bruce johnson

The only ones I have dealt with are a single cast piece. Weavers sell them and as I recall they call them halter bolts. I had to unstitch the leather to replace them on the ones I did.

Noah, You have a bigger version of the Landis than the one I used to have. The Landis I had was a 6" and I didn't know they made the 30 in anything else. I mostly use the Krebs (Randall version) to split. Mine has a scant 8-1/2" wide cutting edge on the blade. The Krebs can be used to skive if you move the lever as you pull the piece. I have tried it a few times, but I like an Osborne 83 for doing long skives. The push on the handles/pull on the piece action is more natural for me. For shorter laps I use a crank skiver or knife.

Noah, I have some of the same problems as Kevin with some latigo and what little bridle leather I have used. On the handcrank I think the roller pressure compression is the problem, along with softer leather wadding up being pushed into the blade. I have avoided this a little by starting some strips through with the crank and then pulling them to finish. I have had Americans and they feed from the back so you can start and then freewheel pull them. I'd think you could maybe try that on the Landis if you can get around to the back. These were designed for sole leather and shine with firmer stuff. If your splitter is working with the other stuff, I'd hate to mess it up backing off the pressure to split some softer leather. I have better luck with the softer stuff with a pull through splitter like a Chase style or Krebs. On the other hand, temper my enthusiasm for splitters, I really like them.

Randy, First off - my background to answer the email question. One great grandfather was a cattle feeder. One great grandfather was a livestock dealer and packer buyer. One grandfather was a dairy farmer. My other grandfather fed cattle and had mother cows. Two uncles are/were packing house cattle buyers and my dad was a hog buyer. We worked our way through school in a union meat packing plant. My brother stuck with it and is a PhD meat scientist. I went to vet school. We have horses, and cattle most of the time. My son is an auctioneer and works 4 days a week or more at cattle auctions. We pretty much know where stuff comes from and what happens to it. Randy, I'd like to think that the target customer population just exists in California but unfortunately I don't think so anymore. This slaughter free leather as I see it would be for the small segment of the population that has a moral issue with slaughter, but not the products of them once dead. They don't have to share my views, just buy our leather products. That is a very tiny market segment overall, but one that is probably there. However the people who sympathize with this is not. (Congrats to Ohio voters for just passing a sane livestock handling initiative - good shootin'). There are a lot of people who are 3 generations from the farm. Grandad went to town to work after WWII and meat has come in a package, the only thing that died they have seen is a dog, and leather is in the store. They know where it comes from, and sort of think they know how it got there. A few well placed ads from animal groups - some legit and some not, and a few high profile people denouncing animal cruelty, anthropomorphism, and it is easy to see why these people have the thoughts they do - right or uninformed. These people are not the majority, but there is more of them than there used to be. A few may be talked to and have a reasonable discussion. It seems like reasonable discussions in the media turn into who can talk over who on the news channels, and to quote a higher profile spokesperson for the livestock business - "They are just as narrow minded as we are". If some of these people will buy slaughter free leather and pay a price knowing that it wasn't harvested or whatever the latest PC term is now, great. I don't think for a minute that this is an effort by Siegels to push an anti-animal cruelty agenda with this project. It is filling a small niche market with a niche product. Whether the customer base is enough to accept it and make it worthwhile is something time will tell. I'd like to think the rancher did get some economic benefit from the animal but the fact is, he probably paid to get rid of that animal and lost money. That is a reason some of us have a bonepile and coyotes for recycling purposes. Slaughter free is not a profit center for anyone I know in the livestock business. It is a way for processors to recoup costs and be profitable. Ag producers are one of the few businesses that buy their raw materials and equipment at retail and sell their finished product at wholesale. Another topic though. Off the soapbox.

Yep, good points for the average leather worker's customer. With my background I don't share a lot of the same views of some of these folks that have a PILE of disposable income. I can see where it would appeal to those who are about three generations from the farm, don't have the same background on animal utilization I do, and want something unique. If I had that clientele or thought I could get them, damn straight I'd be using it. I am mercenary enough to hope it sells well. Someone will take their money, might as well be a guy I know. It is just wrapping up a product and marketing it in a whole new way. More power to the guys who thought it up, and to the guys whose customers will seek it out, feel better about buying it, and pay makers the premium price.

Tucker, I wear about an 8-1/2 glove for what that is worth. It makes a difference for me to have more control with a bigger barrel than the quicker action of the smaller barrel. I have one of the thinner ol Smoothies, 3/8" I think. It was alright until I had some hand injuries that made it hard to grip something that small. I slid one of those rubber pen sleeves over it and my Barry King. They work for me now, and are my first grabs. I have one of the biggest ol Smoothies, I think it is 5/8 with a 1/2" blade. I like it for running long straight lines. When you can bury a lot of blade edge into the leather and have that big barrel, it just wants to track truer for me.

Thanks for the replies. I saw another picture on their site that really didn't fit with anything else. A very well done and kind of distinctive tooling pattern along with some finish details that again were distinctive. I emailed who I thought probably did it, and it was his. In a simple twist today I get an email from someone on one of the leather forums asking if I know how to do a briefcase like is on a third guy's site. Damn if it doesn't look familiar, and yep, there it was on the "weasel" site I had been looking at. I am beginning to wonder if there is anything listed they have actually done. On the plus side, they have stolen from some of the best. They have good taste.

If I want anything off the back page of the menu, Rundi still has to order for me. Forty nine here, so I guess that makes me 343 in dog years.

