bruce johnson

Today seems like scrap day. I did a few little things, and then tried to make a little smaller purse than I usually do. I used to not like this flower very much. However it is growing on me. Probably because I did it over and over in a class, until I am confident I could cut it left handed and blindfolded. I am liking it a lot more now. This flower really lends itself to embossing and plugging, I did that on the last purse and it really looks sharp. I used some left over workchap scraps for the body, and split down some skirting for the handles and yokes. It measures 8x8 inches, and is pretty lightweight. I am thinking If I had a daughter, this would be a good date purse. Room enough for lipstick, a cell phone, and small handgun. Bruce Johnson

Regis, I bought one of the SpeedStampers last year. Advertised in LCSJ for under $200. They are a flexible shaft tool with an oscillating handpiece. The chuck for the handpiece is big enough all of my bevelers fit it with no turning down the shanks. I know other guys with the wood carving handpiece that turned down the shanks to fit those. I use mine a lot for beveling. It paid for itself in about the first 2 months. I thought it would background, but just oscillates too fast to leave anything but a fairly smooth pattern if you "run" it. That said, several guys that do silver engraving have one of the GRS engraving systems already. They require a smaller shank. I know Barry King makes some stamp tools with the smaller shanks for those guys. I don't know of anyone using one for anything other than beveling though. Bruce Johnson

Thank You Johanna and Ashley, I will still stand by my statement a few months ago, and expand it a bit. Chester Hape is one of the top two carvers all time in the Sheridan style. It is arguable who is the other, but Chester is one of the two. Bruce Johnson

Wayner, No ideas on sources for dehaired bearhides. Other sources for the hippo might be Sheridan Leather Outfitters in Sheridan WY. They have quite a few exotics not listed in their catalog. Good people to deal with. John Fong might have it also. He is in San Francisco. Don't know why, I just haven't dealt with him. That said, I just like dealing with Jerry VanAmburg on exotics. He has always played "let's make a deal" with me at the shows, has good stuff or knows where to get it. If you have ever dealt with him in person or on the phone, just that contact will be the equivalent of shotgunning 3 Red Bulls. He goes 9-0 with his hair on fire. He is probably tough to get ahold of this week, traveling to Sheridan I'm sure. The prices of these exotics kind of fluctuates. Show prices are usually better than phone prices, but worth a call in another week or so. Depending on how the show goes, still might be some deals at home too. Regarding the turkey leather, used to go by the name of "gallapava". I had some boots from it back in the day when I was single and still had money. The boots lasted as long as money does once you're married. Turkey skin is meant to stay on the bird through the roasting process. Bruce Johnson

Wayner, A couple others that come to mind - stingray (about any color or pattern you can think of now). I think hippo is a very neat feeling leather. I haven't bought any yet, but am kicking that idea around. As far as deceased zoo animals, most of those are restricted from being sold under the CITES regulations. Also even some of the now endangered species that were legally obtained before CITES went into effect are pretty iffy to trade. Some states have different regulations than the national regs too, so it pays to check. Jerry VanAmburg and John Fong both deal in a lot of exotics. Bruce Johnson

Romey, I can't make the blanket statement that all Craftool stamps are not up to snuff. A couple things, the plating is pretty variable. When I buy one new, I eyeball or try every stamp in the section. If you are telephone ordering, tell them what you want and expect. Somebody has to get the good one, it might as well be you. Some will have less plating and crisper impressions. Also I buy a Craftool to see if I will use it enough to justify the same stamp in a higher quality. Some of the borders look good on someone else's work, but they end up and don't do much for me (ie the "meander" tools) visually once I get them and use them. When I get a stamp, don't use or like it enough and resell it for half, the Craftool is only a $2 loss. I am not really willing to take a $45 hit on half the price of someone's $90 stamp. For the better quality tools a few more names to consider besides Barry King and Jeremiah Watt - Bob Beard, Ellis Barnes, and Wayne Jueschke. I particularly like Wayne's block stamps. There are other guys who make some stamps, but these 5 are probably among the best of the guys making them right now. I have some favorites among these. I think there are particular stamp types where each of these guys really shine. Bruce Johnson

Regis, I sew my chrome tans with the same setup I would use if they were vegtan. Because the leather is softer, the needle holes close up faster and the stitches tend to pull in tighter than if I was sewing vegtan. That said, on some harder vegtan work, like repairs on some older and harder leather I go up one needle size more than I normally would. How to judge when depends on experience and knowing how my machines sew. Bruce Johnson

