bruce johnson

Are the ProCrafters the dark colored ones that Hidecrafters sells/sold?

I am with Chris on this. Bob Brenner's book "How to Establish Prices for the Saddle Maker or Leather Worker" is the absolute best $40 I ever spent. Don't get hung up on his prices in the examples, use the principles and make up some worksheets to figure your own.

Richard, I had someone ask me a few months ago about contacting him too. The spelling is Clay Hamil. The only info I could find for contact was that he was in Montalba Tx and phone number - (903) 549-2384.

Bob, Tying always looked kind of cool, and I'll bet it is a rush to be in the middle of it. Glad to get a second on the strap. I figured that was it, but then my buddy has a picture from a warmup pen where the guy had splint boots hanging on it. I am claiming victory now, even though it may be a dual purpose strap.

Kevin, I WIN!! Crown for me. That was my bet. Thanks. I go back to the string on the dees and tuck it under the breast collar days. Coolest second loop I ever saw was at the NFSR in Laramie in '83. I think that was the last year they had it there. All Roy Cooper had to do was catch in the last round for the average and the year end, and mailed one from the line about 27 feet and missed. He had the second rope up and going before the first one lined out. Snagged with the second loop and I think still placed in the round. Haven't got the tack collar done yet. He is supposed to get his buddy's dad's old tack collar and bring it over for a pattern.

I got this in a few days ago for some replacement tugs. The question a couple of us have it what is the narrow strap for on right side of the front? Hang splint boots off? Inquiring minds here....

I had a colt buck around with me, felt the "pop" and figured I had pulled my groin again. You do it once and it is never the same. Got him stopped and grabbed the fence and let him walk out from under me. When I went to take a step I felt the bones shift there in the middle and knew it was kind of a bad deal. I had broken my pelvis still in the saddle kind of like Don Butler did. It took a while to heal up, and I went back to starting some colts, but never had that "spark" to push one. About a year later I had one long trotting out on a levee by a rice field. A pheasant flew up, colt grabbed his ---, and I made about 3 jumps - each one a little looser. I hit the ground like a sack of rocks. When I got some air, got up, and could walk, I felt like King Kong. Nothing broke, and the confidence was back.

I am posting this reply under duress. Someone who has seen my shop wants everyone to know I did not always have a cool looking Barry King glass slicker. I will be outed if I don't show it. I started off with a wooden one, and broke it. Hearing the old tale about cocobola dust being toxic I followed EPA/OHSA/HazMat protocol and properly disposed of the pieces. I have since been informed that is not necessarily the case. Looking around the shop (and keeping with the title of this thread) I found an old piece of LDPE cutting board. I cut a slab, ran the router around 3 sides to round it over. The router actually left a nick free smooth edge requiring no additional buffing or anything. It really worked pretty good and I drilled a hole to hang it up. I was always going to get around to making one from new cutting board that didn't have punch holes and dings on it, but never did. It has character. I used it exclusively a good 3-4 years, and still do for some stuff. It is good for swell covers. If you hit a nail or tack and ding the edge, just run the router around or run it over a 120 grit on the bench top belt sander and back to work. I use the glass one on the carving leather, but the plastic one still gets used some if it is handier.

I wet my leather and slick when it is still carrying some moisture but not quite to "tooling dry" look. Too wet and it mushes around, and too dry and it burnishes. I will push the slicker ahead of me in all four directions. I use a light pressure and maybe increase as I go. Just depends on the firmness of the leather. Too hard on soft leather and you can push a wrinkle ahead of you and that's no good. Some guys pull first, and then push as the leather compresses.

Steve, The "chrome elk" is 7/8 cow side. It is a very light gray/almost white color. The color is supposed to be very consistant, unlike some of the pearl apron splits I get that vary from steel gray to blue to white.

I have had Chinamans made out of three different materials. The original was latigo, and Darc is right about the soap and water to bleed out the excess dye. I retired it when I made one out of pearl apron split to use on those wraps. Soap them up good and they slick down pretty well, and have a lot of tensile strength. Ended up and got some dye on it last summer when everything got moved out of the shop, and I made one out of a horse butt. That was good but finally tore a few weeks ago. My new one being made in the next few days should be the ticket. I am making it with "chrome elk" from Sheridan Leather. It is not elk, but is a full grain pearl apron leather. That should prevent the dye rub off problem. I have been looking for this leather for at least 3 years. Nobody seemed to know what I was talking about. I first saw it on a bronc saddle and wondered what that leather was on the bottom of the seat that was not worn out. I called Broken Arrow and he told me it was full grain pearl apron that he got several years ago. Yesterday at Elko, there it was in Vandy's display. BTW, it is reported to make really dandy hornwraps too.

