bruce johnson

About the only saddle related thing I do with mine is to thin mulehide horn wraps. I use it for a lot of smaller projects, but not for saddles.

Randy, I really don't have a particular like for mountain oysters but here goes. You have a better product to start with if you are getting calf fries locally. dip in milk, sprinkle with seasoning mix (Art's secret mix looks good), flour up and fry. Never take an odd number off the tray, they came in pairs and need to travel together. Because our local Testicle Festival is a public event and serves several hundred, we have to use testicles from a USDA inspected facility - that means butcher bulls, old rank butcher bulls. They are boxed and frozen. They are allowed to thaw to the point of being firm. That way you can halve them and just peel each half out of the membrane. They tried skipping the skinning one year - not good. They are diced into about 1" slices/cubes and run through a tenderizer. They are marinated overnight in red wine and fresh garlic. Next day they are breaded and fried that morning in batches and then transferred to steam trays. That is when they seem to be the best. At the big event they are reheated in the steam trays covered with foil and ladled out.

The last couple sides of HO I got were pretty crusty on the back side too. I am not sure if it is a tannery issue or a splitting problem. Most all of my stuff is lined so the appearance isn't a big deal. It was kind of hard cutting too.

"Maul poor", I like that. That is a very cool maul. Ed outdid himself yet again.

I have added quite a few tools for sale to my website. Instead of listing them all here, I'll just post a link - Bruce Johnson's leather tools for sale . There are some round knives ranging from unmarked to good oldies to good newer ones. I have some good overstitchers and some in unusual sizes too. I am also selling some Gomph round bottom edgers.

I use rope borders quite a lot. I run mine with just an outside guideline. I try to run at about a 45 degree angle. I bevel the rope, and have made bevelers from cheap Tandy stamps to match the curve of the different rope stamps I have. Just take a round stone on a Dremel and grind a curve in the toe of the stamp to match. I am attaching a few examples. One is the 90 degree corner, and how I tip to get the corner. The next is a Celtic pattern I did for a stamping deal we had here a few years ago. The only Celtic thing I have done, it was kind of fun. I forget who but someone asked me off forum a year or two ago for some help with tight curves with the rope border. I knocked one out pretty quick as an example of how I do those on a sample bridle cheek. In a nutshell I stamp a full impression on the outside of the curve and tip the stamp to do a partial and shorten up the inside. It is a little tricky to keep the angle right, but after a while you kind of get a feel for it.

Spot setters work well too, and will dome up the center.

Thinking a little inside the box here. At one of the Reno leahter shows a few years ago there was a stamp company who made embossing dies. It was a hard plastic type 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. They would do s many of a single impression or several impressions that would fit that sheet for one price. You could cut them out, attach them to a hardwood block and they got good results with a small arbor press from Harbor Freight. If a guy is taking these kinds of orders, factor the cost of the press into the intial pricing of the order to the customer. I used an arbor press for small dies for a few years. I sized up and sold it. I use some delrin and metal press plates a fair amount. A $200 shop press does that job. For the people that don't have one of these or the room for one, I would bet a little asking around will find someone you know who does. Other options are book presses or woodworkers vices.

Hello Janet, I use oil like JW too. The roughout is more porous and will absorb the oil a lot faster than the grain side. A little goes a long way. Where most people get into trouble is they apply the oil and it sucks right in. To them it is an obvious sign the leather is too dry and they add more. I use a sheepskin too, and mostly squueze it out and lightly run it over the leather. It will pull right in instead of spread like on the grain side if you have a lot on the patch. I usually use a light coating of a paste after a day or two. I have tried several, but keep going back to the RM Williams.