Romey, Thanks for that installment of the sharpening tutorial, and I am looking forward to the next. I had a round knife with a lot of drag. It was a pretty thick blade, and the bevel seemed a little steep. I took this knife to the other extreme and really thinned about 1-1/2 inches of blade. I was smarter than a tree full of owls for a second, the knife cut really well for about a good 2 feet, then drug worse. Strop and good for another two feet. I am sure you can guess that the bevel was too flat and no metal behind the edge. It would roll very easily. I was able to salvage this knife by taking the edge back to more meat, and then putting a steeper "secondary" bevel on the blade. It has been my favorite knife for the last couple years now. Do you have any thoughts on putting a steeper short bevel on a thinner blade? Bruce Johnson

Denise and Rod, When I started these questions they were mostly intended to be rhetorical, and I really didn't expect to get answers so easily. I expected a few saddlemakers saying "this works for me, this is just the way my treemaker(s) do it, etc., never thought about I just call up and order a 6-1/2 " gullet", etc. I really appreciate your responses, experience, and opinions. For you relief, I don't think I have any more questions off the top of my head. Thank you doesn't seem like enough and I can't find the right smiley thing, so here's a hearty handshake and slap on the back. Bruce Johnson

Denise and Rod (now that I know what order to give credit to for writing that great reply), Thank you again for your participation. It took me about an hour to write that post. It has taken at least 10 years to think about it. It seems like whenever two saddlemakers get together, two questions always come up. First is "What tannery's skirting do you use?". The second question is always "Whose trees do you use?". I am sorry I posted the reply above with even more questions before you had a chance to reply to the first. LOL. Pretty much all of your reply is self-explanatory and well written. Just for clarification on one point, the 93 degree bars being celebrated was kind of tongue in cheek. Some of the equine clinicians have been touting the 93 degree bars for their endorsed saddles or saddlemaker. While they do have a place, the average clinic attendee comes home and wants to have them arbitrarily. Kind of like Ray Hunt, some would say, introduced the Wade saddle to the masses. No slam against Ray before we go there. His first wife Millie and my mother-in-law were fast friends. I have one of the first copies of his book inscribed to her. I am looking forward to further replies, and really want you to know that I for one, appreciate all the time and effort you have put into this. Bruce Johnson

Thanks Blake, Kind of where I would like to see this go is discussing the different names of bar patterns and some of the differences. I have a handout from a tree maker about some of these styles of bars, but without their permission to post, don't feel right just doing it. Also has Rod and Denise have mentioned, every tree maker does things just a little bit differently. The names I have heard (and used some of) include: 1. Arizona 2. Wade 3. Northwest 4. PW bars 5. Tidwell 6 Rainmaker 7. Mule bars ( a subset probably of the above). 8. Hape bars The explained differences usually revolve around Twist and rocker. Arizona style bars (one stirrup slot vs. two) can be done on most of the other "non AZ" bars. Choices of wood - poplar, cottonwood, etc. are favored for different reasons by different tree makers. Obviously not everyone uses the same wood. Advantages/Disadvantages? The tradeoff of bar thickness vs. strength, what about bar width? Tapered thin bar edges or thicker rounded edges? Shape of the bottom side - rounded or flattened pads? Finally, how do we measure? wires and tracings, where at? how many? Thermoplastic pads? fitting shells? Bruce Johnson

Wayne. I would probably try a pear shader first, and then smooth over that with a matting tool. If the matting tools have too much checkering for your tastes, you can smooth them up by running some emery paper over the face. Bruce Johnson

I am kind with Dale on this, the depth can be a photo effect. The grain surface of this leather looks a little "porous". Either goat or some of the other grainy (and easily embossed) leathers may be used here over a plug. The other choice may be some of the flankier part of a cowhide, that has that grainy look and is easily compressed to great depths. That particular part of the cowhide wouldn't be my first choice for a watch strap, but we,ve all seen where somebody uses the whole side with no waste. And what better place to use up a small scrap than a watchband? The one thing I am seeing too that makes me think flank and not plugged is the loop. Who would plug a loop? Much easier to mash down the edges of some fluff. That said, I am not seeing any edge stitching, and wonder about whether this isn't an embossing press and cement job. Just because they say it is handmade, doesn't mean you can't run press by hand (I do). I think someone mentioned a while back on another group that at a craft fair, someone was passing their work off as "hand stitched". They were using a Boss and running it "by hand". LOL. All in how you look at the glass. Bruce Johnson

