bruce johnson

John, The Osborne button hole or "pippen" punches only come with one sized hole. One has a round hole and the other has a teardrop shape hole. It may not be the same size as the guitar button. Johanna's suggestion of the round punch and cutting the slot may still be necessary. The Osborne button punch holes are just a bit small for some of the things I do that cut on (spur straps). I use a round punch for the hole, and instead of a knife, I punch the slit with a sharpened wood chisel. I bought a cheap set of wood handled wood chisels several years ago, and they are all still going strong. I hit them with a maul against a LDPE cutting board. I sharpened them to a finer taper than they came with, but still left the single bevel. I use the different sizes (widths) to cut inlays too, especially long straight lines. On inside corners they prevent overcutting and bad words. Safer and more repeatable cutting than a knife for me in some places. Bruce Johnson

The only place I have patterns for them is in one of FO Baird's big books, Leather Secrets. Way too big to scan, and probably some sort of copyright issues as well. Does anybody know if the big Baird books are available anywhere but ebay? Lots of info in them, someone should reprint them. Bruce Johnson

Snakehorse, Thanks for posting that link. It is handier for me than thumbing through the back issues of LCSJ to find part of the articles that they had a few years ago, plus the website has some additions. Well worth reading again. Bruce Johnson

Alex, David touched on it a little, but getting the MSDS sheets on all liquid products you use is a good idea. MSDS is an ancronym for material safety and data sheets. It is in a prescribed format for chemical compostion, physical proerties, clean up in case of spill procedures, health risks and first aid, etc. for the product. Every manufacturer (and most distributors have them as well) has to provide these to the user on request. I backed into it second handed several years ago. I am the "safety coordinator" at work and religiously collect MSDS sheets on all liquids we use. Several years ago our safety consultant came in for a walkthrough. I had some dye, Barge, and other chemicals I picked up at a local Tandy during lunch. Didn't want to leave them out in the hot truck all afternoon. Didn't have the requisite MSDS sheets for them and got the ol' hand slap. At that time some of the sheets provided me were about 10th generation photocopies, and barely legible. Thought about this over this past weekend when I came across that file. I am going to update, and many firms now email or have websites set up for MSDS distribution. The MSDS sheets mainly apply to liqds or pastes, solids are for the most part (but not always) exempt. If you have a business license and get an OSHA or even a fire department inspection, they will want to see the MSDS sheets. My FD advised me to try to bring out the MSDS books in case of fire if I can do it safely. Can give them a better idea sometimes of what they are up against. Bruce Johnson

Holly, I try to avoid exact 90 degree corners or points in the design, and will use small radius corners cut with punches. I apply my edge burnishing agent of choice. Then I use a combination of things. A stick with notches cut out, a bone folder, rubrag on the straight sections. dowels to burnish the inside corners, whatever the section calls for. Bruce Johnson

Blake, I have used at least 40 sides of it. My experiences here. I started off using Caldwell-Moser when Siegels were carrying that. A little "softer" temper than Herman Oak. The Hermann Oak I first used had rawhide in 2 of 3 sides. Gave me a poor first impression of HO. When C-M closed, I went to Westan. I liked it too. TLF was selling Westan and HO at the same time too. Tried some Teneria, pale color. TLF talked me into trying some HO - I got 3 good sides - nice temper, clean, and cut easy. Ok, I am now a HO man. The very next 3 sides all had rawhide in the necks - not just a little. Pits in the grain. Siegel just came out with their own about that time. I thought it was as close to the Caldwell-Moser as anything I had cut since they closed. Haven't used anything else since. I tried a TLF side for bags and heavy stuff once - not the color and boardy. I won a drawing for a side of Wickett&Craig. The piece I tooled on was OK, but not what the Siegel's does for me. I thought I was on some other planet using it for a while. Nobody I knew was using it. That's cool - worked for me. Siegels did a little phone survey, and then put out a mailer on it. The testimonials were from guys like Eddie Brooks (one of the guys I look up to for making one that holds together - was shop foreman at Capriola's a long time), Jeff Hanson, and Bill Maupin makes bronc saddles with it. I felt like I was in pretty good company. I have probably gotten two sides that fell off in weight. The sides are all pretty clean. The occasional butcher cut. NO rawhide. It really molds well, much like the C-M. It also tools and stamps well. The HO tends to look a little "flat" when basket stamped sometimes. Siegel's "rounds" up. It takes me 3 sides to make a saddle, always has, so the yield is about what I got with the others. It is very consistant, I have not seen a big change in the last couple years. I will make you a deal - order three sides and if you don't like it, Siegel's will pick it up and cover the return shipping. Instead of having them ship it back to them, have them dropship it to me. If you decide to try the skirting, order a LM shearling from Siegels at the same time. I used to use Lazy M, and really liked it. I took a swatch to Siegels when I visited them last fall. Steve got the LM, and I like it better. In blind tests. it consistantly feels denser in the wool and the leather is heavier. It is a little more to the golden color side, rather than the orange tint of the Lazy M. Bruce Johnson

