bruce johnson

I have heard a backhand called a rope stitch by some people. Basically you use a single needled thread. Go forward two holes and down, then back up one hole and up, forward two and down, and back one hole and up.... One side looks like a normal saddle stitch. The other side is an alternating every two hole stitch that sort of looks like a rope if you keep passing on the same side of the thread each stitch. It is easier than it sounds. I used to play around with it some for the decorative effect. Big thread looks kind of cool.

Several years ago Bob and I were talking about these and he cringed when I said I was a potato peeler (black skivers). He told me then the three sizes I should look for and I thought that there was a skip in the sequence for one of them. He said that one would probably need a handle taken off on one side. I can't remember off the top of my head that size. I'd talk to Bob and see for sure. You might try one size to see how you like it and then work around with whatever you use now. I eventually got some and played with them, but just couldn't break the habit of the black skivers. Aside - One night in Sheridan an old guy paraphrased one of Baxter Black's poems (People Are Funny Critters) about different types of people using the alphabet - "There's mayonnaise dippers and Miracle Whippers..." The only parts I remember is "There's old heel shavers and potato peeler wavers..." and "rawhide tree users and Ralide tree losers". Ringing any bells with anyone?

Yes. I am using a mixed set right now - I have a few Adams, I think some HF Osobrnes and filled in with Newark and a few Harrison marked CS OSbornes.

I spin the mini and maxi punches in my drill press. I drive old Osbornes.

Brent, I have the same experience with the wooden strap cutters. On your gauges- plough gauge or draw gauge? The plough gauge is pushed and the blade is in line with your hand and no torque. There is a roller to keep the leather down and feeding into the blade. I have one that will make an 8" cut as easy as it cuts 1". I use a draw gauge too, but not for much over 1-1/4" since I was introduced to a plough gauge.

Thanks for the picture. I guess I was expecting the blade was hollow ground since that is what seems to be the trouble. That vertical grind is on my BK and the Ol Smoothies too and is kind of a loose use of the term "hollow ground". It shouldn't affect how the blade should sharpen though since the cutting bevel is flat. I use a jig on some of my new blades to make the bevel a little flatter. I know I did it to the BK and two of the Ol Smoothies I use. I have one Ol Smoothie I left original to open a wider ditch and my Leather Wrangler is a slim blade and makes a nice narrow cut as-is.

Interesting history here in the "Old COwboy Saddles and Spurs" book. 7th edition. "T.M. Lumley, Cushing, OK 1920-40. He moved to Medicine Lodge, KS & married Bess Read. She did much of the tooling and stamping. TM died in December of 1951. Bess continued the business for many years. She died at age 100, Feb 25, 1994."

Not to butt in here, but I didn't know Barry King made a hollow ground blade. He has about as many blade options as anyone who makes knives. I have had a few and use one now that is not hollow ground. If you don't mind, please post a picture of the blade because I might be interested in ordering one. Thanks,

It looks like waxy surface spew to me. Have him hit it with a little heat from a hair dryer or fan heat gun and see if it melts in. Waxes melt and molds don't.

If the leather is already glued to the lining and sewn, there will be no way to get in there to reliably bend the prongs between the layers. It would be pretty hard to set rivets inside a lining, and if the socket part of the quick rivet hardware is big enough, it would be in the stitchline anyway.

The cleaner way to set the spots on the top layer and leave room for stitching outside them. That said a lot of stuff has the spots applied afterwards like these are done. If the leather is thin enough they will clinch through on the back side of both layers. If not, they just stick in. Heavy work that is used and abused like breast collars can have somne spots woirk loose and fall off eventually.

Hard to put an exact number on it. It looks to be an older style harness stitching horse in pretty good condition. Factors on price would be how much it rocks or is it solid? It looks like it is only missing the foot bar and the plate to hook the comb. Any other condition issues? As a range I have paid from $75 up to $200 for comnplete stitching horses in good condition in antique stores. I bought a saddler's stitching horse with some history for $300.

Just a question here. Are the CraftJapan tools any relation to the Craftools and are they even sold by Tandy? I thought they were mostly sold by Hidecrafters recently. The ones I have are superior to any Craftools I have bought new. In some cases the ones I have are superior to even some handfmaker's versions of a particular stamp.

