bruce johnson

I have question about the Dale Martin saddles after Equibrand took over. I have a relative looking at one with the Greenville stamp on the carrier and cantle back. The seat plate says "Martin Saddlery". It is supposed to be 5 years old, and memory is kind of telling me that is right about when Equibrand bought them. Does anybody know how the newer ones are marked? Thanks,

Even where you get the water makes a difference. The closest hose bib outside my shop freckles up my leather. I am sure it is from rust in that pipe and faucet. I have to bucket water from the kitchen to fill my drowning tub. Water from there hasn't freckled.

Tim, Replied elsewhere too, but I think it is iron spotting to come on that fast. Try oxalic acid or lemon juice and see if that makes them go away. If it is mold, I am biased here, but the listerine in certain casing mix is there to prevent mold. I have also used ProCarve and eliminated a mold problem in my old shop. The ProCarve has an antifungal too.

Richard, I have both stamped and carved lettering into roughout trophy saddles a little bit. The big key for me was to get a good amount of moisture into the leather to get deep pentration. Then do the work when it was more to the dry side than maybe you would would if you were working on the grain side. This was one of those places I think ProCarve really was my friend.

I got my Billy Wootres pattern book and pack from Paul and Rosa at Leather Wranglers. Best pattern pack I have. The patterns are line drawings, with notations on some, sketching flowers and flows, and a boatload of patterns. There are some pictures of the finished work, and it is inspirational. Well worth the money to me and many thanks to everyone involved in making this available. Here's the link - Billy Wootres patterns .

Troy, I have had a Dozier for coming up on two years. It does a have nice thin blade and is a great knife. I bought a 4" Gomph this summer as a general user and 6" Gomph for a skiver. They are all made from D2. The Gomphs have a little meatier blade, but a longer taper than most of the other new knives I see around.

Geoff, From Bob Douglas or Barry King, probably a #2. From Jeremiah Watt, a #0. For straps I like more of a half round edge vs, the corner knocked off and the side being straight through the middle.

Tim, A while back I bid on a Crown Royal bag quilt at a benefit auction and now this. Nice idea, and you can justify making more from the environmental angle. Just think of all those bottles who would languish in some landfill. Good idea, and tip of the hat to your creativity for the project and your taste in raw materials. Cheers, Let 'er buck!!

The listerine has thymol which has antifungal properties and helps prevent mold. I have used it for (forgive the semantics Bob)"quick casing" on little things out of thinner leather and it does alright. I have used Procarve and my feeling is that the Procarve penetrates a little faster. That makes sense, since the Lexol probably slows the absorption a bit over just a surfactant like the Procarve. My other impression is that Procarve will evaporate faster too though.

I am pretty hard to shop for leather wise. I pretty much have what I need to get the job done. The only things that really interest me much now are a unique new stamp, an old tool with history, or creature comforts for the shop. I traded my son back pickups and found my black gold Resistol and harmonica....I guess I'll just ask Santa for some hippo or another pink shirt or two now.

In a word, "no". I have not had problems with any finish or dye after casing with this mix. I had problems with dye on some of the other formulas I have tried - never with this. All of my stuff has had additional NF added to it before I finish anyway, so a little Lexol in the case is no concern. I finish with Tankote, Bagkote, and Leathersheen. Not sure how true it is, but guys have written on some of these forums that one of the "fat liquors" used to treat the leather in the tanning process is the same as Lexol. It already may have some in it to begin with.

Mike, Here's a link that should get you there - Don Kingg/Walt Fay stamps

The Fay tools were made by Walt Fay, Clint's father. My buddy has an enviable set of tools from several makers. The Walt Fay tools are some of the best he has. The Ebay description says that Walt retooled a lot of old Craftools and that may be true. When my friend spent time with him, Walt used bolts for the blanks for the stamps he made him.

