Big Sioux Saddlery

Yep that makes perfect sense. Well not what I thought it might be, so the search will continue. Nevertheless, it might come in handy some day. I've never done any shoe/boot repair and don't intend to start, but I guess I'll keep it around.

So it is a shoe tool?

I'm hoping someone can confirm what this is. I bought the remaining leather machinery and inventory from an estate. The sewing machines and some other good stuff were already gone, but I did get some goodies. This tool was stuffed in a drawer with a bunch of other misc stuff. The man had done shoe repair, saddle repair, tarp and canvas work, and some harness repair. I figured it was a shoe tool of some sort when I first found it, but upon getting home and unpacking, I started to look at it more carefully. The two tubes are connected inside the aluminum casting, in other words, if you sprinkle some sand in the shorter tube, it will come out the end of the longer tube, providing the handle connected to the long ram is pulled out past the part where the two tubes join. I don't know how to say it better than that, although I don't feel like I'm accurately describing it. IF it is what I think it is, I'm one happy camper, as I've been looking to find this tool my entire adult life, as well as half my childhood. Google images brings up nothing.

There are both straight veg-tan latigo and re-tan latigo. The straight veg-tan is a more traditional way of tanning latigo, (traditional in that it was used in the times before chrome tannage, which is quite a few decades now) and typically more expensive. The re-tan, in theory, holds up to exposure to extreme conditions better than the straight veg, and is quicker and less costly to produce. Edit: According to Wikipedia, chrome tanning was developed in 1858, so it's been around for more than a few decades. I don't know at what point in time tanneries started to use a re-tan method to make latigo. The latigos on vintage saddles appear to either be alum tan or straight veg-tan. Someone older than myself that was in the saddlery business long before me might have more insight as to when re-tan latigo became more widely used.

I finally bit the bullet two years ago, after having thought for years it was just too much money. It is one of the biggest time savers in the shop, and if I had bought it twenty years ago, I might have still better use of my hands than I do today. It came on sale and I decided I was going to own one. Even if you HAVE to pay retail for it, if you do much straight strap work, it will pay for itself in time saved (and also does a beautiful job) and reduced wear and tear on your joints. That is something I stress to folks doing this craft for a living. If you do it long enough, you WILL have problems with your hands. I wouldn't give up my EZ edger for love or money.

If you haven't already found it, I typed in "inlaid saddle seat" but without the quotes, and rdl123's blog on his second saddle comes up as a search result. He includes a very nice detailed drawing of the layers he used. As I am computer illiterate I don't know how to include a link here to it.

Umm. . . actually no smart phone. I've been stubbornly resisting that as well:-)

Thank you Jersey! I am familiar with Facebook and have both a personal and business page there, but beyond that, all the rest is foreign to me. And I was only slightly joking when I said I need an IT person. And an office manager, and a cleaning service, etc, etc. Business is the best it's ever been, and the managerial work (and basically anything that isn't revenue producing) is getting to be too much. Thank you for the time you took to explain:-)

At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, I'm still trying to figure out what the hell Instagram is and how to use it! I don't like all this new technology stuff, even though I know that in today's world, if you don't keep up with it you'll get run over and forgotten. Honestly, I'd rather be standing there scratching my head and cussing over why my stitcher just started dropping stitches, and that rates right up there with housework, like scrubbing the shower or cleaning the toilet. I think I need an IT person to manage all that crap!

I don't think I've ever had the problem you're having, with the glue coming back up through the holes and I use Barges exclusively. On occasion, and only very rarely, I'll have the "sticking to the needle and lifting the work" problem, and I'm normally not all that careful about keeping the glue out of the stitch line like I advised you to do. Puzzling. . . .When sewing something with a lot of wax in it, like harness leather, I'll end up with lots of wax bits in the stitch line. They usually just wipe right off.

