Johanna

Was "online" a word in the 19th century? Kate's right- the steam powered machinery worked when they set it up, and still does the best job now. There is no air conditioned computer room where someone programs the giant pipes and arms, there are guys with wrenches, I suppose. When you walk upstairs to the packing room it smells like leathery butter. The hides are beautiful, and Shep had every right to beam with pride. Hermann Oak makes quality leather. It costs a tich more, but if you need or want very good leather, try it out and see what you think. Kevin of Springfield Leather will cut you a piece for under $5 a sq. foot if you just want to see the difference. I'm not a carver, but I've seen a lot of leather. I know you carvers & stampers can pound out any flaws in the leather creatively. With HO you don't have to, and it's not dry and weak like some of the cheaper leather I've seen at that certain major chain store. It won't dry rot on you ever if you take care of it properly. Johanna Hermann Oak Tannery, St Louis, MO disclaimer: I am not trying to suck up to HO, and the opinions expressed above are my own, not "the board's" or an advertising plug. I may own leatherworker.net, but I don't know as much as some of you, and you can feel free to disagree. I'm not an expert, or even "in the business" anymore, so I don't have dog in any fight. I just share my leather adventures, just like you all do, and expect you to make up your mind. And no matter how big this board grows, or how many people I have to answer to, I'm going to continue to call things as I see them. You folks wouldn't have me any other way.

During the Federation Show sponsored by the Gateway Leather Guild this year, we had the opportunity to visit the Hermann Oak Tannery on the banks of the Mississippi. Shep Hermann, our gracious host, asked us not to take pictures inside the building(s). It was a Saturday, so the plant wasn't in full production mode. They operate 24/7. Really, it was just as well because we could hear Shep Hermann, 4th generation tanner, explain the machines, processes and history of the company and the building and the art of tanning in general. It helps that Shep is about 7 feet tall, too. He is a chemist, world traveller and businessman, and is rightfully proud of what they do. He understands the rationale of each step of the process, and can make leather to any customers specifications. I noticed clipboards hanging with lot preferences and specifications at many workstations, each step initialed down the line throughout the process. And the process is not easy or fast. It used to be that a vegetable tanned hide took over a year to produce, now they have the knowledge and the equipment to do it in a little under 4 months. He explained how you will always find old tanneries by sources of water, because they use a lot of it. Hermann Oak complies with all the pollution laws and even pre-treats their discharge before it goes into the municipal system. In the old days, they used a raceway from the river, and even had a train run through the building. The hides come in folded and salted, and are sorted and graded. Hermann Oak only uses US steer with no brands. (Byproduct of the meat industry, and less than 1% of available hides, I think he said,) It impressed me how many quality controls steps go into making their leather. No wonder many people consider their leather the finest available in the world. We saw the massive drums they use to make different kinds of leather, and we saw the tanning pits. They are about 6-8 feet deep and have been used for 130 years. Shep said if we fell in and swallowed the solution it wouldn't hurt us, but he suggested only doing that in May because we would emerge a lovely a tan color. The tannery is not smelly or icky (but there are some wet spots on the floor). The dedication and care was evident everywhere. They do sell directly to the public, but the minimum is ten hides, which is do-able for a working shop that uses premium leather. Here is a of the operation. I promise to appreciate even more the work that goes into making top quality carving leather, latigo, harness leather after the stacks of blemish-free hides I saw at the tannery. Thank you Shep and Lee for your excellent tour and your hospitality. Johanna

Many people have told me that they disable their ad blockers for this site because they want to see the ads. I know you folks click on new ones. We upgraded the forum software this summer and moved the whole site (It's a little more than 22 gigs total about now) to a dedicated server at the end of August. The site that has the ads also lives on the same server, and we have had many people tell us that the site sped up considerably for them after we made the change. One of the things that was putting stress on the old server was the topic preview function, so we replaced it with IPB's built in "little green box". If you run your cursor down a line of topics, that box will pop up. Click it, and a fast first and last post will show in another small window. It would really help if we all put some thought into topic titles. 10 years from now is anyone going to know what your thread "look what I did this weekend!" is about? In 10 days, even? If you like this site, tell people. Tell your friends. Tell your suppliers, and suggest they advertise with us. Tell our sponsors you appreciate their support of the site and that you saw their ads. Participate on the board, post your pics. We accept donations and sell advertising to survive (do you know what a dedicated server costs?) and as long as you folks want us to be here, we will. Johanna

>smooch< to Hivemind. ~J

Hmmm...not sure why you are experiencing slow load times. We upgraded to a dedicated server a few weeks ago, and most people are reporting dramatic increases in the speed of a page loading. The ad banners have always been on top of every forum page. At home on my cable connection, when I click I get the header instantly, then 3 ads then the 4th ad and the page and it happens very quickly. I get to see it in slow motion when I use my Verizon connection. I'll talk to Kate and see if she can think of any reason the site's pages are loading slowly for you. Johanna

