oltoot

comes in all the weights that veg tan strap comes in

I'm 71 and not taking on any new things. Leather just happens to be my first (or maybe 2nd or 3rd) love, its getting harder and less necessary to remember but since you said you were thinking about a leather business, that is really the answer to your original question. While you are just getting started and since you can pick your pieces, if the shoulders let you get statrted then stick with them for awhile. As you get into doing a wider variety of things, you will find that you can use a variety of leather and that is what the side provides. It is the whole store for the rounded craftsman. Shifting to sides as your primary source will increase your investment in materials but also increase your flexibility. It will also probably increase your waste a little at first but that could be a plus. I have found that 4H kids can extract a big dose of delight out of stuff I am oversupplied with. I don't see my grandkids often enough to get my fill of toothy smiles so that can fill a gap. AND while I'm dishing out opinions, figure on biting the bullet for an Osborn 84 or 86 knock-off splitter pretty soon. It will do a lot to help you produce smooth and uniform results with any material and find uses for a lot of pieces that would otherwise be waste. JMO

Although it has a Porter "look" to it I'm real sure it isn't because I have never seen a Porter that wasn't plainly maker stamped in multiple places. And the conchos aren't silver, they are nickel plated steel.

Yes, if lime is used, strive for the minimum time for desired effect and the rinse thoroughly.

Ditto the seat jockey; kudos on the neatness and symmetry; The skirts don't look quite right to me in the gullet. 1" above the bars at the contact of the bars with the gullet is about right. That's after blocking. The tall skirts in front look like they have the effect of narrowing the gullet significantly from the tree dimensions. Front jockeys look about right and if the skirts were just a whisker above them, that would look right to me. I would try to get the Blevins buckles down several inches so they wont rub on the rigging.

My experience has been that oil will penetrate better and achieve a more uniform distribution when leather is slightly moist. In repairing used items, sometimes the only way you can get oil into hardened areas is when it is soft from water.

The "junk" needles, skive and point the lace, tap lightly with a hammer to set the teeth and just figure on using them only a few times. I guess there is a reason they come by the dozen.

Yes, a thick stone would be no substitute for proper casing but the thicker and heavier the tooling surface, the more stable and quieter it will be.

With all due respect: JW does some awesome work but this is one place I wouldn't copy him. As opposed to plugging across the channel, I have always skived the top edges of my skirts a little to avoid a pair of opposing edges up under the seat where the downward pressure will be constant.

Spud, The blade in the second from the right in the bottom row is intriguing. Do you know the maker and anything else about it? Oltoot

To each his own, but it brings me to a point I arrived at years ago when I reduced the discussion on either an exposed or a 'regular' double leather to the question "why either?". I have for years now made and used 1/2 stirrup leathers standard for my saddles and repairs and offer doubles of either the exposed or regular kind as options. Options which are almost never exercised. If one is going for 'old timey' aura, then use them in their historical context. With a fender that has a small contact area secured with 2-3 copper rivits and a straight bottom line secured with 2 rivits. Include a liner which doubles the bottom of the assembly and makes the area that receives the weight of the stirrup double. Either way you'll have a result that weighs a couple of pounds more and has two moving or moved against edges to wear when one will more than suffice and, in fact reduce wear overall.

I've used it with a 211 Singer and a UL and in both cases it has served me well. I punch these 'pilot holes' with an awl as I go and I can go very fast and not concentrate as much and get a top notch result.

Too much background. Variety of ways to fill it. take the areas where you have one stem poking out into the background and by dividing the available base area into points of departure add that many, perhaps on each side of the existing or totaly replacing it.

That's what I mean, in fact I sew some things from the bottom side.

Yes and tool control, you are holding many of your tools too vertical, thumbprints especially, most tools are designed so that the full impression is rarely seen and since finish is crucial for the true Sheridan look, that needs a little work too. And finish starts with casing to get the initial contrast on which to build the entire look. Keep up the good work and you might well one day satisfy yourself.

When finished you are going to have three thicknesses of leather plus 2 more from the cantle binding so it doesn't take a lot to be enough here. I think where you are would be alright as long as the grain side of the piece doesn't have stretch marks and wrinkles on it.

As to your question bottom = top. As you move up in wts to sew and look at adding another machine, give serious consideration to a needle/awl machine. I have a Singer 211G566 and a Union Lockstitch. I use the UL whenever I can and never worry about bottom stitch appearance except when it exceeds top.

