bruce johnson

Happy Birthday, Take the rest of the day off, and tell the boss I said it was OK. Bruce J

Aye, Lee, this brings up a question. I am not picking on you, but you brought up something that can take this thread in a bit of rabbit hunt. One of the elder gents I have been fortunate to spend a morning with told me he would come back from the grave and kick my butt if I ever ran strings through the sheepskin on a repair. Reasons being, if this was a good way to do it, why not do it on new construction (although some do)? Reasons given not to do it on a new saddle is the strings lay flatter underneath the wool, they pound in smoother and less chance of a lump. What makes a repair saddle with mashed down wool any better to run the strings through the sheepskin? It should be worse if anything. I offered the excuse you can always cut the wool away under the string and it will lay flatter. If sheep leather was so tough they would use if for boot soles and not diplomas was the reply. You might wear a hole through the sheepskin eventually and THEN you might have some more relief from the lump. That would be right before you catch the edge of the hole in the sheepskin on the saddlerack and tear it into smithereens. At that point I knew my argument of "It is faster and easier to just poke a hole with my collar awl and pull the string up through" would have been futile. He had told me previously that unless "faster and easier" were also accompanied by "stronger and better with more quality" in the same sentence, they weren't a valid excuse for anything he knew of. (This guy was like EF Hutton...) Now I fish piece of wire through the hole, catch it and pull it up through the other hole, pull a piece of hand thread back through and use that to tie onto the string end with a series of half hitches. I pull the thread and the string follows. My sharp collar awl is a relic.

Just to reiterate my first post. Everyone has different expectations and price points for everything. Dusty's tapes will show you how he makes one. Granted it is not how a lot of other makers do it. His price and tapes/books are geared to entry level people who arguably should or should not be making saddles to begin without some supervision. It gives the novice a brief overview of a simplified way of making a saddle. They were marketed through Tandy, catering to the casual crafter who wanted to read something, view a tape, and see if they thought making a saddle was for them to try. I am not sure of the timeline, but am thinking they may have come out before the Stohlman series of saddlemaking books. Bill Gomer's videos are step past Dusty, and priced as such. The Cheaney sets are past Bill's and cost more. (funny how this progression is going here). Jeremiah's are the most complete, longest, detailed, and, until now - priced past all of them. I received my set of Harwood DVDs today. I have only seen Dale's first DVD so far. I am in fitting and finesse overload. Much like Jeremiah's, I think a person needs to watch 5 minutes, think about it 5 minutes, and then go on. For the guys who have spent time with Dale, I am envious. You need to have a basic grasp of saddlemaking and know your weak areas before viewing DVDs, taking a class, or even calling or visiting another maker to really get full benefit in my opinion. My take on what I have seen so far. Dale assumes you know how to make a saddle, how to use your tools, and how to prepare your leather. It is not geared to teach the novice to build a saddle from scratch. This set, like Jeremiah's, will help the average guy who has already made some saddles elevate his work to the next level. They will show you different ways than you may have been taught. To compare either of these sets to Dusty's is like comparing apples and oranges, Coke and Pepsi. To quote Baxter, they are about as similar as a bowling ball and a broken gate. They just are geared to way different viewers with different expectations and, I dare say, abilities. As far as what is on them, Mike Craw listed the contents on the Dale Harwood DVD thread. Are they worth it? First disc paid for the set to me just showing me how to put my cantle back and fillers on better. I am likewise guilty of normally punching too large a hole to for the back corners of the fork cover that goes down into the gullet. Anything else I learn is free. Dale is not riding on reputation here, the info is worth the dough if you are serious.

Skip, The guild I belong to meets at a Tandy. Since it is a 70 mile drive, also a good excuse for me to pick up the HL stuff and the stuff they won't ship at all now. I would wager that nearly everyone comes in with a shopping list and checks out at the cash register when the meeting ends. We meet at 5:30 on a Saturday, so the store is closed, no interruption of business. The manger and assistant are guild members (we might comp their dues, not sure). Might bring this up to the Tandy manager. Another suggestion might be to contact a senior citizen's center or retirement center. They usually have an activities room that is mostly open. They also usually have an activities director begging for someone to have a program going. Might be a deal to have the guild meeting and then a crafts program for residents. ANNNND, this is a great way to get rid of scrap. We just had the Scrap Dilemma thread going over on the saddle side. I am going to borrow a quote (I am thinking of having this fonted out nicely and framed). From my friend, Go2Tex who says, "Well, as they say, one man's scrap is another man's future key fob".

