Woodyrock

I would use a free cutting stainless steel, or Monel. Vignam Vitae would cost more than the Monel, and it like the Coco bola is oily. My first one was made form a dense New Zealand wood that was not oily, and worked quite well. After boring the holes, I turned stock of a very dense wood to fit tight in each hole, and burnished the holes. Woody

Caught this post late, but there is (or was) an Osborne rein rounder in the Ferrymead outdoor museum in Christchurch. They had an entire Harness makers kit. I think the Canterbury Museum has several as well. Museums always have many more oieces stored away, but will allow viewing, and measuring, and etc. if asked. Then, any Kiwi that works metal could make one as did your husband. My first rein rounder was made from from either Rata, or Puriri, and worked quite well. Woody...late of Aranui, Christchurch.

I hot brand my work because I also do wood, so can use the same brand. I use scarp to check the heat before branding a piece be it wood, or leather. Woody

I am in Manchester, just north of Tacoma. Woody

I rebuilt one of these rigs for the FerryMead museum in Christ Church, New Zealand about 1975. The canvas had been stored inside, so was in good order, but the machine had been in the weather for many years, and I replaced all the wood. It was a horesdrawn rig. Woody

A good scrub with a soft bristle brush, and soap, not a detergent...Sunlight bar soap would be the best I know of to get the canvas clean. Then, the most important thing is to get it dry, dry dry, and drier. You did not mention if the canvas was treated or not, but even treated, whilst it may not rot on you if put away damp, it will mildew which is even more dificult to clean off than would be the mud. 16 X 16 is not that large, so if you can, find a dry building where it can hang to dry. Woody

My grandfather (Harness maker) had a wide range of sizes of rawhide wrapped square sticks with turned handles, the wood being Vignam Vitae (heavy) all beitn shop made. I think the rawhide was only on them to add a protective layer. They looked very much like strops, byt square sectioned. Woody

I can not help on the swivel knife, but fully understand the engineering approach being retired from PSNS N Engineering, and also live in the same soggy place. I have however thought that swivel knives should have a wider range of barrel sizes, both diameter, and length, to better suit both work at hand, and individual hands. Woody

I am looking for a source of credit card safe magnets for bag closures like those used on the Miche hand bags. My wife, and daughters are using this hand bag, and I thought it would be a good birthday/Christmas present to make a few in leather for them. This new handbag series uses a common guts bag with an outer covering that is held on with magnets to be changed to coordinate with the clothing being worn, Thank you Woody

found a copy of Leather Secrets by F.O. Baird on E-Bay this morning for $105.00 with free shipping. I was going to post that it was available, but my dear wife, said I could buy it. Woo Hoo, I have wanted a copy for many years. The listing did say there was a second copy, but I did not find it. Woody

An effective rust removal method that is both easy, and safe is a soak in a warm solution of citric acid, and water. Mix one cup of citric acid crystals to one gallon of water. You can find citric acid at any brewers/winemakers supply shop. Light rust will convert in minutes, and of course heavy rust will take linger. As soon as the tool has turned black with no red rust colour it is done. Take it out, rinse in hot water, and dry quickly. If you leave it wet to dry slowly, it will re-rust. This method will get the rust where you can not remove it mechanically. The conversion process does produce a rotten egg smell, so if male be careful about doing this in the kitchen sink. It will not harm anything, but the gentler sex may complain about the smell. The solution will keep for a long period, so is store-able. It can also be safely (and legally) be poured down the drain. Woody

[ The fine toothed rosette cutter in the photograph looks (to me) like an arch punch that has been modified into a rosette cutter by hand with a triangular file. This would be time consuming, but starting with an arch punch this is rusty..low cost...you could well come up with a very workable rosette cutter. For marking out the 'teeth' you could use an old clock gear of the appropriate diameter, and number of teeth. By starting with the old arch punch, and hand filinf to shape, you would not have to worry about temper...........it would already be correct. Woody

An even better source of granite would be a stone counter top company. You can usually get the sink cutouts free. They are only one inch thick, but you can bond several layers together with epoxy. Back in the eighties, I made quite a few granite pounding blocks by laminating several layers of granite using an epoxy tar, and I know at least one of these is still in use, and has not failed. Today, you can only obtain epoxy tar if you are a commercial user., but most good heavy bodied epoxies will work. Over four inches, they get difficult to move...but then, they will not move in use. Woody

Bruce: Many thanks! This is exactly the horse I have been looking for, I can make one for myself from your photographs. It is easy to find harness horses, but a saddlemakers horse is a whole different story. Woody

Here is the harness horse I built a couple of years back. I would really like to find some photographs of a good saddlemakers horse, so I can stitch up larger projerts. Woody