The other book I'm referring to is called "How To Establish Prices For The Saddle Maker Or Leather Worker" and is written by Bob Brenner. It was published in 2003, so do keep that in mind wherever prices are mentioned in it. I found it more helpful than Pete Gorrell's book, maybe simply because I purchased Brenner's book several years before I purchased Gorrell's. For me, it's difficult to determine just a handful of tools for making a simple bridle, because I have a shop full at my disposal and don't even think about which ones I use. However, the round knife, as mentioned earlier, would be one I just couldn't do without. Many folks do passable work without one, but for me, it's a necessity. A draw gauge (strap cutter) would be another. Avoid Chicago screws, I don't know anyone who likes them. Unless you're using decorative conchos that utilizes them for installation, I would use bit ties. I use an oval punch to cut the tie holes in the cheeks at the bit ends, size 7 or 8, I can't remember which, and use a 3/8" lace with a rosette, concho and a bleed knot. However, my cheek dies are flared where the ties go through; if you cut them straight, the 7 or 8 would be too large. I use a #4 or #5 for the buckle holes on the crown strap. Get a bag punch right off the bat to cut your buckle slots and save yourself some frustration. One inch is a good size, if it needs to be longer, you can always take a second swipe at it, rarely do I use anything shorter on heavy straps. For hand stitching, find a GOOD awl. You'll have to ask others here for their opinion on that, as my best ones are old. I've bought new awl blades for $25 and I didn't think they were worth a damn compared to the old ones. The steel is just not the same and no matter how much polishing, still drags, unlike my old awls. I usually just pull thread off my machine thread spools for hand sewing. Purists prefer linen, and I must admit there is no nicer look than a good job of hand stitching with good linen thread. I find it hard to keep the waxed linen clean by the end of my stitching job. I run bonded nylon in my machines, so most of the time, that's what I hand stitch with. You could also lace the buckles on with latigo ties. Many good work headstalls are made that way. Gum trag is typically what I use for my edges. Harness leather does not need a sealant. Sometimes, if I know a specific item will get used hard and neglected badly, I will dip the item in oil before it leaves the shop. Some of the HO russet harness leather (not all of it) turns an unattractive color after dipping, so anything that is going to stick around the shop to try to sell, or go to a show, does NOT get dipped. Hope that helps:-)

Yes and yes to your first two questions. I didn't want to discourage you, but this being a first project, you would be better off to just keep it simple. Harness leather is a great choice and if taken care of and not abused, will last you the rest of your life. I have headstalls out there that I made when I first started in business 25 years ago. They are still in daily use by a guy that rides some tough horses. THAT is a testament to Hermann Oak's Russet Harness Leather! My plain work bridles sell for $65. I have to make up quite a few at a time to make that work. I absolutely cannot make one at a time and sell them for that price. Machinery sure speeds up production for any shop, but you have to realize that some of these $40 bridles you have bought may be made in a manufacturing facility. Their cost of materials is way cheaper than any small shop because they can buy in quantity. Their labor is cheaper than a one or two man shop also. I know of some mediocre (not top shelf) goods coming out of Amish shops. Those guys literally work for less than poverty wages, and then complain that they don't make any money. Don't try to compete with them on price. Ever. Beat them on quality, which isn't all that tough to do. If you are planning on making this stuff to sell, at some point you will have to invest in some machinery. You just cannot get enough done in a day doing everything by hand. The investment in tools and machinery is large in proportion to the return when specializing in products for the equine industry, unless you become one of the handful of top artists in the country whose work commands top prices. At best, you can make a modest living. I am happy with that because I like what I do, want to be the boss and have the freedom that I have. I do not want to work to help make someone else wealthy, while myself working for barely enough to get by, all the while hating what I do every minute of every day. After 25 years of working for myself, I don't think I COULD go back to work for someone else. I was in business quite a few years before I started making money, and then there were a few years during the "crash" that the business actually lost money. Part of the reason for making no money in the early years was that I had no formal business training and had no idea how to price my goods. Early on I had a conversation with Pete Gorrell on the phone and he told me that if I was not charging $30 an hour, I would lose money, and that was 20+ years ago. I thought "Man you're crazy, there is NOBODY in this area that will pay that." Guess what, I finally realized he was right, got my prices up there where they belonged, weeded out the guys that wanted to pay me $5 an hour, and got more clients of the type that I wanted to do business with. It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. DON'T make the same mistake I did. There are a couple good books out there; one is by Bob Brenner and the other by Pete Gorrell. They discuss in detail how to price your products in order to turn a profit. I would add those to your list of requirements if you plan to make more than just a few items for resale. Best of luck to you!