TwoStep, No right or wrong, some people don't background at all, others really mash down. Here's what I do. I background after beveling and prefer a checkered backgrounder. Something along the lines of the Tandy 104 usually. I also have a set of slightly finer checkered backgrounders. I am not a fan of bargrounders, but some guys run them well. I background when the leather is fairly dry, and sometimes will tool something and thgen background 12-18 hours later. If the leather is still pretty damp and moldable, the backgrounders can spread the backgrounding too much and close up the beveling. You rebevel and lose some of the backgrounding, and you are in a loop. Once the piece is totally dry, then I background dye. Bruce Johnson

As Blake said, welcome to all who are here. Little John, I didn't know you were over here, good to have you. Gary, I must concur with Blake. I shop tree makers every so often. Last year I ordered one of my common trees from 3 makers at the same time - the Superior was not in the top two. Some of the synthetic coatings bear promise, although they are not there yet for my type of customer. My saddles get roped out of a bunch, have horses bang them around, and are abused. The rawhide has a naturally elasticity that will deform and return to shape within limits. Some of the synthetic coatings are stiff and brittle. I have a warranty replacement tree brought to me by a customer. This customer single-steer ropes and had broken 2 of their trees. The warranty tree was triple dipped epoxy. The tree maker proudly told me that these trees will take 5000# of pressure without deforming. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. It was not shaped well, and the customer opted for another maker's trees. I have had it sitting around and use it to stretch stirrup leathers on. There are some fracture lines in the epoxy where it has been knocked around a little. Whether these would happen in use, I don't know. Other coatings are softer and flexible. Whether they would hold the tree together with the force of something hitting the end of a rope repeatedly or a horse falling with it, I don't know. Blake, regarding our claim for the "Cowboy Capital of the World". We historically get our rains in the winter and spring. Ranching goes back to pre Gold Rush era. Cattle grazed in the valley and foothills in the winter, and then mountain pastures, irrigated clover, or dry feed through the summer. We predominantly fall calve, so the branding and processing is winter and spring. Our rodeos tend to be spring rodeos, and back in the day, were the first of the season. Itinerant rodeo cowboys could day-work on ranches all week, and rodeo on the weekends through the spring and early summer. Many have stayed in this area, and we are now a few generations deep in rodeo history as well. Arenas as well as basketball hoops in the backyards here. I believe we have the only highschool where rodeo is a letter sport, and we usually send a few kids to the National High School finals every year. At one time 28-30 rodeo world championships were credited to Oakdale residents. In my joking with a friend from the other capital, Bandera, we have had The Oakdale Testical Festival for now our 26th year. It is a community calf fry , usually a sell out, and 450 plus attendees this year. When Bandera can match that, we will share the title. Bruce G, send me a private email sometime. I like the Santa Ynez area, and had a really good friend from Lompoc. He rode barebacks at the NFR a few years. Looking forward to some great sharing from this bunch. Bruce Johnson

bcj, The thread from Ferdco (actually it is made by Coats) is bonded and lubed. On a machine there is a lot of friction heat built up on the needle from going through the leather. The heat can be enough to partially melt or at least get the thread "sticky". The thread then sticks to the needle, and doesn't loop underneath, and skips a stitch. The Boss doesn't build up that kind of speed or heat to stick a thread, so that is why they generally aren't used with a lube pot. Some guys run lubepots on their heavy single needle machines, and some don't. I do. I have been told (and read in several catalogs and websites) that the smaller thread in the bobbin will allow the stitch to pull up tighter. Cambell-Randall, Ferdco, Weaver all say that. That said, I have run the same at times, and not seen a noticable difference. Bruce Johnson

