currently playing a CD by Kandace Kalona, Elton Joorisity). I had a question about the pegboards. They are 2x4 feet boxes made from old fence boards, and the pegboard is screwed to the back. They just sit there, but can be moved if need be. They look pretty ranchy. Sharing a common wall with the house it stays pretty comfortable, but there is a wall air conditioner and two electric heaters. The shop will still be pretty neat. I have to confess I used to be a little/lot messy. I have improved. I got the walls closed in here (used to be open stud walls with remains of insulation - typical rental until we were able to buy the place) and it looked better, I kept it better. After I visited Keith Seidel's shop in September, I do even better than that. Keith has the cleanest, neatest shop I have ever been in.

It has been a little while since we had a shop tour. I finally got my shop layed out today and have got the bench tools pretty well set for now. I have a 12x26 area to work with. It is a more open floorplan than before, but has worked out well. Starting at the patio door - That bench has the belt sander, drill press set up with Norm Lynd's slicker, and the drill press I use to punch holes with. Underneath are 3 scrap storage tubs, and a shelf for strops and power tools like the jig saw and a handheld vaccum. The rack next to it holds some clicker dies above and sandpaper and stones underneath. Next pic - The small file cabinet next to that has patterns and catalogs. The bench has the granite stamp rock on it, and the pegboard next to that has the stamps, mauls, swivel knives and push beaders/ticklers. The stamps are sorted into in green pill vials hung on the pegboard. I have a small wood block in front of the rock to hold the tools in current use. Next pic - the pegboard backs up to a work bench. On the pegboard on the side the round knives, straight knives, string bleeder and other pointy sharp things all live together. With them all in one place it tends to keep you alert when close. Above that bench is a shelf that hold some of the finishes and edge treatments in use, along with tape and band-aids. On the back wall of the tool bench are the groovers, french edgers, edgers, and awls. The dividers and calipers are there too. Under that bench is the silver safe, shoeing anvil for rivets, and one scrap tub. to the right is a parts cabinet that holds the nails, screws, copper rivets, and Chicago screws. All the fasteners are in one place. The next pic shows the tool racks. The rein rounder is mounted on the bench in front. The first rack has the end punches, draw gauges, chisels, big dividers, scissors, and screw drivers. The rack next to that has the spikes, pliers, choke strap, hammers, and bouncer. There is a fire extinguisher next to that, and a splitter on that end of the bench. Under these two benches are some drafting files that hold cutting patterns. They are large drawers that I can keep everything flat, even skirt and briefcase patterns. The next rack holds the saddle hardware, and the last illustration from Will James' book "Smoky". The bench on the end has the other two splitters, the crank skiver, and the crown splitter. The stirrup stretcher is under there, and out of the way. The drawdown stand sits out in that corner of the benchs. The other corner of that end has the big sewing machine, and the flat bed sits next to it. Next to that is the bell knife skiver. The leather is stored on the racking next to that. Some things like strainers, horn wraps, and cinches hang there. The leather is stored in concrete form tubes, thanks for that idea to Greg Gomersall. The saddle trees sit on top for now, and stirrups are on the pegboard hung from the top. The cutting table is a heavy old metal desk. I put pipe sections over the legs to raise it up to a comfortable height. I cover it with scraps of particle board for protection. I have a 2x4 sheet of HDPE to cut on. I like it in the center where I can get all around it. The knives are withing arm's reach. Power tools and supplies are in the drawers, and a file cabinet sits under the middle for office supplies and pattterns. The rack at the end holds part cabinets with hardware and silver. The woolskins are rolled and kept above that. The sliding door goes out to a covered patio. I have a table out there for oiling and another for glueing. The buffers and grinders are out there too. Separating the metal from the leather has helped a lot. The lighting is overhead switched shop lights that are placed so I don't work in any shadows, I put UV film on the windows to keep it cooler and sunlight limited. The walls are all insulated. One of the nicest things are 4 outlets at each electrical box - no more power strips or extension cords.

