Alan RUNDELL

AH..... but it is the end result that matters......and that is pretty dam good..... bet you can't buy one in a shop as good!

Excellent work Thor, what did you make the mould out of? Regards Alan

G'day all, I would first like to thank Walter & Thorsten for their help. Now to sart , I first purchased two sheets of 15mm Industrial ply and one sheet of 20mm Marine ply and glued them together using plenty of clamps (you can't have to many). This gave me a thickness of 50mm at this stage. I left the clamps on for 24 hours. I then traced around the templates on the ply & cut them out on my bandsaw ( please note it was only the ply that was cut out & not the outside European Beech) Next step is to cut the two outside pieces, in this case I used 20mm European Beech which gave me a total width of 90mm. These were then glued to the ply & clamped & left for 24 hours It is important to cut all these out accurately as the clamp won't mesh correctly, I cut them out approx. 3mm wider & finished them on my PARKEN Belt sander/Linisher. The foot lever is only the thickness of the ply (50mm). I then cut out the base using 50mm English Elm & drilled holes as per the template I drilled from the top of the base then turned it over & countersunk the other side to take 100mm Bugle head Hex screws. The sides were cut out of European Beech & the steel side plates ( 20mm wide by 3mm thick) were mortised in. Next to make the locking device….. I used 316 Stainless steel except for the bar. The round head on the lock was cut off a 42mm Rod, the protruding rods were 8mm, the bar was 10mmX10mm. They were all made as per the template except for the way the bar was attached….. see pics. I used OSMO Oil on all the surfaces. The end result is the last pic. The PARKEN belt linisher was the answer for shaping the arms, if you don't have access to a linisher like this one a Japanese rasp would be the answer. I tried to post this Under "Tools of a Swiss Saddler" to no avail, it appears that the Forum won't take photo's? OR maybe its me! Happy Woodworking! Alan

G'day Jarednem, I have been asked to submit some photo's of the "Stitching Horse" by Thor, Walter et al & will try to do so tonight. The Horse is the right height for stitching if you sit at any chair, stool, or office chair, etc. The large bow or area under where the leather is actually clamped makes it easy to stitch bulky items. The post will be made under the title "Tools of a Swiss Saddler"

G'day Thor, Thanks for your concern. I know it sounds a bit on the cheap side but I am a long way from an International market. The population in Australia is 23,000,000. Australia is slightly larger than the Lower 48 States of the USA with a population of 130,000,000 and, I think, 3/4 of the size of Europe, with a population of 743,000,000. So it is a limited market here. Do we want a larger population…………NO! 780 CHF is AUD $1062. I will see how it pans out. Regards Alan.

G'day, thanks for your comments. I have noticed that you are in Texas in USA, I am in Australia. They are for sale at AUD $500.00 which is around US $375.00. I make the whole Stitching Horse including the locking device, there is a lot of work in making one. You can PM me if you are interested, I have just made a second one. The base is English ELM, the sides are European Beech and the locking device is 316 Stainless Regards Alan