Can you post a picture of this saddle and then lift the jockey to show the rigging? Some of those oldies had the rings up pretty high. With some rigging designs, that running the leather through the ring was not just a bind to hold the stirrups forward some. It was almost necessary because the front atttachment for the ring was cut pretty straight with very little relief for forward stirrup movement if the leather didn't go through the ring. If the leather has to go through the ring, then a latigo knot is going to be right there too. Some styles of the ring rigging have the ring dropped more. If you ran the leathers through one that low, you'd be pretty locked. I've got a nice oldie here that is that way, and the rigging pattern has relief for forward swing. In any case a latigo knot is going to make more bulk than a buckled cinch. If it is a higher rigging, then put a dropped plate rigging like Keith said is the way to go. You could put a dropped ring in if you like that too. If it is dropped, then try a buckled cinch first.

Tom, In my experience, they aren't worth the $9.50 to buy one new. What I found was that when I punched into leather of any thickness the blades bent. The bevel on the blades was steep and the material was thick. Add in the soft metal used and they just rode that bevel and bent. Replacement blades cost 37 cents from Weavers, so that tells of the quality material used and the utmost care they must use when making them. I don't do enough spotting to justify a foot press spotter. I have a hand press and dies to fit 1/4" I use some. I still mostly use the sleeve type setters (Heritage, Weavers sell them and probably others that have a harness trade). I use them over a piece of scrap skirting. I turn over the piece and curl the prongs back to the leather with round tip jeweler's pliers to clinch. Then I set the clinch with a light tap of the ball peen hammer over the same skirting scrap to protect the heads.

Darcy, Thanks for the heads up and link again this year.

Casey. Some of the bench tools are universal and others are specific to one thing like the shoe trade. Same deal with machines too. Some people use a 12 for sewing in gussets from the side on bags, a local guy does it. There a few guys here with a lot of experience sitting or standing in front of the old machines. There are some threads already going on some of the specific ones too. Pictures are always good too.

Maybe Steve Siegel or one of the leather guys will respond. From my understanding from the boot and chap makers, they use the term dye struck or struck through for the leathers that are dyed all the way through. For overlays the gray center isn't showing on a cut edge. Also scratches don't show. I don't know if drum dyeing is the technique they for getting them all dye struck, but it seems to me a soak would get better penetration than a spray on dye.

For the Priority Mail I can print a label but since we aren't home at mail time, it is a trip to stand in line at a post office for most of what I send. I have a UPS account and it is no big deal to print a label at home then pass it off to a driver, drop it off at a UPS Store, or the UPS service center. They are all a drop and run deal rather than wait in line. Ferg is right about the UPS store fees, and the independent shipping centers are even higher. Last year I shipped a saddle and a few other things in one box to Indianapolis for the guild show. With insurance and everything, it cost about $125 going ground. For the return trip I wasn't able to print a label and took it to a UPS Store. Same packaging and contents were $235. I don't begrudge them - they are a franchisee trying to pay rent in a strip mall and earn a living. He was sitting there on a Saturday afternoon and I was glad to see him. The alternative of asking someone to handle an 80# bulky box or trust the hotel to make sure a UPS pickup driver got it was not as attractive. Everything arrived in both directions just fine. I have found that UPS website is handier than the post office for me, and their tracking for me has been much better. I still have delivery confirmation on some Priority Mail listing as not delivered from last year. They got them 3 days after I shipped. One was scanned as delivered in my hometown the day I shipped it. It was supposed to go across the country and did. Everybody has had different experiences with Priority Mail, UPS, and FedEx. I had a FedEx sit in AZ until they got a load to go to a remote location. It was delivered one day short of 30 days after I sent it. Insurance claims with the post office are not much fun and they can drag things out. I filed a claim with UPS and had a check a week after I sent the paperwork. For the small stuff replacable - Priority Mail is less expensive. Some of the bulkier things or the better stuff I care about and insure, I go with UPS.

Chris, A lot of the old timers heated their creasers. There were special lamps used under a ring or rack to heat them. I have seen the lamps once in a while on Ebay, and think there are some in the Barnsley tools being sold now. I have tried it and it gives a nice burnished effect with minimal effort. When you get the temperature right, they just glide and give a really nice darkened line. The problem was that I only had one creaser I was using it as a sacrifical tool in case the heat/time equation didn't work out so well. It took a little while to reheat and get back to temp and that slowed things down. My old buddy said they used to have a couple going at a time, and it wasn't a problem.

