Big Sioux Saddlery

I would check with Shop Talk/Proleptic to see if they have a reprint of the manual available. Not only would it likely have threading instructions, but adjustment instructions as well. Failing that, a Bauer is a fairly simple machine, and if you have a basic concept of how a sewing machine/stitcher works, you should be able to figure it out, unless parts are missing. Edit: I did a google search and found this: http://www.tias.com/173/PictPage/3923886827.html

Every once in a while you'll find a hide that's 9 ft long, or even a little over. Otherwise, I've heard of guys cutting the hide on a curve to get the 9 ft., but I've never tried that myself. First, nobody around here has ever requested 9 ft reins, for most folks, 8 ft is plenty long enough, or even too long if riding colts. Second, I couldn't bring myself to ruin a hide by cutting it on a curve. Reins are typically cut from the heaviest hides, and that 12+ isn't good for much else besides reins without splitting it down. It would really increase the cost if doing it that way. If you're going to splice them, I'd sew the splice to the end opposite the bit in the form of a popper. Glue doesn't stick very well to harness leather, which is the leather most commonly used for this type of project. I'd just tack and sew. There is a place for rivets, riding reins isn't one of them.

I think I bought my right twist linen from Pilgrim years and years ago.

I agree! Around here, it's even worse. I don't know why, but so many people new to the business or wanting to get into it think that a "good used sewing machine to sew heavy leather" should run a couple hundred bucks. Of course they're the same people that think $10 an hour is a fair rate to have to pay for my work:-) I remember thinking the same thing though. A couple hundred bucks seemed like plenty for a "sewing machine". The $5000-$8000 machines seemed like an incredible amount of money for a machine. So instead, I wasted money on a couple machines that weren't meant to do the work I wanted them to do (even though they were advertised as such), and in the end, had to spend the money anyway. It took awhile to fully realize that time is serious money and without the right machine for the job, I was handicapping myself by being able to do only what I could do by hand in a given amount of time, and that just wasn't enough most of the time. Of the tens of thousands of dollars that I've spent on equipment over the years, there are only a handful of things that I feel were a waste of money or have not paid for themselves. Incidentally, they are all things that were new innovations and marketed to be a real time or labor saver.

What he said! I sew quite a bit of both Biothane and Beta, in fact, it is the main reason I bought my Cowboy 4500. I have pleny of machines to sew leather, but I needed to be able to sew Biothane FAST and a Landis One is not fast. I'd much rather sew leather than this material. I despise the stuff, but it's what a lot of people want now instead of leather harness. For sewing Biothane, I use a needle 2 sizes larger than I would for leather, and on Beta, one size larger than for leather. I would never attempt to sew either without a feed dog. I have rarely, if ever had a problem with my reverse stitches not lining up with my forward ones. If it happens, it's typically due to going up or downhill and the material not feeding properly due to the nature of the material, not the fault of the machine. This material is sticky, yet at the same time, slides out of position easily. I use either LR needles or S-point needles and set the stitch length longer. Tri point needles leave too ugly of a hole for me. If at all possible, I avoid having to sew Biothane or Beta at all!

Thanks Keplerts!

Keplerts my computer and this new forum do not like each other. I can't upload pics. I'll PM you one to show you what I was talking about.

I've found that the HO takes a lot longer for oil to migrate through it and even out. I've loved this W & C russet so far. I can try to PM you a pic if you want. . .

I believe you can get W & C tooling in the same colors as their skirting. I got a side of 7/8 recently in their Russet and it oils up to a nice rich color. I almost never dye anything except edges, but I imagine as evenly as it oiled up, it would take dye the same. W & C typically runs softer in temper than HO, so it might be just exactly what you're looking for. I tried uploading a picture of a set of bags I just finished, using the W & C russet (heavier weight than the 7/8, but same color) but it wouldn't load for some reason. Tech savvy I am not. I just cut a saddle seat out of the butt of a heavy, and it cut like butter. Seems like the drum-dyed brown cuts a little tougher.

Unfortunately I have no pictures. It is a metal hinged affair that tightens when you tighten the jaws on the stitching horse.

