Big Sioux Saddlery

That is some seriously top notch work!

I have some of Weaver's oval punches that have received heavy use for at least ten years and they are still in good condition. I also have some CS Osborne oval punches that I bought right before the Weaver punches and the edges rolled right away, (hence the reason for purchasing the Weaver punches.)

Some machines are made to run a size lighter thread on the bottom. It tells you right in the manual. With many items of horse equipment, the top side receives more wear/friction, so using a heavier thread on the top side makes sense. Also, with an item such as a harness trace, you can channel your bottom side if using a machine that will take a channeler, and the lighter thread lays in the channel better. Being completely hidden, the thread will not wear through until the surface of the leather wears to the level of the bottom of the channel. That's a LOT of wear, and most harness doesn't get used that heavily today. It just depends on which machine I'm using at any given time, and what I'm sewing. Sometimes I use the same size top and bottom, sometimes a size lighter on the bottom. I say there's no hard and fast rule, and I'm not an expert. Just 23 years in the harness and saddlery business full time, and over 35 since picking up my first tool. However, I'll be the first to admit, years don't mean anything if you've been doing something wrong all those years:-)

Singermania is NOT looking for Union Special parts, he is looking for Union Lockstitch parts. Huge difference. Union Lockstitch is a hook and awl machine and as the name indicates, sews a lockstitch. I'm sure there are many different models of Union Special machines, but the one I have is a closed eye needle machine used to sew feed sacks, has no bobbin (never did, it's not missing) and sews a chain stitch with a single thread. And I would sell it:-)

Nice job. I had an inquiry for one of these right before Christmas and she needed it by Jan 10, which I told her would be difficult if not impossible. I've never made one and spent a lot of time looking on-line also, and was not very impressed by most of what I saw, but this looks nice.

I've rendered my own tallow as well. It's pretty easy really, no different than rendering lard. I get the fat that surrounds the kidneys, cut it into pieces, and heat it in large kettles either on the stovetop or in a crock pot. I can't remember how long, but heat until the fat is all melted and clear without letting it boil. Then drain, making sure to get only the clear, liquid fat and none of the solid particles (cracklings for those of you who remember your mothers or grandmothers rendering lard.) I then let it cool until hard, and refrigerate or freeze for long term storage, although if you've been very careful to get only pure, clean tallow when you drain, I think it might keep indefinitely without refrigeration. I remember it being pretty much an all day process (just like rendering lard was when I was a kid) but it's definitely something I'll do again when I run out of tallow. That's how I do it anyway. I also would be interested to hear how anyone else does it. It makes very good stuffing for drier leathers that you wish to have some moisture/weather resistance. It has a nice waxy feel to it, really not greasy at all.