Julia, I think it is due to the rigging ring height, not the 7/8 position. How far are these rings below the bottom of the bar edges? I am just not seeing a clean fix other than a do-over on the skirts. You wouldn't be the first to ever have to do that.

Jim, Happy Birthday, and thanks for all you have done.

Gary, I do them like you. I cut my leathers initially about 1/4" over width. Soak them until drowned almost. I get a little narrowing at the front end of the leathers when I stretch them on the board. I make the final cut to width after they have dried. After I assemble them I stretch them on the stretcher or drawdown. Usually a light case is enough to get them to hold shape then. I kind of preshape my fenders after stamping while they are still cased by loosely rolling them and letting them dry set to that shape.

Tom, I do a lot of stuff with big circles. My biggest problem was always getting a good circle on big stuff. We go to a lot of antique stores and one of the things we collect are things marked "Johnson" - Old Johnson Wax containers, Johnson fishing reels, Johnson soda bottles, etc. A couple months ago we went into a shop, and the lady told me right off the bat she had just got in a tool marked "Johnson" that I might want. I about tipped over when I saw a set of 24" Wm Johnson Newark NJ dividers - $7. Before that I used the string and nail deal to make big patterns. Smaller things I use pans, bowls, stencils, whatever fits.

Shelly, I was taught to use Sharpies for edges 15 years ago. The saddlemaker that showed me that, also was using them for background dyeing and lettering besides edges. I have used several brands over time, and have some favorites. I like the Pilot refillable carton markers in black for edges. Add extra ink to keep them moister than you might want for paper. I buy them and the refill ink bottles at a local office supplier. They have the "jumbo" nib and do a good job on most edges with one pass. I have some chisel point makers in brown also. I think they are MarksALot. Sharpie makes a nice fine and ultra-fine marker in brown also. I have tried some other brands and these are my favorites. One brand of black marker looked alright, but faded to a lovely purple color in about two weeks. I tossed those. I have found the normal Sharpies do a better job for me on leather (oiled or not yet) than the "industrial" Sharpies. The Industrials sometimes are a little streaky. I don't do much work with other colors. I have not had the demand or expectations for much color work. I had a guy a couple years ago who wanted a Bible cover with a cross in silver and old turquoise. The robin egg blue Sharpie marker on oiled leather gave me the turquoise color, and the silver Sharpie gave me the silver. I'll attach a pic for the example. Saved me messing around ordering color dye or acrylics, and gave a good durable coloring. I use the reds some, but not much else. With some of the reformulations and products being discontinued, I think we are going to have a lot of new things to play with. Part of it is going to be borrowing chemicals and finishes from other venues like the wood finishers and office suppliers. Plain carton and sign markers can be bought from a few suppliers. Beilers sell them. You can put spirit dye in them, edge dressings, what ever and slather it on edges too.

I use a Ferdco 1245 with the servo. Set up with Artisans gooseneck lamp and the L-shaped LED setup too. I have had it two years, and am waiting for it to skip the first stitch. It is enough like a home machine, Rundi is not afraid to sit down and run it either.

Elton, Happy birthday from Rundi and I. We hope you have a great day. Just take the day off, and tell everyone I said it was OK. Greetings to Candace as well.

Harvey, Finally a computer deal I sort of know. There seems to be a few ways to do it. A kid at Best Buy showed me. I had all the comprehension of trying to explain the futures and options market to some first graders. He finally gave up and went to "paint". Open the "all programs" deal (click the flag on the bottom left of the desktop) and find "paint". Mine is hidden in "accessories" with a lot of other stuff I don't know what they do either. Click on "paint". Have your scan or image somewhere you can find it. Click on the "file" tab and then "open...." Find the image or scan you want, and click it. Then you head a few tabs to the right to the "image" tab. Click that and you should see a deal that says "flip/rotate...." Hit that one and a menu shows up that gives you the option of flip horizontal, flip vertical, or rotate by angle. After I figured it out, I asked him if I could get a white shirt, funky black tie, and go to work there. They all laughed.....