Plinker, how do you hold the rounds for sewing? I made the little thing to go in my stitching horse as illustrated in Stohlman's book, but it only works marginally well. Most of the problem may lie in the fact that I have seen an original attachment that was manufactured for this task. I've only ever seen one, and sadly, it was not for sale. I've never been able to be satisfied with my homemade holder since seeing it.

I think there is a tutorial somewhere on the forum on how to make "rounds" which is the correct name for them. The above example is a cop-out, in my opinion. They have taken a thin piece of leather and sewn it around a length of cord or rope. The "correct" or traditional way involves quite a few more steps and is far superior to the above example. However, it is quite time consuming and difficult to be compensated for one's time. Another method, still superior to the above, but not considered acceptable by top harness makers, is to slit lengthwise the portion of the strap that you wish to round, fold and sew one layer atop the other, and then proceed with the rounding process. Here are a couple links to topics in which rounds were discussed, however, I couldn't find the one that I was thinking of. Al Stohlman's book The Art of Handsewing Leather has instructions on how to make the traditional round by hand. http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/63305-rolled-headstall/?do=findComment&comment=414267 http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/60222-can-you-spot-real-rolled-leatherwork/?do=findComment&comment=388534

This is somewhat like what a bead should look like. As you can see, I had a hard time keeping it perfectly straight. The leather should be cased up, just like you would for any other kind of tooling or stamping. I usually make a fairly deep guide line with a tickler first, and run one side of the beader in that groove. One pass is normally not enough for me, I work it back and forth to deepen the lines. I have an older push style beader so your's may work differently, but I'd still bet one pass won't give you the look you're wanting. The advantage with a beader over a swivel knife is that there is no actual cut in the leather, and also the shape of the beader gives a nice rounded shape between your two lines, whereas two swivel knife cuts are just that, two cuts with no shape to the narrow bit of leather between the lines. I acutally made a couple tools out of big nails to shape that strip when I use a swivel knife instead of my beader. They're nothing fancy and I don't want to go into the tool making business, but they do the job I made them to do. If the beader you bought is anything like the new Osborne edge creasers, you never will get it to work right. I bought a couple a few years ago and they were completely worthless. I finally threw them in a box of other worthless stuff and took them to an auction and some other poor sucker bought them. I would try making a good, deep guide line with a tickler to run one edge of your beader in before giving up on it. Good luck!

I have bought many awl blades through the years, starting with Tandy's back in the mid '80's. Before that I had the "Awl for all" or whatever it's called. I was disappointed in every one up until the point I had the chance to buy an OLD awl blade. The difference was unbelievable. It cut through the thick layers of leather on a cantle binding easily and had no drag. I broke that old awl blade in the middle of the night one time, right in the middle of sewing a cantle binding. That's the worst possible scenario. I dug around and found an old blade that was much larger than the one I'd been using, ground it down to be at least similar in size, and finished the binding. Afterwards, I bought some Douglas blades, and while some of the other Douglas tools are great, I didn't think the awl blades were worth a damn. And at $25 a pop, it was very disappointing. I don't like the shape and no matter how much polishing I'd do, the blades still dragged. The old blade that I'd ground down, while still larger than I liked, worked far better. My best advice to you is to haunt flea markets and auctions and try to find some old ones. I got lucky last weekend (ha ha, no crude comments, guys) and bought a cupful of old blades for a couple bucks. They are all different sizes and lengths and most haven't ever been used. I shouldn't ever have to look for awl blades again for the rest of my life. Sometimes on Ebay there will be a grouping of old tools, most of which are of little value, but there might be one good awl in the group. From what I've seen, they don't bring much. so I'd start there and watch the auctions and flea markets. I've found that the flea markets that set up at an outdoor show are your best bet, as opposed to a storefront type. Best of luck to you!

Haha that made me laugh JLS. Too true! And I WISH I could build the space I need for $30,000!

Looks to me like it might have been burned into the leather with a soldering iron or wood burning tool. Some kind of Dremel tool might give the same look. You can see by the darker marks where the tool stopped and started.

Omg RockyAussie, I have splitter envy BAD!

