bruce johnson

Good Picture Josh. Last night we drove down to Visalia and saw Dave. I'd have to say one of the best times we have seen him. A great mix of songs, he did "West of Laramie" for me (again), and trotted out several new songs. There are some good ones in the pipeline.

Biggest PIA orders I deal with. I don't put a makers stamp on mine anymore because I don't want anyone to know I occasionally cave in and do them. Basically get an idea of the bottle sizes they are carrying and use those for a pattern. Most of the time mine have the bottles and syringe carried on the left and a normal saddle pocket on the right. It never fails, they swear they only pack two 250 ml bottles of whatever. They carry a 30 cc syringe. You make them up and all is right with the world. For a week. Then they decide to pack a 100 ml Banamine, a 100 ml Baytril, and a 250 NuFlor. They expect you to just change out pockets and make them fit. Oh yeah, they are using some 12 cc syinges now too, add a pocket for that. I did a set for a guy who had 2 100s, a 250, and a 500, plus a 30 ml and 60ml syringe, and a balling gun on the left side. On the right was a pocket for boluses and tags, tagging pliers holder, fence plier holder, and a holder for two colors of chalk. When I was done it looked the garage pegboard with tool outlines like old guys do. He went to a different tag system a month later and the pliers pocket was too small. TDB. A few warnings. Make the bottle pockets so they can turn the bottles right side up when they are not doctoring. Once the rubber stoppers get hard and they shove a few 16 ga needles through them, a lot of expensive medicine can be lost a drip at a time hanging there. Those little needle pockets look nice, but don't last very long, they get hard and the needle covers get stuck inside. Elastic "bullet loops" for boluses hold the elasticity for about a month. Then the boluses all fall out on the ground. Make the pockets slightly oversized so they can tape the bottle with duct tape and newspaper before they stick it in. That makes it easier and safer to get the broken bottle out when the horse slams the bag against the door jumping in or out of the trailer or squeezing through a gate. Best piece of advice - sell them on the virtues of a cantle bag.

Hansen's sell direct if you have a resale number. Weaver also stocks a limited amount of their conchos, and several shops stock their silver. For me, they are just across town, so I can pick up whatever I need that way. They have a new website, and here's the link - Hansen Western Gear .

Another vote for Hansens.

I have a similar old one by a different maker I got in a set of tools last fall. It is not as versatile as a round knife. Where it shines is long sraight lines. All that belly of the knife in the leather will really make it track. Lay it over at an angle and all that blade on the glass makes it a good skiving knife. I ended up and did sharpen the top forward edge of mine to see how I liked it for curves. I didn't. I either like to push a round knife or pull with a hook blade knife with more hook than this one.

It depends on how much you plan to use it, what kind of leather, and how much you want to spend. If I could only have one or was buying new - it would the be the Keystone from Campbell Randall. It is a twist handle model like the Osborne 84. That style is the most versatile. I like splitters a lot, and here's a link to some of the oldies I have and some explanations of them - Old Splitters Each of these kind of have a special area they shine. If I could only have one it would be the Krebs style I guess. Second would be a Chase. Third would be a crank skiver for laps or a Spittler or twist handle for longer laps.

Paul Krause will know for sure. I am thinking it is a variation of a Star welt knife. That is what I have seen it called when I was going through a boot shop a while back.

Constructively, I like mine with two different types of grooves. My favorite is one that has a full 180 degree arc in the groove, not so much of a "V" as some of your grooves. It gives a round edge top to bottom. The other one I like has a 90 degree arc then a flat spot then another 90 coming out. The edges that result from that one are more of a just rounded over look. I don't use points much, but when I do, something like the Weaver design works well. I usually use an old chewed up one of those by hand. It has two diameters with a step down.

I don't think I have seen anyone retailing Weaver's own line of tools or chemicals. About everything they sell is available directly from the maker or from other retailers. If you want one of Weaver's own products, probably the best way would be to put the word out or let some who regularly buys from Weaver know. They could piggyback your stuff to their order.

Josh, Good job, buddy Sounding like a broken record again, but I am really amazed at your progress. Congrats on these and looking forward to seeing the rest of what you are making for them.

Another good one, JW. I like that pattern a lot, and you pulled off another one that can give me fits sometimes. I see you are a fan of latigos on both sides too.

I've seen them sell from $5 to $35 or so. You grip them about like a pen, but that is about as far as it goes. I borrowed one when I had a hand injury a few years ago. I think there is a bigger learning curve than a swivel knife. The cutting tip swivels, so the actual tip is out on the end. It is like pulling a long trailer that cheats on turns. You have to make an exaggerated movement to keep the tip on the line on curves. It does large curves and straight lines alright. By the time I got pretty adequate with the one I was using, I was healed up. It got me by in a bad spot, and I appreciated that.

Scott, I do figure 2-1/2 sides per saddle, and that allows for things like a breast collar too. I can usually find some fillers and ground seat pieces in the scrap bin and use two sides. That figurees into two sides plus some. For a guy without the scrap bin, you probably will need to start with three sides and generate your own. The Bill Gomer DVDs are sold by Hidecrafter and Weavers. I am not sure if Bill sells them directly. Harry Adams book is sold by his daughter. One of them was selling it for a while, and I think I read that now his other daughter took that over. Here's a link I just found -Harry Adams Book .