Well OK, that will be one vote for bars and bar patterns apparently don't matter much. For those still with us, the thread about bars and bottoms is still available for viewpoints and discussion. Bruce Johnson

Rod and Denise. I am very thankful you are here. I am looking forward to your insight into this whole area. It seems like we all can learn to build on whatever we choose to use, but there is just not much good information on how to choose the tree to start with. That was and still is a major concern of mine. Bill Reis asked me several years ago at a show what I would like to see. My first suggestion was to have a discussion group with some saddle tree makers and saddlemakers so we could all get close to being on the same page. Make it easier for us to communicate with each other. Hasn't happened yet, although Pete Gorrell has done some tree fitting classes. I am looking forward to your contributions. As far as I can remember, other than your previous articles in LCSJ, there has really never been much information and discussion coming from a tree maker. I welcome it. Bruce Johnson

Dusty, Thanks for the reply. I guess maybe we are addressing two different topics here. What I am addressing is not the rider picking out a saddle of the rack or just making a blank order with us. We have already established that the rider is a big factor, and many are just not informed what they even need to be buying. I also maintain that it is important not to hurt the horse. I am pretty sure that is something we ARE 100% agreed on across the board. My only intention in this is to approach this from the saddle maker's point. Not a saddle to build for stock, but one for the customer who comes in, and tells me he wants ME to build HIM a saddle. The first thing we need to do is decide on a tree. That is all I am talking about. I am not ignorant that horses change not only from year to year, but month to month with conditioning and feed. I know that a tree can fit several horses of similar size and build. That is not the point either. The question is going to be whose tree do I order, and then what do I tell tree maker X to make. I have built on several makers's trees. Right now I have a Hadlock&Fox, Bowden, some Timberlines, three of the later Hercules, a Superior, and just finished up a Sonny Felkins. Every one of them has little or big differences in the bar patterns and geometry. They just are not all going to fit all horses the same. That is what I am getting at. How do we decide who's patterns will fit the customer's horses? The one who is paying us a premium price to make something that is better on the topside, and I maintain, should be better on the bottom side if need be than off the rack model. His horses may very well fit the "standard" for our chosen tree maker. Great, we are done with that part. As you know, there are really no standards from one tree maker to the next. If they don't fit the chosen standard, and we didn't at least check, we have done him no more of a service than the telephone operator at Smith Brothers or the guy at the feedstore. If we set a standard tree up on their back, and it bridges, it rocks, it stands up, it sits downhill, It has contact only in the center of the front pads on the bottom, it has no room for flare (the back points or front points dig in), that is what I am talking about. Things we can, and to my mind need to do, to ensure as good a fit as we can. I am not talking about making sure every square inch of the bottom bar is in contact. I am talking about making sure that in the least this horse is not getting pinched somewhere just standing. I also want to know that when he does his job, whether it is a 8 second calf roping run, 2-1/2 minutes of cutting, or day-working (shipping, doctoring in the field, or branding), that my saddle tree is not going to be in his way. I think picking the proper tree is going to have to be based on a few things. First is our experience with whose trees have what bar patterns and bottom geometry. The second is to match that up as well as we can to the customer's horse(s). The second is the challenge for me. If it doesn't fit, what measurements do I need to tell my treemaker to make it work? The only thing most off the rack customers have is gullet width on the same shape of bars, I want to go beyond that. Just as an aside, I am not a saddle fitter, I am just a guy who makes some saddles. I have a background in horses and fairly good understanding of their anatomy. I have done several different things and events with my horses, and feel pretty comfortable talkng the events and special needs of my customers and friends. I have no agenda here other than to learn. Bruce Johnson

Ashley, On the one piece rear jockeys, I was referring to Ken Tipton ("Tip's" in Winnemucca, NV). His saddles have them. I see the one piece jockeys occasionally, and am usually impressed when someone can (1) uses an piece of leather that is appropriate for that, and (2) can make them fit right. Unfortunately, I am still a two piece and lacer. When I get to the point of doing a saddle-show saddle, I am going to do the one piece. Bruce Johnson

