bruce johnson

When I was using the slotted style edgers, I sharpened them on the bottom only with either a flat surface or wet-dry wrapped around something the right size. I stropped the inside of the slot with the edge of a piece of stiff cardboard (cereal box to tablet back) with stropping compound rubbed on the edge.

She'd kill me. I sleep pretty soundly, I'd never see it coming.

Although it is not always gospel, the Old Cowboy Saddles and Spurs book lists Boyt Saddlery as being in business in Des Moines and they stopped making saddles in 1949. In their listing it says that at some time they used aluminum trees. For that price it is almost worth it as a curiosity, but I think Rundi would figure I already have three other "curiosities" I haven't got around to restoring yet.

Brent, Yeah, what she said! That is one cool saddle.

Johanna, We have flown into Billings a couple times. Billings is a 2 hour drive. I have driven up there from Denver and it is about a 6 hour drive. Last year we flew into Rapid City because it was about $300 cheaper for the two of us to fly there vs. Billlings, and we planned to spend a few days in the hills anyway. Rapid City is about a 4 hour drive to Sheridan.

I use the Sharpies for dyeing lettering, but use Pilot refillable jumbo carton markers for edges. I tried to take a Sharpie apart and it made more of a mess than it was worth, plus the ends are usually about worn on out on my Sharpies by the time they are dried out. With the Pilots you unscrew the tip end, pour in more ink or dye and go right on. I bought 4 about 5 years ago thinking the nibs would wear out. I still have 4.

Chris, I like the stand from Ron Edmonds a lot. I have the cantle binding attachment that raises up the back. With the height adjustment and raising the back and letting it hang to one side or the other, I can pretty much do everything I need to. If you are going to build one, I'd base it on Ron's design. Gordon Andrus showed an articulating stand he had a month or two ago with a trailer hitch ball. It looked pretty good. Headed out the door, but maybe someone can find that link. There are a few other threads that deal withdifferent stand designs and experiences. too.

Mark, I got one in a set last year and it went to a new home. Steel seems just alright. I don't much like the shape. They are alright for straight runs and track pretty good, but those bluntish points won't go around many inside curves. They skive OK. If the steel is the same as the Osborne, I'd go with that based on shape. There are some other options too, and I wouldn't overlook the older knives.

Good explanation Denise. The other complicating factor in determining the extent of movement is deciding what is bone, what is the cartilage, what is contracting muscle, and what is relaxed soft tissue being compressed and raising up during the different phases of a stride and between strides. Then factor in that those have to vary from one horse to the next. Like the tootsie pop commercial with the wise old owl - "The world may never know". The top of the scapula is an interesting area.

Mark, Looks like you have your machine dialed in well. The only thing I see on the stamping is minor. Where the strands cross each other cut the crossing lines a little lighter with the swivel knife and lightly bevel them with a steeper beveler that doesn't push things down as far away from the cut line. When you sent me those patterns I figured they were ends of a teardrop headstall. Good job.

I hold a maul crosswise to my forearm, and rotate my wrist. The motion is more wrist and forearm rotation and less elbow movement than a mallet. That motion can be done with a mallet, but the elbow is up higher and more fatiguing on the shoulder. I haven't stamped on poly but know of at least one guy who does. Works alright for him. I am thinking he uses 3" thick pieces though.

I'd use it, and I'd hide it when I wasn't using it. Keep a dummy out for people who need to cut wire, chop nuts, or open a coconut.

