bruce johnson

There is a little section in one of the old saddle books - "They Saddled the West" I think, or possibly Beattie's book just titled "Saddles" about the evolution of the metal horn. Originally they were all wood horns and solid forks. Pictures of those old relics looks like the necks were fairly thin, about like the metal horns now. The horns snapped off and sometime in the 1880s (?) the metal repair horns came in. I think Meana had one with a hollow base to fit over the broken stump. I have an old Visalia in right now, and the horn cap is loose from the neck. I am sort of curious if it is a wooden horn. As famous as a broken rope was for Dean Oliver, I am sure that nobody today wants to be remembered for missing out an a world championship because their horn broke off. Yep cowboys are wearing pink. I will be the guy wearing the bright pink shirt at King's reception in 3 getting-shorter weeks. It is the brainchild of a local rodeo wife/mother for breast cancer research, now known as "Tough Enough to Wear Pink". Originally it was a donation of something like $100 from a winery for every contestant that wore pink at a single performance of the NFR. It has mushroomed into a huge deal, and Wrangler came on board. The pink night at the NFR is cool - pink ropes, splint boots, chaps, the bucking chutes and roping chutes painted pink. Some local rodeos now have a "pink performance" and fans and contestants are encouraged to wear pink, with a percentage of gate fees going to the program. Sales percentages of TETWP clothing and merchandise goes to the fund.

Barry so far has not been numbering the tools he sells directly other than bargrounders. However the ones he used to sell through TLF a few years ago were numbered with a stock number, and the HideCrafters ones may be as well. That is the confusion a lot of people have buying ebay auctions for his tools - they have numbers. Not numbering his direct sales tools has been confusing at times. You order a #3 thinking you have a #2, and indeed, you already had the #3. You eyeball one at the show, and dang if you don't have twins when you get home. Barry is planning to start at least size numbering tools, but has a lot of irons in the fire at present.

Hanging on to it getting down would be the major factor off the top of my basket stamping addled brain right now.

Doug, I have called a few times about this or that with the journal. Each time I have made sure I was also on the list to get the program for the Wickenburg and Sheridan shows. As a history, I have a track record with them of taking classes and a lot at both shows as well as the banquets at each of these shows. We are not a window shopper. Each time I have been informed I was "on the list". A couple days ago I got a friggin' post card announcing the Sheridan show,no packet, no list, no mention of anything else. I am taking this to mean that they just don't have either oar in the water anymore. The class schedules have been announced here on this forum and another forum. If a guy is not a member of either list, as many attendees probably are not, then they aren't going to find out much in any timely fashion. The classes were posted on the lists way before the journal's website. The instructors are probably really happy to know potential students are not getting the info as well. As of two weeks ago, one major vendor at all of their shows had not yet received any exhibitor packets either. We as attendees are not the only ones in the dark here. I am glad we are going this year, because I am thinking something drastic will have to happen to turn it around and even have one next year.

Richard, I'll jump first here. You're riding a good one. That said, seems like most all the calf ropers seem to like the low Toots Mansfield (LTM) trees. I have one in mine. I have a few issues with it. First off, I am wondering why the leg cuts in the swells?? You can't get a leg in under them. There is not enough forward stirrup swing in most of them to get your leg up in there either. About all they do for me is make a nice sharp edge to bite my inner thigh when my horse stops short and I am leaned out there. There is not much fork to lean into with the LTMs, another anatomical consideration. I am attaching a couple pics of mine with the LTM swells to illustrate the swells and show that leg cut I am so fond of. A few things we did on this saddle that kind of worked out, and a few that didn't. We purposely left the skirts full under the leg to help you stand out there. We also made a relief for the front dee ring, and rounded off the corner in front of that. Seemed like a decent idea at the time, but looks a bit odd. I took suggestions from a few guys, which explains why the front is rounded and the back is square. Hmmmm. Team ropers are a little more over the board than the calf ropers. Some guys like an Olin Young (dating myself, I used to drool in a Ryon's catalog when I was a kid), Bowmans, or the one I like the most is a Dee Pickett. I get Dee Picketts from Timberline that actually have a smooth leg cut that is somewhat functional. I got a nice one with a real similar shape from Sonny Felkins too. They have a little shoulder to them so you can lean up into them, but not so wide as to interfere. They make a real nice all around tree I think. I have made some for all-day cowboys, and they like them too. As far as rigging, we could start a fight here. The double dee in a full position, 15/16ths. 7/8ths is probably the most popular. The argument about them being stronger or weaker than a plate rigging probably has as much to do with the choice of leather used than anything. They are popular on the production saddles because the dee ring riggings generally are clicked out and don't use as much leather. If you use good leather, they have proven themselves. I fixed a high end name calf roping saddle last year. No names, but the skirts are monstrously thick, the rear jockeys are doubled, and the seat jockeys are doubled at the edges. The front riggings were made from the flankiest 9 oz crap they could find. I guess they used up all the good leather lining the stuff you could see, instead of where it matters. It worked well for molding over the clubby thick front bars and stitched down to the mostly unblocked skirts well. They had a little tab on a long skinny neck to hold the breast collar dee as part of the rigging. The fortunate thing was that the rigging tore out while the horse was tied to the fence standing and not tight to a steer. The actual position of the rigging is pretty well fixed between the 7/8 and full. Some limit to forward stirrup swing depending on how a guy puts them in. Some calf ropers prefer a limit to the swing, some don't. I usually set the back dee an inch or two further back than regular to help balance out the jerk more. I also normally use 2" back billets on the ropers unless the customer is using custom buckles that are 1-3/4". Final thing I do is use a wider back cinch. I make them from 6-8" depending on what a guy wants. I got this back cinch pattern off an old Crosby looking saddle 25 years ago. I like it, wide where you need it, and narrow up high to minimize spur tracks.

