Hidemechanic

This may be way off but could you make your recees a bit deeper then glue the leather to a piece of veneer then fit it to the table top.I'm thinking this would firm the leather as though you were applying wood to wood. I have in mind too possibly leaving enough border, that after incerting into the table recess you can still work the damp edge leather to mate with the wood edge using a rub stick to fill any gaps. Kind of blending leather to wood? GHackett

After findin this thread I was twitchin in my seat waitin for the end of it while I was thinking of a polite way to say what did get said. Thank goodness some wisdom appeared. I only built this strap for a couple stubborn mule riders(riders were stubborn not the mules). Talk anyone else out of it. I found that being a saddle maker I wound up being somewhat of an educater of horse training and riding. To be honest, what I shared with those willing to listen was just a suppliment to what they were being taught by the trainers, or read from books, ARRH!! I had wantabe cowboys who weren't too proud to listen, learned to ride circles around their bucaroo buds. City folk that bought property and thought they had to put horses on it because they had it, who thought that something was wrong with their push botton high dollor highly trained horse, learn that sometimes ill fitting equipment and poorly trained riders brought out bad behavior, and the horse would act up too. Frankly and thankfully I probably save some good horses from going to the kill plant sharing what I had learned. Well that's off the subject, and I'm not tooting my horn just re-making the point that because something got made for use on a saddle doesn't mean it's a cure all. It may have worked for a few people but they were lucky and got away with it. The next guy might not. In short, teach the horse not to buck, learn to carry your weight in ballence and centered with the horse. As was mentioned holding something in front of you will pull you forward of center and your seat out of the saddle. My next youngest son was learning to ride and wouldn't quit grabbing the horn and he kept falling off. I cut his horn off, then he started grabing what was left of the swells. I took his saddle away and said now you learn to ride the horse and I'll give you your saddle back. Frankly I think everyone should ride bare back now and again just to remember what the horse is doing. Builds up those good riding muscles. BTW, isn't that what the 'Chyane Roll' was made for? A handle to keep you in center and in the seat? LOL Keep your shoulders to the sky. Enjoy the ride. GHackett

Wolv, mine's an 82 v45 mag, still kickin booty. I'm wanting to get with you seat makers to come up with some ideas for my seat. The stock magna seat sux arce big time. I need to resolve the mounting issues then get with you all for a toutoral on edge braiding. Ken, you said you don't cross over on the back so no support for the edge. Why can't you ad a cross over now and then? is it because it thoughs off the weave patern? I do a similar but edge braid ( also x braid that was showed)on saddle jockies and skirts and those I can ad cross overs on the back and keep the braid going. What do you think? GH

Tool tool tool, that's the way to do it. I'd suggest trying to make your 'practice work something that can be sold, if you have to pay for the materials you may as well get paid for it. Then use the left overs for more practice. You sound like me, pouring over the work of those I admire. I have had to close my saddle shop and go back to real work, with the intention of starting up again but doing things totally different when I do. In the mean time I still spend hours looking at the work that others are doing our have done. Some from over 100 years ago to now. Just keep putting that stuff into mental storage. I still make notes and draw basic disigns for ideas. I try to tool when I can, but what I need to spend most time with is drawing, not copying. Anyway, I see where this helps us learn when less is more and when intricate imbellishment is warrented. And let's all have fun! Haha GH

Don't worry, someone will love that wallet and pay for it, that's the great thing about leather, not everyone sees things like we do. Doesn't mean we should lower our standards, just don't through something out if it doesn't meet our standards. Just have to know where to peddle it that won't reflect on your quality rep. KK do I detect the need to check the tension on your mechine? It looks like you either need to losen the top thread tensioner or tighten you bobbin tensioner to get your loop in the middle of your work.Maybe it's just the pics, or real thin hide? Go for it man. GHackett

Call it aborigional(?), no one will know the dif. Looks fine to me for the style. If you had too 'clean' of an attachment it might look more out of place. Frankly it looks like something from the 60s and 70s in our hippy faze of leather and hemp in the U.S. I hear you though about looking back on our early work. We are more experienced now and see how we could have done things differently. You could always do another one for fun and change things to suit you now. I made a lot of 18th and 19th cent. (replica)bags for buckskinners and mt. men, civil war and post civil war cowboy , was able to get away with a lot while learning a better way. Some things were pretty tribal looking but that's what added to the appearance and abiance(?). Fun to reminice, right? GHackett

