bruce johnson

Joe, I do light skiving for folds on straps on belt sander also. The key is a good sharp belt and it won't scorch. I like an 80 grit for that. I go to a 120 to true up my edges and remove glue boogers on lined stuff.

Joe, You can grind those toes off to however you like. Just go slow and keep them pretty cool. A guy that taught me a lot about old tools ground the toes all the way off his. As you sharpen French edgers the toes will stick out more from material being taken back on the cutting edge. Every so often just shape them back.

Sylvia, Wayne is at Sheridan and as I type my personal shopper should have already picked up a 12 oz maul that he recently started making. The list price on the 12 oz is $80 and they go up from there. I kind of think my 3# might have been $125 or so. I have had some hand injuries over the years - dislocated thumb and little finger a few times each and Wayne's handles are good for me as is. Barry's are good to grip and hit, but the butt of the handle just hits me a little different when rocking it. The Bearman I have would climb up and out of my hand. Nice maul just was tedious and rythm breaker to tip it up and let it slip back down after 6 or 7 rocks. I had the handle turned down some and it made it a lot more user friendly for me.

No real benefit to rawhide - it wears and flakes, but in the day was a good material. I still whack one every so often. It is a piece for an upcoming museum display of old leather tools. I have in the wings and if it is handy, I grab it. Another maul maker to throw in the mix is Wayne Jueschke. I prefer the head material on his the most. It is a bit grabby without being soft. Balance and handle shape are just right for me. He's the most expensive but after a hundred thousand hits on maul, hits per cost ratio is negligible between any of them.

When you said you were using the punch on a concho I guess I immediately thought you were using an oval punch, not a 1-1/2" slot punch. Yeah, it still will need to be sharpened but it will be an exercize in frustration to use a wooden mallet even on a sharp 1-1/2 punch. I use a 2# maul for my bigger slot punches. Usually one or two hits and it's cake. Now going back to the original post where you mentioned something was wider or different than the other. How far off is it? It should be symmetrical. If one end is wider, that isn't right except for a trace punch and I can be pretty assured that TLF isn't selling trace punches.

If it is an Osborne, it will be stamped on the handle. TLF may still sell a few Osborne tools, but they phased most of them out a few years ago. It sure could be one that was made for them. In eiother case if it really cones down you might need to do some serious reshaping. That will take a some profiling with a coarse stone and then finer to remove the grit marks until it looks pretty good. Follow that up with stropping if you feel the need. The edge needs to be sharp and a very slight bevel inside to prevent the edge from rolling.

Who made it? Is this a new punch? If so most of them need sharpening help, some more than others. Some of the newer Osborne oval punches have a heck of an angle on them and can bind on thicker leathers. I took a couple and really flattened the bevel and made them better. That takes a fair amount of time to make them work. Once they are sharp they ought to cut most any kind of leather without a lot of effort.

Jon, Really nice clean work. I really like the way the background sweeps over the basket stamping on the tooled one - cool effect.

Are you using any oil like neatsfoot or olive oil? Lexol? Those will help to soften things up. Casing leather for tooling and then dyeing it will sure dry and harden it.

If you want to do one stop shopping, buy the knife and maul from Barry too. For all around use, probably start with a 16 oz maul. For a swivel knife most people probably start off with a 1/2" barrel knife and a 3/8 blade is pretty versatile. Some other choices for readily available knives are Leather Wranglers, Chuck Smith ("Ol Smoothie"), Henley off the top of my head. Other choices for mauls are Wayne Jueschke (my personal favorites) and Bear Man.

Most have been hit already but I think there are a few other factors to throw in also. Mosty stirrup slots are cut a little over 3". If you use 2-1/2" leathers and push your risers or groundwork forward, you can keep that narrower leather in the front part of the slot. There is a limit though - too close to the back of the fork and it gets to be the limiting factor. The solution some have made is leave the slot where it is, order a longer seat and a higher rise in the ground seat or push on the horn to help keep you back there. Not picking on any event, just saying it has been done. Rigging plays a part., Some methods for making a dee ring rigging will limit forward movement. A dropped round ring or flat plate can be more forgiving depending on how they are patterned. Skirt riggings have the potential for the most forward swing. Fork pattern. Some forks that come pretty far down the bar can limit the forward swing some. One with leg cuts may ease that a bit. Fender pattern, especially the front of the top. Some fenders that wide at the top are going to either hit the back corner of the fork or bind against the pinching from the screw below the fork. If the pattern is one that has a fair amount of fender in front of where the stirrup leather attaches at the top, that will be a big deal. This is more of a factor they higher they are pulled up. I had a trophy saddle that had "California" spelled out across the width in big letters and three or four lines of lettering. They made the fenders wide and long enough to accomodate the lettering and that son of a gun rode straight down at best. I sold it and the buyer wanted shorter fenders. I made them with my normal pattern and rode it. It rode way better.

