bruce johnson

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.

Skip, Were you in there with us? I took that class at Wickenburg, and it was pretty fun. It was an interesting class, and I'd recommend it if they give it anywhere again. Like anything it is hard to put these styles into strict definitions since they have crossed over, borrowed from each other, evolved as time has gone on, and every practitioner of a certain style will do that style differently. Basically the California style as Jesse laid it out was more of the Visalia style - larger flowers mostly filling the circular elements, flowing stem work, matted background, and veiners on the ends of the stickers. Another "California" I like is the work of Ken Griffin. It is well worth it when you find his book. I sometimes wonder about the patterns we'd be seeing if guys like Ken Griffin and Al Shelton had been picked up by Tandy, or of some of the other guys in the belt book and early writings had gone on and done more.

Holy Sheepskin Scraps, Batman!! Actually Pete, many guys who build or repair saddles end with way more sheepskin scraps than they can ever use. I don't know about other guys, but sometimes I have a couple leaf and garden bags full. There are only so many things a guy can do with them. I look for innovative ways to get rid of them. They multiply worse than zucchini in the church pantry. Check locally first with some makers to save shipping. If not let me know and I'll see what I got.

Richard, Here are some pics of a scrap with some rivets in it. The one on the right is set by hand and peened with a hammer. The middle is set with Bob's peening tool, but the head wasn't domed from the other side. It makes a nice rounded smooth peen. The one on the left was set with the peening tool and then turned over and the head domed. Doming the head after setting the peen will flatten top of the peen a bit and countersink it some. You can also predome them by setting it into a punched piece of scrap, and letting the shank sit down in the pritchel hole of the anvil and dome it. Then when you set the burr, it stays rounded up more if you like that look or effect. I get less scraping by flattening and countersinking it a bit.

Max, For most personal carry stuff hardware, Ohio Travel bag is kind of one stop shopping. You can source a lot of what they have from the manufacturers or other distributers, but they have a lot in one place. Unless things have significantly changed - don't email/tell them upfront how you want to handle backorders. I get most buckles, rings, and snaps from Weavers or Walsall.

Bill, I had one for a short while I got with some other stuff in a trade. I can think of things that are worth more than $450 in my shop than the Weaver slicker if I was buying it new. The biggest problem I had was I don't like the horizontal axis. On large pieces it was hard to hold them and keep a constant pressure and movement without them flopping all over or the table/motor interefering with keeping them in contact. For straps, it is alright. I like the spindle type slickers in a drill press. I checked and the pulley chart tells me I run it at 1100 rpm. One thing that is emerging in this whole thread is there are a lot of ways to skin this cat. It looks like once a guy gets the speed, roller material, burnishing medium, and pressure figured out for him, then good results can come from a lot of different setups.

Art, Actually on my wish list is a postbed. I am looking at one to sew turned seams inside bags. That is on down the road though. Thanks for the numbers,

Richard, I use the same set from Bob Douglas as Go2Tex. We probably saw it used first at the same place. I was using a homemade deal before that to dome with, made out of a bolt. It is a 3 piece set - burr setter, shank domer, and head domer. I have "predomed" the heads on some, but usually dome them once set. To predome, I punch a hole in some scrap skirting and stick the rivet in, set it over the pritchel hole on my anvil and dome it. Somebody or another told me to do that because they had the head domer slide off and cut through the grain of the surrounding leather. After using it a while, I haven't done that yet. The shank hole on the burr setter is almost 1-1/2" deep. An advantage over the Osborne I had with a shallower hole. You don't bottom out and bend the shank setting longer rivets. I also use it as a handle, stick the rivet in and polish the head on a wheel. Worthwhile to wear eye protection, I have had them fly out of vice grips and the setter.

Thanks Jerry, That is pretty much what I found too. Seems like the bootmakers are high on the 31 for doing decorative stitching, especially fitted with a roller foot. They also mention chiseling a needle and setting the feed short and using it to cut inlays and overlays. I really didn't need another machine, but am getting an appreciation for the oldies as time goes on. Set up for light stuff, I can probably justify getting this one up and going.

