oldtimer

You won´t be sorry for a 4" thick piece of granite !

I found the pliers on a flea market, very cheap, and I just bought it !! Then one day I got concha problems, how to get those bastards out as I don´t have a concha turner, and I got a bright idea ( It doesn´t happen every day !) I heatad the tips cherry red with a flame and bent them carefully to desired shape on an anvil with a with a small hammer, then I quenched them in water, a five minute job, no big deal. A minute on the polishing wheel and - voilá ! This set of pliers works well and has a good grip on the conchas. You have to be careful when turning the conchas not to make ugly marks on the leather concha below, but it will handle the most stubborn concha. ( One of my simpler tricks, actually! ) / Knut

Cordovan leather is made from horse butts.

I modified a pair of pliers to handle the screw conchas, bent the tips to get a good grip on the edge of the conchas. / Knut

Please explain, What is a "sweet spot" ? Bruce , That´s a good looking piece of work! / Knut

It is an old, one phase 220 V sewing machine motor with a 1" pulley, no brand name left on it. ( we use 220 V in Sweden instead of your 110 V, 3 phase is 380 V) I got a call from a guy who had bought an old shoe factory building. There were some stuff left in the basement, old Singer 45K machines, mostly junk, a Singer patcher without the treadle, and a pile of old sewing machine motors. I bought a couple of motors that looked " fairly good", traded for the the patcher and got a couple 45K door stops (spare parts) for free in the deal. ( Good trade!) / Knut

Very, very good looking rig , Alan ! Compliments ! A question about the horse : A Spanish Barb? Is that a mustang ? ( He looks steady as a rock !) The horse I´m riding ( a swedish breed) could be his twin brother ! A black gelding, 14.3 hands :-) / Knut

Sorry, this is not the machine for you. You will need a machine with a higher capacity. This machine will only handle a 69 thread and thats way too thin for motor cycle bags and such stuff and it will sew max. a 1/4" of leather. Life will be better when your machine has some over capacity for the work it is supposed to do. My two cents / Knut Hej. Såg nu att du är Norrman ! Denna maskin klarar inte mer än 6-7 mm läder och väldigt tunn tråd så det blir problem när du skall sy motorcykelväskor i tjockt läder. Har skickat dej ett meddelande ! Hilsen / Knut

Shellac on the back side will stiffen your leather. / Knut

I got me a Singer 29K patcher in a trade, but the treadle stand was missing . I built a wooden stand for the machine, and also bolted a small sewing machine motor inside. It is a cheap solution , but it works ! / Knut

Here is pic of my Adler 205 on a stand I built a couple of months ago. I used 40mm x 40 mm square tubing. / Knut

Welcome , Roy. Välkommen till Leatherworker, mycket att suga i sej här ! Var bor du? / Knut

I agree with Kevin. To me it looks like a machine stitch. Some claim things are handmade even if a machine is involved. It is a question of how you define it. / Knut

They look like Dixon tools Knut

Hi Tim I bought the dog house stirrups from Dave Carrico , Carrico Leatherworks www.carricoleather.com I also made hair on pommelbags and saddlebags for the saddle, /Knut

Hello from Sweden. There isn´t much info to find on the web about Santa Fe/mountainman saddles except "Man Made Mobile" www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/.../pdf_lo/SSHT-0039.pdf I have built a couple of mountainman saddles for members of the Scandinavian mountainmen, there are pics from one of them here: http://www.scandinavianmountainmen.se/index.php?action=viewarticle&aid=37 I built me a light weight trail saddle last week, nothing fancy, just a plain saddle for the mountains. The scale showed 22 lbs . A Pony Express tree , a mexican single rigging, old style mexican fenders and wooden dog house stirrups. The skirts are minimal, just a half inch wider than the bars I used a tin strainer with two layers of skived leather under the seat leather. I rode it for the first time today and it was a good ride, I´m satisfied! / Knut

Looks like an Adler 205-370 !? / Knut

Jack Daniels !!?? "You can drink it but it tastes like crap" ! Who would even try! / Knut

Most important is that you don´t generate too much heat so the leather around the rivet will be destroyed !

Interesting question , Timbo ! and one of my big interests ! Yes, they look almost the same, with a mochila, but there are differences: The Mother Hubbard saddles dates from around 1850 and forward.The never had handholes as it was a cowboy´s saddle, and he had no use for cantle handholes. The Mother Hubbard style was popular during the long cattle drives from Texas up north. and most of them had apple horns, which was the fashion at the time. The horns were covered with leather and some had a cheyenne roll. The mountainman- / Santa Fe saddles ( often named Spanish saddles ) dates from about 1820-1830 - and had cantle handholes ,that´s the most visible difference, also there was often a mochila, . The cantle handholes made it possible to use the riding saddle as a makeshift pack saddle . Not many of those Mother Hubbard saddles "survived" the harsh conditions to this day during the long cattledrives. No original mountainman saddle is found in a museum according to the UMO Cayuse handbook. Also, I believe your saddle is a reproduction of the Ashley contract saddle by the shape of the horn and horn cap and the over all style. The Ashley contract saddle ( Col. Willian Ashley ) was made originally in St Louis by the well known saddlemaker Thornton Grimsley for the American Fur Company at $ 5 each , saddlebags at $ 3.50 each and curb bridles at 3.75 each. Those were the days ..... As long as there are cantle handholes in your reproduction saddle and a horn without leather I would call it a mountainman / Santa Fe saddle, and not a Mother Hubbard saddle. Mr Sherayko had a point in the fact that it looked like a Mother Hubbard saddle but that´s where it ends.... like the girl said : " It is a big difference between carrots and d*cks" References: Drawings by Alfred Jacob Miller, early western artist, The book "They saddled the west" by Lee M. Rice, and R. Vernam The UMO Cayuse Handbook by The Upper Missouri Outfit website: www.lg-usa.com The book "Saddles" by Russel H. Beatie ISBN: 085131.365.5 / Knut

Finally ! I solved the problem today, found the lock ring on the shuttle drive shaft ! Also learned a lot about the machine ! Thank´s Sewmun ! / Knut

When lifting the needlebar 3,6 mm the shuttle hook is in the 6 o´clock position ! , ( and it should´nt it be in the 12 o´clock position ? ! ) Is there a beltdrive inside the machine that could have slipped ?? / Knut

Thank´s for your offer Ken, but I have the Classic video. I bought me an Adler 205-374 with a needle positioning device. It is not by far the same beauty as your glossy Classic, so my wife does not let me keep in the living room ! :-) / Knut

let´s get to plan B ! ( This is what happened : When sewing the needle hit the edge of brass hardware and something bad happened) Is there a drivebelt inside the machine that could have slipped and disturbed the timing? At the moment the needle hits the latch on the bobbin casing ! / Knut