You gotta get to an auction or a flea market once in awhile buddy! I think I gave $10 or $15 for my Chase splitter off a flatbed full of junk at a flea market. The blade was not sharp, but in perfect condition and I sharpened it myself. It won't do lap skives, but I use my Randall Keystone or my skiver for that. The Keystone cost me the most besides my big splitter and I think I gave $350 for it, sharp and ready to go. The skiver I gave $60 for on an auction. My 6" crank-through cost me $100 I think. The blade wasn't sharp but I traded a newer Osborne round knife for the sharpening. $60 bucks for my Spitzler (?) Might have the name wrong on that one. If you keep your eyes open and know where to look, they're out there. Another one of those things that once you have it, you'll wonder how in the world you ever did without it. I'd never want to split a whole hide either, and buy my leather the weight I need it. But I might have a little piece of scrap that's just the perfect size and temper for a particular project, but it's a little too thick. Just run it through the splitter and I'm ready to rock n roll. But everyone's needs are different, so I "get" not wanting to invest big bucks in something you don't feel you can justify.

I assume you are talking about a big splitter as opposed to a bench splitter. All told I think I own 9 splitters. I use 5 of them regularly and just don't have room in my shop right now for the others. The widest bench splitter I have is 8 inches I think. A couple years ago I bought an old 18" stationary blade splitter. I would LOVE to have a band knife splitter, but it wasn't really in the budget when I bought the big one, and this on was close to home so none of the associated hassles of buying from a long distance away. It is at the point where the blade needs stropping at least. I am reluctant to do anything lest I can't get adjusted it back correctly. My bench splitters I can take the blade out and touch up every few months and get everything back to how it was before I took it out. I can't imagine not having a splitter. Sending leather out to be split would be cost prohibitive just in freight alone. Plus when I need something split I need it split NOW. I also would not want to split leather for other people. If someone would walk in and want a strap split to a specific thickness, that I would do, but large scale splitting for other leatherworkers, nah. Imo, a splitter is one of the most basic and essential tools a leatherworker can have. It was probably the second thing I bought for my shop that cost over a couple hundred bucks, the first being a stitcher of course. I realize that every situation is different, and many folks may not have the need for one that a shop like mine does, and the need may not justify the investment, but there's no way I could operate without at least several.

Really a nice, neat job! I imagine you imported leather from England? I hate English work, mostly because I am in a part of the country where there is virtually nobody riding English on much more than a shoestring budget. If I lived where people didn't think anything of spending several thousand on their saddle and several hundred on a bridle, I wouldn't mind it so much. Gotta get paid for our work:-) Nice job.

I am impressed that you built these solely by watching videos. I can build about anything that goes on a horse, but boots always seemed like a very complicated and intimidating project to me. Good job!

Wow, those are nice! And I, too, love your tools!

Like SOS says, there is a lot of difference between hides, and especially between tanneries. Typically, EB tends to be a more dense, firmer leather due to the processing. The reason behind it is that denser leather lasts longer than loose fibered leather. EB varies from quite waxy on the surface to quite dry on the surface. Harness leather tends to more oily and waxy than EB, but again lots of difference between tanneries, and types of leather from the same tannery. For example, Wickett and Craig offers at least 3 types of Harness leather. Their regular Harness is quite dry on the surface, with a beautiful glossy finish. It works great for work that needs to be cased up during the building process. They offer a "Work Harness" selection. This leather is firmer and very waxy/oily. It is not at all suitable for personal leather goods or show harness. There is a LOT of difference between the two. Hermann Oak offers at least a couple different kinds of harness, again with a marked difference between the types. The reason these leathers cost more is the extra time and materials used in the processing, and the hides must be big hides, relatively free of defects front and back. Latigo probably varies more than any other type of leather. I can't comment on the California Latigo, as I don't remember having bought any, although I may have at some point I should try some, as it seems like I have more trouble finding a latigo I like than other leathers. Visit with the salesperson about the leather, and definitely ask for swatches. Most places are good about sending out samples of their leather. Best of luck to you!

I went right to their site when I saw your post. I knew that Sheridan had to be getting them from a supplier, I just didn't know where. I see a lot of other things I can use from there too. I also like 3d galvanized for their holding power. I found some SS deck screws in a small package at Menards that I really like for some things. I got a larger quantity through my local lumber yard, but they weren't quite the same and I didn't like them as well. I see McMaster Carr has exactly what I want, and I will be ordering from them in the future. Thanks again!

Thank you, CWR, I have been wondering that myself. I've inquired at my local lumber yard in the past, and they haven't had much success in finding anything.