Jim, Thanks for posting this. Very nice and easy to follow. I learned a little skiving tip here with the peeler. Thanks,

Pete, Yes it is. Mine is off the shelf from Staples, the basket/geo is from Office Depot. I use the "$10 off any $50 purchase" coupons they send me every month or so. I don't like the $29 ones, too thin. There isn't a lot of difference between the $59 and the $99 ones. The $150 ones have better quality insides. I use what the customer wants. I have also done this on the aluminum shell ones as well. I just cover the front, and the little conchos hold them on.

I make a fair amount of briefcases sized to carry laptops. My personal favorite is a hardside briefcase. I pack my laptop back and forth everyday. On the latest ones I did, the briefcase came with a padded sleeve for the laptop. Otherwise you can buy those sleeves sized to fit about every laptop at most electronics stores. I buy my briefcases at whatever office supply store has the best deal going at the time. I put my computer in the sleeve, and have enough room for the power cord, cellular modem, and mouse. Room enough for some paperwork too. I am attaching some examples of these. One is mine, the old one I carried for several years, and was just getting bored with it. The basket stamp/block stamped border one was a customer order. I attach them with 3/8" high dome engraved conchos. I drill through the front and screw them on. I also do flap over the top brief cases. Some customers like these a lot. I have varied the width depending on laptop size for a close fit. Some like to use a sleeve now. I also put a pad on the bottom. It is a scrap of chap leather over two layers of saddle seat foam scrap, edge sewn like a pillow. Some have a divider and two sections, some people only want one section. They have heavy chap leather or hair on hide gussets on the sides. Hope this helps.

I use them on the bigger letters and on the 3Ds. Especially nice for taking to things where we had kids pounding stuff. They don't bounce and fly nearly as much or as far. One thing you will see on some of the larger letters with the regular handles. I try to stamp letters on leather a little to the dry side. I have to tilt to get even impressions all the way around sometimes. The handle that fits down into the socket can flare out the top of the socket. I have had a few split.

You will need veiners, bevelers, pearshaders/thumbrpints, an under cutter or two (or Propetal type lifter), and a seeder or two for most oakleaves. Whether you want them plain, lined vertically or horizontally or checkered depends on the look you are after. I'd recommend picking a leaf size and getting a set of tools to do that size first. See what effects you like and then go with that for other sizes. Until you know what you like and what effect you want, low end tools will let you see that. Trade up later when you get comfortable and decide you really like to do leaves in the first place.

The seat profile looks great. Looks like it ought to ride. The scroll cuts in the seat look excellent too. Don't worry, you are not the first one to come up with short skirts either. I do have a couple questions. How is the front rigging layered in there? From one picture it looks like two layers of skirting on top of the rigging. Also how are the skirts pulled up to the tree. In back I am not seeing lugs or pockets, but might be the picture angle. Finally, cool front cinch, who made it?

Thanks Art, I found it yesterday in an antique store. The on-line parts list combines the 15 and the 20 in the same book, so I figured there can't be much difference, I just wasn't seeing it. You find a lot of the 66s, featherweights, and stuff around in the antique stores. I play with them, but have never jumped. I hadn't run across a 31 before. This 31-20 is as tight as they come and cosmetically new. There is no freeplay anywhere, looks like minimal or no use. I got the head, bobbin winder, knee lift and brackets for a song - no table or motor. It looks to be the standard cutout, so a table shouldn't be hard to come up with. Threaded and handrolled it and it stitches tight, so I am feeling good. Should make a nice light to light/medium machine. Once in a while a blind sow will find an acorn....

Does anybody know the differences between a Singer 31-15 and the 31-20?

Harvey, I heard last night it was so-so, probably better if you use a color in your work. It would should be OK to have, considering the changes in the chemicals recently and more to come. I'd like to hear from someone that has one to see if it is worth the bucks, or something Feibings should have put out for downloads. The impression I got was kind of like being held hostage. "We have new stuff, and for $15 or whatever, here's how to use them".

Looks like an air-assisted presser foot lift. Great machine and a smoking hot deal on it.

I want it. PM me and we'll work out a trade.