bruce johnson

YR, Nice work. A couple questions though too. Whose trees are those and what is the coating? In the pics, it almost looks like there are seams in the covering, but then it is a smooth finish? Any special concerns with the finish peeling while you are working it or anything? Also on your seat on the finished saddle it almost looks like there is a separate piece used to finish in the cantle dish. Is it my eyes, or just the way the tooling makes it look? Welcome aboard, glad you found us.

Freak, I haven't had much of a problem. I got some raggy kind of leather once that looked pretty fuzzy afterwards, but that has been about it. The label tape defintely will mess up your day. It grabs and doesn't want to let go. Carton tape has been my choice for quite while. It may make the backs just a bit fuzzy with loose fibered leather, but I haven't had the tackiness problem some talk about, and even the fuzz lays down. I mostly line things anyway. I have used 3M, Office Depot, and Staples tape with equal success. I can normally peel them all off in one piece, starting at a corner. Office Max tape was a bit more fragile. It shredded some and I never tried it again. I had more of a mess anytime I have glued the backs, like with rubber cement to posterboard or Xray film. I do so many things with basket and geometric stamping that I have to do something to limit stretch. I used to do my basket stamped belts without taping them. I would have to allow 1/8" in width for stretching. A size 34 belt would gain 1/2 -1" in length depending on the size basket I used and the leather weight. I have taken classes on floral carving where we never taped the backs and didn't get much if any stretch. I think what tools you are using makes a big difference. I used to not tape my skirting, thinking that the heavier leather would resist stretch. It took a fully stamped saddle seat to convince me otherwise. That thing grew all the way around, and took some finessing to get it to lay back in.

I am not a computer guy, and had dial-up plus at home before. Good connection speeds were 24. At times I got 14.4. I went to Verizon's cellular deal about 6 months ago maybe. I got the choice of a USB setup or the card. I went with the USB so I could plug it into my PC at home (since trashed) as well as the laptop I carry. At work I get smoking speeds, and am very happy. I can download emails quickly, and was able to watch live feed video from the snaffle bit futurity and you tube. At home I am in a different service zone. I get much faster service than before, but the youtube takes time to load, and the horsehow videos are chopped. The advantage of the USB service was proven to me last fall. I pulled off between Midwest and Kaycee WY (remote) and had 4 bars and fast speeds from the side of the road. I would have them prove what it can do at your place, if it works, great. I live within almost eyesight of town now. The only highspeed involves a dish or antennae, and hardware and setup costs. We don't want to sink that into a place we are renting. The ironic thing is our landlord is one of the guys who developed DSL and bringing it to the masses, and we can't get it on his property. Go figure.

Johanna, It is doing it to me intermittantly, I am not messing with Beaverslayer's hat and I left the tinfoil union suit at home. Will duct tape work?? Denise, As some may not know, Denise is a retired veterinarian. I am sure she has done the deceased feline incantation (we all have), but may not have as ready an acess to the makings now.

I am a groover. I groove front and back. One of the skills to be learned in handsewing is to make the front nice and even. Everything in a line, even spacing, and same angle awl holes. Then when you can make the back the same, the next level has been achieved. With good handsewing you shouldn't be able to tell the front from the back. It takes a lot of practice, riding that stitching horse and building muscle memory. Go slow, and really concentrate on even spacing and awl angles on the front. Run a wheel in the backside groove and make each hole come out in the dimple back there too. After a while you won't need to do that anymore. It ain't a race. Go slow, and gradually a rythm will come. Speed follows that. The Stohlman book on handsewing is the best instruction here. The best advice for keeping the awl coming out in the groove in back is to have the piece held solidly. I think a stitching horse is necessary if you are going to do much, and especially fine work. Keeping the groove close the jaws will minimize deflection. Using a sharp blade is paramount. There is only one blade I know of that comes ready to use, and that is from Bob Douglas. The others need reshaping, honing and polishing for me. I don't know who all is making good horses now. I have one that I think Ken Allen in NM made, but haven't heard of him for a while. An old Irish harnessmaker spent an afternoon with me several years ago. He made himself "ta home" and took a rasp to my horse's jaws to thin and taper them and make them more user friendly. He took my bad awls and made darts from them. He then whipped off 12 to the inch stitching by eye. I saw some good stitching horses at Sheridan Leather Outfitters a couple months ago that someone locally was making. Not sure who else is doing them right now.

I think it would feed it OK. You might need to back off tensions a bit. I have sewn some deertan cow on my 2000 and it did fine with it. Art??

