bruce johnson

Greg, I was thinking kind of along the same lines. I guess there is some kind of pliers looking thing with round jaws that some tool makers use too. I have heard that some of the Weaver or Beilers rein rounders are off enough that it takes a pretty good machinist to get it right. Might mark up the ferrules too. I haven't talked Hansens lately about one either. My wife usually picks stuff up, and I rarely see them except at shows or around town. When I missed the one, Tim told me to keep looking and when I find one, let him know. They wanted a machinist to duplicate it. If you could send me some pics, that would be great. I'll give Bob a call, too. Is Keith Pommer the guy who lives by Sioux Falls?

Greg, They look really good, and set off the silver well. Do you have a source or alternative for a ferrule crimper? Brownie and I were kicking around ferrules the other night. Neither one of us has seen one for a while. I let one get away from me a couple years ago, and haven't seen one around since.

Ken, Thanks for the link. That was him, and I just got off the phone with him. He has sold the rights, and no longer has any control of them. Intersting talk. I like those old guys. I am still looking for more if anybody has some.

Doughnuts for everyone!! (except Clay's dog). Actually my specialty is carrot cake, and I can clean and reorganize a leather shop pretty well. I can apply Leathersheen with the best also. Thanks for the fine comments on my patterns, and I will continue to push the envelope with the stamps. Now to just not be intimidated sewing on the 2000. Thanks to all. Rundi

Rod and Denise, Being only an occasional driller until recently (advice of Greg, thanks), I can share what I have seen on some of the repairs. A few (high front jockeys) have had only one hole drilled through the bar, the other string was over the bar edge. Same as you sometimes see on trees with a shallow place below the cantle ear, and only one throught the bar. I have seen others through the very edge on the front that have rotted out. barely caught any wood at all, and the rawhide let go. I haven't seen too many that had been drilled into decent wood where the wood has rotted out that the rest of the saddle wasn't pretty thrashed as well. I believe I heard (someone check me) on the Dale Harwood DVD that he sometimes drills throught the lacing and has not seen a problem from it. Likewise on repairs, I can't recall one that I had seen that was through the laces that was an issue. Usually if there is a gap, it was there from the start or laced with nylon and not very well at that.

Mike, A little more info today. I talked to a medium sized shop that uses (used) the Veach buckles a lot. Apparently the patent and rights were sold to a company. That company has reportedly decided to keep them as "their" thing for now. It is not Circle Y. Apparently this guy and a guy fairly high up in CY are friends, and that is how Circle Y got started with them. The trail is kind of cold at this stage. It would have to be someone big enough to justify keeping something like that for themselves. Equibrand (Dale Martin), maybe Cactus, someone like that I would have to guess. It will come out eventually. Meanwhile I am thinking to go to Superior buckles. I think a while back Greg said we need to harass Sonny Felkins enough to make 2 hole ones. I have just enough of the Veach to finish this deal, and then I am out of the 2-1/2".

Mike, Ben Veach was working in Brackney's Western Store in Greencastle, IN. When I got going on this deal, I used to order them directly from him at the store. I read somewhere (ShopTalk?) that they were looking for someone new to make them. Now the numbers I have for "Fast Buckle" and Brackney's are coming back as disconnected. When I google "fast buckle" it leads me to Circle Y saddles. They are listed as standard on some saddles. Calls to Circle Y are a dead end. Nobody there knows anything nor do they know within who might. These buckles are pretty handy for some people, but they do require a keeper. They are made from round rod, and ride over a latigo pretty smoothly. They also twist in a shorter radius than Blevins. I have some barrel racing clients who like them. I have also put them on grand entry and a couple utility saddles for timers and flaggers because they can be changed quickly. They use the same hole spacing/size as Blevins which is nice. My next option will be to have them try the Superior buckles if I can't find a source for more of these.