The frame can be cracked in several places. The legs are most common probably. Another place is on either side in the middle. Also the cradle for the bottom roller can break off underneath. Final place to look would be to make sure the top assembly is soldi to the frame. One tooth broken off the adjusting knobs is not a deal killer, but two adjacent ones is getting pretty iffy. Plenty of blade left is a plus. Make sure all the screws move. Especially check the screws holding down the blade. Make sure the top roller moves the entire range of the adjustment. I had one that the connecting rod between the two knobs was slightly bent. One knob was out of true and got a bind in it as the roller came up. Average selling price depends on condition. The range is probably from $300 to $500 for a good 10" one most days between informed sellers and buyers. As-found ones - I've seen them from $100 up, but mostly they are over $200. Once in a while you find a bargain.

To throw another iron in the fire here, total weight is not the only consideration in an maul. Balance is also a factor. For instance I have mauls from three makers. To compare between two 16 oz mauls, my Barry King is more neutrally weighted and my Wayne Jueshcke feels more heavy to the head. I use them both but prefer the BK on most tools and the WJ for small geometrics and baskets or larger surface area tools like thumbprints. I use some larger mauls too and match them to the size of the stamp.

Chris, You probably want it at one end or the other if it is a multipurpose bench. It keeps the granite further away from the dye and working area.

I see a few things with this knife. The tip is broken off the one side. The blade edge is sharpened at too steep of an angle right now. These are both easily fixed on some sharpening stones and will make this nice old knife a user for several more years. I would not attempt to reprofile this knife to a round shape. You will be taking a lot of metal off with no real gain. Tony is right about not changing it. These knives when they get this much wear still are pretty handy for skiving in tight spots and will cut a tighter inside curve than a regular round knife. Mine is getting down to the nub. If this knife hasn't been had anything done with it since the picture, I will trade you straight across for a Clyde round knife ready to use.

I'll bump this thread up and start it off. The modern calf roping saddle pretty much seemed to have evolved into a single purpose saddle. I have built exactly one new one so take that for what it is worth. It has worked out really well for me, but mostly all I do is tie some at home anymore. Several years ago I had several good ropers over for saddle tuneups and we kicked around what made a saddle good. Several things came out of that. First off the shorter seats are the deal, Your feet are more underneath you relative to a longer seat with most trees. You push up and rope with a lot less falling back or pulling yourself up coming out. Some guys are likng the cantles a little higher than they used to for that reason too. They like a wider seat than usual. That helps you to stay out on the side and not be shading to the middle. They aren't riding all day. Their impression was at that time that a wider seat helped them stay out, and also made it easier to slide the left leg over. Skirts left full, heavy leather and heavy plugs, along with doubled up seat jockeys. They didn't like a lot of forward stirrup movement. A couple guys had me put a reverse bind on the right leather to keep it from going too far forward. The dropped double dee rigging kind of works for this, but there are somne other rigging styles that are a little freer to the front. I usually position the front of my rear dee about at the front of the cantle point dpending on the tree and rigging position. They liked them behind that position some. As far as trees, the bar patterns that Jeff(?) uses at Faith have a pretty good following. Lewis trees also are popular. I am sure there are others too, but those are what I hear the most. There are a few guys on here that rope really good and hopefully they can fill in some more blanks.

