bruce johnson

I think ShopTalk is selling this book too.

I'd try Texas Custom Dies or one of the other die makers. They should be able to make you one up and put a handle on it.

I bought two bags and they varieid. Both had about 1/3 quilled and the rest small quills or smooth. One had several big pieces (4-5x8 or so) and a nice mix of browns and blacks with a couple of burgundy usable pieces. The other had two large pieces and lot of smaller irregular pieces. They might work for magnetic money clips. Mostly burgundy there, with a few black and less brown. For the price it seems like a good value for what I needed pieces for.

Leather Guru, Thanks for posting the pictures. I like looking at the old stuff. Kevin, Sad to report that it isn't just the handles on the knives. I have seen plastic rollers on some other new plough guages instead of brass. They just lack class and soul.

Ben, I do a variation of "A" for the ones I have done in the last few years. I sew the spine on. I do my sewing on the edges in sections. For the cover pieces I leave the threads long and then handsew back to flush with the edge of the spine piece so there is not that gap in stitching. I have tried to do it with the machine but the center presser foot can leave a mark on my finished edge of the spine that is hard to work out. Also sometimes the center presser foot can slide off that edge and leave a longer stitch there. I do a single piece cover more often and charge more for a three piece. I also do some in a two piece where the back side wraps around to the front and has the scalloped edge there.

I have noticed this also, and like Kevin I never gave it much thought. I don't know why it warms up sometimes. Maybe if I had stayed awake or attended lectures a little more regularly back in West Lafayette, I could have an answer. It doesn't seem to me that adding plain water to leather or anything in it should cause an exothermic reaction, but I have seen it too.

Bob, Any tools currently on my website that are not marked sold, I still have. I try to keep pretty current with labeling the ones sold. If you want to come on over, just give me a call and we can push some tools around. Thanks, Bruce

I did until a couple hours ago..... I get them every so often. Jeremiah Watt sells a new manufacture version, and Sheridan Leather Outfitters would be another good place to check.

FWIW, I am using IE Explorer 8 on Vista and can't see the hover deal either, just the model name comes up. I had upgraded to IE Explorer 9 and had to go back to IE 8 until they release some improvements.

Mike, It is the Multi-Purpose (green can) I think. I should be home tonight and if it is any different, I'll repost.

Mike, I have several on my website, and probably more to go on at the end of the week. I am taking off for a few days to look at some tools early tomorrow, but will be back Friday for sure.

Mike, They made two ranges of sizes. They had the single edge creasers and then they had a a larger size numbered 1-5 also that are called layer creasers. The layer creasers are probably about 3 times the size of the corresponding number of the regular creasers.

Denise, You have seen the pics from the first ride in my new saddle. It sat up about 3-1/2 fingers at the lowest pint of the gullet. Maybe 10 hours and it is down to 2-1/2.

I am very happy with my Ferdco 2000 also. My flat bed is Ferdco's version of the 1245 and like that one a bunch too. I had an Alder 205-64 that was heck of a good one too.

I get the Renia by piggybacking onto another guy's order. It comes from a shoe supply distibuter and they have a route. I have seen it for sale through other shoe supply houses on the internet. It is NOT less toxic than Barge, and actually has more smell than Barge. I use it either under the covered porch out the back or open the big door if there is a good breeze. On the few times I use it inside closed up, I mask up, do my glueing and then leave it overnight with a window open some. The guy I get mine with used to use Masters, but found this better. It does latigo pretty well. I do a lot of doubled and stitched latigo reins and it works well. I can still peel it apart to insert a popper, but it won't come apart while sewing like Barge did if you weren't paying attention.

First off, it would have gone better with mulehide or latigo. My guess is that the rawhide was still a little too damp and then didn't get pulled tight enough. As it dried it maybe thinned down some more left the standing gaps. You have to keep working the rawhide down as it dries also. Keep levering on it and you will be suprised at the amount of stretch you can continue to pull out of it. Once it dries down, it should be pretty tight. A strap sure helps them to pull tigher and lay better. This vast experience I have is based on one rawhide hornwrap for a customer who thought it would be a more durable base for rubber. My first one was loose. My second one turned out Ok. About a month later he brought it back. It was a lot slicker than he thought it would be. A few times the rubber turned on him and barked his hand apparently.

A little more from the book here now. They started building saddles in 1905 and then under their own name in 1909. The built them up until the 50s. TLM - you need to get the book. Yours is pictured and is "The Duhamel Mortgage Lifter" I mentioned above. Oregon Special tree, 8 button seat, ring rigged, and stamped in that exact pattern. They wrote they came out with it after the war and cattle took a drop. Customers were looking for something strong and durable neat looking, and at a price to compare with the prices they were getting for their cattle and stock. Since proven to be the biggest selling number they ever manufactured.

That's what I get for typing faster than I think in a hurry. I meant to type that yours is pretty different than mine. Mine is a 6 button. I'd rather ride yours. LOL. Looks like yours has a little scoop to the seat. Mine is like a ridge pole from fork to cantle. Little more swell on mine maybe too. Does yours have a ring rigging? Looks like it from the pictures. Thanks for the additional picture too. I like that spiral basket stamped ring pattern on the seat jockeys. Cool effect. I haven't seen a lot of the Duhamels around. There are a few in Don King's Museum as I recall and a couple in the High Plains at Spearfish SD.