Blake, I live in Oakdale, CA. We are known as "The Cowboy Capital of the World". A few other towns claim it, but we have festivals and history to back it up. It is a historically a ranch and rodeo town. On the edge of the Sierra foothills, some mountain packers above us. I build, rebuild, and repair. I do a lot of other leatherwork as well. I am also a student of history, and enjoy collecting old books - cowboy poetry, true 1st person accounts, and vaquero/western history. Bruce Johnson

Ed, I am not a 4 Way user, but have heard the 4Way's are the same. I use just regular Lexol leather conditioner for my thread lube. It is a milky liquid, consistancy of whole milk. As far as thread weights, I think they weigh and charge based on that. I have had spools of varying wieghts (15 to 19 oz) from both Ferdco and Weaver. Weaver sent me one once that was so overfilled that the thread would fall off the spool and tangle under the thread stand. I don't know if anyone figures the tare of the spool or not. Bruce Johnson

Pete, From the measurement you have, you will need to know two more measurements. You will need the length from the hook on the buckle to the heel. This may be up to 4" on a monster trophy buckle with a standard hook, or only 1-1/2 or 2" on a "reverse hook" buckle. This plus the 39" you already have should give you the measured waist size. Then you will need to add the amount he wants the tip of the belt to extend past the fold (overlap). I make most of my belts to the measured waist size and then add the overlap they want. A shorter overlap may be 2", I like 3-1/2" personally. I then punch the holes if they bring me the buckle, or send it unpunched for them to punch to fit. Most of my customers have or have access to a leather punch. When I was wholesaling belts I never punched them, the sellers punched them to fit the buckle. This allowed them to custom fit for the guy who wanted 2" overlap, or the kid who liked 6" with the strap of appropriate length. If they are prepunched and the buyer likes a shorter overlap and has a short buckle, then they have 4 holes past the buckle tip. Looks like they have progressivley gained weight and are in the last hole. Kind of a vanity thing, but many folks don't like to appear that way. Bruce Johnson

K-Man, Your experience at Springfield Leather was deja vu to me. One other suppler to add to the list - Siegel's of California. A few years ago, I had placed a large order (large for me) with Siegels at the end of December for shipment after the first of the year. My wife took an unexpected turn for the worse and died in the meantime. I called Siegels and told them to hold the shipment, since I would not be in the shop for a few weeks. My rep at the time sent one of the nicest floral arrangements we got. I got a sympathy card signed by everyone from Steve Siegel, to the office staff, to order pullers and shippers. The topper was two days later the leather showed up with instructions to pay when I used it up. They are good folks to deal with too. Speedy recovery to you, mi amigo. Bruce Johnson

While I agree with Frank's suggestions, one factor to consider - these numbers have no standardization. The old Tandy edgers I have bought in sets have been different sizes from newer ones in the same numbers. Osbornes likwewise have been variable. Osborne makes 3 or more different styles of edgers, and each numbering system takes a different amount off in a different cut profile. Horseshoe brand edgers or Ron's Tools edgers are different yet. The numbering sytems are really only applicable within a particular edger by that maker. Which edger number I use depends on the effect I want on the edge. If I want a squarish edge with just the corners knocked off I use smaller numbers. If I want the edge to be a half circle radius I use the bigger edgers. I prefer the round bottom edgers. They cut a profile with a radius, not a chiseled cut like the flat bottom edgers like Tandy and most of the Osbornes do. If you use the flat bottomed edger on heavy leather in big sizes you will get a flat cut that leads to a point. Usually it takes two to three passes at different angles to "round" an edge with one of these, vs one pass with the round bottom edgers. Bruce Johnson

Jack, Sometimes without knowing the intended market or price paid for something, it is hard to critique work. Obviously these were not done by Jim Jackson, Don Butler, or Cary Schwarz, but then again these guys probably are not getting $200 as a base for this kind of carving either. The devil and dollars are in the details. I am going to call these close, almost a tie. It looks like the one on the right has had some kind of antiquing or highlighting done. This skews things a bit. Left side first. I don't particularly care for the random seeding around the flower center. I think it makes the flower center look "ragged". I like the decorative cuts on the petals, they appear to be going towards a focal point. The are bold and then fade well. I like the selective use of the cam on sections of the stemwork. I think the stickers tend to flow into the stems a little cleaner on the left. The mulefoot use follows the flow of the stem. Looks like good use of the undershots on the left. Overall carving depth looks deeper. The beadline border looks cleaner on the left. Right side. I prefer this flower center, makes a smoother look to my eye. The flower decorative cuts don't really come to a focal point, the are almost parallel in areas. They have no "dimension", they are the same depth start to finish. I think the cam use all the way around the stem looks overdone. In my mind there is no crime in having some untextured space in a carving. The mule footing on the top right and lower left don't follow the flow of the stem. The beveling around the flower is more distinct, but this may be a factor of the antiquing? I like the decorative cuts on the stickers better than the left. All in all, I see these two works as being on a par. Just little individual style things that some people like or don't. I don't think one is clearly better than the other, although if these two carvers got together and borrowed from each other, this would be pretty good. . Bruce Johnson