Steve, That angle is determined by the stamp impression or your style in either method. The angle off the centerline is the same as the template angle. I have a tutorial on making that template up in the "stamping" section under the topic of "angled basket stamping and making a template". Be aware that the amount of overlap you use will make a steeper angle if you overlap more, or lesser angle if you overlap less. You can't just go by someone saying that particular stamp , say the Tandy #511 has 37 degree angle. They may not overlap the same as you. You need to make up a template based on your stamping style. You can also consider the centerline to be the baseline, and use the "no template" method to determine the proper stamp angle. A tip on stamping the "arrowhead" pattern. If the legs of the baskets come up a little short and don't meet flush at the point, or they are a little off - here's the fix. A thin bladed slotted screwdriver the same thickness of the basket stamp leg can be used to clean that up or connect the points. Just tap the handle end lightly like a stamp.

Doug, The stirrup plate is the answer. The raised plate and rounded top shorten the radius up a lot. The narrow side to the left of the slot in the plate means that you are not pushing the gusset material in from the edge. I used to handsew the corners, but once I got the stirrup plate when I still had the Boss, it made all the difference. I wouldn't fight it for the time or frustration factor again. In fact that is the reason I hung onto the Boss. I didn't have a stirrup plate for the Adler 205 that replaced the Boss. Once I got the Ferdco, I sold them both.

Interesting topic, and fodder for a lot of philososphy. Someone sent me a cutting horse tape with Buster Welch eons ago, and he had a quote in there about improvement he attributed to one of the master painters. Something like "It is that slight dissatisfaction with your last masterpiece that drives you on to paint the next one". Twenty five years later, still sticks with me. That is something that seems pretty applicable here. I have had a few blasts from the past. Several years ago, Jeremiah Watt sponsored a mini saddle fender carving contest. I entered, along with about 99 guys better than me. What I didn't know is that ALL of the entries are still on display right at the top of the stairs in Don King's museum. Three years ago we were in there, and I about fell over walking up the stairs. Someone had looked through the pile and left mine on top. There it was, and my name hadn't faded. Buster was kinda wrong, it is a great dissatisfaction that makes you improve more. When I was there last fall I looked at it again, it still is no better. It is now a milemarker of where I was then. Last week I was getting pictures together for a website. Some of those oldies are better left alone. [Aside lesson here too. Take pictures of everything. I didn't, and pictures of some of what I considered pretty good at the time and still would, never got took.] I can look at the tooling work of guys like Don King, Chester Hape or Lloyd Davis. I can look at guys still cranking out different and maybe in some cases even better stuff like Don Butler, Billy Maloy, Chas Weldon. I saw a fender last year that old Bill Rogers had just carved - very cool. I have had classes with Al Gould, Jesse Smith, Pete Gorrell, and Andy Stevens. Look at this group - Troy, Keith, Jim, Greg, Andy, Steve, Ryan, (any omissions are not intended). We have a pretty wolfy bunch here. I probably couldn't slick edges for any of them. In a nutshell, I look at a lot of work, and I am not satisfied with my own yet. I don't beat myself up over it, I just try to find three things and improve them on the next one.