Johanna Schroer PO Box 103 New Knoxville, OH 45871 Thank you, Ben! We have oodles of space and are delighted to host pics. I'm looking forward to seeing the cd! ~J

Please send me a copy of that cd, Ben, and LW will host the pics. Wade & I took pics and not many came out well (that lighting thing!) but I heard you did the photography with a real lightbox. LW is happy to host anything leather-related. (Kate and I have LW on a dedicated server, so if you need webspace for anything, let us know.) The online registration was convenient, easy and well done, and I hope more guilds take you up on the genorous offer for the template for future shows. I've been to about a dozen IFoLG shows and this was one of the better organized and planned ones. Any little glitches were quickly handled (like David Theobald's name being inadvertently left off of Lonestar's list) and all the Gateway Guild members were kind and helpful when flagged down and asked questions. Letting the partition stay open between the dealer room and the guild display room was smart- it helped move traffic to both rooms. I liked the way your guild also mentioned some of the other things to do while in historic St Louis. We didn't do the arch, but we spent a whole morning at Cahokia exploring the museum and mounds. Thank you for arranging an excellent meal (most of the time banquet food is awful, but I went back for more ribs just because they were so tasty!) and keeping the award ceremony to a reasonable length. You and your team did a great job, and I'm glad you agreed to be on the new communications committee for the Federation. (Actually we just drafted him- I don't recall Ben getting a choice!) Gold star to you and Ali & the team. Johanna

The One Percenter originally came from a comment by the American Motorcyclists Assoc. who said 99% of bikers were responsible law abiding citizens. In the 80s, it was drug slang. The Outlaws (a motorcycle "gang") picked it up in the 90s. Disclaimer: I don't wear colors- I don't mind doing club work. I have nothing against any of the "gangs". I work for individuals. However the Outlaws developed a special reputation I find repugnant, and it's best summed up in this quote from Wikipedia. I won't work for homophobes, misogynists or skinheads. If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Johanna

I have never used acetone on vegetable tanned leather. In extreme cases, maybe lemon juice or oxalic acid, but in the normal course of work, there is no special preparation needed before the finish work begins. Just follow regular routines like not carving on newsprint, keep your hands clean and so on. Acetone would dry out the leather, and you are right, the fumes would be awful. (I have a 12 yr old who loves to paint her nails!) Johanna

I have some more to post, but I need to go through them all. We did get to tour the Hermann Oak Tannery, but Shep asked us not to take pics inside. He said there is a video on You Tube- just search for Hermann Oak. When I get a few minutes, I'm going to look it up. Thank you again Rosa & Johan for sharing. ~J

It was so good to meet you at last, and thank you for sharing your pics. I enjoyed our conversations, and I'm happy for you and your family that you have decided to stay in the US permanently and are becoming citizens. (Everybody cheer here!) That's what makes America great. I'll never call you "John" though! Johanna

I will give a full report and post a ton of pics tomorrow, folks, I'm whupped. It's been a great weekend- so good to see old friends and make new ones! The leatherwork never disappoints me. Here are the results of the competition. Johanna 2010 Long form COMPETITION RESULTS 2010.doc

Reesizing a pair of boots is another one of those things to which there is more to it than meets the eye. First off, not any boot could be resized. I have big doubts about many boots, generally made in the last ten-fifteen years, that they would survive the procedure. A boot that could stand this level of breakdown and reassembly would have to be made in such as fashion as to worth it, dollar-wise first of all, and quality-wise second. The boot I have used to present this procedure, is worth it on both of those levels, as well as, for this young lady, sentimentally. The customers, father had passed after her sisters wedding but before her own. Dad would not be there to walk her down the aisle. You can imagine the emotions. She inherited his Horn back Alligator Nocona boots, but they were just too big, and she wanted him there with her at the time of her wedding. So she called me from OK.. I had sold and repaired a few pairs of White's Smokejumper boots for her fiancee, working as a Wildland Firefighter here in Prescott AZ. over the last couple of years. And now she was asking if the Nocona's could be resized. I told her maybe, but she might be able to find someone closer back there, and I gave her some names. Well none were willing to take it on. Call me a sucker, but that's about all it takes to get me on board ie. doing something that others can't or won't. So here is a presentation, not a "How to", but rather my "how I". Paul Horn Back Alligator Resize.pdf

Vandy, check with Melody Snow "Unicorn Woman" on here. 50 years leather, I "invisibled" your post because because it violated our copyright policy. Johanna

I think you'll get your answers from the horse's mouth tomorrow. I'm flagging this thread for attention by one of the bosses at CRB. ~J

Cowboy Sewing Machines? Ryan Neel Neel SaddleryToll Free: (866) 507-8926 or Bob Kovar, Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines Ltd. Phone:(419) 380-8540 HTH ~J