Finish that one for another bike, and make yourself a new one. You'll fab a new back that someone can use. GHackett Jordan, No way is Wolv gonna sell his Maggie and drive a smaller bike under the sissy bar pad. He'd wanta attach a auxilery fuel can to replace the pad before he'd wanta waste a perfectly good screemer. ROFLMAO. GH

custom bluepriners for contractors have vellum and mylar. GH

I want to express that I was not discouraging anyone from Sheridan, but rather reminding that at some point we want to break out of the box and interject our own personallity into the work we do.(you are doing Chuck) I still copy other people's work(reluctantly admitting but we all do at some point, that's how we learn) and don't like it but justify to myself that I am taking something form others that I have a hard time doing and I arrange it to suit my need. It's a pride thing. Busyness is a pet peave with me too. To answer at your question about tooling styles for saddles, I think Bruce and others talked on this in the saddle or pattern threads. In short there are Califonia style which is abit 'looser' than Sheridan , then Porter which morphed into southwestern(Arizona), the flowers overlap the vines more. I started going back to these old styles done on the earlier saddles to see if I could adjust them to a more usefull patern. In a way that's what Sheidan came out of. The early saddles had large florals to cover large areas to expedite the finished product. My search has led me to some old south of the border designs. I like what Jeramia Watt has done with different flowers he has developed as well as Rick Bean, Troy West.(vine work veriasions too)there are newer carvers too. I've been out of the loop lately with the saddle guys. Hope that helps. GH

Okay Chuck I get it now(practice), I guess I had to put things into perspective in terms of miniature. I presume you are buying smaller tools. As for Sheridan Style, I've never been a fan for personal reasons, partly because it seemed to have become a fad(see it everywhare). In my opinion, Sheridan was developed for that reason, to put a new twist on an old or over used style of tooling. Yet Sheridan itself has now become a standard which years ago sent me on a quest to find something new or revive something old. Don't get me wrong, I sure do appreciate those who do it well. What I found though in the evelution of Sheridan is that some folks read or hear the story of Sharidan and hear rules or laws of Sheridan 'Theory'. That being said remember this is only my take on it, but as such I want to encourage those who espire to do Sheridan or any other style to remember that you get to impart your own pesonallity into the design and bring your own life to the work you do. Ironically, Don King and some of the other Sheridan gurus also at times departed from the 'rule' of Sheridan at times in their Sheridan work. This lead me to see that Sheridan 'Theory' is like music theory, there are basics to start from but much can be left open to each persons inturpretation. I do want to say that I came to this opinion from years of frustration of trying to break out of 'cookie cutter' carving if you know what I mean. Chuck, I like what you have done with your inturpretation of Sheridan and I too envy your ability to draw your own designs, sinse I don't spend enough time drawing I still struggle with finding and developing designs I like. So keep 'practicing' and do keep sharing. Thanks, GHackett

How many V4 members are members here? I have some MC related questions( seats and whatever) I'd like to discuss with other Magna owners. GHackett

YOU GUYS ARE DRIVIN ME KNUTTS!! Rat Fink , Gasser, Ol' Moon Eyes, Flyin Eye ball, Yah, Glad to see em cummin back. Good work. GHackett

Chuck, you gotta stop calling this practice. It's on going work,the real stuff. If I can suggest something, as a matter of personal preference only, do a 'real' practice piece like on some srcap( not everything we do has to be usable, it's part of the education process). Do a couple leafs as you have in this patern. Suggestion one, try leaving out the decorative cuts and leave just the veiners and compare it to the one with dec cuts. I think it helps things to not be quite so busy. Second suggestion, do the same (practice piece with leaf) using a shader with vertical(or cross hatch or smooth) lines rather than horizontal. The reason(personal preference again) is, it seems like my eye feels a conflict with the flow of things in the leaf. Though the horiz. lines on your shader are going the same direction as the main vein of the leaf, it also seems that the direction of the taper left from the shader is going toward the main vein. Technically I said that backwards, a real leaf in nature the main vein is carrying nutrients to the leaf parts starting from the stem, then radiating out through the smaller veins as they turn outward yet moving toward the tip of the leaf. We are always attempting to fine tune our designs so as to be pleasing to the eye, this is one of the ways I try to learn the 'language of design'(looking for flow). I do like your design, makes me want to go make a wallet. I resently made a kidney belt with similar blossoms. I like the old south of the border style. Keep up the "practice" you're doing great work. GHackett P.S., I meant to say that I think your horiz. shader works for the blossoms.