Clay, Wow, sounds like no fun, I just get things like dislocations, rotater cuff tears, and the latest was viral encephalitis (probably not West Nile). Since Rundi caused the problems with misuse of a tool, she is definitely on the hook for either a breakfast or beverage. BTW, I just finished stamping a shaving kit, and I am sitting here drinking my 3rd cup of coffee, eating a chocolate drizzled rice crispie treat, and bacon. If you want to take Rundi up on that drink before Sheridan, we will be in Denver starting next Friday for a week or s0. Before we go, I am trying to sneak a soft purse in for her with that snowflake pattern on the yoke. I have some water buffalo calf that is nice, and some peanut brittle colored elephant that would work.

I am looking for the Ben Veach "fast buckles" (stirrup leather buckles) in SS and 2-1/2" width. I have enough 3" for now. I have some barrel racers that like them. The contact numbers I have for the store that he worked at and other listings are all disconnected. I remembered a while back that I read they were looking for someone to cast them, their previous guy retired or something. If someone has some spares to sell or has had recent contact I would appreciate it. Thanks.

This is the only meander stamp I own. I generally don't care for them. A buddy sent me a scan of some stamping tools Don Butler used to make. I saw a likeness of this stamp and remarked that it was the only meander that looked like I might want. Few days later this old McMillen showed up on ebay. It has a little different base (arched rather than flat) which I found interesting, and the little groove with the dots at each end was kind of cool. It arrives and my wife has it open and played with it before I got home. She showed me what she did. If you want to do something with a tool that it is not designed for, give it to my wife. I am attaching a scan of the stamp, a quick border done with it, and her two renditions of a geometric pattern with it. BTW, the geometric patterns cover some acreage in a hurry. No real names for them yet, but I am calling them the "Rundi shell" and the "Rundi snowflake".

Ed, What I meant was roller GUIDE, not roller foot for the Juki 441/2000. My 2000 came with two guides from Ferdco. One has a single roller that follows scallops and contours. The other guide has 2 rollers and is good for straight runs. These are not roller feet. Sorry for the confusion. I had been talking to a guy who had a post-bed machine, with a roller foot. I can only see limited use for what I do, but he uses one for inside purses and that sort of thing.

Rod and Denise, Mathematically it makes sense, although there is a little increase in reality. If you measure straight around, you will get a smaller measurement than if the leg is slightly angled like it would be if you are riding. Calipers?? This whole concept of thigh length makes sense. I just did a "survey" of what I have sitting, and it was interesting the variability comparing seat length vs. thigh length. Hadn't done it before. 16-1/2" Timberline Dee Pickett w/minimal leg cut - 11-1/2" TL - 4" cantle 16" Timberline Dee Pickett w/ minimal leg cut - 11" TL - 4'' cantle 16" Hercules Cahill roper - 10-1/2" TL - 4-1/2" cantle 16" Nikkel Wade - 9-1/4" TL - 4-1/2" cantle 16" Timberline Wade - 10-1/4" TL - 4-1/2" cantle 16" Hercules DR roper - 9-1/2" TL - 3-1/2" cantle 17" Timberline bronc - 10-1/2" TL - 4-1/4 cantle 16-1/2" Nikkel High Country - 10-1/2" TL - 4" cantle I am going to start keeping track of the finished measurements on what I ride, and also the repairs coming in.

Greg, Ring the bell on this one. Nice work. I like the way the buckle is fastened for the rope strap. I am guilty of running them up from under the front jockey and have that little lump. I can make out the border stamp and the block, but what is the filler between the blocks on the seat jockeys and fenders? The alligator looks good. That steer can feel pretty good about donating its hide to make something that looks this good too. Thanks for posting this.

Ed, I don't wear a helmet, step on cracks, coffee and Copenhagen used to be breakfast, make gravy out of the grease, back up my computer rarely, and sew without a guide quite a bit. I scratch a groove and sew with that and the outside edge of the right toe foot as my visual guide. Because of the configuration of the stirrup plate. If you use the left toe foot with the narrow center foot (as I do when I use the guide), the left foot rides over the outside edge of the narrower left ridge on the plate and deforms the work down that way and wants to run your stitch off the edge. With heavy leather and wooden stirrup underneath it doesn't do this, but then you don't use a guide for that either. If you use the wide center foot and double toe foot, the center foot covers the plate and the walking feet are out there in space. I just got to using the right foot, narrow center foot and sew at a slower speed. To be real honest, I am not sure if the roller foot would be high enough to guide the leather on the raised plate, probably would but never tried it. I sewed a gusseted purse this morning and thought about you as I whistled around it. I do use the guide for long run things like reins, or flat things like notebooks and belts. The flat things and straps I mostly all switching over to using the 1245 and smaller thread though. I am not really happy with the guide on the 1245 for a lot of things, and do a pretty good job without a guide there too. It is one of those "fence" guides and sits forward of the needle, not right next to it like the roller guide on the 2000. An eyeball and a thumb work there.