Judy, The old three things rule here. First off - what I like. The seat shape looks good, I like the deeper profile rather than the old Biily Cook board seats. I like the contrasting colors. It adds a lot of visual interest. Looks like you did a good job finishing it off. Now for the "here's what I would have done differently", keeping in mind this is all personal preference. I would use different latigo or dye it darker. That red color and raw edge just looks distracting to me, and I am not sure I like the shorty strings. They look alright on a bronc saddle, but tradition tells me to make them longer and usable like on the ranch cutters or use screw conchos and leave them off. On my arena saddles, I use screw conchos and put a single strap and dee under the near back concho to buckle splint boots onto. I try to make my basket stamping have a "theme". It is horizontal on the wear strip, vertical on the rear billet, and angled on the rear jockey. I normally angle it all in the same direction. I am a big fan of horizontal basket stamping on a lot of things, but to me, saddles are more forgiving angled. Final thing is that I would work on making the fork cover welt more vertical. I think they look more balanced when they end at the screw and follow the slope of the fork if they are put out there on the side. My thoughts.

Ronny, I have servo motors on my 1245 and my Ferdco 2000 and the 2000 that Barra bought from me. The 2000s are like your Sewpro 441 I think. They both have speed reducers, and I have more torque than with the original clutch motors they came with. Especially at slow speeds it just moves on through without help. I had an Adler 205-64 I put a servo on, and same experience there. If you try to handwheel and hit the pedal, it will throw your hand off. I can't hold the wheel and slip it like the clutch motor. That was the bigeest thing for me to learn was not to instinctively reach up to slow the wheel down. You don't need to with the speed control. The other thing is that when you shut it off, it is OFF. You know how with a clutch motor you shut it off, and then if you hit the pedal, it may still run on a few sttiches? Mine always did that when I was in the middle of a bobbin change and accidentally hit the pedal. That will wake you up. The servo motor is dead off as soon as you hit the switch. Apparently there are a few different servo motors out there. I got mine from Ferdco. The original has a set screw to adjust the speed setting, the newer ones have a dial. Artisan has them as well, and apparently they are getting or have a reasonably priced needle positioning motor too.

A few suggestions that range from $150 to nearly free. First off for $150, a servo motor will adjust from one stitch every three seconds to wide open ripping. The dial on the motor controls the top end, and they have what seems like incredible torque. I can pedal on both of mine now and have all the control or speed I want. For a little less money than that, does your setup have a speed reducer pulley system between the motor and the machine? If not it will slow you down too. Regarding changing the attachment of the rod, I never got that much control change doing it. A pretty small amount of travel in that arm makes all the speed change. Hard to get that adjustment right for me. So the final suggestion that is almost free. Put a tennis ball under the pedal. It has just enough give to let you sew, and enough resistance to keep you from hitting the gas too hard or fast. I got that info from an old buddy.

HorseHair, This explains a lot. I have heard that breaking a pair of White's firecrew boots almost approaches doctrine and religion. It also goes against most of what the rest of us know about boot care. I have heard of using the shoe stretch before. I have also heard of filling them with water, letting it sit for while, pouring it out and wearing them for an hour or so. Let them slowly dry and do it again a few times, then condition them with the grease of choice. You might contact some dealers in Whites and see what they recommend.

Dany, I use a few awls. They are sharp sharp up to about the widest spot of the blade. It is what I use for all the hand sewing. I have a couple that the point is still pretty sharp, but back of that, the sharp edge is rounded over. These awls are used for back-stitching or over-stitching to finish off a line. The dull edge won't cut the previous threads as easily and make you say bad words as much.

A few questions on PDFs. For some reason, I am behind the curve here, computer skill wise as well. I get a few PDFs and always thought they were kind of nice. My question now has to do with the advantage of PDFs vs. other formats, and making them. I did a little searching around, and found software to make them anywhere in cost from professional grade down to free software donwloads. Any advice on how to do them, and which program may be the handiest would be appreciated.

I have two of the old Craftool knives from the 80s Clay referred to and like them both. I have fatboy and slim barrel ones from Chuck Smith, one from Barry, and an old reportedly pre-Ellis Hackbarth with a set of tools. I also have two of the old Craftool adjustables with the border tool and a beader blade. All of my "carvers" have a smooth action. I adjusted the height the way I was taught, and thought that a crampy index finger after a while was just part of the deal. I have a different type of blade in each, slim, wide, angled, steeper bevel, short bevel. Which one I use depends on what I am cutting, how much tight turning, and how wide I need to lay it open. Also, I am not a believer that all swivel knife blades need to be the same angle. Between all but the craftool blades, I don't see enough of a difference that I could tell. They all seem to have about the same mileage before stropping, which is not that big a deal anyway. When I got the Hackbarth, I just tried it the way it came out of the box. It was set a little shorter, and while the blade was dull, it felt GOOD. I dropped my others to this height, and haven't looked back. Not too long after this, someone (gtwister I am thinking) replied in a post about how to measure your hand for the barrel diameter and the height adjustment. It was dead on with what I finally found works for me. I have searched the posts trying to find that one, and haven't come up with it. If anyone knows where it is, please put a link in.