HC, Barry King makes the swirl in 6 sizes for $45 each. I thought maybe Wayne Jueschke did also, but waited until I got home to check his impression sheet to be sure. Wayne does not. I did have one from Gore that was good, but it is lost and Gore is no longer in business. Not sure if Bob Beard or Ellis Barnes make the Hamley swirl or not. I will probably pick up a couple from Barry next month in Elko. kind of blowing the tool budget this month already. Timely question, I have the need for a better swirl than what I have at the moment, have some work coming up that will need it. Bruce Johnson

Holly, I am assuming here we are talking about the TLF X513/X514 style baskets. The legs have a curve to them, so when interlocked the weave is slightly oval. I have alternatively heard them referred to as "flare" basket stamps or "Mae West" basket stamps. Some makers put more curve in the legs than the impressions in the TLF catalogs. Mine did have more flare than the TLF ones. My problem with running them is the curve in the legs. If you slightly lose alignment in the right to left aspect or the up and down alignment, the legs do not form a graceful curve. There is a "stair step" in the margins of the weave. With a normal straight basket, you can fudge a bit on the horizontal alignment and bring things smoothly back in line. Likewise if the vertical alignment gets off. These flared baskets can be used successfully, but it takes me about twice as long as with a normal basket. The extra care needed for perfect alignment is the issue. My eye is trained to "run" with a straight basket by aligning 3 points. On the flares I need to see all 4 corners, plus the center. Bruce Johnson

Romey, Those stamps are not very forgiving. If you get off in either dimension, the legs don't follow the prescribed curve and the pattern looks bad. On smaller pieces it is not as obvious, on a briefcase it looks like an apology is necessary to the steer who donated his skin. The more you go the worse it looks. I gave up on them. I don't particularly like the finished patterns with the globby looking weaves, anyway. Being harder to use made it pretty easy to get rid of them for me. Bruce Johnson

Johanna, I wish I could pick 5 or 6 top carvers who have passed on or no longer carve. Being partial to the Sheridan style (my first wife really didn't like it), I like the works of most of the good practitioners and pioneers of it - Don King, Billy Gardner, etc. I still think Chester Hape took it to his own direction and he is one of my heroes. The saddle I posted pictures of is 30 years old. Blows my mind, it is timeless. Regarding the west coast toolers, all I can really go on is what came out in the early Tandy Books before they were exclusively Stohlman patterns. Lad Haverty, Cliff Ketchum, Al Shelton, FO Baird, I am gonna forgot some here that should be on a short list. There are the Arizona guys - Ray Pohja, Bob Dellis, the guys who taught them, and more. I am just glad these guys went before and we can build, borrow, and steal from their insight. Some of this stuff is pure innate talent, but most is recognising some little thing someone else did, and then incorporating it, modifying it, or just plain copying it into our style. These guys all did it. Don King didn't just wake up one day and say "I'm gonna tool some swirls and sine waves with smaller flowers and more stemwork and call it Sheridan style carving". All this stuff evolved (he saw at least rudimentary elements of it somewhere) and is still evolving. I am taking a carving class at Elko from Andy Stevens. A young guy from Nebraska whose work reminds me a lot of Chester Hape's. There is some great work in several styles all over. Some of the most awesome Sheridan work comes out of Japan. Lefty Mikuni and his students put most other entries in second place at the contests right off the bat. They come here and take classes, Jim Jackson goes there and teaches. I am glad we have these classes available privately as well as at the shows. We have video lessons and pattern books. We have the internet to see other peoples work and borrow from that. Think how many miles and hours it would take to see this stuff first hand. We have these groups to share and learn on. I am respector and hopefully a preserver of the past. That said, I think the best work is coming out right now (not an original thought BTW), but that is because we are already standing on the shoulders of some pretty awesome guys who showed us the way. A tip of the Crown Royal to all of 'em. Bruce Johnson