Misty, First off, I would ask why you are replacing just one? Unless it is a nearly new good leather that was in a wreck or they messed it up by doing a home repair, replace leathers as a set. If it is from wear, the same factors that wore out the first one are working on the other one. By replacing pairs, the leather has the same wear and stretch characteristics. That said, in my area, currently I charge $105 for a set of full double pre-stretched 2-1/2" leathers. I charge $10 more for Nevada twist leathers. "Half-holes" and a latigo strip are $10 more too, but I should charge more than that. Take a pretty good look at the buckles too. Some saddles have Blevins knock-offs that have loose pins even when new. On older Blevins, there can be some corrosion on the pins. Replace them if needed, I charge $25, dye the slide to match, if done at the same time. I don't do half-leathers either - been there, seen those wrecks.

Greg, Thanks for that update. Yep, the man was a visionary. Pretty cool to get the story from his son too. I have seen pics of those old guys riding with a rope. I am thinking they do it in some of the charro rodeos out here. I did have an old bareback rigging with a solid aluminum (?) handle that came in a trade about 25 plus years ago, kind of an odd one. Came in after the rag handle era, but not sure when. As I recall it was a "Jimmy Houston" (?), so that kind of dates it. I'll ask some of the older guys how long the metal handles lasted, wasn't very long. Quite a few retired bareback riders locally that spanned a lot of years. I am headed to Denver in a couple weeks. My wife has a convention, and I am tagging along. Pretty free lance vacation for me. I am going to have a week to kill, and will probably spend at least a full day at the Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. Might go up to Cheyenne too. No serious plans, just time.

Ed, Short answer - ALWAYS!!! It is nearly impossible for me to sew a tight corner without it and not have feed problems (short stitches as it bunches going into the corner, then a l-o-n-g stitch as it makes the bend, pops over, and sighs in relief). The other things is that by keeping everything flat, the gusset tends to pull away from the body in the corners and I think bad words. It was actually a little easier to do this type corner on the Tippmann. I could stitch at a time, place it, stick the needle to hold everything, and run a stitch. Still not real easy. Dumb ol' me gets the advice after about 5 years of doing them to get a raised plate. It will make the radius smaller and sews those corners like nothing. That's a fact. I still had the Adler then too, and the 205-64 wouldn't sew well with a raised a plate I was told. That is the big reason I kept the Boss around was to sew corners on purses, shaving kits, and soft side brief cases. When I got the Pro 2000, I got a stirrup plate and a holster plate with it. The Boss went into the storage room, never came out, and two months later was sold. I normally use the stirrup plate. The stirrup plate is more rounded (smaller radius) and the ridge on the left side of the slot is narrower. This lets me get a deeper bite without tensioning the gusset as much. On stirrups the narrow ridge lets you sew closer to the wood, and the small radius lets you make the bends. Another area this plate shines is sewing zippered gussets in planners. If you sew flat, every once in a while you will sew across a fold in the corner. You say bad words, your shop cat runs, and things are not good. With the raised plate, the zipper gusset has some room to stand up, and a lot less wrinkles and folds, especially in sharper radiuses. Because of the narrow left ridge, I can only use the narrow center foot and right toe foot with the stirrup plate. For these - not a big deal. The holster plate is flat on top and wider ridges on both sides. I can use the wide center foot and double toe foot with it. There are some things like saddle bags, rope bag pockets, and some repairs where this set up is four aces. Still some relief, but a pretty stable platform.