Here's the deal, one of my friends has something he made and has for sale on his site. It is his style, his work, his picture background. I know because I check out his site from time to time and it has been there for a while. Another site based within the US is advertising handmade custom gear and at least one of the pictures they represent as their work is his exact picture. They didn't try to photoshop another background in or anything, it is his picture. I know that copying is the best form of flattery and all that, and it is impossible to duplicate someone else's work exsactly. The issue I am coming up with is this a legal deal? worth pursueing if it is? Just an example of some riding the coat-tails of someone they feel must be better than their work, or they'd have their own picture up there?

Sorry, no mention of the Montezuma Sons in Graham's guide that I have.

Kevin, I assume this is a knife used for leather. It is hard to tell if the top edge has been sharpened. In fact hard to tell if the whole knife has ever been really sharpened. I would think with the long belly of the blade it will track pretty straight and would be a strap cutting or straightening knife. Turn it over and it would cut curves. I had one email from someone who saw a whipmaker use a knife like this. I had another email that it was a variation of a bridle cutters knife. Nobody has ID'd the maker yet. I am pretty sure someone mentioned the M/hammer/F logo here sometime in the past, but I am not finding it. Regarding the lino knife. I haven't tried that, but my favorite hook blade knife is $5 grape cutters knife from the surplus store. It holds an edge like nobody's business. I haven't seen a 12" round knife yet, I think the biggest was just a bit over 7".

Denise, You have found the equine version of www.peopleofwalmart.com.

I picked up a pretty cool looking knife yesterday. Looking at some old catalogs I can see the pattern is the same as the Enchancree knife that Vergez Blanchard makes. The maker stamp on this one has an "M" on the left side of a hammer silhouette and an "F" to the right. It rings a bell with me that someone mentioned who this maker was in the past, but not finding it right now. Any help is appreciated is appreciated as to maker. Also, any personal experience with this style of knife is a bonus to us all.

Truer words have not been said for a while. I know zippo about cue cases, but if you inserted names of holster makers, saddlemakers or whatever and referred to them, it would be universal no matter what our baliwick is. The cue case making deal looks like a pretty tight market, and coming up with something innovative is no doubt going to be copied. With the apparently limited number of makers, appropriate credit is a bigger deal for customers in a smaller market. In a bigger niche it is more common to hear "Who taught you to do that?" from another maker than from a customer. Pretty much every maker I have been around has been very helpful with sharing and most all of them pass on who they learned it from.

CD, That is a Landis 1. I'll leave to those more knowledgable about how it performs.

Shoe guys use them to drive nails.

Victor, Great to see your work again. That is some kind of cool.

After a few different layouts, it is still a work in progress but overall - pretty happy. Just enough space to heat and air condition easily. The lighting is good. Tons of electric outlets. The move around space is good. With this layout and storage it is a lot neater than it used to be. Tools are organized and put back. Good amount of storage for scraps and sides. Stall mats on the floor - easier on me and and dropped tools. Minor frustration factors- 1. I recently moved the tooling bench out of the cubby hole and into the center. Now to build a bench so the rock is inlaid. Design so it will be stable, no bounce, I can get my legs in under it and not be too high? How big? New rock or square up mine? 2. I need to close in the ceiling. 3. I know my music and poetry CDs better than the folks doing it. I ought to get a CD player with "shuffle".

I keep looking at the picture you posted of the tip. Granted it is out of focus on the tip, but it looks to me like someone just laid it down and ground the front of that leg flat. No way it will work like that. I use that groover a fair amount, and it works pretty well. I would get a new blade and try that first.

I use clipped off lino or escutcheons too.

A few things I see. The seat profile looks very good, it ought to ride well. the lines look pretty good and pretty flowing. There are a few little construction things sticking out to me. It looks like there is a gap at the right cantle ear cut. Also I would rub down the marks where the awl barked the bottom piece of the horn cover. Some spit on a thumb ought to correct that. On the tooling design The flowers look pretty good. I would work on taking out any straight lines in the stemwork. I would carry my swivel knife cuts further down and into the stemwork also, and then set a few muletrack stamps deeper and then fading at the major stem separations.

Frank, The ones being referred to by Pete and Celtic are made by another company than the one you probably have. They are made kind of locally here from hardwood and I never really have heard anyone with a complaint about them. There are some being sold not made by them, and may not be hardwood. I bought a few of them on sale thinking I could just leave them set to specific widths. I had a couple that the blade was not parallel with the handle and they tracked in or out. From your description, I suspect that is what you have. I haven't used the metal version other than to try it at the TLF store. Here is a link I found to the company that makes the original - The Original Strap Cutter. There is phone number and if they can't sell direct they can probably tell who carries them.

Russ, I like the colors. The drop shadow look on the leg shields is pretty cool. The hardware looks like it may have come from my fellow townfolks here?

Another way that metal loop irons are used is for fixed loops. One way to put them in is to sew down one side of the strap with the loop open. The other end of the loop is then sandwiched between the lining and top of the bridle parts. The loop iron is put into the loop and can be like an anvil. You can staple or clinch against it.

This is a dual rigging plate. This type of plate gives the rider some latitude in where the cinch hangs. The latigo can be strung on the front slot and run back through that to make it a "full double rigging". If you hang it on the back slot and then run everything through there, it may be a 3/4 rigging position. To add another twist - string it on the front, run it through the cinch and then back to the rear slot to hang the cinch between the two positions - making it a 7/8 position. Some folks like the split position because it makes a smaller lump under the leg.