I was taught the densest wool is in the middle and should cushion under the bars. I was taught the lay of the wool on the sheep points to the back. So following that, the back of the skirt is to the head of the donor sheep. That is how mine are laid out. To firther reinforce the point, I was taught to saddle a horse by laying the blanket and saddle slightly forward of where it wants to rest, and sliding it back into that pocket it falls into. That lays down the horse's hair, and prevents galling according to someone I respected. It was also told to me by the same old gentleman (my grandpa) that would lay the wool down, because that is how the saddlemakers put the wool on, to hold blankets. There is no universal consensus on this. One thing that is pretty much agreed on is that you don't want one one way and one the other. I just took everyone's word for that.

OK, I REALLY do pound out "Smoke on the Water" (13 hits) when I basket stamp. Been getting a little flack, but yep I grew up in the late 70s. I tried the Hawaii Five-O theme, but it was too fast and only 11 hits if you use the first part of the theme. Becky, To line up centers, on some stamps I made a little file mark to correspond with the middle of the center. It gives me a bit of a guide line to line up with. Now I pretty much line up with the center of the shank. As far as stamps, I made a lot of money off a Tandy #500 and a #511. I still use that original #500, it is just a tad smaller than Barry's #1 size, and is like an old friend. They were the last to be replaced, and they aren't the celebrated pre-letter prefix ebay hyped models either. The impression difference is a lot more noticable when you get up to the #511 and #534 size, although I have kept one pretty darn good #534 too. The basket I use the least cost me the most. I could modify it and like it better probably, but someone will want to trade for it who likes those longer baskets.

Linda, I have done them a couple ways. I have used thick skirting and stitched/not stitched depending on my whims. I got the patterns from cheap plastic plate and outlet covers. The skirting is firm enough to not sink into the socket or switch. I have also used the metal platecovers and sandwiched them front and partially on the backs with thinner leather. On those I do stitch around the edge to secure them.

Tazzman, I went through probably three of the Weaver models. The plastic melts or deforms. The wooden ones eventually chip out from the chuck on the spindle and get out of round before they eventually break off at the spindle. In their defense, they do have a space above the three provided grooves to add a wider groove. Turn it on and hold a round file there until you get the depth and profile you want. I had Norm Lynds make me up one a few years ago with the grooves I needed and a metal spindle. It has held up well. Pretty sure Norm is a member here. He makes some other handy tools also. I am attaching a photo of my Weaver one with the added groove, and Norm's below that.

Hilly, I have done a few rodeo gear bags for guys entirely out of leather. These bags take a heck of a beating. I am attaching one that is 36''X18"x24", this kid wanted one bag to pack everything but his bronc saddle. I use about 10 oz for the side panels that are tooled. The body of the bag is made from 5/6 oz DiamondTan from Siegels. Compared to my old canvas and nylon bags, these weigh a ton. We have tried the single shoulder strap on smaller ones, the bags tend to collapse and make them hard to maneuver through narrow gates. Most of these kids now will use the handles like backpack straps. That makes them easier to maneuver and pack around. You can buy all the hardware you need for retractable handles and wheels from Ohio Travel Bag. Attaching it and puttoing the whole thing together will take some planning. I had someone ask me a few years ago to make them a custom bowling ball carrier with wheels and the handle. When we put the price tag to it, they went with an off the rack wheeled bag and had a leather overlay made up and sewn on.

Thanks, that particular rope stamp is the R957. All it says, I probably got it from HideCrafters. I ended up and bought a handful of them from HideCrafters at one of the shows. They tend to bend on the tips when you tip very many partial impressions. They resemble a driftboat and you bend them back down, they bend again, eventually they break. I am down to a couple, and use them often enough, I ought to just get a good one and be done with it. (something else already on the list for Sheridan). I take a Craftool B803 beveler and a cylindrical stone on my Dremel. I grind off the face until it has the concave shape to match the curved part of the rope. One hit beveling/matting instead of several walking a narrow one around each rope impression. I normally use this for borders with the rope. If I want steeper beveling around the rope, I use a modified crowner. I took one of Barry Kings checkered crowners and ground off the corners. One hit beveling and steeper than the Craftool. Just a different look. Works well for when I have a rope going through a pattern rather than being a border.

Another place to check is a local "Habitat for Humanity" outlet. They take in excess materials from construction, replaced cabinets, counters, appliances, etc. These donors can write off the value of the materials, and the tax break for them is better than letting it pile up. Our local outlet has a pile of granite pieces at $3/sq ft. Everything from sink cutouts to full countertops with a chunk broken off.