I would agree with the Stohlman and Harry Adams books as pretty much a given. Bill Gomer's DVD is pretty good, but Jeremiah Watt's is more complete with more "Here's why you do this" along with the "Here's how you do this". Dale Harwood's DVD is very good, but assumes experience already. One thing I would add to your list of materials is at least another side of skirting. You will get into it.

Harvey, I make my outside first and then do the insides.

Good design Mark. I really like how that borderline becomes the stem. Clean job all the way around.

Finding out a little more about your splitter today. Landis did make a similar one, and thoughts are it predates the Landis 30. There is one of the old Landis style crank splitters on Ebay with a bunch of pictures. Other than the bottom frame casting, it looks pretty similar. Here is the Ebay listing link - Landis Splitter on Ebay . The Landis 30 and the Americans I have had all were similar and have two set screws that go down through nuts on top to level the top roller. The other views of the Landis on Ebay doesn't show anything like that. I have heard from a few guys in the past that most of the crank splitters were factory set that 6 oz equivalent was zero. They were set up to split and level shoe soles. To go thinner for other use a guy either cranked down the set screws on the adjusting bar or replaced them with longer screws if they were too short. He suspects there must be some way to adjust the top roller or make it go thinner. Most all of the other crank splitters had a way to adjust the top roller height for wear, but he just can't recall on the style you have. ShopTalk might have a manual, and Campbell-Randall might be someone to contact also.

I am with Jeff. I use tinsnips on the bogger skins, and those EMT safety/seat belt cutting scissors on the ones with little beads. I cut with the flesh side up. If you cut through these beads, some can be as sharp as cut glass and I have bled. You can gind them somewhat smooth with a Dremel and sanding drum.

Harvey used a block stamp from Wayne Jueschke on that one. It is Wayne's #123 stamp.

I haven't seen one of those before. I would suspect that two of those screws on top are used to adjust the top roller in relation to the blade. If you screw them both down, it should close that gap some. As far as rebuilding, it shouldn't be a big deal to remove the blade to sharpen and strop it. The rest of the machine looks pretty clean. Unless you have a burning desire to take things apart I wouldn't. I'd use some steel wool and brushes on a Dremel to clean the rollers in place.

Bill, It sounds like you are describing a Burgess VibroTool. They show up on Ebay every so often and some people have reported some pretty good results. Being an electrical tool from a few decades ago, at least a couple got a pretty good charge out of theirs too.

Anybody recognize this one - 180474447321 ? It looks kind of familiar to me. The work looks better than his ranch cutter. Looks like it may have a different maker stamp format than the ranch cutting saddle he has listed too.

They had health problems near the end, and couldn't do all they wanted to.

Dianne, There used to something listed in LCSJ called the SpeedStamper. Basically it is a rotary shaft tool with an oscillating handpiece. They haven't advertised for quite while and my not be in business anymore, but you can buy handpieces and rotary shaft motors several places. The nice thing about that handpiece is that most any stamps I wanted to use would chuck right into it.You just apply downward pressure and it starts jackhammering the stamp. As it does that, just push it along. I got it a few years ago when I had rotator cuff problems and there were only so many hits at a sitting. The SpeedStamper was a lifesaver at that point. I could do most all of my beveling with it, and save myself for the single impression stamps. Beadlines were a snap. One guy told me he could use pear shaders pretty well with it also. I am sure checking around, you could find one like they used to make up the SpeedStamper. There are other systems used (the Graver systems for silver) that guys use and have the stamp shafts machined down. I have Jeremiah's wheel beveler and it is alright for long runs too. I developed some wrist problems with push beaders and bevelers, so those kind of tools aren't real user friendly to me anymore if I need to apply much pressure.

Slick, I would have to agree with Bob's numbers now for most professional and semi-professional toolers using mauls. It seems like talking to some old guys, the sticks were pretty popular. I use mauls mostly like you describe with the rocking wrist, but will use one sort of like hammer on bigger stamps and punches. I have mauls in wieghts from 14 oz to 3#. To compare between two makers, I have 1 and 3 pounders from both Wayne Jueschke and Barry King. Wayne's have more weight to the head end and drop heavier.I have a 1# from Bearman, and his is between the other two guys balance wise. On the bigger block stamps I was using the 2# and having to put more oomph behind it and sometimes two hits per impression. Last fall I got a 3# from Barry, and it makes a big difference - less double striking and overall less fatiguing. I just got a 3# from Wayne last week and it falls even heavier. Which maul I choose depends on stamp size and shape, and how cased the leather is for the effect I want. As far as material, the rawhide wears and flakes. Barry and Ed use a white plastic material for the head. Barry grooves his and Ed doesn't. I have used the tar out of Barry's and the grooves wear flat. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me when they do. Wayne uses a tannish plastic for the heads on his. I have used his a ton too, and they don't seem to wear. You will hear guys tell you that you need to grind the shank on the off the rack stamps to have square edges on top for the maul head to "grab" the stamp. I have several Tandy and modified stamps I use and haven't squared them. I don't see any difference with them staying in my hand.