Here is my take on the Elko show. There are about 20 vendors here, and the site is very well laid out. Attendance seemed to be steady this morning for a Friday show in a cow working area. The show continues tomorrow. Seemed to be several folks packing out leather and sacks with smaller items. We did both. A few notables are four sources of stamps and tools - Barry King, Wayne Jueschke, Lonnie with the Hackbarths, and Colleen Watt with Horsehoe brand. Leather suppliers are Sheridan Leather Outfitters, Hide House, and Stevenson-Paxton. Jerry Van Amburg is here with a great selection of exotics. Bob Douglas with his vintage and new tools. Another seller of good used tools as well. Cobra and Artisan are here with machines, Trina Weber with stirrups, and Randy Alexander of Timberline with saddle trees. Hansen's have a large display of silver, and many show specials. Paula and the staff of Capriola's have done a great job of setting up this show, and the social at their shop tonight was another example of the hospitality that has been remarked about. We have enjoyed a few other things in the area too. The Western Folklife Center has the saddle display still up from the poetry gathering. About 20 high end saddles from some of the top contemporary makers, along with handmade bits, bridles and braidwork. Several of us on the forum have seen the pictures, but boys, I have seen 'em live! A nice drive up to Lamoille and up Lamoille canyon into the Ruby mountains this afternoon, still a little snow on top. A great Basque dinner at the Star topped it off. We sure had a good time, and have to leave in the morning. I would sure recommend this show and look forward to coming back again.

I was going to send you cake and ice cream, but then decided it might not last the trip. It was good. So with frosting on my chin and ice cream in my mustache - Happy Birtyhday!!!!

my fellow townsfolk from here in "The Cowboy Capital of the World" ..... Hansen's. They wholesale only though.

Running P (Bigbee's?) is in Alabama I think and pretty recent. They give a few of their trophy saddles away out here, but I haven't got to work on one yet. They look alright on the outside, but you never know what is underneath some of the trophy saddles. Seems like from reading the Ropers Sports News the producers give a fair amount of them away for trophy saddles. Padgitt's might be in the saddle and spur maker's book. I am not close to mine right now.

I looked in the same book as Casey and didn't find anything either. I am looking forward to seeing the pictures. That might help to ID the style and maybe date it by swell shape, fender style, and things like that.

Hilly, Sewing hair on will give you gray hair. It slides very easily in the hair direction. If I can, I glue it down to something and sew through it sandwiched. On a binder I use the stiffeners from a 3 ring binder cover. I have just sewed right through the cardboard. When you put on a liner the inside stitches don't show. If I am doing something that doesn't have a stiffener and I don't want stitching to show through the liner, I tape it in place on the flesh side with carton tape. Sew it and then pull the tape off. I trim it closer to the stitch line with a wide french edger so it kind of skives at the same time. Some people use tacks to hold hide for sewing and then pull them as they get to them also. It works alright too. I don't clip the hair close the stitch line and then glue it. Never fails - it slips and I have the bare area showing. I likewise have had poor luck applying glue to the hair and not having glue show. At times I have also skived the edges, glued it down to oversized thin lining pig and then glued the pig to the top piece to keep things lined up. One thing on albums that looks nice is to plug them. Take the piece you cut out and thin it slightly and then take an allowance off the outside edges. Set your stiffener in place, place the plug and outline it. Then glue it down, and glue the inlay over it. Put the top piece in place and sew it. Plugging hair-on inlays really makes them look nicer I think. The problem with plugging comes on things subject to abrasion wear like belts. The hair will rub off with use.

I am with Luke, that is just a fact.

My wife is requesting I post this question. As some know (especially those on another list) I have a plough gauge and really like it. I need some advice about storing it for easy access. It lives now on a bench, usually pushed blade in to the back wall (but not always). She is afraid of me reaching across it, much like the great homemade string beveler incident she heard about secondhand. I tried hanging it on the pegboard, but that exposed blade edge pointing up looks worse to me. How does anyone else store one? If you want to say. "Just leave it on the bench", I'd owe you one but she'd see through it.

Jake, I like the work a lot. The only suggestion I would make is to cut the scallops with a halfround punch and not an end cutting punch. That would avoid those gaps at the corners. Other than that, good looking stuff.

