ryan

I am selling my Singer 111w151. It is in working condition and I just recently had the feed dogs replaced. It is a flatbed machine with a clearance of 5/16" under the foot. I have used it for chaps, wallets, belts etc. It will be sold as is and includes table, stand, clutch motor and thread stand. I am asking $175 or best offer. It is located in northern MN (56633). I will have pictures in a couple days. Selling due to space limitations. Ryan

My deptartment started an Honor Guard and I am thinking about making the Sam Browne Belts but need to find Clarino. I found two suppliers in an old Big Book and I am currently waiting to hear back from them. I also sent an e-mail to the company that I believe produces it (Kuraray) but would presume I would need to buy it in very large quantities. Anyone out there have any other suppliers I could try? Thanks in advance Ryan

Thought I would share an idea I came up with recently for my drawdown stand. I patterned my drawdown stand after Al Stolhman's in Vol one of the Encyclopedia of Saddlemaking, however, I never got around to making the ratchet piece to hold the drawdown bar down. I have been getting by with several pieces of scrap wood in various lengths to hold it in place. I have even used a bottle jack a time or two. I was out fixing fence the other day and while using my fence stretcher it hit me; why not use the ratchet part of an old stretcher? Finding an old one was easy and if you get one; you can cut it in two as you won't need all of it. Then you'll have another piece to make a stirrup leather stretcher! The only problem I ran into was there isn't quite enough "shoulder" on the cutouts to adequately hold the metal lip on the drawdown bar, however, it can easily be overcome by slipping a door shim on the other side of the drawdown bar. Or you can make the cutouts a little deeper with a dremel. Hope this helps someone out. I'll post some pics of it and include one of the "old george" my brother in law made me - he's pretty handy! Ryan

Barra, That is a really good idea. I have been looking for an old barber chair but that stand you found is even better. Where did you find that one? Ryan Nevermind, I found one! I looked for two hours last night at used barber / style chairs on craigslist and then at hydraulic chair pumps etc. This is exactly what I had pictured in my mind for less money. Best of all, there's a Northern Tool store within 3 hours of my house! I was thinking about putting a Stohlman style stand on top of it. The stand will be modified using Troy West's suggestions in a previous post. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200308305_200308305 I was thinking about welding rings to the bottom supports for attaching my drawdown strap and using the hydraulic action for the down pressure. Just don't know if it will keep that pressure over night as sometimes those bottle jacks tend leak pressure. What do you think? Ryan

I just got home from an open house for an upcoming auction sale. I went there to look at a square baler and stumbled upon some old leather sewing / stitching machines. The list is as follows: American Straight Needle in pretty good shape - needs new belts 2 Singer 29-4's on original treadle stands - one is pretty tight - the other isn't in as good of condition but still works Singer 7-33 in pretty good shape, needs to be cleaned and desperately needs oil. No stand (it was fun looking at it - I have never seen one) Landis crank splitter. Blade looks pretty bad and needs to be cleaned up but still appears to be serviceable. Wish I would have looked closer for a model number but after searching on-line, I believe it's a 30. It didn't look like a six" blade I thought it looked more like 5" but could be mistaken. I also found a lot of old leather tools but nothing of any real value except a couple spoke shaves etc. I am not super interested in any of it but would hate to see any of it go to waste as they all seemed to still have some life. I am, however, interested in the crank splitter and the good patcher. What would a person want to keep their top dollar at on these machines? If they go really cheap, I might buy all of them and try to find good homes for them!! Thanks Ryan

I just received my new stamps from Brenda at Laser Gift Creations and I am extremely pleased!! She was great to work with and I will definitely be doing business with her in the future!

Randy, Thanks for sharing; I might have to give this design a try. I have one of my partners trying out a design I came up with for his Bersa that is fairly similar but I like your method a little better. Do you find it gets a little bulky over your duty boots or not so much? A lot of us are going to wearing our back ups on our vests but doesn't work for all models. Have you or anyone else you know tried your design with a Glock 27? Ryan

There's a family up here that's always in trouble with the law and their last name is Boreman. One of them actually named their son Justin Other Boreman. I always chuckle everytime I hear it. Ryan

I want to make a fancy stitch set of bucking rolls but was curious as to how everyone does them. I have a Singer 111w but I doubt that machine will excel at this type of stitching. I have considered a rollerfoot machine or possibly a 29k? Any comments? Ryan

Which brand neatsfoot oil do you use? I have had best luck with neatsfoot compound but want to start using 100% again if I could find one with better results. Also, when you do your floral carving, what is your process for finishing to give it that rich brown color. I am a really big fan of oil, neat lac, antique, then tan kote. I too don't want to put any neatlac on a saddle so do you forgo the resist all together or do you use another type of resist? Ryan

Jordan, If you're looking at something similar to weaver's press, then look at www.northerntool.com. I got mine for under $100 and it is bigger than weaver's. They have serveral models / sizes and I have recently started using mine for clicking out spur straps and bridles. It works great!! Hope this helps Ryan

That's great! I just recently received my Walsall catalog but must have missed them. Hopefully they plan on making a 3" soon. Ryan

Great post; glad to hear other people pick music to suit what their working on. I've been doing a lot of horse tack lately and have been listening to Dave Stamey(thanks Bruce!), Ian Tyson and Chris Ledoux. My wife hates it which makes it all the more enjoyable J/K. I listen to everything though. I like Drowning Pool, Pantera, Godsmack, AC/DC, Metallica, and the like when I'm at work though. If I get burnt out on Country I listen to a lot of Nickelback, Saliva, and modern type rock. Ryan