Spam, Where should I start... 1. My mother and father met while working at the Hormel plant in Austin, MN 2. My beloved Grammy set a blue million flower bulbs in used Spam cans 3. What cans she didn't use for bulbs saw use as storage for bacon grease and drippings used at subsequent cooking, and you have never enjoyed popcorn cooked in grease on the stovetop like hers! 4. Spam cans were used as pencil cups by the phone 5. I have actually toured the Spam Museum 6. My grammy's 90th birthday was held at the George Hormel mansion 7. I don't eat it by choice... Says Bruce Johnson, former meat packing house employee, great grandson, son, and nephew of packing house livestock buyers, grandson and nephew of cattle and hog feeders, brother to a PhD meat scientist, etc.

Dusty, Thanks for the posting. I would like to get a little more specific on just the fitting aspects of some of what you said. I think most of us agree that we don't have the luxury of fitting a specific saddle to a specific horse at a specific point in his life. I think David used the term "microfitting" in another thread. We have to fit the average of what that rider is going to ride mostly. The occasional customer does have the oddball horse that will need the tree that won't work for many others. No different than orthopedic shoes for the specific customer who needs them. There are obviously a lot of variables in fitting saddles to a horse, and , agreeing with you, we are probably dealing with a less informed population of horsepeople than 50 to 80 years ago. Horses are now a leisure hobby, and not a means of business for a lot of folks. We can probably thank the dude ranch era, John Wayne, and horse shows for that. To disagree or at least play the devil's advocate here, I can't quite buy your shoe example at face value. When I buy shoes off the rack, I buy by my size and try them on. I have three pairs of boots I ride in, and they are all three diffferent sizes or widths. No surprise there, since they are made by three different makers, probably on three different lasts. I try them on to test drive them. When Joe Average goes into the tackshop, calls NRS, Valley Vet, Stateline, or whoever they have the choice of gullets and QH or semi QH bars. Usually the person helping them is no more knowledgable of what these mean than the customer is. These saddles may all come with the same bar pattern from the same tree maker. The horse can't say that he needs a little more room in the gullet, and little flatter pad in front, or more/less rocker, let's try on another size or tree maker. Just like shoes, when we buy a backpack we try it on. If it rubs or hits us wrong we can say something, we aren't going to buy that one - no matter how many pockets or flaps it has. Or in the case of a saddle, how cool the tooling or silver is. I agree that conditioning is a part. The unfit horse can't go all day in a saddle that does fit. However I would also say - the most fit horse won't go all day in a saddle that doesn't fit either, without some kind of problem. The first problem is out of our hands, the second is in our lap. This whole fitting and tree selection thing is complex and like I said earlier - full of variables. We won't and probably shouldn't ever reach a consensus that will fit every maker, but the discussion should be helpful. I would encourage you to respond with your fitting thoughts on saddle tree bars, patterns, and spreads, on the topic "saddle tree - bars and bottoms". My hope is that with enough experiences and responses here, we can go through each part of the saddle and fitting it - to at least minimize the variables we as makers can control. Thanks, Bruce Johnson

Romey, I am going to show my knife ignorance here and ask what probably half of the world wants to know. What is a false edge? Whatever it is, the whole dang knife looks great to me. Bruce Johnson

Ashley, Very cool work. Looks like we get at least some of our bucking rolls from the same source. I like your work. Looks like at least on the slickfork with the chocoalte bucking rolls, you did a one piece rear jockey. That so?? Looks very clean, and reminds me of a guy's work I admire. Thanks for posting these pics. Bruce Johnson

Regis, I owned one of the early Boss machines. I used it quite a lot, and it is pretty easy to learn and control. I would buy one again in the same position. However I now have a big stitcher and the 1245 Art mentioned. Between those two I can do everything I could with the Boss more efficiently. If you are using it twice a month and don't have the place to keep a machine and table set up, the Boss would be the machine. If you don't mind long boring repetitive motion stitching, it works. It will sew about anything you can cram under the presser foot. Tippmann will rebuild a used machine for $100 the last I checked, and warrant it like new. You need to oil and maintain a Boss just like any other stitcher. Also as Art said the electronic servo motors take a lot of the learning curve out of the powered machines. On my 1245, I can dial down to one stitch every 2-3 seconds. That is cool. Bruce Johnson