Well we haven't had anything controversial for at least a few days. I am posing a question/poll about something that has been discussed about as much as anything. Seems to be #3 in the "saddlemakers-meeting-for the-first-time" list of questions. It ranks right behind #1) Who's trees do you use? and #2) Who's skirting do you use? Coming in at #3) Do you drill trees for strings or not? I was taught to be a non-driller. I have drilled some by request, and didn't feel like I was cheating or anything though. On the repairs, it has been interesting. The only really rotted out holes on a tree were on an ancient Visalia that the rest of the saddle was rotted too. I saw a variation a while back I had not seen before. I saw the drill holes on top. When I cut the tugs, the skirts fell free. This saddle had the tree drilled, but the strings only went around the tree, not through the skirts. The rawhide was removed between the drill holes to let the latigo strings lay in a little more. First I had ever seen or heard of that. This maker builds a saddle with a good reputation for holding together and being a user. This saddle was probably ten years old, and the best care it probably gets is to lay under the gooseneck on the flatbed in the rain. From looking at the strainer liner, looks like it mostly roosts on a toprail at night otherwise. I have attached pics for clarification on the holes and rawhide removal. I am wondering what everyone does, if you want to say why, great. If you want to describe pitfalls or disadvantages of the way you don't do it - even greater. If you just want to say "driller" or "non-driller", that's cool too. I am curious what our treemakers think about us poking rather large holes in their work as well. Bruce Johnson

Attached is the photo of the slickers from Weaver and the one I had made by Norm Lynds. The advantage of the Weaver one is the tip is good for doing inside slots or very small inside curves. The one from Norm is sturdier and has a better range of grooves. The Weaver originally came with just the 3 grooves, I added the upper wider groove with a rat-tail file while it was spinning. Bruce Johnson

Ed, My experiences. I have used the wooden and plastic disks from Tandy in a drill - works OK, but only one size groove. I have used both the plastic and wooden spindles from Weavers on my drill press. The plastic melts, and the wooden ones do alright until the spindle breaks off where you chuck it. I have broken three. The problem is the spindle is just a turned down part of the unit, turned down until it is "spindly" - bad joke. It is wooden and so the jaws of the chuck eventually bite out chips, and it can get out of true as well. They each lasted me about 6-8 months. That is pretty good for the amount of use, but they could be better. Weavers seem to be less than enthusiastic about customer feedback and suggestions for product improvement on this item. Last year I had one made up by Norm Lynds. I think Norm is a member of this group. It has a metal spindle going into the wood, is true as a rule, and he put several sizes of grooves in it at my suggestion. I was thinking two shorter ones, but Norm got all the grooves on one longer one. I think mine have 9 or 10 grooves. I do everything from 2 oz wallet pockets to double 15 oz saddle skirts on it. I like it enough that I now have two (one for plain edges, one for dyed edges). I can't see them wearing out. When I last talked to Norm, he was in the middle of packing up his shop and moving to another house. He figured he might be back up by mid to late summer. He makes some other handy tools - a nice modeler, sets of embossers, seat smasher/bouncer, etc. I will post pics tomorrow of my last unbroken Weaver one and the ones from Norm. Bruce Johnson

Kind of curious what everyone is using for stirrup leather buckles. I have mostly used the Blevins without the hinge, and am wondering if there are any advantages to the hinged Blevins? I have also used quite a few of the Veach Fast Buckles. The barrel racers and some cutters tend to like them. The Fast Buckles are shorter, so there is more flexibility in the leathers for shorter legged riders, and they do seem to ride over a latigo without catching more than the Blevins. Disadvantage is that they need a keeper for the tail of the leather to keep the bottom pin in line. I have not used the Superior buckle system, and would like some feedback on them. Also any experiences with the Blevins clones in stainless would be appreciated. I know a few companies are making them. Thanks, Bruce Johnson

Lee, They have a website - www.ubraidit.com. They sell supllies and instructionals. Bruce Johnson