Paul's post in the Wichita Falls report got me thinking. I was in the same boat as him - about 300 stamps, bunch of handtools, and I only was using about 20%. I went through the Tandy Leather Arts program they had several years ago. You had to do a lot of different learning modules like figure carving and all kinds of projects - the more you did, the better your benefits. Some of these I had little interest in later, and the tools sat. I also would buy yard sale sets of tools to get the few I wanted. Then I could send the duplicates to a woman who collected tools for prison programs (later dropped in CA, they make enough sharp weapons on their own). I was running out of options to keep tools organized, and just wasn't using them. I have since adopted the "green room" plan. It is a storage room in a separate out-building. I put things out there, and set a time limit to prove I don't need it. If I don't go get it, it sells. I started off doing that with the Tippmann Boss. It went so well with that and some 3-in-1 machines, that I do it for other things now. I have a handcrank splitter and some thumbprint pear shaders ''cycling out" in a couple weeks, things like that. Stampwise, I probably have about about 80 active now. The only ones I am buying now are geometrics, borders, flower centers, and baskets. Things to just "mix it up" a little. Once in a while I will find a neat old stamp with some history someplace, but they are all users. Because my wife does some work, and has different preferences for some things like edgers, I do have some duplicate hand tools, but everything else is pretty streamlined. Anybody have something they do that works?

Paul, Thanks for the report. Posts like this kind of help the rest of us plan our travels out. I am probably going to go to Wichita Falls at some point, but this makes it a little less of a priority maybe. You will like the sewing machine lights you bought. I have them on both machines, and they are nice. Long enough to be mounted out of the way, secure enough to stay where you aim them, and small enough to not be looking "around" them. My wife bought one for her station at work. Any ideas ideas on when the big splitter is going to be done? Are they still looking at around $2000? I can only find one disagreement with your post. I can never find just one stamp I like with Barry King or Wayne Jueschke. I usually end up with a few. I like this one, my wife likes that one...

Lute, I have Herb's book also. Lots of good info for some of the special needs that some leather tools have. I bought a spare blade for my handcrank splitter. It needed some help. I called Herb. He told me he could do it, but was backed up. He also said if I wanted him to do it, he laughingly added to send the book back too, because I wasn't reading it. He offered to fix it it I messed it up, but to try first. I found that taping wet/dry down on a marble piece I had that was about 6" wide and 2" thick worked well. Gave me enough blade on the abrasive to feel and keep it flat, but enough room on the ends to keep a decent hold on it. I went through the grits, and finished with a polishing on the wheel. I still have the blade and the book. LOL. One thing I have found that is pretty amazing to me. Unless the blade is chipped or the bevel has been radically changed, you really don't need to take off much to get a good edge again. A pretty poor looking blade can usually be done fairly quickly. I was guilty of starting off with too coarse a grit and then spending all my time working the grooves from that coarse grit out. Now I start with a medium or finer grit, and get more done and less blade wear in less time. I had to learn than just because a stone had two or three sides didn't mean I had to use them all.

Greg, Good deal! I have been wanting to try it, but have been a little gunshy. Probably one of those legends that gets started and keeps going. One of my motorcycle riding customers told me that it does wear out a patch and is pretty slick, but that may be more road vibration than we deal with on a saddle. There aren't enough guys around here riding one to see how it has worked out. The ropers and barrel racers are still wearing out the ostrich seats when that fad hit 4-5 years ago. Last year at the finals, everybody was selling them with stingray seats, from pretty plain colors to flames and camo. Any problems sewing the stingray with bigger beads on your machine? Also, what kind of padding are you using underneath it? Thanks,

Pat, Sorry but I can't resist this. Arnold is probably old enough and has been in the business long enough, that machine probably DID sew King Kong and Arnold sewed him. He probably also has the clicker big enough to cut the suit on one pass. Not sure if he told you, but at one time he owned a shoe factory that produced 5000 pairs of women's shoes a DAY for Sears. That was before that trade went overseas. Arnold knows machines and what they ought to do. It is fun to just walk around in there.