Clair, It all depends on how wide a piece you are splitting. I have found with good sharpening and stropping, I can split about 1" less than the blade width on my Chase splitters. I like the Krebs and the Chase patterns the best for the pull through splitters. The Krebs I mostly see are 8". They have a dial on the drum in the front with gradations that you can go back to for repeated leveling. With the top and bottom rollers a strap won't ride up the bevel or flip up and chop off. The Chases have a thinner blade with what seems like a flatter bevel. I think there is less drag on them and so would be better for patterned pieces. I do think it is better to rough cut and split and then cut the final shape after splitting to avoid distortion. They also have top and bottom rollers and feed well. The Chases are pretty common in 8 and 10 widths. I have a couple of 12" in slightly different styles. I know of one wider than that. The Chases have no gradations to measure, and I keep a thickness gauge close by. I have a 10" and the 12" fastened down. The 10" is pretty much left at 8 oz. The 12" wanders according to need. One thing to watch is to use the whole width of the blade to wear more evenly. Some guys will put a narrower straps in the same place each time. Some of these oldies will have warps and dips in the rollers or feedwheels on the handcranks from wear in just one area. Some blades will have 1/8" or more cupping in the center of the leading edge of the blade from being sharpened just where it was used the most.

Good design on the tag holder Russ, I like that. Also I like you color coordinated the tag colors with the headstall and rein.

[ What sort of price does this splitter go for and is there any chance that Marvin has an email address as it's going to be difficult for me to contact him by calling and snail mail is likely to take to long (my sister is currently in America and might be able to help bring me one back if the price is right). Also what do the Landis ones usually go for though I think they might be a little on the small side (Lunchtime here at work and I don't have my main pattern here to check sizes). I'm also looking at the American (probably too small as well) and the Weaver so if someone knows what they go for as well that would be great. I know the postage is going to be fairly high on any of the splitters as they are heavy but I haven't come across any in Australia yet and I really would prefer a hand crank one due to the shapes that have to go through it. This is also the only machinery I need for what I am doing so I am prepared to pay a bit more to get something decent, so if anyone knows of anyone currently selling any of the hand crank splitters please get them to contact me through the board. Thanks for any help Cheers, Clair Clair, The Weaver handcrank has an 8" blade and sells for just under $1900 according to my 1-2 year old catalog. The Landis and American handcranks have 6" blades. They usually trade for around $400-700 if complete and depending on condition and blade left. Once in a while you can score a deal on one. The refurbishers sell them for a little more, but they have gone through them and know they are ready to go.

Thanks for all the kind comments. For the newer folks, I don't know how long they sold them, but Tandy carried comb case kits for a long time. I kind of figured they were like the pants in the Shepler's catalog with the big eagles embroidered on them. Somebody bought them at some time I guess. Like akaawol, I always silently wondered "Why?". Hidepounder cleared things up with the "little dab'll do ya". Much like the snoose can carriers that went on your belt, I figured a pocket was good enough. Always worked in the past for me. When I took the Tandy classes I went straight from rounders to a belt and skipped the combcase. The guy I made this for and I have been threatening to make comb cases for about as long as I have been on leather internet groups and we sort of fell in as allies. In the last few weeks I have been making a lot of awards - repititious sort of things. When he emailed me about just celebrating a birthday I needed a bit of a humor break. Since he was too far away to TP his house, I decided I was going to blink first and make him the combcase he was always referring to. I split this out and did it one morning between another stamping project. It was pretty fun to make up the pattern and do it and imagine the laughter of him opening it. I am in the middle of stamping out a floral ropecan strap tonight, and it still is lightening things up. Eleven flowers down, seven to go.

It is a project that was listed in Tandy catalogs for quite a while, but apparently doesn't have the favor it once did and is no longer available. I am not sure how many of the kits Tandy ever sold. Actually I don't know anyone until now who had made one. Many of you have seen the penchant that a fellow member shares for this unique and practical item. When I realized I had missed his birthday, I split down some of my new skirting and made him up one. Whaddyathink?

Bob, I hear you on that. I think that GRS is still doing the engraving schools in Kansas, and then there was a guy in Alpine, TX that used to advertise too. If that doesn't work out, there is always "Internet Millions", "No Money Down", or "Buying Foreclosures at Auction for Fun and Profit". "Long Live Cowgirls!" Kowboyboots, Thanks for sharing your insight and experience. You are ahead of the pack on what you are doing for sure. I appreciate it and see some real possibilities. Just out of curiosity, the logo and lettering on the planner I did a couple years ago took about 20 minutes in the machine. About right? I don't know what kind and size of laser she has, but it is kind of middle of the road cost and capacity as I recall. It is not burned real deep, but has held up well in daily use so far.