What does it cost to feed a single cow until slaughter? That depends on how old you let her get. "Cow" refers to an adult female that is used for breeding purposes. They are generally not slaughtered until their useful breeding life has come to an end, either by not conceiving, or by having a poor calf as she gets close to or into her teens, or by having calving difficulties such as prolapses, or by being so mean tempered that she is just plain dangerous to keep around. I've known cows to keep having good calves into their late teens. Others are done before they're ten years old. I THINK that it is not unusual for a dairy cow to be done before she's 5, but as I've never been a part of a dairy operation, I can't say for sure. Particulars aside, I think what you actually mean is what does it cost to feed a calf for the two years or less from birth until slaughter. It is estimated that cattle will consume approximately 2.5% of their body weight per day. A feeder calf should gain an average of between 2 and 3 lbs a day. What the actual cost per pound of gain is I don't know, because I'm not raising cattle for a living. A small calf will obviously eat less than a big calf, so to say it costs $2 a day to feed a calf would not be accurate at all stages of feeding. You can bet guys managing a feedlot know pretty closely what the cost per lb of gain is. If you have cheap grass and grass fatten your cattle, you can sure get by cheaper than with grain fattened cattle, but it takes longer to finish them. There are just so many variables that it makes it tough answer your question accurately. I do not believe that you can buy one calf, buy all your feed until slaughter age, and make anything more than pennies an hour on your time, or suffer a big loss if you come out one morning and find your steer dead from bloat. And that does happen! Margins are small for cattle operations, even when prices are good, and they DO lose money when the prices are low. It is such a complex subject that entire research studies are done every year to try to figure it out. I do know that feeding one 1200lb steer and 9 feeder colts is currently costing me around $30 a day. I did at one point have it figured out what kind of gain I had to get on the colts and how much I could pay for feed in order to make anything, but offhand I can't remember the numbers. Implants: If you are going to make any money feeding cattle for the general market, you have to implant. If you raise for the natural/organic market then the higher price per pound at the end is SUPPOSED to make up for the increased time it takes to finish. Personally, I will not implant the cattle I am going to eat. The FDA or USDA or whatever claims them to be safe, but the fewer unnatural products that go into my food, the better. I'm not an extreme "buy only organic" person, but if it takes me a few months longer to finish a steer for my freezer, it's not a big deal. But like I said, I'm not feeding cattle for a living. Brain tanning I have been tempted to try, but I wouldn't do it with a cowhide. I would try a deer hide first. As far as vegetable tanning or even chrome tanning, I myself wouldn't even attempt it. Tanneries employ full time chemists to keep tabs on their operations, and I have no illusions that I could do even close to as good a job for less money. But best of luck to you if you decide to try it. Sorry I couldn't be of more help on the total feed costs.

EXACTLY what Josh said! I see some pretty terrible first, second, third, fourth,etc......saddles from novices, and I would feel safer in many production saddles over some of the "handmade" rigs. I know my first ones weren't much to brag about, and maybe they still aren't, but what I see coming in from so called "saddlemakers" is pathetic. I'm sure there are many good saddles out there by little-known makers that are quite functional, but just because a saddle is "handmade" does NOT make it a good saddle. You have to evaluate each one by itself. Good luck to you.

I hate to give anyone bad advice, so take this for what it cost you. I agree that the backs are easier to handle. The older I get, the more it hurts to lift and move stuff around. I'm getting quite a bit of arthritis in my hands, so anything I can do to reduce/eliminate things that cause pain, I do it. BUT, I'm not going to quit buying sides and go to backs. I really doubt that shipping difference is going to be significant on the backs. Would there be a market for the bellies in your area? On some leathers, the belly is mostly waste for me, but others (harness leather in particular) I can utilize most of it. If I have scrap that is of totally no use to me, I bag it up and take it to a local auction. While it used to bring more than it has the last times I did it, it usually brought enough to pay for supper out and my fuel, and I always combined the trip with other things I had to do in town (like Walmart). Now most of that scrap was pretty well used up, and I've never taken pieces as large as a belly, but I don't doubt it would bring more than the extra I paid for it because many of those people at the auction just do not have access to the type of leather that I use. Try a side and advertise the belly on Craigs List. You might be surprised. Also, ask W & C if they would trim the backs a little better for you. If you're buying by sq ft or weight, you'll pay less. Of course if you're buying by the piece, then you just give them more for free. As for the diagrams, I don't know maybe 50 years ago they trimmed better, but I know it hasn't been any different in the last 20 years. I haven't bought a back for at least 10 years, maybe more, but I've never gotten one I considered to be a well trimmed back. Best of luck to you!