Pete, For what it is worth, I packed a leaf bag full down into a box pretty tight. It weighed 13# with the box and shipped Priority for about $24.00. It was only about $1.50 less to ship Parcel Post. I am officially out of scraps for now.

I had a set of Ron's round bottoms. They were very good, but I spent the money and replaced them with round bottoms from Jeremiah Watt. Theyare good too. I also like Jeremiah's Vizzard pattern edgers for some things. My first grabs now are bisonettes though for routine edging, especially anything with a lining. I have bisonettes from Bob Douglas, Barry King, and Jeremiah Watt to fill the sizes I want.

Thanks for the compliments. I appreciate it. The silver centers are small engraved conchos from Hansens. They have a Chicago screw post on them and go through the lid. I use these little conchos a fair amount. They are not all that pricey and really dress up a piece instead of using a plain Chicago screw.

Harvey, 6). A new maul or two from Barry King or Wayne Jueschke 7). The florist advertisers have it wrong, swivel knives are the gift that says I love you.

It has been a while since I posted anything recently finished. The briefcase is one I bought and covered the front. It is secured with 3/8 HiDome conchos. I have done quite a few of these over the last several years. A reasonable alternative to someone who doesn't want a fully covered one. They hold up alright, I carried my last one for quite a while. I had one customer whose horse stepped through the back of his. I just attached the front to another one and salvaged that deal for him. I am pretty happy with the rope can too. I have dislocated my right thumb three times in two years. Doing any more than a couple floral elements was hitting the wall. I had some time out of the shop with remodeling and fixing up our place, did some physical therapy, and the rest probably helped more than anything. I did the can in one sitting and felt like I could have done another. This is the first full floral anything bigger than a checkbook I have done in two years. It isn't my best ever, but it is going in the right direction.

Bob, For another thumbs-down reason for Neatlac on a saddle. In a past life I was a nose to tail around the rail western pleasure rider. I used to religiously apply Neatlac and/or SaddleLac to my stuff. You reins get slick and your saddle is like riding a greased hog. I tried a little sock rosin inside my shotguns once. Made a squeak to end all against that finish. I drowned out the organ player. Dually, I have done a few of these. First thing is to apply a small amount of water or casing solution on the grain side of the fender leg. If it absorbs you can case it normally. Otherwise you may need to strip the finish to do it right. You can case from the back usually, but the dye for the letters won't penetrate on the front. I haven't had a problem with Tankote lifting Sharpie ink/dye on lettering if there is no finish under the ink. It will smear if there is a coating left on. I had been known to case from the back, and then sand the finish off the lettering on a Friday night drop-off/Saturday give away trophy saddle. Fine bullet shaped grinding stones on a Dremel can do it and not eat the grain. Dye and then seal it.

Confusin' ain't it? I was taught that look at the knife. If you continue the contour of the blade around with imagination. If it makes a circle, it is a round knife. If it makes an oval, it is a head knife. As far as a quarter being more/less useful than a full half circle. If you are using it to cut, you have two edges to use before stropping. If you are using to skive a low angle, you can get lower with the quarter blade without skiving your knuckles on the leather holding hand. For the knife safety experts, admit it, you all do this. You know you do. LOL. Now as far as blade geometry. I guess mine are mostly flat, but a tad bit convex at 1 to 1-1/2" or so back from the edge, then flat to the edge. I put a fine secondary bevel on the edge to keep it from rolling. I got really precise about thin edges one day. I sharpened all my round knives to skin gnats. First time I ran them through some skirting they went great for about a foot and hit the wall. The edges were so thin they were rolling or chipping. I called Herb French. That was the day I learned about backing up a thin blade with a slightly steeper secondary bevel. As far as where the blade goes from thick to thin, looks like they kind of slope off from the spine pretty much flattish. That seems to have worked the best on the Clydes and Osbornes I have had.