Ashley, I am going to bite, and play the devil's advocate a little here. If someone came into my shop and wanted a saddle to fit one horse, I would do it (although it hasn't happened yet). Reason being - that is what separates us from Stateline, National Roper's Supply, the feedstore, and everyone else. In other words, that is the very definition of "custom". If that horse is pretty far out of the norm, and I was pretty sure that saddle would not fit many others, I would tell them that. But I still feel if they want to ride THAT (emphasis not shouting) horse, there is no reason not to order a tree to fit that horse. No reason to make that horse go in something he is not fitted for, if that is what the owner wants. We do it for the topside of the saddle everytime, why not do it for the horse? Bespoke shoe and boot makers do this fitting as a matter of course, and don't concern themselves with the owner's economics. That said, I realize that many owner's are limited by economics, and may not get every bell and whistle saddle option on an oddball treed saddle. They may feel that they could get $2500 (or whatever your base price is) worth of enjoyment or use out of a plainer saddle that does fit that horse over the remainder of its lifetime. If that is not an economic option, then they really weren't looking for "custom" to begin with. That said, I understand where you are coming from. I too worked for a cutting trainer, and had to make do with a couple saddles. Several similar horses can be closely fit with the same couple of saddles. My current customers are mostly barrel racers, ropers, and cowboys moving up from factory saddles, or else they wore out the old handmade they were the 2nd owner on. Those customers you have to fit the middle ground and hope they can pad up the difference. The economic reality is that some kids have to wear hand-me-down shoes, and some horses wear hand-me-down saddles. The fit may not be perfect, but hopefully the right socks or pad will get it done. Bruce Johnson