My thoughts based on your constraints. You need the 3000. I have Ferdco's 1245. It is an awesome machine, it will do what you are looking to do up to a point. A few things that a flat bed won't do as easily. It will not do gussets in saddle bags as easily as a cylinder arm. It will not do thread over 207 I am thinking. That may be enough, might not. The 3000 will do heavier thread and the cylinder arm is more versatile. You can buy more "tack friendly" attachments for the 3000, like stirrup plates, feet, etc. You can make or probably buy a flat bed attachment to make the 3000 a flat bed when you need it. The ends of my breast collars would be pushing the limits of the 1245, it is midrange for the 3000. Either way you will get a servo motor, so that is not an issue. Neither is service and support with your choices. Tippmann's Boss used to be the entry level machine. It held its value pretty well, and when it was time to trade up, it brought back most of the original price. Almost like using it for free. I think the 3000 has taken that spot over now. If you decide later you need more reach and decide to get an even heavier stitcher like the 4000 or Ferdco's 2000, you won't take a bath on the 3000. It would also make a dandy heavier machine, and get a flatbed to do the lighter stuff. If your business goes that way, it is nice to have two machines setup for different weights.

FarmerDave asked about this in another thread. There are several methods to prevent stretch in leather that is tooled. Some leather stretches more than others, and that can be due to hide quality and tannage, where in the hide the piece is cut from, how thick the side is etc. Other factors are degree of moisture in the leather, the tooling pattern, and type of stamping or tooling done. Some geometrics will really push, and some florals, not much. Personally I use carton sealing tape in overlapping layers. It is important (I think) to use only carton tape if you use clear tape. Label tape has a much stronger adhesive and will be harder to pull off. I have used Scotch and Office Depot brands, and have seen little difference. I have also used masking tape. It works too. Other people use contact paper similarly. Many of my pieces are large, like a briefcase or ropebag. The tape is handier to put on and take off for me. I put the tape on before I wet it, and have not had a problem with it coming loose. I usually remove it after I have oiled the pieces. In the past I have rubber cemented leather to kraft paper, posterboard, and Xray film. They all do OK, too. The problem I have is that some of these are pretty unhandy for me to maneuver around my stamping rock. Some people also glue down to plexiglass, but I have the same problems with bigger pieces. It all comes down to the size of what you are doing and how big your work surface is.

FarmerDave, There are several methods to preventing stretch. I am going to start a new thread on that in the "stamping" section.

On this pattern, I generally do it with either a horizontal basket pattern or my larger block and geomtric stamps. I find it follows the "flow" of the hotizontal lines better. The first picture shows the stamp centered, and a cut line border around the makers stamp to resemble a board sign. The first few rows of baskets are also in place. On this pattern I try not to fade the stamping into the sign area too much. I want to make a distinct definition of the sign to make it appear to be standing above. The second picture shows the stamping pattern completed. It also shows a few mis-hits on the baskets. I didn't tape the back, the leather stretched, and I kept having to push it back to square. I took two minutes in the penalty box for that. The third picture shows everything beveled. I stood the beveler up a little more around the sign. I purposely made the lines around the sign a bit wavy to appear "rustic". In the last picture I have stamped the border and detailed the wood. I used a small matting tool to make knotholes, and chips out the boards. I used a stylus to add the appearance of woodgrain, and the tip to put in the nailheads. I ran a stylus through the seams of the boardss to lightly round them over and then lightly ran a skwivel knife over that trough to make the illusion of a distinct seam. There are some chatter marks showing up on the corners of the sign from the beveler. I would go over those and stamp them out. Another 2 minutes in the box.

I think it was Pete who asked how to do this pre-crash. I posted this little demo the night before cyber cardiac arrest. Here goes again. I used some scrap I had, didn't case it very well, and here it is. I do this a couple different ways, and will demo this one first. In the first pic I have centered the makers stamp, and started the pattern. I usually stamp a row at a time, and start at the top. For no particular reason, I started this one at the bottom. Once I have stamped up to and kind of around the makers stamp, I shot some faint lines to guide the stamping on the other side of the makers stamp. I stamped partial tipped impressions around the cut border and the makers stamp to fade them in. In the second picture I have filled in the pattern. In the third picture I have gone around the cut border and makers stamp with beveler. You can see that it took out the crisp outer line of my makers stamp. In the final pic, I have gone around the makers stamp and cut border with a border stamp. To crisp up the makers stamp and re-establish the outer line, I carefully reregistered the makers stamp into the original impression and tapped it.