Ed, The wooden strap cutters sold by Tandy used to be made by someone else. The old ones I have seem to work fine. They track true, the numbers are reasonably accurate (made in a country that still uses inches and not metric), and they stay where set with just the thumb screw and hand pressure. A while back I bought a couple new ones on a manger's discount deal, thinking I could just leave them set to a common width. On both of these there were problems. They don't track true, one tends to bind and the other rides out. I use a razor blade in mine, so it is not a bevel deal on the blade. It is the blade slots are not cut exactly perpendicular to the bar. It takes a pliers tightening the thumb screw or the setting loosens as you pull. The advantages of these are the top cross bar holds the strap down and you are a little more protected from blade cuts as well. They will only cut up to about 16 oz, if that is an issue. It is with my doubled reins. The draw gauges bring other advantages. They will take thicker than 16 oz. You can cut slits with them coming up from the bottom that the crossbar on the wooden cutter prevents. If they are not exactly true, you can shim the blade or change the bevel on side to the other to true up the blade. Shimming is easier for me. Disadvantages of draw gauges are the exposed blade asking to eat your knuckle feeding a strap in. One of those cam-action fence-stretcher holders for the strap end looks like a good idea. Draw gauges tend to drag a bit if the blade is not absolutely sharp, and you tend to pull the handle towards you vs. the blade, and get off line. I focus on the blade and not the handle as I pull it. The longer the width, the more this "pivot arm effect" is a factor. When I use my 6" gauge full width, I really have to concentrate to keep it straight. I like the blades Bill Buchmann makes for the draw gauges. I bought one from Bob Douglas at Wickenburg, and have since bought another for my other draw gauge. The older draw gauges seem to be better than the imports sold by the craft suppliers. I like a fatter handle, and have an old Osborne with the wood inserts I mostly use. The 6" one I have is one of the metal old cavalry issue models. It is good for cutting blocks of latigo to glue up and then stitch for reins. They made a million of them, but I still feel like I am holding a piece of history in my hand. Both of these cutters work best for me on vegtan leather, latigo, or diamond tan. Softer leather tends to bunch, and I get uneven edges. For the soft leather like chap or pig, I like to use a rotary cutter against my pattern material. I use printer's press blankets for patterns. It is firm enough to cut against, and the rubber side down really keeps it in place. I make up gusset patterns from it. Bruce Johnson

Ed, Most good sized towns will have a plastics shop. There are some mail order places too. If they don't stock it, they can usually order cutting board overnight. They will cut to size, and may have remnants sitting around. I got two five gallon buckets of scraps that I make my cell phone molds, and stuff like that out of for free. I like HDPE to cut on, and LDPE to pound/punch against. The HDPE can crack if you hit it enough. Bruce Johnson

Ron, I have not personally used the Al Stohlman knife. If it is like most of the reviews of the other Stohlman cutting tools, probably not the best. I started off with an Osborne, it was pretty good, but required more frequent sharpening not just stropping. I now have an older Osborne, but my favorites are two Clyde round knives. Osbornes are notorious for being the makings of a tool, but you have to put the final edge on yourself. The lore is that in the old days, everybody liked a slightly different bevel to the edge. They could put the final edge on themselves when they got them. The good old new days is that most people are picking up one for the first time and have no idea what the edge should be like. The good old knives Darcy mentioned are your best bet to start off I think - price, ease of sharpening, and learning curve wise. There are some good modern makers of knives - Bill Buchmann, J Cook, Wayne Jueschke, Danny Marlin, I am missing more I know. You are going to pay more from these guys, but once you know what you want, they might be the ticket down the road. Once you get one, I would send it to someone who professionally sharpens leather tools, not the local guy with the scissors, saw blade, and knife shop. They are a little different than doing meat cutting knives. Herb French in Sheridan WY does a good job, and also has a little book out on sharpening leather tools. You can call him for it, Sheridan Leather Outfitters sells it too. The book costs $10 or so, and worth the dough. Once you have it sharpened by someone who knows how a round knife should cut, you will have a feel for it when you get it back. Once you know, and can try to keep it that way. Keeping it sharp is key. Stropping often prevents a lot of going back to the stones or whatever. Stropping surface, stropping rouges, stones, wet/dry paper, crocus cloth, paper wheels, felt wheels, Cratex wheels, cutting surfaces - maintaining blades takes on a life of it's own. Bruce Johnson