Not sure about blade thickness. My favorites are two. The old ones are made by Clyde Cutlery. They made a lot of kitchen and butcher knives. I think that the round knives are the only leather knives they made. I have heard they also made the Diamond Edge knives for Shapleigh. The knives sure look to be clones. I took the shoulders down some and like these Clydes a lot. A good balance of edge holding and ease of sharpening. Not sure when they stopped making them. I run onto them now and again. Quarter circle knives are nice for low angle skiving. The half knives give you two edges to use before stropping. That said, I got a new one from Bob Dozier last spring. Made from D2, the sharpest knife I have ever laid a hand on off the bat. I haven't done anything but strop it yet. He is in Arkansas. Nice guy to deal with. Be prepared for some sticker shock, and a wait if he doesn't have one made up.

Pete, My schedule is that I get up at 4:00, work solidly for 3 hours. My day job has enough breaks I can keep up with the forum and do paperwork for the leather business too. Get home, eat, work a few hours, case something for the morning, and that's it. After 24 years fo working mostly 6 day weeks, I now get a 3 day weekend every other. I don't use propetals much. I have the TLF and a couple homemade ones from screwdrivers. I have played with Jeff's at a show. If a guy uses them a lot, his are the real deal.

Pete, There are probably as many tooling sequences as toolers. I think I have an old Ray Holes catalog that showed Gerry Holes tooling a pattern. Pretty sure he undershot right off the bat too. I know some really good guys who undershot as the dead last thing they do. The Sheridan Style Carving book shows doing them right after the swivel knife. It also depends on how you use your undershots. Some guys hold them pretty steep and it is more of an undercutting. Heavy leather allows this. Others guys hold them so the bottom part is pretty much parallel with the surface and run them under and raise up, much like a propetal effect. Whose undershots and and what size makes a difference too.

Richard, The pictures really don't show how good these look after you do them. As far as doming the head. Shortish story. During saddle week at Sheridan in 2006 several of us on this forum were there. It seems like they'd show some little trick or tip about a tool not many of us had, lunch break came and we'd hotfoot it down to Sheridan Leather to pick one up. The most popular were the rivet sets and Bob Douglas slim blade awls. I hustled off with my pal Jeff and we got rivet sets. That night when my wife picked me up after the class, she saw Don's domed rivets. She asked him where he got them, they looked so nice. He told her about the domer, she told me I NEEDED to get one. One step ahead of you, honey. To this day she will show anyone who comes over, interest in leather or not, how much better the domed heads look. She will also fire up the drill press with the punch chucked in it and punch a few holes too. Those are her two favorite things. She will look at a saddle and the first thing she looks at is whether the rivets are domed or not. Yeah, they look better. The silver cap copper rivets I get will dome up nicely without damaging the engraving too. Mechanically. It sinks the edges into the grain a little. My old pal tells me back in the days of flat leather drive belts, these were used to splice skives together. The heads were flat and countersunk on purpose. They didn't want them domed up or sticking up. What I see sometimes on the ones not domed and installed poorly is the shank was bent when the burr was set and an edge of the head isn't flush. That little edge sticking up catches everything and wears whatever rides over it.

Kelly, You might also be referring to a small pocket sewn to the cantle back on straight up bound cantles. If so, I haven't done any, but have seen a couple on some of the repair I work I do. The ones I have seen have a molded pocket sewn to the cantle back before it is put on. The flaps had a tab and slot or keeper affair rather than a buckle. It is probably not any different than making a pocket for a set of doctoring bags.

Harvey, I don't see any problems with asking. The worst anyone can say when you ask is "no", and we've all heard that word from about the first time we hit daylight. Some people have propriety secrets (that may or may not be secret anyway) they won't share. To be honest I have heard a heck of lot about the secretive leatherworkers. I have been refused a direct technique question or advice exactly twice in 20 years. I have not always been told specifically how to do something, but left to figure some things out on my own.