I have made do with a broken headstone and a 10x20 inspection plate for a stamping surface since the start. They all sat on top of different benches and desks. They worked alright but had some bounce, not much surface area for big pieces, and no place to rest my elbow and rock the wrist. A few months ago I was given a left over piece of 1-1/4 granite countertop that was 20x26. Nice to rest my elbow, good surface area, but bouncy and loud with bigger stamps. That surface area got me serious about making a better place to stamp with an inlaid rock. We have visited several shops when we travel. It is nice to see what everyone uses. I have got some great advice from people on the lists and forums too. The biggest complaint is their benches are too small. It seemed like 28-30x30-36 is a real common size for a free standing stamping bench. I went with a 30" depth and 48" width to be able to stamp most of my stuff and not have much over the edge. The 30" depth is my reach to the back. My ergonomic guru advised a sit-or-stand height. That worked out to be 38" for me. I can have my elbow tucked in and at a 90 degree at impact with a stamp. I have a reclaimed chair that adjusts up high to be comfortable too. The rock is an 18x24 black granite surface plate from Grizzly. It weighs around 150#. Their price and shipping were way better than anyone else I checked with. It is braced underneath with 2x4s glued and screwed together and resting on four 2x6s bolted through the legs. There is a a piece of 1/2 plywood and then the rock. The rock is resting on piece of scrap leather to make it sit up a bit above the surrounding top. I looked at several surfaces for the area around the rock. I ended up and went with wood. I had a bad deal with some nail hole filler, but salvaged that part of the finish job somewhat. Other than that, I am very happy with how it turned out. It is quiet to stamp and no bounce even with a 3# maul on a big geometric stamp. The rack to hold the stamping tools is one I have had for quite a while. Stamps are sorted into green plastic containers with a small hole drilled in the bottom. They hang on pegboard hooks that have been bent up to hold the cups at an angle. The green is an easy color to see the stamps against. I use a small bock that goes on the bench and holds maybe 30 stamps in use. This rack is freestanding and portable so it can go in back or to either side of the bench.

I have pretty well tried them all. The pop bottles work alright but lack the control I need to squeeze a fine bead on zipper tape or glueing an opne pocket around the edge. A little tricky to fill (paper funnels help a lot). Ketchup type squeeze bottles are alright. The brush in the bottle containers or carboy type glue pots have stringers for me. The teflon pots with the conical top are pretty popular. You see them in a lot of shops. The problem I had besides stingers was that if the brush got knocked slightly off vertical, air got in and the glue went bad. Everyone else's mileage varies on these. About 2 months ago I got the chance to try a Kabi glue pot loaned to me by a buddy who has worked in a few shops. It has an oil can type pump that pumps glues through the brush. No stringers, good control for fine work, and goes like a bandit on big areas. A squeeze now and again and just keep spreading. It is at least twice as fast as squeezing from a bottle, setting the bottle down and using a patch/leather scrap/credit type card to to spread the glue. I don't end up with glue on my fingers. You recap the brush when not is use. At the end of the day dip the brush in solvent and clean it. You put a little solvent in the cap and replace it over the brush to store it. The mouth is pretty big and easy to refill. The unit cost me $55 and I ordered a spare brush and cap for $17. They don't give them away, but well worth it for me. My impression is that I am using about half as much glue and getting more even coverage than before. A person will have to decide if they are doing enough glueing to warrant it.

First off, there are a few people who can do a lap on an 86. Some have made a ramped jig and some dial and pull s-l-o-w-l-y. To do a decent lap with a splitter, you need a handled one like an old Osborne 84, Spittler pattern, or I can do decent with moving the lever on a Krebs. I don't think a crank splitter is very handy for laps either. I use a crank skiver a fair amount, but for the precise work you need on watch bands, still not the tool. The bookbinders crank skiver (Schaar-Fix?) might work alright for what you are wanting. I sent mine back and never tried it for that. I don't think any of the safety skivers or super skivers are all that consistant either. I do my best laps with a sharp knife. A round knife works alright, and I have a few skiving knives I really like. I like the flat blade skivers a lot. I just got a Vergez-Blanchard with a handle that is fast becoming my first grab.

Ideally there shouldn't be any dents in the rawhide behind the fork, it should just make a nice transition down to the bars. If you use risers, they should take care of any small dents there. As far as the back of the cantle - any dents or puckers there would be harder to deal with. Anything that is pulled up will make it harder to fit the rear jockeys in there tight. Is there a little rawhide lace to help keep the rawhide pulled down in there?