There are a few things I have bought that have really paid me back. One was a marriage license. The other was Bob Brenner's book - "How To Establish Price For The Saddlemaker or Leatherworker". You don't have to get hung up on the actual numbers he uses in the examples, just learn the principles. These aren't probably anything new for making anything, but his application of them to the leather business makes it more "real". After I read Bob's book I made up several worksheets to determine costs of materials and pricing that. Then allow for waste and incidentals used but not priced out like rivets, thread, finish, etc. I did time studies for my common procedurres - average time spent for a measurable unit like time cutting a piece, prepping, tooling like basket stamping an area vs. time, tooling a common floral or oak corner, length vs. time for handsewing or machine sewing, finishing based on sq/ft worked best, etc. I added the time and that is my time estimate. I still check myself every so often now and compare actual vs. the estimated time. I can add the materials and time estimate and be pretty close for something I haven't done before. Bob's book is usually listed for sale in the classifieds of the LCSJ.

Denise, I used to buy cow magnets for a quarter apiece from a skinner at the tallow works. Aaron, Good idea about the Planos. I snagged a small one from my boat and will use it to sort out the sewing machine needles.

I stick mine on an old cow magnet and then to a metal front on a shelf. For those with inquiring minds, yes that particular magnet was used.

I'm a couple hour drive from Sebastopol. I know a few guys closer to you also.

I don't know that right side vs left is a huge deal, but it was cool to hear him say that. I hadn't heard it before, and "old men are generally wise".

Sylvia hit it. Leather tends to behave like it did on the living beast. The neck and shoulders move up and down a lot while grazing. It folds easier front to back when leather. That is something I consider for planners and albums. The top of the back and the sides don't move as much and tend to be fairly firm. The hip area moves very little and is the firmest except the back edge which moved a bit as the animal walked. The belly moved with breathing and is more moldable than higher on the side. The pockets in the flanks and armpits (legpits?) moved a lot and are looser fibered and flexible. To carry it further, I had the chance to listen to one old guy. He said that for the really good stuff they would cut long straps off a right side. The left side of the cow expanded and contracted some with the filling of the rumen and they figured the fibers were a bit more flexible.

I missed this thread for a while I guess. Everyone is welcome, I was glad to do it. Tinneal, you made me test my brain. I had to go back and think what I had going on back then. It was either shoulder problems or a dislocated thumb. The shoulder was helped by my doctor with a bit of background in sports medicine. Mindless endless tedious exercises did the trick and avoided surgery. The thumb has been out a few times, but the first was the worst.

Rob, I am sure there a few different terms, but a burr or foil edge is what I am referring to. Basically taking the edge out to a feather edge. Then stropping off the bur to leave that fine edge. It is even easier for me to do a strap end punch. You can use stones or some sort of abrasive to profile the edge and then raise the burr or foil. I strop them off with a firm buffing wheel and green compound. I strop inside and out.

Not to sound like a smart a**, but it depends on how sharp you get it or how sharp you like them. Some people like them sharp enough to almost use by hand and others like a blunt edge and beat on them. Personal preference, kind of like strap end punches. It depends on the type of punch too. The thin walled maxi and mini punch tubes can sure benefit from sharpening more than they come out of the package. Get too fine an edge though and the edge collapses and rolls from not having enough material backing the edge. The drive punches have more material and I like a really fine edge. I take it out to a foil edge on a slack belt. Then I strop that off on a firm buff wheel with green compound. I take a small awl or nail wrapped with fine wet'dry paper and run it around the inside to make a light micro bevel inside the punch and remove any foil edge that flipped in. A couple times of each and I'm good. If it isn't taken out to a foil edge, there isn't much point in stropping one in my mind.

All good advice so far. When the leather tends to always move across in one direction, it is usuallyt a mismatch between the roller and the leading edge of the blade. For all intents and purposes the leading edge of the blade should be even with the dead center top of the roller. It also needs to be dead level with the roller, higher on one side will make your leather run to one side too. One less common thing that can cause that is the bevel is not consistant across the the blade. As far as chopping, one of the things that can happen with any splitter with a single roller, but more common probably on the #86. I had one a month ago that was mounted on a base with a roller in front of the splitter. You could run your leather under that and it feed up into the splitter. A really nice set up for a braider. Otherwise you need to be sure that the leather is feeding from below the leve l of the roller. You also need to make sure you are pulling at the very highest even withe the level of the roller and best practice is probably to pull below the roller level. This is the most common thing I see with a #86 chopping. The other is that sometimes you hit a harder spot in the leather and that hard spot rides right up the bevel of the blade and chops it off. I have seen a picture of at least one #86 that was modified to have a guard/hold down rod in front of the blade like a #84. It can be done.

What little I know. Back in the day the guys who stamped saddle parts in the shops were called "stamp hands" so I would have to assume that Ed Robinson was a stamper there. The guys who worked there in the heyday have mostly passed on, but I'd think someobdy has heard of Ed Robinson. I have had a few email conversations going with guys trying to get some info on IDing Eberle stamps. File marks are one of the things mentioned right after "you just know them when you see them". Hopefully these guys will weigh in here.

Please post photos. There are a few here who would have some insight.

Jon, I use machine thread for handsewn repairs and to match machiune stitching in places I can't get a machine into. You can get a little sticky wax like besswax to grab it a bit.

Now you are going to make me go look, Knut. I think I have a few tools with the shanks like that. I never thought to pull them out and look at the other end.