oldtimer

Learning saddlemaking the hard way ! ( I have a seatleather, similar to yours, nailed to the wall in my shop as a reminder of "Measure twice - cut once!" but don´t tell anyone, pleeease!) / Knut

The answer is no, stamping won´t weaken them. / Knut

Timberline website : http://www.timberlinesaddletrees.tk/ / Knut

I agree with Kevin and Bob, flesh side out on English stirrup leathers. Also, if the leather in your stirrup leathers is worth the name the tooling will be very shallow, so I recommend that you use your tooling skills on something else. / Knut

I don´t think a foot press has the power for setting the rivet and absolutely not for peening the rivet!

Here is a pic of my tracking outfit, tracking collar and leather line ( schweissrieme in German). There is a loop made when arranging the line , to the right of the pic, which is used as a shoulder strap when carrying the gear to the start of the track. / Knut

Hello! I have a blood tracking collar ,that I used on my Bavarian Mountain Blood Tracking dog named FTCH Jack. ( Bayerische Gebirg Schweisshund) I used a 9 meter x 3/4" leather strap for tracking line, attached to the collar with a buckle - no snap!!. A leather line beats all! How many swivels do you need? I think I have two or maybe three round brass swivels in my shop, and I can sell them to you. The dimensions of my collar is: Total length incl. buckle :60 cm Width: 42 mm Width of billet: 32 mm End of buckle -> swivel :37 cm Hope this will help. I´ll post a pic of my line docked up the traditional Bavarian way later. ( My dog Jack was the highest ranked tracking dog in Sweden 2002, Field Trial Champ. He is gone to the happy hunting grounds by now , sorry to say! Nothing beats a Bavarian tracking dog on wounded game tracks. Once he tracked down a wounded bull moose and the track was 27 hours old when we started, 3 hours later I killed the bull! That´s what I call a Good boyy) / Knut

I use the Superior QC buckles mostly, or, if I make an old time saddle I lace the leathers (on customers request)

Name: Superior Quick Change buckles. Rivets: #9 ( you dont use a burr when riveting these.) How you set them depends if you twist your leathers or not ( Arizona, Nevada, u name it twist ) If you twist your leathers the plate with the strings will be on the grain side of the stirrup leathers, towards the horse. I haven´t used Blevins buckles so I can´t tell the pros and cons. I think the Superior buckles are less bulky / Knut

Today I finished my new draw down, made of 3/4" x 12" pine boards. The top is a modified Stohlman design, with the back part 2" higher than Stohlmans stand, as I thought it was a bit "downhill". What´s left to do is a spreader bar and a spring for the pedal. Here are some pics:

Cracks in the leather is a bad sign of dry rot, so I would hesitate to use the saddle before checking the status of the rigging leather and stirrup leathers. Oil won´t help if the dry rot has started. Imho / Knut

It is a good idea, if you use animal fats , to avoid fat that goes rancid. Bacon fat is not the first of my choices ! The internal fat around the kidneys for example, is a good choice ! But why make things more difficult than they are? A bottle of olive oil won´t empty a wallet and is easy to come by! / knut

I cut squares out of 1/2" felt and hold them with cloth pins to dye edges / Knut

I think you should stick to neatsfoot oil or extra virgin olive oil as those are products from nature. Baby oil is probably a petroleum product which is not a good combination with leather. Olive oil is easy to find and not very expensive. / Knut /

The forecast is a cold , snowy winter again, so you´d better be prepared, Ray. Studded now tires, anti freeze coolant in your car - and - a good snow shovel and a pair of long johns ! ( a good alterantive to snow shoveling is hibernation, like the bear ! ) / Knut

I don´t think a leather disk handle is a bright idea, as the tang on your knife is too short for that,( or you´ll have to weld a longer tang to it ). mho / Knut

Here are two good options, Ray. Both tested and approved ! / Knut

Jeff Thank´s for the reply ! I had a chat with the Tärnsjö Tannery in Sweden www.tarnsjogarveri,se , also with a US saddlemaker here on LW on this matter, and it seems to be possible to turn out good quality skirting from a bison. Tärnsjö tannery produces high quality vegtan leather from Scandinavian stock so there will be a special run of a couple of bison hides later on. We´ll slaughter a couple of bison in november and have them sent for tanning into saddle skirting and I will have one hide fur tanned for my couch. ( a lot of good food and plenty of rest wont hurt a man !) I´ll get back with a report when it is done Later / Knut

Those swivel rings are hard to find, but I know they are made by Sprenger, Germany, www.sprenger.de. I have no idea if anybody sells hardware from Sprenger in the US ?? I bought a couple via a friend who has a dog sport business, after searching for them for a couple of years. I used it on a tracking collar for my Bavarian Blood tracking dog. For what it´s worth / Knut

I would use a set of round punches and a sharp head knife. / Knut

Horned viking helmets have only been found on the American continent ( and on Swedish ice hockey fans) / Knut

Tina, I don´t think you need to seal horns to use them to drink from . If I needed to seal them I´d use some kind of epoxy resin, but I don´t think it is needed. They will do in natural shape bot for beer and mjöd! Cheers! / Knut

Awesome work, Tina ! ( I´m glad that you didn´t put horns on the viking helmets ! ) / Knut

I would say that using contact cement is more hasardous to your health than using oxalic acid. / Knut