Well I don't know about where you live, but if I want to buy some cattle, I'd be damned if I'm gonna go get a permit. I just go buy some calves or whatever, bring them home and start feeding them. If you want to raise cattle, around here, all you need is some cows, a bull for every 20 or so cows and some good grass to turn them out on. Well, there's a whole lot more to it than that, but I'm pretty sure none of these guys running a bunch of cows are going to go get a permit to breed them. There's grazing permits and stuff like that for running your cows in an out of state pasture, but that's an entirely different deal. Cattle have been high for the last year, but have come down some in the last couple months I believe. I know last fall, calves coming in off grass, just weaned were bringing over $3. A good big calf can sure weigh between 500-600 right off the cow, so you know what you're looking at for initial cost there. That's for good beef calves, dairy calves are cheaper, but take longer to finish, and you end up with more in them to net less in the end. As far as feed costs, that varies also. If you have free grass, you're in good shape. If you have to buy all your feed, in the end, you can buy meat about as cheap at the super market as what it costs to raise it. You can count on about 2 years from birth to slaughter if you don't implant. Feed is a commodity that goes up and down just like other commodities. When I take a fat steer to the locker, with the current rate of processing which I think was about $375 last time I had one done (about 6 months ago), and I had bought all the feed, I figured it cost me about $4 a pound straight through for the meat I ended up with in my freezer. No great deal for hamburger, but pretty cheap for T-bones. I don't sell any of the meat; I have a 15 year old son that is as much a carnivore as I am so we keep everything we have processed, and sell anything else live. If you didn't want all of the meat, you'd be better off to try to sell a half to someone else for their freezer. People that don't/can't raise their own are always looking to buy a half or a quarter. As far as the hide goes, I have asked for the hide back from the locker, and had to pay maybe $60 for it. I only ever made rawhide from a hide. Tanning leather is a long and complicated process and I'm pretty sure there's no way I can do as good a job for as little money (even as high as leather is) as what I can buy leather. I'm sure any locker plant will sell you a hide for what their hide guy will give them, or a bit more to make it worth their while to mess with. A deer hide is a nice size hide to handle, if you would want to practice trying to process a hide, and around here you can usually get one for free during hunting season. A cowhide is pretty big and heavy when it's fresh off the animal, at least for my scrawny muscles to handle.

I have rarely bought backs, one of the reasons being exactly what you describe; too much belly left on it. Furthermore, I never felt that they give you enough for the belly to warrant letting them keep it. I realize that many people may not be able to find a use for the belly, and so rather than pay for leather they'll never use, they save a few bucks over buying a side and buy the backs instead. But to answer your question, I don't think what you're seeing is at all unusual. The backs I've gotten have all run down into pretty soft leather in the flank and armpit area. When I start cutting a side that will be cut into straps, I always cut the belly off so I have 3 straight edges to cut from. And I'll usually cut higher than what I would receive if I had ordered a back. I feel it just gives me a little more flexibility in cutting to do it that way.

I've seen many sell for about $35. They are basically worthless for any saddle or harness work, but I have one and am not looking for a home for it. There are just a very few odd jobs that I use it for and for what I could get out of it, it might as well sit there and work for me the 3 times a year I use it. It is actually a fun machine to run if it works. I had a lot of trouble with mine when I first got it. That was over 20 years ago. I knew absolutely nothing about stitchers and bought it from a less than honest horse trader type of guy. But I bought some new parts for it and it'll just hum along now. Best of luck to you.

Shipping on my raw materials is one of the items that when I do my taxes I think Holy Crap, gotta do something there! Compared to 20 or even 10 years ago, it is a way bigger percentage than other overhead expenses. The vendors make a difference; one of the vendors I used to use, (they're no longer in business) charged only the exact shipping cost and would ship back orders free. Unfortunately, the vendor they sold out to, is much more profit motivated and I'm quite sure they are realizing profit from their shipping department. Really nothing we can do about it, other than plan better to combine orders and pass the increased cost along to the consumer. When I figure the cost of leather in a finished product, I figure shipping on a side of leather is $25-$35 and it gets figured right into the cost, along with the waste percentage of any given side of leather. I would say shipping is probably triple of what it was when I started in business 23 years ago.

Outstanding! I don't know that I have ever seen more authentic work. Compliments from me come few and far between in every aspect of my life; it may not mean a thing, but if you get a compliment from me, you darn sure deserve one! I wish my work was near as good.

Thanks Buck! It sure would be a lot easier than dealing with the lime/water in this freezing weather.

