Ken Nelson

Ralide trees are JUNK!!! No matter how good a craftsman you are, you cannot build a good saddle of any kind out of junk. Like the old saying goes, " you cannot build a silk purse out of a pigs ear". I do not beleive you can compete with the production lines that are using inferior materials and I do not beleive a serious saddlemaker, even one just starting out, will even try. People that know the difference don't want to use saddlemakers that compromise on quality or workmanship. But that is just my opinion. Ken

It is wool attached to a cloth backing. It is better than some of the synthetics being sold but it is not and will never be even close to a real bark tanned sheepskin. I have never seen a good saddle lined with any type of "fake" sheepskin. Never!!! If someone tells you they build really good handmade saddles and use fake sheepskin to line the skirts in my opinion, they are either a liar or blissfully ignorant. My 2 Cents Ken

If you have it turning the right way, then you must have it threaded incorrectly, assuming it was sewing fine before you rethreaded it. I would suggest you follow the book and check your threading. Wiz can probably thread one blindfolded after being turned around several times. Be sure your thread is being threaded from left to right through the needle. I don't have a video for mine but have learned to thread from scratch. Unless you changed something other than threading it, it almost has to be the threading. Make sure it is turning the right way. Flywheel turning toward you when the stitch length lever is down. HTH Ken

The motor is probably gotten reversed someway or the other. I do it to students once or twice to keep their attention. HTH Ken

Art done an article on the Ferdco 6/6 several years ago, you can look it up. I have had 2 Luberto Classic that are very good. Cobra class 3 and class 4, Artisan 3000. They have all been good. Cobra has outstanding customer service, Depending on where you are at, any of the guys at the top are good to deal with. Steve is great. Chap leather, Hide House in California has the largest selection, Fern Thatcher in St. Joe has good deals. Panhandle Leather in Amarilla has good selections there are a lot of good suppliers of chap leather. Ebay has it at times. HTH Ken

I have started buying Clay Miller hanedmade tools exclusively. He custom makes these tools, he is easy to talk to and will make them the way you want them made. He is an excellent carver and understands tools and carving leather. Reasonably priced. I appreciate tools make for me, not off of the rack. A lot of bang for the buck. my 2 cents worth. Ken

I just saw this post. You can pull down a manual for the landis 30 online, which will instruct you how to adjust it. You can get a new blade from Cambell bosworth reasonably priced and razor sharp. If you tear it down, and it is your first one, take pics of the tear down for a guide to put it back together. Clean it, Sandblast it, paint it, check out all moving parts reassemble and you have a like new machine. You may or may not have to have the drive rollers reconditioned. Hopefully if you buy one off of ebay there will be no cracks or broken parts because they are hard to come by. I ussually have about 2 days in one. I don't have the time to do outside machines now. I Have a Pilgrim 30 that is really good I would let go for 950.00+ shipping.

I have a 280L that does have a self oiler. I like it, it is the same machine as a Juki 241, It will sew an honest 3/8"+ of soft leather. I use other machines with veg tan. You can buff the feed dogs if they are marking the bottom badly. It needs the bottom dogs to be a compound fee though. Good machine. I like mine. HTH

It will sew 1/2" +-, , it is a drop feed machine and will mark the bottom of your work. If I were mainly sewing wallets and belts, I would get a table walking foot machine. If I were doing more holsters , tack and saddle repair, I would get something like the Cobra Class 3 or 4.. However, the machine in the pics looks good. Depends on the price.

Good used walking foot machines can be had for far less than $1500.00. Just be careful who you buy from and if you search the forum, you will pick up a lot of good advice. HTH Ken

Why don't you get a walking foot sewing machine set up for leather? I seriously doubt you will ever get a professional job of sewing on a household machine. In light enough leathers, you will get it done but I see so many poor jobs of sewing done with that type of machine. It is impossible to be considered a competent craftsman if you have a poor job of sewing on a project. Buy what you need the first time and don't pay later. I have done that. Cost me more in the long run. HTH Ken

Harry Adams's Saddlemakers Shop Manual is pretty good. Lots of pictures and detailed instructions. Stohlman's series of books are good also. Learning to build saddles and setting up to build them is not cheap. HTH Ken

The above post is good advice. However, what someone wants to pay is not the question, the Question is: what is a market value on these items. There are a lot of people on this site that seem to feel if you are on it, you owe it to them to sell whatever to them for what they can afford. If an item is worth say $1000.00 then the question is how bad do you want to sell it. If you are willing to take $15.00 for it, It will sell quickly. I would suggest you contact a dealer and see what they cost new and then discount them for age and condition. A good dealer will give you some ideas. HTH Ken

That Robert guy on Ebay has poor feedback, Take the good advice and call one of the dealers on this site, PLEASE!!! Ken

Back in the Day, a lot of the traditional standards were set through trial and error in the west half of the country by people that depended on horses for the work they were doing, were the main source of transportation and literally were depended on to sustain life for a majority of people. Not all of the standards common place 100 years ago the best option available today. Nor were all the saddles, tack and harness all top quality. Then as now, there was first quality equipment and it settled to the bottom of junk. I really feel before we jump on a band wagon and fully support a new idea, we should do a lot of research on it and make an EDUCATED decision. Unless you are riding a lot of different horses and riding them hard, it will take a long time before you really find out if a new idea is a good one. Better yet, if you think you have a realy good idea that is better than traditional ideas, build up 5 or 6 saddles and have 6 big outfit cowboys in some big old rough country ride them for 2 years and see how your idea preforms.I am talking about cowboys that ride 6 or 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day in rough country, all kinds of weather doing whatever needs done a horseback. I would liken it to research and developmewnt by an automobile company. Because an idea is new does not mean it is not a good idea. However the last few years, I have seen a lot of break throughs come along dreamed up by someone that has never pulled 360 days ahorseback in one year, went through a dozen or more horses during that year, done everything that can be done on a horse on that ranch during that year. If you do that kind of cowboying for 20 or 30 years, you will learn a LOT! Never stop thinking! Never stop improving! Never stop learning. You will stop learning when they shovel dirt on top of your coffin> Ken