Hilly, I have used the ProCarve for several years, and like it. It contains an antifungal, and I was having mold problems before I started using it. I have not tried the new Ecoflow alternative, and my TLF guy doesn't know for sure if it is antifungal. Does anybody know?? He was out when I last ordered, so I have yet to try it. I really started using the Procarve after a couple guys from down south told me that gear they made from leather that had been cased in Procarve failed to grow mold even on the finished product. Whatever the antifiungal is (reported to be a eucalyptus derivative) remains in the leather enough to slow mold growth? I am a little old-fashioned I guess. Most all of my stuff has been cased. I tape the backs, wet it up good, wet it again in about 10 minutes, and bag it for 8-24 hours. That leather (doesn't matter whose it is) will cut better, stamp cleaner, and give me better color. Ocassionally I have to do the Tandy class quick case, but the results are never the same as if I had let it sit and really soften, even out, and the fibers swell. It takes some palnning ahead, but the results are worth it to me. A few reasons I can think of as to why your leather seemed to dry quicker with casing solution than without. The amount of moisture may be the same, but the CS water has lower surface tension and penetrates faster. That water doesn't evaporate any faster, but will penetrate to the deeper layers faster, leaving the surface realtively more dry. The other may have to do with the leather. Some tannages with more oils hold the moisture in the upper layers, while the CS water penetrates that faster.

I sent a copy of the ebay listing to a tool guy. It is probably a Eureka pattern channeler. It is designed to edge and cut an angled channel with one one pass.

I sent a copy of the ebay listing to a tool guy. It is probably a Eureka pattern channeler. It is designed to edge and cut an angled channel with one one pass.

Luke, It is on ebay, and the picture of the working end is pretty out of focus and probably not the best angle to show the working end. I suspect it may be a shoe makers tool of some kind, probably is a variation of a channeler. The ebay pic shows a tip on the shank almost like a common edger. I am not finding anything quite like it in my Salaman book, Dictionary of Leather Working Tools. There are some sort of similar looking channelers. It is an HF Osborne, so that narrows down a time frame on it. It is not the run of the mill tool for sure.

Carl, I posted a geometric pattern my wife did with a McMillen meander stamp. Someone else did post a picture of some work with one of Wayne's block stamps. I have about 4 or 5 of Wayne's block stamps, a braid stamp, and a propeller (3 point snowflake) from him. You used the right adjective - "intricate". Big Wayne does some great stamps and is good to deal with. I'll be calling him after the first of the year (new tax year) for some more stamps. Got my eye on a few.

Tim, The angles on the top of the wooden ones I have made are 90 degrees (45 per side). At that time 90 degree bars were the standard. I padded the top of the forst one with carpet only. Issues - the bars racked on it. Second edition I added a piace of old 1/2" saddle pad at the front and back. Then covered it with carpet. It made a pcket for the rock of the bars to sit down into. Much more stable. Do it like my second.

Ed, I see, said the guy who didn't read closely. I missed the part about you changing the feed dog too. I was visualizing my Adler's toothed feeddog beating on the bottom of a slotted throat plate. You might need to grind a bit off, or if it has the elongated screw hole like a toothed feed dog, just lower it more. It is strange that it seems to require less bobbin tension. You would think the pull of the takeup arms and tensioners on top and the bobbin tension on the bottom shouldn't change. Listen to what the machine is telling you it wants, it doesn't always read the "book". I don't see a big difference between the oval or diamond hole in the smooth feeddog on the 441s. Biggest problem I had with the Adler was the smaller round hole in the feeddog. The 205-64 doesn't have a lower needle guide and the needles will deflect on some hard leather or following old needle holes in curled leather. When I used a bigger needle and it deflected even slightly, it missed the hole, made a spectacular sound as the needle snapped, and sent you looking for the end. I had been forwarned of that happening, and heard the stories of not finding the needle end. It rolls around in the race, makiing grooves in something that ain't supposed to be. It can also bend or break feed dogs, so that needed to be checked too. Regarding the oil hole, mine get changed enough that oil spot gets hit.

Ed, I have never had to change the presser foot height on mine when I change plates. Your setup with the Neel machine is pretty different than mine, so you might need to. My edge guide is also way different than yours. The Ferdco guides are not a low profile guide, but I usually am sewing with a right foot with the stirrup plate, and that does limit the effectiveness of the edge guide. I am usually sewing closer than the the foot width. Your feed dog system on the Neel and mine on the Ferdco are way different. Mine is smooth and has a diamond-shaped hole to bring the needle into line as it passes the hook. It does not skim the throat plate. My slots line up on all the plates the way they came, so I never had to mess with them either. The screws for my plates are pretty thin headed. If you can't find them at a decent hardware store, the sewing machine folks can ship them to you. Surprising how many screws and bolts can be bought at the local hardware store. Regarding your question in another thread about your feed dog coming up through the slot in the throat plate, that is very reminiscent of my Adler 205-64. I think you will have to change settings to go with a new setup. FWIW, I liked my Adler a lot. I am happier with two 2000s sitting here than one 2000 and the Adler. I would set it up with the smooth plates and leave it. The one thing we have in common is that my raised plates don't have that center oil hole either - never noticed until you brought it up. Your current setup is so different than mine, and I think talking to Ryan and seeing what he says about heights and grinding would be prudent. As an aside, my 2000 is pretty similar to the way Artisan sets them up. You can download the manuals off Artisan's website. Happy Holidays,

