Johanna

I wish I had a pic of Billy 2 shews' tools with their mangled peened tops. He uses a regular carpenters hammer, and not only is the metal on metal sound loud, it kills the tools fast. I wonder how one of the better quality tools would hold up to that kind of abuse? I just happened to think about his messed up tools making beautiful art while reading this discussion. Johanna

Pete asked me to say hello to everyone and let you know what he's been up to. These are his Hawaiian Saddles: The Christmas newsletter explains what he is doing in Hawaii (being warm!) I love the carving at the top that he did. Pete is a friend, and a respected saddlemaker and author. If you are interested in getting any of his books, click here for details. Johanna HawaiianSaddles.pdf GorrellXmas09.pdf

I see a bunch of flaws in that board. Finish it and send it to Ohio. One of the things I've always admired about Kate's work is that she can jazz it up without losing the elegance of the original design. That will be a board you can display hand-carved, ridiculously expensive chess pieces on and dare the cat to walk on it. Johanna

Just for the record, that wasn't Art bragging "sewing machine expert". I wrote that under his name. Jim Beaton and Barra are also very experienced and geographically closer to you. They may have info more pertinent to your situation, Allan. I can say, having used several leather sewing machines, that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all". Most shops have two or three machines, and they use them for different purposes. There may be a machine that will do most of what you want it to, and the best way to find out is to talk to the dealers and ask, take notes and do your homework. Besides the price and what the machine will do, consider the after-sale service you can expect, the availability of spare parts, and the quality of the machine itself. Since you have been a saddler for 40 years, you know what you want and what you expect to do with a new machine- and that will be a big help to the dealers when they answer your questions. Johanna

If I can't find the pattern, I'll trace you the back part of my belt. It's just a piece of leather attached to two skinny straps to buckle in the front. I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone wanted to know how I got it in the loops. LOL Johanna

"Earnest Franklin" tried to scam one of our regulars a few weeks ago. Remember folks, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Johanna

Suze- I sent Wapak a PM as soon as I caught the user name. We're going to get together now that the holidays are over (yeah!) maybe you would like to join us in the shop? Are you still off from work? (Chris & Sean- Susie is my cousin!) Suze- Welder used to work at the same company you and Wade do. As soon as they get Jesus off the renovated lock I'll take some pics and send them to him. (I don't know why the nativity scene on the lock bothers me so much- Jesus wasn't born on a boat and it looks like a moat surrounds Him.) Wapak- PM me your phone number or give me a call (I'm in the book in New Knoxville). Johanna http://newbremenhistory.org

Thank you for the heads-up! Johanna

LW charges $75 a year for a domain name and 12 months of hosting. Renting the extra space we have offsets some of the costs of this site. Kate & I both do hosting. Our hosting packages come with all of cPanel's bells and whistles, unlimited email accounts, real time stats, 3 mySQL databases available and tools to build sites. Web site building is extra, and you need to discuss that with Kate for a custom quote. If I had only one site, and I wanted to host it somewhere other than here, I would use http://bluehost.com . I have helped quite a few people with Bluehost accounts, and was pleased at the available options, reasonable prices and the level of service and support. If you want more specific info, you can call, email or PM me. If you want Kate to build you a site, get on her list ASAP because her calendar is filling quickly. She also does custom photography and graphics editing, if you need those services. Don't think "Oh, no, how can I choose between Kate & Johanna?" You don't. We work together, and we'll figure out who does what after you decide what you want us to do. Johanna

Denise, I don't know how many $$$$ are in the parts of a saddle, but the average (working) leatherworker has about 15 grand in tools in the shop. It would be interesting to know how much in tools the average saddlemaker has in the shop, wouldn't it? Johanna

Glad you're back. We missed you. Johanna

This was made as a present for me when I was a Tandy manager, and I used it everyday with a smile. Since you're making a present for a Tandy employee, using the logo is probably no big deal to them, but NEVER use the Tandy logo on anything you intend to sell or display without Tandy's official permission. They have to be very diligent about protecting their copyright just like everyone else. Your Tandy manager will be delighted, I am sure. What a nice gesture! Johanna

When I worked at Tandy, all our cutting tables had Poundo boards over the surface. When one would get too worn, we'd flip it over. It took a lot to wear out the Poundo boards, and it was easier on our knives and punches when our less experienced customers drove through the leather all the way into the table. Another nice feature of those big tables was the shelf underneath for storage. Johanna

Not my style either, but well executed, as usual. Moving to Show Off. ~J

"Watch Album" gives you notifications on all the activity in an album- comments and new pics added. Another thing to point out- the rating stars. If you click a star, you're stuck with it. You can't and I can't edit it. The 5th star on the right means "excellent". Best rated pics can be searched, as well as latest posted images, most viewed images and recent comments by scrolling down any catagory of albums page and clicking on the links on the brown toolbar towards the bottom. Johanna

I just answered these questions kinda generically, and I;m glad you asked, Clay, because if you were wondering, others are too. If anyone has more questions or I need to clarify (or fix some bug I haven't noticed yet) your feedback in valuable. We want this gallery to perform perfectly, of course, and be easy to use. We all seem to like looking at the pics. Johanna

This Spring I met this down-to-earth tall hippy dude at Sheridan who had some of the most usual exotic leathers I've ever seen. He took the time to explain a little about some of the ones that really caught my eye, and was very friendly. I just got off of the phone with him- he has relocated from California to Idaho where he is catching 20 lb. trout when he's not busy with leather related jobs. He says he's got a large selection of leathers available. His name is Jerry. Phone is: (208) 785-0800 jerry@vanamburgleathers.com He does a lot of custom work, so he can advise you how to get the most out of exotics like stingray, elephant, frogs, snakes, and animals you would never guess they would make leather from. Here is his site: http://vanamburgleathers.com/blogpics/ just ignore the CA info. If you contact him, tell him Johanna from Leatherworker.net sent you. Johanna

It's "brain bleach" for when you see or hear something that you need removed from your head.

Curtis- They are the interiors for checkbooks, wallets, clutch purses etc. You know, where all the tiny pockets are for credit cards and your drivers license and stuff. CF makes the insides, you carve or stamp an outside piece of leather and sew them together. You get a professional looking piece you can still claim as "made -by-hand", but you don't have to make the guts, which is time consuming. Johanna