The book is called Duhamel - From Oxcart to Television and written by Dale Lewis. Abebooks. com has a few copies under $10. I recall seeing one Duhamel saddle catalog. It is behind glass in the Don King Museum. There have to be more out there, but haven't run across any. A little more about my great grandfather. He fed cattle in southeast South Dakota. They'd put them on the train and sell them in Chicago - ate a big steak, stayed at the Palmer House, saw a show and took the train home. He fed a pen of big older steers once in while for a long time as a novelty. They were apparently huge. They called them "steamers". The steaks were huge with a big rind of fat and spilled over the plate. They were destined for the upscale dining rooms on the steamships. The horse that came with the saddle was supposed to be pretty juicy. My great grandfrather rode him to my grandpa's. Grandpa offered togive him a ride and lead the horse home out the truck window. My great grandfather figured he got him there, he'd make it home. Sold him to a guy who put on Sunday afternoon jackpot bronc ridings. That guy ended up and got Bob Barnes started with bucking horses when Bob was starting out in the rodeo contracting business. I think Barnes is still one of very few contractors to have buckers at every NFR since the beginning.

OK, here's a little of what I know. I have my great grandfather's Duhamel saddle in the living room. His came on a saddled horse with a trainload of steers from Miles City in the early to mid 30s. The Duhamel business started with the elder Duhamel freighting into Rapid City. Some kind of interesting stories there. Eventually the had a store and later generations got into having a tourist attraction cave, broadcasting concerns, and other enterprises arounf Rapid City. There is a book about the Duhamels. I don't have it in front of me and am going offf memory. As far as the store, they pretty well seemed to have everything. They traded in Native American artifacts and were a general merchandise store. It was kind of necessary visit to got to Duhamel's when my grandparents and great grandparents went to the Black Hills. I don't know for usre what year they started building saddles I want to say early part of the 1900s. I had heard they closed the saddle shop in the early 60s maybe?? They used trees from Newton Bros in Vernal UT. Intersting tidbit was one or both of the Newtons were someowhat or totally blind. They used leather from Hawaii - called them pineapple hides or something. They never serial numbered the saddles and according to the book, not even a real close estimate of how many they ever made. They were kind of known for a low priced cowboying model in the 30s called "The Mortgage Lifter". One thing when I was reading the book was the head saddlemaker they interviewed said one of their more popular saddles was an acorn border on an Ellensburg tree. It was model number 106 and they stopped building them in the early 30s. They marked the model number on the latigo carrier. SOB! The carrier on my great grandfathers saddle had torn out on one side and was tied up with baling wire. There was the number 106. I am grateful he never had it replaced. What they called the acorn border is what a lot of shopos call a shell border stamped with scalloped veiners and sunbursts. I see yours has Al Ray stirrup buckles. Not sure when they came out, but that might help to date it some also. Mine has laced leathers and word has it that Al Rays worked in the spacing of some laced leathers. The rest of the style of yours is pretty much like mine.

Bob, For what it is worth, I bevel like you did and then add a beadline border around it. Any border stamp inside just hasn't looked good to me either.

Ralph, Please post the pictures you have. I have several Blanchard plough gauges and one or two from Mayer-Flamery that are very nice also. I have a Mayer-Flamery knife too. I've gopt a few Dixon and Barnsley tools as well.

Each one of the strap cutters has an advantage. Here's what I use. For narrow straps under 5/8", I use a wooden strap cutter with a razor blade mostly. I have a good one that tracks pretty straight, they don't all do that. For straps from 5/8-1", I use a draw gauge. For anything over 1" for sure I use a plough gauge. Between the draw gauge and plough gauge, the biggest differences are torque and sometimes applications. The wider the strap, the further the blade gets from the center of pull and the torque increases on draw gauges. The plough gauge is inline with the push so no torque. I cut up to 8" strips of latigo with a plough gauge without a wiggle. Sometimes I need to put a slit in a strap. The plough gauge can feed right into it and go. The roller on a plough gauge prevents that. On the upside, that roller keeps the leather from riding up the blade. It has to feed into the blade. With a draw gauge you need to have tension to pull against. I have a "third hand" cam clamp now, but before that relied on someone to hold the strap end while I pulled against it. Without help I screwed the end of the strap down to the bench or clamped it in a vise. With the plough gauge I can push and tension as I go or with heavier leather just push as fast I can walk the edge of the bench. Plough gauges go right on the bench top. A draw gauge has to go under the leather so you usually have the leather off the edge of the bench.

I use Renia pretty much for everything. It seems a little stronger than Barge for me and tacks up quicker. If I need to stick and stay, I let it tack up. If I need to adjust and slide, I will slather it on both sides wet and go to it before it tacks. It will slide around like wet Barge and then stick once left alone. It also heat activates like Barge. I can put on a couple light coats, let it dry, and then soak the piece. Once I take it out of the tub I just pat the water off and hit it with a paint stripping gun, Tacks right back up like Barge. Better bonding on latigo than Barge too.

You kind of brought up something that a few of us have questions about. A lot of these old stamps (and even some older new maker stamps) can look pretty similar. I had an old guy who had been around think a Jusechke I had was a McMillen or that era. I've got a few CLTs that were mixed in with what look like McMillens too. Kind of the standard answer from most guys seems to be that McMillen had the most patterns of stamps and likely sold the most volume. Odds are if it looks like a McMillen, it probably is. I know some of the makers in the southwest learned from or compared to each other so they can be really similar. I guess those are probably the ones that have the most confusion between them. Is there any real definite ways to tell let's say an Eberle from an unmarked McMillen from some of the other makers? You hear about knurling, ends, shank length, shank diameter, and the the old "once you have seen a few, then you know". Any thoughts?