Plate under, skirt over, front rings go on first before anything else

I have done this enough with case bottoms of larger scale but never one this small. First be sure if dimensions given to you are Inside dia or Outside dia?.and the heigth measurement does too. Now, assuming that theses are all ID? proceed as follows : 1) cut the dowel approximately 12" then mike it to be sure. Find a base board that is the thickness that the total heighth needs to be. Desired depth + the thickness. It is OK if you use one that is a little thicker. 2) Then drill the outside forming board clear through, It takes a Hole saw, with a hole that is equal to the width of the dowel + the thickness of the leather X 2 3) Now sand both the inside of the hole in the baseboard and the outside of the dowell really smooth with the bottom of the dowel smoothed to a baby's bottom smoothness. 4) Now slope the inside of the drilled hole in the baseboard, marking carefully a ring around the inside of the hole = the inside ht + the thickness of the leather + ~ 1/8. 5) then rasp and sand this down the target being a uniform forcing cone in the top of the hole drilled through the baseboard. Now to use it. Cut the piece but DO NOT cut the hole and make the piece of leather big enough but not too big. I would guess that for this a 16" square would be plenty. Now rub the outside of the dowel and the inside of the hole in the baseboard with white saddle soap or Ivory soap. Wet the piece thoroughly in HOT water. till it is as soft as its gonna get, Now take the leather out of the water and immediately form it roughly over the dowel with it seated proportionately using the center mark. Now force leather and dowel into hole in baseboard utilizing a twisting motion. When the leather has been forced to the bottom of the hole, twist the dowel back and forth, smoothing out the bottom. Set it down on clean flat surface. Go dig out your old blow dryer and blow dry the leather protruding above the hole. Then remove every thing from the baseboard, then remove the dowel and wash soapstains off of the leather. If this goes well you can just set it out to dry and wait patiently while it does. If this handling is too much and it seems to lose its shape, put the dowel back in and rub it back to shape, You might even need to slip it back in the mold hole. Now you can cut the hole in the base and cut it off to desired dimension, stick the dowel back in for any cutting or punching. REMINDER be sure the water is HOOOT, If you couldn't get the leather forced fully in and shaped to the desired sizes, You can cut the hole in the baseboard another 1/8 to 1/4 and try the forming over again, This may not produce as pretty and smooth surfaces as the 'just big enough' approach outlined above. It may result in a corrugated cup but that can produce some interesting striations. PVC makes good molding material if you are lucky enough to find pipe or fittings that have the necessary dimensions as you can't really subject a piece to much size modification. AND don't forget how much time and work it takes to make the molds so you can price accordingly. To make the second item that utilizes all these pieces is usually muuccch easier and faster and you can price accordingly.

I hope this doesn't start a big belly bumping but after repairing considerable saddles that were being used and not abused and carefully examining my personal saddles I came to the conclusion that if you do things 'correctly' 1/2 stirrup leathers are just as good as full and save a little weight so that has led to this: 2 1/2 inch half stirrup leathers are standard equipment on all my saddles. Full SLs are extra. 3 inch 1/2 leathers are standard if they are to be twisted and wrapped. All these variants feature a liner piece 11 to 13 " long on the lower end and both machine stitching and #9 copper rivits at the top of the fender attaching fender to stirrup leathers. I have never to date had one come back. The whole stirrup leather/fender assembly is more flexible and requires less breakin time to get set to the rider's anatomy.

I'm 70+ and have never done it or encountered it!!

I second the plug motion. I have, for many years now, used plugs to prevent any "bumps" for something to rub against and invite wear. To the same end, I try to shape skirt, seat, rigging so that they all end in a different place and provide as many long slopes and as few abrubt "bumps" where stirrup leather, fender move. It means a little more leather and must be done thoughtfully so as not to end up with something too thick for your stitcher to handle but has paid off in the comparitively long lifes of skirt and plate rigs so constructed. And for the same reason, I avoid "doming" rivits in that area choosing instead a flat finish to the heads, even slightly recessed.

Tractor Supply or Murdoch's have stall mats/floor mats of different materials that would yield a piece the size of your slab or slabs and a good sized floor mat for use by your bench. For quieting under the slab pieces I would try something a little on the spongy side and then get a poly cutting board from your local variety store for punching. I had a similar experience with our County Museum and managed to quiet things enough to save the hands on experience for kids that came from a little kiosk with some pictures, info boards and pieces of sink cutout granite slab to replace the composite surface they had been working and making a lot of noise on.

Just the screw, no washer. Once again I have had no comebacks. If you have some kind of application where the screw needs to handle direct pull instead of shear pull, I would review my build and look for ways to redirect some of the stress.

I have been using drywall screws and the various lengths of wood screws available that mimic drywall screws. (coarse thread, not fine) I use very few tacks or bigger screws and can get a screw purchase and hold in pretty tough to reach places. Coupled with more than one driver for my power drill, including a long flexible one, its all just as handy as pockets on a shirt. The hold is great and I haven't had any new construction or repair come back because of them. And I really am old.