Bob, I think the bias against the in-skirts has way more to do with the choice of material used than the type of rigging. Porter's did have the reputation for a stout in-skirt rigging. When production saddles cut corners and the riggings failed, the style was blamed and not the maker. After it got to be pretty common that somebody knew somebody who had a skirt rig fail, then they got the rep. It was cheaper and more production oriented to fold a strap over a dee and screw it down. Another factor is how some of them are applied. You only need to look at some of the laughable styles of plate riggings on the Ebay specials. I can only guess the rigging plates are of the same high quality. Close contact skirts are another good one. They cut out skirts, generally where you'd put your leg back to stick it in one, and call it close contact. Look where their fenders are when they are sitting up riding around the ring and it is generally forward of the cut and can be over the rigging where there still is full skirt. Add an underpad and "show" blanket with a tooled matching wear leather on it, and how close is your contact now?

Bob, I have seen some of the deeper lasered designs since I wrote that too. Pretty most of what I had seen up to that point were the gift-shop/vendors at the horseshow and rodeo type products with the design lightly lasered in. It is pretty cool what they can do. It seems like talking to people that they are getting more comfortable with the laser and are seeing the potential to do more than scratch a design or lettering. Seems to be more dimensional stuff on wood and leather than just an outline or flat silhouette. There seemed to be a bit of a surge in interest in them in the last few years, and probably more people having them has pushed the learning curve on using one.

Pete, Actually I called Springfield this morning, but Kevin was at lunch and I talked to Rusty (?). He gave me the lowdown on the Bicks but didn't have much experience with Lexol other than it apparently is not a big mover for them. I am not necessarily looking at it just for mixing dye with, but am curious about why some prefer it over Lexol and what the differences are. Thanks Ed for letting me know it is thicker. Locally I have only seen it at western stores in small bottles. I can buy Lexol in quarts at most any place I shop and not have the shipping charge. I wouldn't mind paying it if I knew that it was an improvement.

Just because it soaks right in doesn't mean it needs more right now. You can sure overoil one in a hot second. It will oversoften and then ooze out all over you everytime you use it. I put on a light smear with a clipped woolskin patch. I do it once a day. You kind of ahve to go by look, feel, and experience. It might take me 3-4 days. One of my friends told me to quit when I thought it needed one more good application. As I am prone to say, old men are generally wise.

So Bicks 4 is thicker than Lexol conditioner?

I guess this might be aimed to the suppliers. With the recent interest in mixing dye with Bicks 4, I have a question. I have never used the Bicks, but have used Lexol a fair amount, mostly because I can buy a decent sized container reasonably and locally. Is there a big difference or any difference?

Kevin, I am laughing here. In my old shop I had a heck of a mold problem. I can trace it back to taking apart a saddle that had been left out in the weather for a couple years. When I took it apart green powder boiled out of it. After that I had mold. At the advice of a couple of good southern boys I went to using ProCarve to case with. That eliminated it, and they swear that they didn't have mold on finished products they had cased with it either. Five years ago we moved, and I got a little lax about using ProCarve or any antifungal in my casing mixes in the new shop. Last summer we redid the electrical system and stripped out the walls, the ceiling, gutted the whole thing. I dug out some latigos and some finished stuff treated with Williams or SaddleButter this winter and it is mostly covered with powdery looking white stuff. It didn't really feel like spew. I just knew it must be mold from opening up the walls and ceilings. I sat around stewing for a few hours until I noticed the "mold" melting on the ones by the heater. I backed into your heat test for mold. Hit the rest with the heatgun and it was gone. Dodged a bullet there.