Kevin, Thanks, I think the beveling really sets this off. I used to see this stamp used with no beveling and it looked like the rope was pressed into the mud. I never liked it much. Ropes are dimensional. I have done this so much now I go by eye. I scribe an outside border line lightly first. I set the first impression and line the next one up on it and eyeball the border lines. I have taught a few people to do this type stamping. The big key is to maybe stamp 3-4 impressions, back off and look to make sure the angles and borders are lining up. Kind of like setting posts. Back off and look at the whole line once in a while. You really can't get too far off in 3-4 impressions, and can slide the next couple back to whatever you need to get back in line. If you go a long ways, then it is pretty obvious. The big key is not to try fix a mistake in the next impression. Fix it a little on the next, a little more on the one after that until you are back to right. You can do two parallel scribe lines to keep the stamp lined up, but much like my basket stamping, I line up the angle and right side of the stamp. The left side just has to follow. I have also seen templates and devices (LCSJ article?) to line this stamp up. I would find them cumbersome and more time than they are worth. Like most basket and geometrics, train your eye to see the little places you are getting off before they become big things. This is one of those stamps that a little practice pays off. I can run one of these pretty fast and accurate. Even though there is a stamp impression of the rope and one bevel hit on each end, I can run it. This is among my "included-no upcharge" borders, like the cam/half round border stamps. I have had a few emails about this stamping today also. Mostly this question. I also stamp brands and initials with this stamp. I will work up a little tutorial on making curved corners, center ovals, and brands/initials. It is gonna be a few days, because of the holidays. Want to try something else cool? Try matting around a barbwire stamps. That makes what I consider a pretty overused and stale pattern (although popular) more palatable. It really looks like barbwire then.

Bill asked me to post this little deal on stamping a rope border. I whacked this out in a couple minutes one morning. I do a lot of western things, and this rope is my most requested border. This is all done with Tandy stamps. I used the #957 rope stamp and a modified #803 beveler. I took a small circular stone on the Dremel and ground out a curve on the toe of the stamp to fit the curve of the rope border. Takes about a minute. I have attached an impression of each stamp, the linear pattern and then how I handle corners. It is pretty self explanatory. Any questions. fire away!

Pete, I start my basket stamping either from the top or bottom border, never from the center. I stamp a row at time and do not follow the "line". I am going to do a tutorial on basket and geometric patterns. It is going to be little less involved that I previously wanted to do, but I am having to pull in my wings on things like comparing quality of stamps, and some patterns they published once but no longer do. I will get going on it soon. Bill, I do still have that piece, I have been chasing it around my desk for a while, and it is right here. I'll add a thread under "stamping".

Pete, I stamp my makers stamp first. I do my basket stamping as normal after that. When I get close to my maker's stamp I do partial tipped impressions. Just tip the stamp to not hit the makers stamp. Much like stamping up next to a border. To fill in around it sometimes I will lightly scribe lines to keep my stamping pattern lined up in the two dimensions. Once you make friends with your stamp you can tip them and stamp right up to a border, a silhouette, lettering, or makers stamp and not hit it. I little bit of matting or beveling to fade and you are set. Most of the time I will lightly bevel or background around my makers stamp, and then use a border stamp around it. I use the same borderstamp I use on the inside border of the stamped area. I have seen guys cut stamps or have "half-stamps' made. It seems like overkill for me, because I never use the same partial impression, especially on inside borders with an angled BS pattern.

Ed, I can't believe I left that one off. I bought a quart a few years ago, and used it up pretty quickly. I was in my experiemental mode then and tried other stuff, and finally replaced it the last time I saw him. A thinnish liquid that applies easily and does a good job, especially with a little friction like on the wooden burnisher. Not sure what all is in it. If you let it dry in the tub, it leaves a really hard wax. I like it for heavy edges on skirting that I am not going to dye. Good stuff. Like Kevin, I use glue on some edges too. The white glue thinned just like he said. I rub it hard and build up some heat. It makes a great edge, but takes some work. I like it for things like saddlehorn and leather covered stirrup edges. I have had problems with it cracking on things that flex much like planners and belts.

David, Is that the same edge polyurethane that Bill Gomer used in his video? Where can it be bought in a decent quantity? I can justify gallons, but anything larger is overkill for me. Thanks.