Art, Thanks for the feedback. Actually my wife and I both like the antique stores. I collect books, and have found some great deals on old bits and a couple saddles. She likes old pottery and jewelry. You are right about the 31s sometimes being worn out. On many I have been able to shake the needle bar with nothing else moving. I am thinking that is not necessarily a good thing. Now that I know what the 66 can handle, I am thinking it might be OK for linings and inlays, although I think a good treadle stand might make it more leather friendly. Has a bit of zip the way it is. I will play with this one, and then keep an eye out for a good treadle model. I have all the feet with my wife's 66 - hemming, piping, some that look like you could scale and fillet fish with them in one pass. I don't care what the cabinet looks like, and like you say, that is the price separater for the antique stores. I have Ferdco's version of the 1245 and really like it for lighter strap goods and chaps. It is just an inconvenience to change the tensions and settings for running the light thread, normally I run 207 or 138 in it. I still haven't got the tension changes down pat like I do with my 2000. With that I know a quarter turn up or down for each thread size, and I really don't even need to check when changing threads. Thanks. Bruce Johnson

Blake, In short, I consider what they do or don't like about what they are riding now. I have sat in with Pete Gorrell on this topic a couple of times. Pete has the anatomy drawings of the female pelvis and hip structure, as well as the more muscle and leg mass on the inside of the femur (thighbone) vs men. The general recommendation is a narrower seat, scooped out for the thighs, with a higher "ridge" for women. That said I have had more guys order that type seat, and two woman want a wider lower front. I think a lot of this also depends on the purpose of the saddle though. To stand up and rope, some people prefer a wider seat in the front to "get a squeeze" on, but it is too wide to ride 10 minutes down the road. Personally I like a narrower seat with a slight buildup. When I was cutting, I liked a little more rise to the front than the average "board". Roping, wider to stand up and not have to be knock-kneed to be stable. I am attaching some pictures of a few variations of seats I do. The dark roughout is a cowboying saddle and moderately narrow through the waist and a little more rise to it. The Weatherly has a longer low spot, is quite narrow throught the waist and has a very narrow moderate to higher rise. This guy cowboys a lot, and that was the complaint with his previous saddles being too wide and/or low in the front. The saddle with the branded fenders could go roping, cutting, or a pretty good dayride. Fairly narrow and moderate rise - my personal favorite. The light roughout is a cutter/colt saddle. Narrow waist and moderate rise, but would be considered too narrow and high by most cutters. All of these saddles are used by men, and they like the seats. The block stamped saddle with the florals has a fairly low seat, not real narrow, and not a lot of"pinch" to the front. Fits my wife just right. I am already seeing where this thread is going. Dennis Lane's sytem for the top of the saddle too. LOL. Bruce Johnson

Art, I am sitting here looking at my wife's Singer 66-16 electric model bought new by her mother. The serial number matches up with 1951, she bought it in '52. The original manual lists that it will take a needle up to #21 to sewing with thread size "40 to 60 Linen or very Coarse Cotton". I am not sure how these thread sizes compare to what I am using now. First off, I have started paying attention, and see a ton of these machines in the antique stores in treadle and electric versions. Prices all over the scale. Apparently they were made from the 20s to the 50s. Think they might do the job for wallet linings, or inlays with chrome tans? Second question, some of the bootmaker guys seem to like the 31-15 with the roller foot for inlays and sewing neatly close to an edge. How close is the 31 series to the 66? Can the 66 be fit with a roller foot? Not sure I want to just jump in solo and face the wrath if something should happen to the 66, but if I say "Art said it was OK", I have an out. Thanks, Bruce Johnson

Alex, I have to agree with Greg. Even the "upscale stuff" sold by most of the craft outlets is very mediocre and high priced for what it is. If you compare the Montana Silver to anything else, it is shallow and PLAIN. Hansen's silver is available at several outlets, one being Weaver, although not cataloged as being from Hansens. Hidecrafters used to carry some of Hansens as well, not sure if they still do. By the time it has gone through a reseller and then a retailer, the price has gone way up. Two options. It is not all that hard to get a resale number in most states. That will open up many more supplier sources to you. If you don't want to do that, get with someone who does have a resale number and order through them. In the case of Hansen's, they are on the other side of town from me, and we are there on average at least once a week. I would be glad to pick up whatever you need and deal with you on it, I have done it for others. They have plate which is tons better than Montana, overlay, and solid sterling - depending on purpose and economics. When you get past the commercial sellers like Hansens and B-C (which are also local) and the like, then you get into custom hand silvermakers, and they charge a rate commensurate with what we charge for custom handmade leatherwork. Bruce Johnson