I guess I don't know that here is a huge difference only beveleing the edges in one direction. If you edger is sharp enough, it ought to be slicing the fibers off instead of laying them over too. I use bisonette edgers a fair amount. My wife really likes them, and having the front edge serves more for training wheels and a guide than a cutting edge 99% of the time. I used to be a big fan of the round bottom edgers, but they can dang sure scoop or get under some thin lining and make you say words you didn't learn in Sunday school. I still like them a lot, but am using the bisonettes more often. They are a little tricky to sharpen. What I do is wrap a piece of very fine wet/dry sandpaper aroung whatever I have to make the right curvature. Usually I use nails. You have to watch the angles a bit and be careful not to get into the edge on the opposite side. I strop on the edge of a piece of skirting I have rounded over to the right curvature. Not all of the bisonettes are created equal. My favorites are from Bob Douglas and Barry King.

I have seen pictures of theirs and like it. I use a 20 ton shop press similar to their mannual one (both are red). They have the top plate fastened to the crossbeam that the jack sits on. That would be an advantage. With mine I put a piece of scrap cold roll steel big enough to cover the die and the ram presses on that. It is one more step to put the scrap on the die and center it under the ram. Their price is sure fair enough. What I would spend in time and money to make a fixed top plate, The TCD one is less expensive. The $1000-2000 plus difference between a press and a clicker buys more dies. Contrary to first impressions , these shop press setups really are pretty alright unless you are in serious production. About 3-4 cranks on the handle will go through most heavy leather, let off the jack pressure enough to slide out the die and cut piece and slide another in. The only distance you really have to allow for is the thickness of the leather and the allowance to get under the top plate or ram. You don't have to let the jack go all the way up and start over each time. No adjusting for different die heights.

I believe he may cry harder when it bends or breaks on about the, oh, 14th impression.

Elton, Looks like lots of room. I see you have the cushioned floor squares too. It only took me about 4 years to get mine done. Shop is looking good, and so is the work coming out of it. An eight by eight table is only a dream, WOW. Greet Candace, Bruce and Rundi

I am a bit interested in the Damascus as well, but haven't heard if the stores got them in yet. They were hoping November, but I haven't heard of anyone getting one yet. I kind of figured somebody would pop for one and give a testimonial either way with this many people on the forum if they were out. The modern Osbornes are not the Osbornes of old. The old Rose knives are a peach when you can find them. If I was looking at spending $75 for a knife, I'd add $15 more to it and order a Gomph from Lonnie. Best knife bargain going I think and they aren't making any more of them.

It really all comes down to personal preference. I like the tapered mauls in the heavier sizes for larger baskets and geometrics. I don't have to lift my arm as high to hit the stamp square. I use a 12 oz and 16 oz for most other stamps, and they are straight mauls. I tend to hover over those stamps a little more and so the higher motion is not the factor with the lighter mauls. I use my 16 oz the most for general tooling.

There are quite a few people here on the forum who use silver from Hansen's. They just had their site redone and pretty much everything they have is on it. It makes it nice for customers to look at and pick out a style. As far as I know they are still wholesale only, but they have a list of dealers on their site. They are really good people to deal with and are a family run business. Here's the link - Hansen's Western Gear

I am with Andrew on the HSBT beveling wheel. It has a checkered pattern and lays that down. It will not bevel as deep as an oscillating handpiece or using a mallet or maul, but for long runs like next to bead lines or lightly laying down a cut line, it looks good. I also will drag a steep beveler through a cut line to round over a square cut edge. A checkered beveler gives a little more burnish than a smooth beveler.

Lisa, Hansen's have several patterns of iron/silver with the cross. Here is a link ot their new website, which I just saw for the first time about 5 minutes ago. - Hansen's Western Gear. (My favorite is the San Martin cross).

Clair, I've got Dixon blades in mine, and I keep them sharp-sharp. Kind of like a round knife, when I start hearing the cut, it is time to strop. As far as the new knife matching up, Chris Williamson from Dixon joined here a short while back. Hopefully he can answer that.

The 511 and Barry's #3 lined center basket I have are pretty much the same size.

Tim, I'll respond here, and it it takes off, we'll make a new topic and move it. Both of the point knives are Watt's. One I bought outright and the other was in silent auction basket I bought to get some other tools. They are alright. I mainly use them to skive a little if I don't get enough undercut on my cantle ear cuts. Maybe a little trim here or there in a tighter spot. They don't get enough use to really test them, and I really can't even justify having two. I just ended up with them both.