On a double and stitched headstall I'd go with about 7/8 oz for the tooling leather and 6/7 latigo for the lining. I absolutely would not cut the tooling leather for your headstall from a double shoulder. You need the very best part of the hide for this, especially with the lighter weight leather. The crown piece on my working headstalls gets cut from the butt of a 9/11 oz side of russet harness leather. Cut from that area of the hide, they will run at least 11 oz and be good solid stock. Those don't get lined, but even if cutting from lighter stuff and lining them they should still come from the butt. The cheek pieces will need to be bent hard at the bit end and around the buckle, so you can cut them a little further ahead in the side where the leather isn't quite as firm as the butt, but not so far ahead to where you get into shoulder wrinkles. Yield varies from side to side and with the projects you're making. I generally figure if I get 20 inches of useable leather from the spine to where the belly gets too soft to use for strap goods, then I've done really well. Most sides won't yield that good. As far as your list, I can't function without a round knife, but if this is your first project you will not be adept at handling one without a lot of practice first. A GOOD round knife would be a wise investment and then PRACTICE. I've always done my handsewing with an awl rather than chisels, but that's just how I learned to do it. A stitching horse will be invaluable if you sew the whole headstall by hand. My hands hurt thinking about that! You'll need some glue or harness tacks to hold things together until you get them sewn.

I do the same thing on the saddles Bondo Bob! It seems then like I'm not spending quite as much time doing edges as if I did the edges all at one time. And of course many of the parts have to be done that way just due to the sequence in which they have to go together, but even the ones that can be done at any point, I do early on and then keep fussing with them throughout.

While I would not apply the Trag before the dye, I would try to get rid of the fuzzies somehow, as they will tend to make it more difficult to do a neat job of dyeing. Normally I would get rid of the worst of the fuzzies on the back side by running the strap through a splitter, taking off just enough to remove any superfluous flesh. I've read somewhere (it may have been Bob Park) to saddlesoap and burnish the edges BEFORE dyeing to assist in getting a neater edge. While this does help, I could never get as nice an edge with saddle soap as I could with Trag. I've tried applying the saddleoap, burnish, dye, and THEN Trag, and I could not get that slick glassy edge with the Trag AFTER the saddlesoap like I could with the Trag alone. But that could have been due to any number of things, not the least of which may have been operator error, as the source from which I borrowed that method had outstanding edges. As with so many other things in this craft, experiment on scrap to see what works the best for you.

My last order from W & C was 15 sides. They had everything in stock at the time of my order and I told them to hold it a week because I was going to be gone the following week. I told them a date to ship and the leather almost beat me home. While I have had to wait up to a couple months for leather from them, mostly it depends on whether they have a particular leather in stock or on toggle at the time of your order. And remember that they are a tannery; In my experience, there is usually a longer wait-time from a manufacturer than from a dealer/distributor/supplier.

Anyone know where to get those edge irons used in the above video, or are they something you have to make or have made?

When applying the glue, I try to keep it out of the stitch line area on projects where I anticipate this could be a problem. Also, as you have discovered, it takes less Barges to do the job than some other glues.

AFTER I wrote the above response I thought maybe I should actually check to see if anyone in the US handles Sedgwicks leathers. It seems that Booth and Co in Essex, MA has some. It's worth inquiring. Has anyone here ever dealt with them?

Top quality English stirrup leathers are cut from leather that I believe is called "Stirrup Butts". I'm not aware of anywhere in the US that carries this leather. When Seigels of California was in business, they carried some Sedgwicks leather, but I don't know of anyone now. Sorry that's not much help. Maybe there is a shop that does a lot of English work that imports some of what you need and would be willing to cut you a pair.

You aren't applying a resist before the dye, are you? Over time, with hard use and exposure any dye will lighten and wear off to some extent. Even drum dyed black harness will need to be re-dyed at some point to regain it's color if it has been used even moderately hard. But it should not be happening before the project is even completed. Are you just using natural strap or tooling leather?

Wow, looks like you did a really nice job on the tools!

I tool drum dyed skirting and then antique with a darker color over a resist. I love the look. As Halitech said above, chrome tanned will not work. With veg-tanned, the quality of the leather itself will determine the ease with which it burnishes.

That's very interesting, Wiz, I didn't know these were available. I might have to get me a set of those

If you are sewing mostly strap work, a Landis One is better than the clones for doing what you want to do, provided it is a tight machine and adjusted properly. Many of them are nearly worn out but still sew, although you will not get a tight, pretty stitch out of a worn out machine. They are available from time to time, often for LESS than you are looking to spend. You may have to travel to find one. The Landis Ones are not always best for sewing up close to a center bar buckle, or sewing gussets in bags, etc due to the design of the shuttle race. But for flat work, like dog collars, I do think it would work, and work much better sewing up close to spots than any of the clones. It was the only machine I used for at least 15 years. You learn to modify your construction techniques based on your machine's capabilities or shortcomings. I can measure the margin needed for the "One" if you'd like.