South Forty

Glad I could help! lol. I personally never thought I'd be hitting Industrial Electrical, Plumbing, and wire rope suppliers to source materials for show halters!

Hey Littlehorses! Unfortunately there is no supplier for the J hooks for the open ring style cable halters that you're looking for. When I got into making Miniature Show tack myself, I searched for what seemed like forever, and finally contacted some makers, and was informed that each company actually has their rings/hooks made for them, or make their own. (and they don't share....lol) A LOT of what materials and hardware is used for the mini show halters seems to be "trade secrets", but most of what lies under the heat shrink on the cable halters is wire rope connections of various types, and are crimped or swaged together. I finally bit the bullet myself and purchased some "brand name" halters just to take them apart and see what was used, and how! A lot of the supplies are actually very costly, unless you're buying a large # and can find an industrial supplier locally. As for the metal pieces, I assume you mean the silver bars for the western or QH style show Halters? If so, one of the only suppliers I found that had a variety of widths and lengths of the bars at reasonable prices was Green River Tack. Shipping takes forever from them tho....lol Hope that helps!

Hey All, So I've decided to challenge myself for the next while and try my hand and making a custom fit, Leather Driving Harness for my son's new Miniature Horse. My dilemma being, all the projects I've done up till now, I've been able to rummage thru the remnant and scrap bins and grab the leathers I've wanted to use and know will work, based on look and feel. I'm TRYING to educate myself on the different hides, strap, latigo, harness, skirting, etc. and the weights, but quite honestly, just doing the reseach online without seeing and feeling the different leathers in person has left me with more questions than answers! What I'm trying to figure out, is what type and what WEIGHT of leather should I be using for this project? Unfortunately with 4 kids, 2 being newborn twins, I don't have the luxury of driving 2 hours into the city and spending a day "playing" at our local Tandy Leather to figure this all out! I'm looking to have an end product with a russet colour, that I can either achieve by dying or that being the original colour of the leather, that I can do a bit of tooling on, something with an edge that'll burnish up nice, and that isn't SOO thick a leather that it looks bulky on a horse that's 35 inches tall! (And preferably something that doesn't cost me more than a Custom made BOUGHT harness...) I also need something that won't cause arthritis in my hands from stitching, as I'll be hand stitching the whole thing! (I know, I'm nuts...lol) Thanks Much for any Advice!

Just bought myself a Juki DDL 553- Loving it! It's not the Heavy leather machine still on the wishlist, but for the lightweight stuff I'm currently workin on it's just beautiful, and the price I got it for I would have been an idiot not to! It's definetely a bit of a learning curve tho- going from a table top home machine to the speed and power of the Juki! This ones got a clutch motor currently, and what i'm wondering is, could I refit this with I believe a "Servo" ? motor to slow her down? I do mainly rolled leather with a 5-6 oz weight with it, and I'm just finding it's speed hard to keep up with do do it! OR, would a simple fix like a welting foot solve the issue? Thanks!

Hey Maverick Leather! I am looking for a leather machine to get started with, would love to hear what you've got left for sale, AND, we're actually headed to Cali at the end of the month, and I've got plans to visit and have a look at some sides of leather- could you send me a list of what you've got left, and I'll be in to the shop there to take a look! Thanks!

Thanks Wizcrafts! Good to know this old machine might work just fine for what I'm playing with... I took a look on ebay and there are quite a few welting/piping feet there, all for around the $10 mark, which is great, so I have a next question: What SIZE welting foot will I need? What I've been working at now is to cut 1/2" wide strips of my leather, roll it over and sew, so do I need a 1/2|" welting foot or a 1/4" ?

On a side note- We're headed to California at the end of March, if anyone knows of a machine like the Pfaff 145 out there- I'd glady lug one home on the plane!

Well thanks very much guys! The guy wants $400 for it. I took in a class at Tandy today, and the teacher there says he uses a Pfaff 145 in his shop for light work, which after seeing my projects thought would do just fine. I picked up my first side of leather today, a chap side, pretty excited to get working with this stuff, and got some good tips on burnishing edges. The biggest thing I'm doing is sewing about 1/2" strips of it into a rolled strap. Ken told me I was nuts for doing all this by hand, and told me I needed an Industrial Machine and a "Welting" foot? Any thoughts on where to pick up one of those? Also, when I got home today I cracked out Gramma's old Singer Model 15-88/89 Lockstich, and lo and behold it goes thru this stuff with ease. Any ideas on whether this one would handle this work daily? And whether I can pick up a welting foot for IT? Would save me a pile probably if I could use the machine I've already got sitting here!

Thanks very much! I guess my next question would be, being a beginner, and not having real "heavy Duty" projects I'd sew, what kind of machine is a decent one to start with? The topic of machines is vast I know, and most times I'm baffled by all the choices out there!

New into the leather sewing, and have been "browsing" for a decent "starter" machine to sew light leather projects. I came across an ad for an older Singer Walking Foot Insuctrial Machine Model 314K7 . I've looked online, can't find any info on this machine- anyone out there know anything about it? Seems like a decent price to me, but the machines about 1 1/2 hour drive from the farm, and I'd like to know that it's capable of handling what I'm sewing before making the trek. I've attached the one picture that was on the ad. Thanks!

The two machines i've found so far local are a Singer Model 314k7(Walking Foot Industrial)- which i can't seem to find any info on anywhere, and a Junker and Ruh SD 28- which I'm told needs shuttle tuning. The price difference on the two is about $300, with the Junker and Ruh being the higher of the two any thoughts on these two machines?

Hey All! Have been scanning this page for months now and finally decided it was time to join and be able to ask some questions frpm all the experienced craftsmen on this site rather than just searching for answers- so heres my question : I've got a Mini tack business just up and coming, and I work primarily with Biothane/Betathane. I've been hand sewing all my projects with an awl, but my hands and shoulders are saying it's time for a machine! The problem I'm having is trying to figure out WHAT kind of machine I need, nothing fancy for now, just one that'll do the job, and not give out on me 3 months down the road! Some day when I have learned more and want to move into heavier leather equipment, I'll be on the hunt for a suitable leather machine, but for now it's fairly lightweight- 1-3 layers. I have searched our local classifieds, and found an older model Singer Walking foot Industrial machine, but will this do it? Thanks for any advice!