GS, I have done a fair amount of the inlays on spur straps, checkbbok covers, small stuff like that. Apparently stringray is fairly abrasive on jeans as an inlaid saddle seat. It is used as an abrasive in some parts of the the world. I use the small skins from Jerry VanAmburg, and he usually has some smoking deals at the shows and lots of colors. I usually stock up on stingray and frogs with him. Frog makes a cool inlay too, although not as durable as ray. The beads are fairly small, and I have had no problems sewing it on my machines. I back it up with plugs from whatever I have cut out for the inlay. I just run the plug edges around on the belt sander or dremel to make them slightly smaller and allow for the thickness of the inlay without distorting the shape. Cut the inlay slightly over sized, glue it to the plug and sandwich it with a lining. I cut the stingray with those scissors that used to be advertised to cut pennies. They sell them in the bargain bins at the hardware stores. I like my knives enough to not use them. The edges of some of the beads if cut through will be sharp, and I have got a few raycuts (like a paper cut) handling them. The dremel with a sanding drum will smooth them up if they are not inlaid I am told.

Regis, When they were more readily available I used the vegtan kangaroo for lining higher end things. A light application of oil/dye and finish and good to go. I use mostly the vegtan goats for that now. Pretty thin and a bit of a "grain pattern". I have no reason to tool the lining of a checkbook, so I haven't tried any more than some finger cuts. I oil it and apply a finish to the whole piece, then just cut what I need. Both of these leathers are pretty strong and thin. I think they look nice and smooth as lining. On the regular kind of things I use pig to line with. I like the pig that has been processed with the smooth or jacked finish. One of my former wholesale customers used to like natural lining pig left plain. She thought the grain and pattern looked more "real" than her other lines she was getting elsewhere. I tooled on some heavier vegtan pig, it behaved like a pig. As far as oiling and dyeing. I find they dye up lighter than my tooling leather, but will still take a nice color to not look bleachy and cheap.

Tex, As far as I know, they have not had a certification yet. Originally it was going to be prior to the 2006 Sheridan show. They didn't get the numbers, conflicts with Saddle Week (which was the finest group ever anyway, LOL), and conflicts with testers as I understand it. It was to be a written test, and a practical - covering a saddle horn, swells, and doing a Cheyenne roll. You were to bring your own drawdown, tools, and supplies. You were also to bring a completed saddle, and one partially done. You dang sure weren't going to fly and get everything there handy. I would have filled the Capri and slept in the seat. There were really no "standards" for the practical listed. As there a few ways to do everything, I have the concern of Darcy that if you don't necessarily do things as the proctor does, is that wrong? Also we don't all use the same terms to describe even the simple parts of a tree - some call it a waist and some a twist, some the rear pad and some the fan, etc. I do agree that some sort of certification would make things a little more legit, especially to an insurance underwriter. But I am also reminded of what the graduate of medical/veterinary school with the worst grades is called - "Doctor". Another ASMA event was to take place prior to Sheridan this year, but was likewise cancelled. I am not sure how the deal they have scheduled prior to the Wichita Falls show is going. Maybe I am being cynical, but it just seems like we don't have the incentive here to make the certification deal be anything more than a certificate on the wall. I can't see the guys who have made a couple hundred saddles go do the test with no incentive other than a certificate. Most customers don't know or care at this point. I am not sure the English folks in this country are concerned with it on their end, and apprenticeships and certification seem to be possible/available in Europe. There is no real infrastructure to get that done on the western side. I don't think two weeks at a school that promises to teach you to make a saddle counts as making you a saddlemaker anymore than a weekend horse clinic makes you a trainer. Like Darcy said, the term master saddler needs some fine tuning. There are a few self proclaimed master saddlers that don't even belong in the same room. The ASMA list looks pretty legit in that regard. On another side, the ASMA did have plans for more training opportunities. There was also talk of collective business benefits like insurance, credit card processing services, etc. Not sure if that is progressing or not. I think those sort of benefits could make this a more viable group. Currently I am a member, and get updates to the "Green Book" every so often. The Green Book is similar to the pricing manuals the auto repair shops use. Average time and material estimates for different repairs, and a final price based your own shop rate. It is mostly based on the principles that Bob Brenner has in his book on pricing for the saddlemaker and leatherworker. His book is a valuable resource for me BTW. The only calls I get off the website are from other saddlemakers asking me if it is worth joining. The intentions are good, but time will tell.