Steve, Are you glassing just the grain side or both sides? I have heard the twist and wrap called Nevada twist most commonly. I have also heard it called the Oregon twist, The Northwest twist, and just plain old "twist and wrap". Good luck with the guiding and fishing this summer. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the fall. Bruce J

Barra, I also have always put the flesh side to the tree bars. This allows the natural abrasion of the the grit that gets in around the stirrup pin to wear the flesh side away rather than the grain side where there is more strength per unit. I would like to expand the answers in this section without taking away from your question. I am curious how many makers prestretch the leathers (and how) before construction. I have been shown to get them sloppy wet, nail one end to a board and lever the stretch out with spikes and tack the other end and let dry. I have been shown to case the leathers and roll them back upon themselves in both directions to take stretch out. Then there is the dampen and turn the bottoms only on either the tree or a stirrup stretcher. Bruce Johnson

Steve, Very nice work. As Roger said, I like that stitching also. Your tooling on the oakleaves and flowers is interesting. You have done your silverman proud. Bruce Johnson

Wayne, First place I would try is Jeremiah Watt. His website is www.ranch2arena.com. He has English point punches. Another source might be Weavers Master series tools. I use the Osbornes, but like you say, they do vary in degree of point and occasionally width. Sorted through to get what I wanted. Last option would be to have die maker make some up for you in exactly the shape you want, and have them put a handle on it. Texas Custom Dies would be a good place to start. Kirk and Heather do very nice dies there. Bruce

My daytime job is a veterinarian. I started out in an equine practice. I had grown up showing horses, and have done most things you can do with a western saddle at some point. I switched to small animal practice after I realized I was treating everyone else's horses, and my family and my horses were suffering. I started seriously doing leatherwork after a pelvic fracture laid me up one winter. Similar fracture to what happened to Don Butler a few years ago - broke my pelvis still in the saddle, and then had to try to get free of that wreck. I had hung out in a saddle shop quite a bit before, and learned a lot there. I was doing my own repairs and making up a few things. After I got hurt, I did a lot more to pass the time, and it kind of evolved. I was doing everything but building new saddles. I had done a lot of repairs, and was making all the little stuff - planners, clocks, checkbooks, etc. that customers buy. Basically a part-time thing that has evolved from there. Ten years ago, I rebuilt a saddle for a buddy. It worked, word got around, and I started doing more. I have done about 35 or so now. Everything up to this point has been on order. I am looking to get a little stock built up, and have a couple saddles done on spec to sell as well.

Denise and Rod, This system sounds like a pretty simple idea. It doesn't involve a large investment for the average guy to be able to communicate with a tree maker, which has been the drawback of most previous systems. It also appears to have a starting place for reference, which seems to be the biggest drawback of the bent wire models. I was also interested to read in Jeremiah's blog that David Morris was traveling with Dennis Lane. I got to meet David and spent some time with him last year at Sheridan. David is one sharp cat, you come away smarter just by osmosis spending time around him. Bruce Johnson

Ashley, Count one vote for the tunnel with removable plugs now, especially on strainer seats. I first learned however to cut them afterward, but learned on all leather ground seats. I was taught to use a string bleeder turned up so the backside rode on the bars to start the cut, and the connecting cut was made with a french edger. It really makes you say bad words to run a good french edger into a strainer. It also makes you say bad words to use a crappy french edger to even try to cut at all. No winners for me using a french edger with a strainer in the layers. Bruce Johnson

Savage, Unless these are HF Osborne (and not CS Osborne) end punches, I think the collectibility factor other than as users is not much. I am not sure that I have ever seen them sold as anything but singles. If you bought a set, the seller probably put together the set themselves. I would keep what you need and sell the rest. Bruce J

Art? ArtS? Is that you? Glad you made it, welcome my friend. Personally, I haven't seen the doughnuts yet either, but my favorites are plain ol' cinnamin sugared cake doughnuts when Clay makes another run (Clay, I ususally eat at least two). Coffee is good, but you occasionally have to make it yourself. Bruce Johnson