I set this topic on it's own because I think it needs to be separated out from any one tree maker's discussion. I think we have enough varying opinions and experiences that we could enter into a discussion of the various parts of the tree and what we do/don't want. I think we could all gain some perspective. I envision breaking the tree down to its components and discussing each one by itself in its own topic to kind of keep this on as even a keel as we can. I would like to start with the bars and their shape and spread, independent of forks (swells) and cantles. I am going to probably ramble some, and ask a lot of rhetorical questions. Obviously David has some ideas that are not in synch with the current standard, and I would encourage him to expound more on exactly where his trees differ and why. Nothing is carved in granite, a lot of what we do is based on tradition, right or wrong. I also would encourage the exchange of how we fit our bars to a horse, how we order the tree (limited to bar pattern and spread to start with) from our current or a different tree maker, and the limitations we see with our trees. How do we fit the general horse our clients will ride, and how far from great fit is no fit? Now my opinion only. I don't think we can lump all current tree makers together. Obviously some make bar patterns and have geometries that are different from others. Price is somewhat of a factor, but not always. Some tree companies are making a hundred or more a day, other guys make one every other day. Who pays more attention - no answer. Just like us, some factories make better saddles than we do, and some of us make better than the factories. I have a tree that has rounded pads on the front that concentrate forces in a small area, but gives the appearance of having "flare" for that desirable shoulder freedom. Obviously a round withered muscular horse will suffer if full doubled in this type tree. I have other trees with fairly flat pads. I see a fair amount of horses that these pads provide good contact. I think David posted that he makes some trees with concave pads. Interesting, although I am curious about the rawhide lifting up and tenting, or are they nailed into this dish. If I am correct, this might be a place for a synthetic coating like epoxy. What about ordering based on handhole width vs. gullet width? If we are using the same tree maker and everything else is constant, does it matter? (again rhetorical) Should we specify both, along with the bar spread at the bottom? What about 2 stirrup grooves vs. one (Arizona bars). Is that back edge of the stirrup leather making a lump right where we have muscle bulge in the stride phase? Does the 1/4" of bar thickness we are saving make it that much stronger? What about the arbitrary narrowing of the cantle gullet to account for twist? Can we make a level seat on a "down-hill" sitting tree? Of course we can, ground seat build ups, probably accounts for a lot of the 3 piece built up ground seats. Is the narrowed channel width necessary for all horses? Which horses need it and which ones don't? Like David I see very few uphill built horses, some of the Arabian/gaited horse crosses are probably as close as it gets. BUT, I see a lot of level or down-hillers. Add a gullet (OK Front width) too wide and we have a downhill saddle and more force toward the front. Tapered insert pads (the 3/4 wedge gel insert pads are pretty popular around here) are kind of a filler. Narrow up the front (or widen the back) and we have the same effect. Bar angles. Some horses are getting flatter withered and wider. How do we determine what ones need the celebrated 93 degree bars the training clinicians are touting? Are they throwing their 93 degree bar Wade on the two year old QH and then the 5 year bucking Morgan or TB in the clinic round pen regardless of what his back says?? Food for thought. What about rock(er)? Is too much better than not enough? How do we measure it to tell a tree maker? How do we know what we should have. Does it depend on the horse and his job? If he slogs along at a walk nose-to-tail down the trail, and the rider sits back all day, we probably want it closer than the barrel racer, California stockhorse, or cutter that flexes and extends and is more fit. Big blow out extended strides and the ultimate flex when stopping hard. Bar flare no doubt enters in here too. How much is enough, without sacrificing normal weight bearing surface? How much flex/extension is there in a normal horse's back anyway?? Bar thickness. How many broken bars do we see that were not either (a) flipped over on or ( scored when cutting stirrup leather slots by the makers who build them that way? I do see some of the monstrously thick calf and steer roping trees that do have some major thickness for a reason. Even though the bottom geometry of these bars may be fine the edges are either stubbed off or rounded over. Personally I think a rounded over bar will dig in less than the stubbed off, if the cinches (front and back) aren't pulled for a rodeo run. Is this the saddle we want to brand calves in all day with a little looser cinch? I see a fair amount of Wades that are wider webbed (for lack of a better term) through the stirrup slot and waist area but pretty thin bars. These are old slogging saddles that have stood the test of time and aren't broken. May be a factor of steady pressure vs. a jerk. Obviously the thinner the bars, the closer we are to the horse, the more we feel, the less we torque on his back side to side, and we are all happier. What about the "close contact" trees with the narrower waists? I have to spread my legs as wide as the horse is. Now that is not rocket science. Does it really matter if the bottom bar edge is 2 inches down my inside thigh or 3"? If that bar edge is tapered and smooth with the horse, I can't tell a difference, but I think that extra 1" of bar width will let me rope something bigger with less chance of damage to my gear or person. This is all based on a tapering seat down the sides too, not the 2 full layers to the bottom bar edge ground seat. Other factors obviously play into how these bars will fit besides type of activity and conformation. David mentioned farriers, dentists, bitting, the rider, where they ride - hills or flat. The owners can control a bunch of saddle fit with the feed program, conditioning program, saddle pads, and just plain how they ride. As makers we influence it with rigging postion and type, getting these riggings on evenly, and making a seat our rider can sit in to be in balance with the horse (and right on the cantle generally ain't it). That is getting to the top of the saddle, and I don't want to go there yet. We have factories and one man shops making trees and saddles. We are competing with saddles sold by unknowing catalog and tackstore employees to mostly unknowing customers (both judging the top of the saddle) to put on an animal that can't talk. If he gets sore, they put another saddle on, it may not fit better but is different enough to rest that sore spot and create another one somewhere else. I would really like to see some data from standardized testing of different trees with real-time pressure cell pads during different activities. I look forward to the day of standards, but don't see that happening in my lifetime, and I am not old. In the meantime, I want to have as much information as I can to do the best job I can. I think it starts with the bottom of the tree. Hope this sparks something Bruce Johnson

Ed, As far as a source of Ballistol, I use it to fill out orders from Weaver. Interesting you mention availability. Yesterday I was hunting up some shot for shot bags, and saw cans of Ballistol in 2 of 3 gun shops. One shop had it for sale and the other it was on the back bench. Might check local gun shops. Just looked at a couple Ballistol websites, amazing stuff. Regarding WD-40. I have had mixed advice. Everything from use it as a regular cleaner and lube to don't let it close to your machines - they will gum up, collect grit, and have bad days regularly. The answer is somewhere in between I would suspect. I clean with Ballistol and lube with a mix of hydraulic jack oil and Prolong oil additive. The hydraulic oil/Prolong was suggested to me by Ferdco several years ago, and My machines have stayed tight. Most all of the oil points on my 2000 are pretty accessible. For the ones behind the inspection plates I use a plastic catheter on my oil bottle to reach more easily and pinpoint. Anything that looks like it moves gets oiled. Bruce Johnson