Papa Wolf, As one who has made about all the mistakes you can make and still be floating, here' s how I do it now. Some of this I got from a small business advisor, quite a bit of the principles as they apply to leather from Bob Brenner's book "How to Establish Prices for the Saddle Maker or Leather Worker", some from talking to other guys, and a lot from keeping books and tweaking my formulas. It seems unwieldy at first, until I realized how much I was losing by not accounting for it both in materials and labor. I used to do this all by hand, but have since made up spreadsheet templates in my computer that do the calculations. I use these formulas for pricing all my personal and custom items. Breaking it into materials first: For each piece of leather used in a project - width x length in inches, then add in a 25% cutting waste factor. If it goes into the scrap bin, I am still not getting paid for it on this, so it is waste. Divide this by 144 to get a square foot measurement. Multiply the square footage by the cost per square foot with shipping figured in. I use the highest price I paid in the last year to figure this. I add in special hardware like zipper tape and slides here too. This gives me a materials cost sort of. To allow for things like oil, dye, finish, thread, rivets, etc. I add 20% to the total leather costs for a project. It has been borne out to be about that (maybe a little less on some things) from past years records. This gives me what my costs really are, I then double it. Labor: I kept timesheets on a lot of steps. I did enough wholesale and award stuff, I got my timerates down to be pretty consistant. Everybodys will vary. These are based on measurements of the final project. Cutting time - I struggle with this, but for the sake of calculations I made it a flat 15 minutes. That pretty well accounts for getting out the cutting pattern, unrolling the leather, cutting, and putting the leather away. Obviously you are going to make it on a checkbook, and go over on a briefcase with pockets. The 15 minute average is ..... average. I add 5 minutes to tape backs and case for small things, 10 minutes for larger. Stamping - I can medium basket stamp/simple border about 40 minutes per sq ft. Larger baskets and geometric stamps are a little faster, but I still use that same 40 minutes per sq ft. Special stamping like simple floral or oak corners are 15 minutes each. Again, an average. Other stamping by guesstimates. Assembling - glueing in linings, trimming linings, glueing pockets, - 7 minutes /sq ft Sewing - handsewing - 6spi - 1 in/minute plus 5 minutes for threading needles, polishing awls etc. Machine sewing - 10 inches per minute with a minimum of 10 minutes to account for machine oiling/cleaning/maintenance/changing feet and plates. Zipper - It really doesn't seem to matter much whether it is a planner or a rope bag, it takes me about an hour to make up a zipper from scratch, sew it to a gusset, and fit it. I just add 60 minutes. Edging and finishing - Averaged out, it takes me about 15 minutes/sq ft to run an edger, slick an edge, apply finish, etc. Background dye, special treatments, etc all add in plus too. Installing hardware - buckles, conchos, Chicago screws. Depends on how many, but 5 minutes at least to punch the holes and screw a couple down, guesstimate past there depending on how many. I add up the minutes and multply it by my rate. Add materials and labor to get a price. These numbers are all based on a "one-of" item. Obviously there is econmy of labor by doing several at a time, and I try to do that when I can. My labor time rates are not the same as probably anyone else's. Every so often I will hit the kitchen timer, and then not look at it again until I am done with that step to check times. That's how I do it.

I do them pretty much like Darcy with one exception. I make the inside from one piece, and the outside from one piece. No particular reason why I do them in one piece other the same reason we do a lot of stuff - that's the way I saw the first guy do them. Other than that, same basic technique as Darcy. I crimp them with cantle pliers, and use the crimp line as a guide for my stitch line groove. I want that line right next to the wood. I handsew them too for the most part. I will admit I have cheated on two pairs playing since I got the new machine. The stirrup plate from Ferdco has a really narrow left ledge. A lot thinner than some of the other ones I have seen, or had with my previous machines. It gets in there pretty tight. We'll see how it holds up.

Don and Crystal, As was explained to me by the historians, the reason for the cinch ring covers was due to the cinch rings. They were all handforged and not necessarily all that well sometimes. They were also subject to corrosion from sweat and exposure, which then made them abrasive. The leather chapes/chafes/safes were added to protect the skin from rubbing. Over time, these covers would get hard from exposure and were replaceable. Some of these were lined with woolskin scraps to cushion them. The woolskins were prone to pick up cheatgrass awns and burrs in that kind of country too. That brought another set of issues to the skin. One guy I worked for used to use sections of inner tube as a sleeve over his buckles to prevent galling and protect from those old buckles.