If I am understanding your question right, you need to control how far into the leather to make the cut? There should be an adjustable edge guide to set that. The height adjustment on the presser foot is a knob at the top. That will control the width of the cut somewhat and allow for different thicknesses of leather. There are a lot of adjustments on these, and once you figure them all out it is fairly easy to change things.

Joel, In my vernacular it means "cowboy cool". Kind of derivation of cowpuncher that has taken on a meaning if its own. Most of the time I hear it from the KS. OK, and west TX area. I had a guy email about some spur straps a few days ago, The email was "pull through leathers, barbwire and brown iron buckles, and stamp them kind of punchy" . I did a Bible cover last fall and asked what pattern she wanted on it. She said " no flowers, but punch it up some. It's for my husband".

There is "punchy" and then there is "PUNCHY". Then there's a level just above that reserved for stuff like this. This saddle is PUNCHY!!!!

One thing to watch for on bisonettes is the width of the blade stock. Some makers use the same width for all sizes they make or at least use stock that is too wide for the smaller sizes. That means on the small hole ones and thin leather, you have excessive width on each side. You can't lay a strap flat on the bench and run the edger or else you have to hold the edger almost flat with the surface. To run them at a 45, you have to have them on the edge of the bench. Not very handy. You can also grind them down to narrow them up.

Bill, I use a fine napped paint roller and a tray. I pour my oil in, then roll it off on the ramp until I get the amount I want on the roller. If you really squeeze it out you will get a pretty light coat. Then roll it on the piece. That is pretty much how I do everything that can lay flat. I don't get swirl marks and what little overlap there is evens out pretty fast.

I am attaching a picture of a pad holder I did that folds double. It was for my uncle who is a cattle buyer. He wanted it to fold over so he could stick it into the steering wheel and write contracts. It needed to be stiff and I used a clipboard clip inside the back cover and stiffener on the front to make an edge to break against. The cover is made from 7/8 that was thinned to about 4 oz at the fold. The lining was 4 oz so it could staned the stress of folding a little better. Adfter a few years of daily use it has held up well.

Some of us would fall short of raw materials there.

I have a set of Bob's and sure like them. Unless something has changed with the new guy who bought Ron's business, Ron didn't make bisonettes. Of the old line makers, I have some favorites. I have a set of Rosecrans bisonettes, and believe they might have been the first to make them. I really like them, followed closely by the older Osbornes.

Duly noted and the previous post has been edited and corrected.

Dirtclod is correct. It is North and Judd - New Britain, CT. Here is a link to some history about them - North and Judd . They were a real player in the day in lot of fields. It is surprising to me how much anchor marked unused hardware still shows up today in some old shops.

Kevin, Yep a guy or gal always can use more tools. I use the 2/3/4 sizes of push beaders, but have the range for edge creasers from regular creasers up through layer creasers. The layer creasers are a 1-5 larger sized set of creasers that begin where the regular creaser sizes end. Thanks for the compliments on my ride. He's pretty nice but probably won't see many show pens. That was my first ride last year on him in a new hackamore I got from Jack Armstrong. He is a stopper. I found out I needed to get some skid boots on him just to play around. We need to talk some time. I grew up in Indiana and the Congress was a big deal for me every year. Saw some of the legendary horses and trainers now when they were just another duck in the puddle. Same way with the cutters too. I worked a bit for a guy who was hauling Docs Starlight.when I was in college. Doc Olena, Dry Doc, Little Peppy were showing, I was pretty blessed to see that era.

Kevin, An edge beader has one side longer than the other to ride down the edge of the leather and keep the inside line parallel to the border. Basically they are a creaser that rounds. A push beader has both legs the same height to make a beadline freehand, like you'd do framing some stamping or carving away from an edge. They both have way more control in my hand than beading blades for long or sweeping lines., For tight curves then a beading blade is easier. Some push and edge beaders are pretty sharp and some are dull. Here's how I do them. I don't like a beader that is really sharp. I run a light line with the push beader or creaser on cased leather. I take a swivel knife and cut that line to an appropriate depth. Then I go back and round up the bead with the push beader or edge creaser. In my hands a sharp beader is more apt to keep cutting deeper when I go over the line to rub it up. They also tend to cut a new line and you say bad words. The duller ones stay in the track better for me. Guys that are handier than me can take a sharp one and cut and round all in one pass. They can probably ride unicycles too and I am still trying to master an exercize bike.