It's been some years now so my memory is faded(what's new?)but I did a stairway to a wine cellar for a guy. Too bad I haven't heard how it wares but I told him "make sure you ware rubber soals when you go up and down these stairs or you'll find yourself being hauld out by EMTs banging their gurney on your leather steps leaving dents and dings all the way'. Things the way they are I wish I'd have had him sign a waver. Now I'm glad I haven't heard from him. Was an interesting project though. There was a landing at the top, about ten treads a second landing that turned ( took three hides just for that landing) then a nunber of treads below that. It was trimmed in African mahogany as was the rest of the house. Had it's challenges but it is a cool idea.GHackett

Beeza, can I PM you with some suggestions?GH

Try Boisie Foundry too, they seem to be doing a take off on Bork's line.GHackett

Hey Beez, what exactly are you fighting with? Your tooling or assembly? GHackett

I agree with Wolv about the the leg thong. That's the great thing about making things yourself, whatever matterial you use. You can redesign things to fit your need. As to paterns, I hear a lot of people asking for paterns for this or that, I like to encourage them to sit back and look at the item and mentally develope a design on their own. Maybe we could work on a "class' for such a thing. Anyway, I have found that when I was looking for paterns and someone handed me one, it wasn't quite what I needed so I had to modify it to fit my need. Thus, I found it was easier to just make my own pats for things. In my early days I did start out using Al Stoleman's book on case making that helped me develoe the skills for making my own pats. Once you do a few, the basic principles sink in and you can apply them to making most anything you want. Have fun, G Hackett

Funny, I live in a grove of junipers and I didn't think of that. Good looking idea. Had a couple wind storns past couple months that blew a few down. Maybe I'll start a new sideline,harhar

I thought there was a thread here on this subject, maybe it was ILCG, but for the money JW(ranch2area.com) and BK are a good middle of the road high quality. Just a suggestion, you can break the bank fast just buying up tools and find later that you settle into only a few of what you baught so it is a good idea to think through what type of tooling you are doing and get what you need for that then work out from there. When I started out I frustrted myself thinking I needed a box load of tools, then my mentor showed me a thing or two and since I have rarely use more than a handful. Good luck G.Hackett

No kidding Bill, I've struggled for years with this concept of "Tell a soldier 'Thanks', or Shake a Vet's hand", not that I have anything against it at all but it just seems a little,,well,, LITTLE. I don't know who wrote that poem but it says what I've felt for some time. That those of us who stay behind in the safty of our society, when we don't take it for granted, at least feel helpless to 'Do our part' for our country. I'm not a politican nor do I care to be but the majorety of Americans don't have the platform to voice our vews as do the those in politics and Hollywood. They don't speak for the majorety, they just speak louder. The only platform we have is our neighbors, co-workers, school staff and friends ect... That poem articulated to me that it is enough for me to stand on my own convictions and speak out when I can for what is right. We are what politicians call(used to call) 'The Grass Roots' of America. I feel we can no longer only wait for voting day stand up for what we believe, but we need to become more vocal in our community and with our representetives. I know, most of us are two carreer households and still struggling and there is only so much time in the day, but maybe there is a way I can make better use of the free time I do have to show my patriotism, and support. Our soldiers,past and presant, need their deeds remembered, and my hope is that each day of freedom I get to enjoy, I can find a way to be a reminder to others that there are men and women standing outside our front door watching over us. It hits home for me today especially, because my son on this very day is stepping off a transort in Kuait to start his second tour for the next 18mo., will likely miss the next two Christmases as well as the birth of his little girl due in March. So Bill, Thanks for helping me ask myself, "what do I have to complain about?" G.Hackett-- GO Strykers 2/14 Cav, HOORAH!!

Looks good to me. Good thing about fenders is you don't see them both at the same time when they are on the saddle, so you really have to mess things up to notice any difference if there was any. Good job. GHackett

The snap is also called a panic snap that is use in horse trailers. Ties to the halter and is able to be released with one hand. Available from most hardware suppliers. GH

$6.00 and a buck each for shipping, so that makes it $7.

Hi Mike, I would ask about your technique first. I presume you are using two needls, do you keep your awl in your hand all the time or set it down while running your needles? Sometimes the way we go about handling our tools causes us to get irrattic motion. I also am curious if your stitch horse holds your work securely enough to get a straight pierce, also having a 'back stop' to hold the work streight while piercing. With thin leather you will get more movement and making good semetrical holes is more tedious. Running your needles through at the same place in a hole can help keep things more even. You said you pierce on a 45', if your right needle goes in on the high side of your 45 and the left at the lower side then switch another time then your stitches will tend to pull up differently. I don't know if I am explaining this well,I think that if you run your right needle in first and your left next and continue that patern with constant tension you will tend to have more consistant stitches, but if you forget and alturnate which side you run in next then that one can lay different then the previous. Make sure that awl is good and sharp. I hope this makes sence. Good luck. GH