A cowboy saddle is a complex piece of equipment. Every part of the saddle has evolved for at least a century and a half through trial and error. Fit, construction, material, style and workmanship all play into how good a saddle is and how well it work IF it is used and adjusted correctly. Does not matter if it is a plain roughout or a total work of art. To them old cowboys that were working 60 to 125 years ago, if it didn't sore horses or men(horses most important), was tough, had an ocean of miles in it and lasted for years IT WAS A GOOD SADDLE! While there have been some great strides made in saddlery the last few decades, such as stainless steel hardware, nylon thread and others, when I see composite trees being used, felt linings, treeless saddles manmade "leather" and such being advertised as cowboy saddles, I have to shake my head. I have had some of the old Hamleys, Miles City Saddlery and others come into my shop for tune ups that have had holes worn in the seats the size of pocket watches. That took years of hard riding. Had several old cowboys tell me they had "rode that old saddle for 30 years on them big outfits, finally quit it after them holes wore through the seat. That took a lot of riding, roping, days in the rain and snow, blistering heat and bone crushing cold. I would like to think I build saddles that will stand up and provide service like that but I always wonder. I think if we are going to consider ourselves cowboy saddlemakers, we need to strive to build them as good as they have ever been built. Me, I am going to keep on building on high quality rawhide covered trees, as they have proved themselves for over 100 years, I use #1 Hermann Oak leather and # 1 bark tanned sheepskins. Every day I strive to build a saddle as good as I have ever worked on and pray I am acheiving it. Ken

Decades of wearing saddles out on ranches and feedlots and over a dozen years of building them, along with countless hours of researching the why of doing things have pointed me in the direction of: Woolskins main purpose is to help the saddle keep from moving excessively first and cushion secondly. That said, I have seen old saddles that had the wool matted down to where there was no padding to speak of and they did not sore horses. this is from my personal observation. However if you rub your hand from front to back on these saddles, you will feel a certain amount of resistance in fact some feel they get "stickier" when they are matted down well. This also depends on how good a quality of woolsking went into the skirts in the first place. They old timers that were around when I was a kid and a really young man had a lot of answers and most of them made sense if you could get them to explain their opinions. They did not seem to be as concerned about cushioning as they were about keeping the saddle from moving around with a fairly loose cinch. Beleive me these old boys would ride a horse hard all day long in open country and still be a horseback at supper time. They roped a lot of cattle and protecting a horses back was very important to them. AS SAID; A man a horseback is a cowboy or rancher taking care of his cattle, A man afoot is a cow farmer watching his cattle get away! Therefore, the first consideration was for fitting the horse and helping to keep him working. 50 years ago on them ranches I was on and around, the quality of sheepskin in a saddle was a quality factor considered when getting a new saddle. In my opinion, it still is. Thanks for your patience. Ken

One other alternative is the Luberto's Classic which uses 2 needle systems, 794 and 328. I have sewn from 2 layers of 3oz to a full inch on mine. It will sew using a touch lighter thread than the 441 type machines but be sitting down when you price a new one. I have bought several machine from Steve at Leather machine Co and have been extremely satisified with the quality of his products and the service has been outstanding. I have bought parts and supplies from Toledo Sewing and have had good service from them. Shipping between me and Steve is quite a bit less than it is with Bob at Toledo Sewing machine CO. I have never dealt with Ron but I know he has an excellent reputation and that is not easy to get these days. I would not hesitate to buy from any of the above. Do yourself a favor and stay with a reputable dealer. HTH Ken

Older singer 31-19 sewing machine for sale. It is a snap-foot walking foot. A little rough but works OK. $125.00 for the head + shipping or I have a treadle table for it with a nice top and period Bobbin winder that I will take $350.00 + shipping for the head and stand complete.

Happy New Year Wiz. You have good tastes. I have a Luberto's classic I was trying to sell but there are times when I wonder why I would let it go. Just got another Class 4 Cobra. I would trade the Classic for a very very good Landis 3 if you know of anyone that might make that trade. Ken

So is my Luberto's classic, I beleive a pierson 6 may be and of course all the hook and awl machines. I have always wanted to test drive a Union lock, are they much different than a Landis 3?

Don't know how the bold text got there. I have been in 6 or 7 shops over the years that have had 900B Ferdinand Bulls in them. All have been jump foot-needle feed machines. Apparently you know more than I do about them and it really doesn't make any difference to me one way or the other. Ferdco and Ferdinand both done a lot of custom machines, one or two of a kind things. Of course if you see it on you tube it has to be god's truth. I am sure there are people spreading opinion as fact there too. Some don't know the difference. Lets just drop this. I was just trying to pass along information. I have never owned one, but have sewn on more than 1. So have you ever sewn on a Square Feed, jump foot , needle feed. Who makes it? Ken

I called a friend of mine yesterday that has a 900B Bull. It is a jump foot needle feed machine. Ken

900 B was built up from a Consew 754. There should be information online which I am about to look up.

If this machine is a Ferdinand Bull (900B) it is a jump foot needle feed and the foot is supposed to lift up off of the material allowing the needle to move the material. If you check Ferdco's web site, there is a list of where to get parts for their machines now that they are closed. I woulde imagine you can probably find a manual for it as well. HTH Ken