Oscar, Depending in thickness of the edge, I allow 3/4 to 1" of extra to wrap around the edge. You are RIGHT, it is a heck of a lot of skiving, and you really say some bad stuff when you skive through an edge. I am headed to Los Angeles on Friday to check out bell knife skivers some more. I can sure see the advantages for a lot of what I do. Once I use one for a while I will share my experiences. Bruce Johnson

Regis, Yes that is pretty much my experience with my leather. If I can keep it wet, then I can tool it better. If I let it dry out totally, then it doesn't tool as well for me on the second wetting. Keeping it wet from the start just works better for me. I like to tool my saddles as the pieces are drying from the casing and fitting if at all possible. Bruce Johnson

Regis, I agree with rharris' reply about going from front to back. For floral and oak patterns I do the same. I do my flowers first, then leaves, and then stemwork. I also usually use my tools in order of size. The one's with the bigger footprints first, followed by smaller tools, and end with the tools with more texturing. I think in one of Stohlman's books the advice is to only pick a stamp up once, use it everywhere necessary on the piece, and then put it away. This is supposed to speed things along. I am not that good. On some bigger pieces I divide the piece into sections. I usually cut the whole pattern at once, but will then only tool one fourth completely, and keep the other 3/4 under saran wrap, covered with a plastic bag, or whatever. If the untooled part starts to dry out too much, I rewet that whole 3/4 section, wetting more on the last sections to do. As I progress across the piece, I am rewetting ahead of myself to try to have no breaks by having a section too dry or wet to work as I get to it. Anticipate how that leather is holding the casing and wet or uncover as necessary before I get to it. I find by breaking it into sections I am not fighting the casing on the whole piece. If I have to rewet a previously partially tooled section to finish it, I lose detail and toolability in that section. I rewet with either a piece of sheepskin or sponge, wrung out to the appropriate moisture content for however much water I am losing. I background with matting type backgrounders first. I use a set of Barry King's finest checkering backgrounders. If I am going to use a more textured backgrounders like the 104's or 888's, or bargrounders, I let the whole piece get pretty dry, at least 8 hours or so and sometimes overnight before I come in with the texturing backgrounders. This gives me good tool burnishing and contrast. Also since the background has been previously matted, it doesn't take much force to lay it down and won't tend to expand in to my elements. Bruce Johnson

From the Sherdian style thread where I mentioned I thought Chester Hape was one of the best SHerdian style carvers. This is a picture of one of Chester's trophy saddles he made for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assoc world cmapions for several years. We have it in our local cowboy museum along with several others from Garcia's in the 30's and 40's to modern times, Chester used a lot of over-and-unders in the joining of stemwork in this particular saddle carving. He establishes the stemwork as having as much "value" as the other elements. One aspect of Chester's style is that he brought the lines for the stickers and leaf and flower stems deeper into the stemwork than many others do. He mostly pushed his swivel knife. Chester has not tooled for several years and is afflicted with Parkinson's disease. This saddle is 30 years old, and still is timeless to me. Bruce Johnson

Ed, They price it by the ounce, but sell by full spools. There is a link or phone number on Ferdco's site (www.ferdco.com) that leads to a seller who sells smaller size spools and different colors. AS far as oiling behind the plates - every time I oil the machine. I touch anything that looks like it moves. I use thin plastic tubes (actually urinary catheters) on the end of my oil squeeze bottle to reach them. I also clean my machine religiously. I know of a guy (different company's similar machine) who found three broken needle tips in his race, along with some nasty grooves and a birdsnest worth of thread dust and remnants when it finally seized. I try to learn from guys like him. He doesn't like his machine now. Small wonder. Send me a private email with an address, and I can send you a sample of the thread for color and and a sewn piece. Bruce Johnson

Ed, The peasant color runs me about $1.40 per ounce for #346 It is a pretty golden color, and looks lighter once sewn. I like it initially, and it makes a good match on repairs that may have been originally sewn with white, but have aged. Shipping is pretty average with all my other suppliers except for Siegels. I am usually ordering needles and thread, so try to get a decent enough sized order to make the shipping work. They don't have a minimum order or low order surcharge. Bruce Johnson