I got a hide last night from a friend who had an old cow he just knew was going to die. He said he was going to shoot her because she was having trouble getting up and getting to the bunk and it was just a matter of time. I asked if she was thin and he laughed and said "yeah, she's pretty thin." So anyway, long story short, I had him skin the cow and roll it up hair side in while it was still warm. Anyone had any success with this for slipping the hair? Bruce Grant says in his book it takes a couple days. Anything I should be doing? It's in the 30's here during the day for another couple days and it'll be below 20 tonight. Then it's going to get colder. Other than the my house and the shop, there is really no warm place to put it, and I don't really want it in either of those places if it's going to smell bad. It's still in the back of my pickup rolled up. I plan to check it tomorrow. I figured if I have to lime it, I'd put a tank heater in the solution to keep it from freezing. I made some rawhide in my much younger years and I'm pretty sure I used lime to dehair, but that was in nicer weather. This was probably 30 years ago and I used a piece a few days ago for a horn rim. It went in beautifully. I used some commercial rawhide yesterday for a binding, and fought it the whole way. So I jumped at the chance when my friend said he had this old skinny cow, plus reading you guys' posts on making rawhide got me in the mood again:-) I'll also have access to some calves this spring I'm sure.

I have some also I'd sell by the yard or foot. It's Weaver's 1" I believe. Let me know if you still need some.

Most people use nails nowadays in saddles, not tacks. Use tacks when fitting up, as they're easy to pull, but they also work themselves out easily, which is why you don't want to use them for assembly. Most old saddles are full of tacks. Use stainless steel nails for assemble. I get mine from Sheridan leather, or once in awhile the local lumber yard will have something I can use. I'll also use small galvanized nails for repair work. I use hand shoe tacks for tacking up harness and strap goods before sewing. The rawhide of a saddle tree will turn the point before it penetrates. Go to Sheridan Leather's website or call them. Vandy is very helpful.

No doubt about that, but it all depends upon the application, and the customer. Some people aren't willing to pay me $50 to hand sew something that will take 5 minutes to rivet. If it's not about the money, then by all means, everything else being equal, sewing certainly looks better.

I wish you the best of luck!

I've always said a good job of riveting beats a poor job of sewing any day!

Yes cylinder arm machines are more expensive because they're more machine. A flatbed machine will get you started if you want to do flatwork. If you try to do tack and strap goods on a flatbed machine all it will get you is frustration and poor work. If you have very little leather experience and can only afford the flatbed machine (which I think you should be able to get for about $650, not the $1200, although having it professionally set up and that dealer close to you for product support IS worth something) plan on doing things that you CAN sew on that machine. Wallets, chaps, etc. Just my opinion, mind you, but I have over 35 years of experience making sewing machine buying mistakes:-)

I cringe also when I get these kind in. They're a pain in the rear. It is fairly common on a drop dee roping saddle, and also some cutters. It is meant to help stabilize the front rigging primarily, secondarily to serve the purpose of a lug strap. Whether it truly does stabilize the front rigging, or is just a gimmick to sell saddles I don't know. With a drop dee there's quite a bit of leather between the bar and the dee and I suppose with heavy use the leather could be pulled/stretched out of it's original position. When I get them in like this, I do it the way it's suppose to be done. Leave the rigging in place and cut the stitches and re-sew them when you put it back together. Yes, that's by hand, as it was when new:-) Look at this kind when brand new; they are handsewed through the fleece after the skirts are in place.

I don't know anything about this model's capabilities, but in doing a google search for images, I see it is a flatbed machine. If you are planning on making tack and strap goods, you'd be much happier with a cylinder arm machine. A flatbed machine just can't get next to a buckle and into tight areas like a cylinder arm.

As far as I know, spots do not come with a longer leg than 5/16". There are barbed spots, but I don't think they're commonly used by tack makers today. Honestly, the stuff you see that is thicker than 5/16", either the spots were put in before the layers put together, or the spots don't go all the way through to clinch. I've seen ALOT of that; they don't stay in long and you can pick them out with your fingers. But the makers of the cheap stuff don't care, as long as the spots stay in long enough to make the boat ride and get to the horse sale. Ebay is full of garbage like that too. I get my spots from both Standard and Timco. I think the name may have changed on that company, but that's what they started out as. If you need to set spots in leather thicker than 5/16' you have to modify your process somehow.