Dustin, Add another name to the I don't have one favorite club. Like Ben, someone told me I needed a tall skinny one; like Ben, I hated it. The cool thing was I bought it Tandy's deathbed sale for $10, and it adjusted lower. I still never really liked it being too skinny though. It was in a drawer for several years. After dislocating my thumb a few times, thin barrels just don't get it for me any more. I am more comfortable with a slightly thicker barrel. Blade size depends on the type of cut. I use all straight blades and the longer ones let me have more knife in the leather and track better for long straight lines. Thicker barrels help to prevent rotation. I am attaching pics of my two most reached for knives and the customization I did. The silver one is an Ol Smoothie with a 1/4" slim blade - used for tight turns and intricate work. The brass is one of Barry's with a 3/8" blade I made the angle a little flatter to leave a narrower cut. I use it for stems and longer lines. Both of these have been outfitted with custom grips, gummy pen sleeves from the checkout display at Staples. Spit on the barrel and slid them on. If I need to plow a border ditch, I have a couple knives set up with 1/2" blades and big barrels. They really track.

Bob, Maybe some of the suppliers can chime in here about Barge. There is a toluene free formula out now. I don't know if the original formula is still available or not. On one of the boot and shoe forums they were talking about the new formula, and you needed to stir or shake it if it sat very long - the solvent and base will separate. The guys who didn't get the message from their suppliers thought it was really thin and didn't bond well. Then they found the sludge at the bottom. I bought up 12 gallons when the old stuff was on the way out. I learned with Barge and knew what to expect with that. My friend was using Masters and he liked it because it would bond latigo. He switched to Renia and another guy was using EMU sar something. I bought a gallon of each to compare. The EMU is alright - nothing spectacular. The Renia is stronger and faster setting. You better like where you set something the first time or get it off quick. I am back to using the wax paper trick. I have not got a chance to put it on anything and work it wet like you can with Barge on a swell cover for instance. I was saving my last of the Barge for that, and used it up on this last one. I am liking the Renia a lot for everything else so far once I figured it out. You can put it on dry leather, let it dry, dunk it, and it retacks with heat like Barge. About the can covers coming off. They had never had many come off before and used Masters for all of them. I saw one from them, then a call a week later about another one. I called the shop that did them about the problem as a "heads up" and so I didn't do what they were. He had already had a few calls. These were ordered in late November. They had a cold snap and that was when it happened. They figured that they just rushed it bit with waiting for the glue to tack enough, and not waiting to ship when cured. Might have been deal with that can of glue. These guys were going to the buildings. Coming out of a freezing trailer into humid indoor arenas might have been a factor too.

Kathy, I set the leather in place and drill my holes for conchos first. This helps with alignment once it is glued. I have to admit I have been an original Barge AP sniffer for years. I like some of the other properties of it a lot. I put a coat on the leather and let it dry. I rough up the surface of the can with a wire brush, add another light coat to the leather. As it is tacking I glue up the lid. Once it is tacky I use saddle spikes in the alignment holes to guide placement. If you have to reposition the glue pulls off the lid while still a damp. I press in place, working from the center around and out. I will weight it for 24 hours to cure, and (knocking on my head here) haven't had any come loose. I have reglued some for guys that the original maker told me he used Masters. He said it was cold in his shop and he may not have let it set enough before sticking them on and then shipping them out. That said I have been using a couple other cements since Barge changed and my stockpile is gone s of last week. The last ones I did with Renia. I have been using it on some other stuff. It tacks up a lot faster, and makes a strong bond right off the bat. Good stuff - apply it outside in the wind. Also I like to use some conchos for to help hold them on too. At least if they ever come loose, the two parts will be together. One of the Master ones I reglued he shipped me the lid and the guy he traveled with for a while dropped off the leather - it fell off in his trailer and that's where it stayed. LOL.

Kate, I have a couple CLTs and they are very good. They came from ebay and looked like McMillens in the pics. I really didn't know much about them until I got those. My friend probably has a good a set of using stamps from several makers as anyone. I have access to them, and he has about 20 of the CLTs. I made impressions of all his stamps the last time I had them here. He has all three BW stamps from CLT.

Wooden magazine racks are a little different too. Tool a piece to go over the ends or the side with their names or initial. They can go on with glue and upholstery tacks. You could also do a leather magazine can. I did one as a wedding gift order. As an afterthought the best man had me make a matching lid with a slot for guests to drop in wedding cards at the reception. People starting shoving money in there too, and they MADE OUT WELL!!! Beats those tacky "money dances".