Timbo

The tooling and finishing is fantastic............but the part I like the absolute most is the shape!!!!!!!! I love the ends!! Very creative!! Strap ends are usually so boring, but not yours. I'm always looking for new ideas for strap ends and belt ends. Excellent!!! Tim

Welcome to the way Seigel does business. I have ordered many times from them and usually end up very frustrated with what I get. Yes, it is what I ordered but only part of it. On a recent order, the awl haft was charged to me at full price (13.00) when it was on sale for 5 something. Didn't get the awl blade, nor was it on the order. Also ordered 5 soft rolled horse butts and got one, and it was useless as it had a huge black mark right down the center. I sent in 2 emails via the "contact us" link on there website and never got a response. Finally this week I got a BS email about the lucky 18 winner and I sent in a really smart aleck response to it. Well.......seems that Steven Seigel himself sends these emails out so he got my response and wondered what the problem was. So I spelled it out for him exactly what had happened. The next day he sent the email back to me and cc'd it to somebody named Christina and told her to send me 6 horse butts for free. Haven't gotten them yet but we'll see. They are a good business and somebody there does care, but it is just maddening to deal with the frustration of ship short orders. Hang in there Scouter they will eventually take care of you if you let them. You might give them a call too. Tim

I'd just buy some 1" belt blanks and find a cheapo tee square with a 1" wide ruler and go to town with a box knife. tim

it shouldn't be too tough. i'm actually thinking about not doing the spindle type legs but doing one solid leg on each end for a little more stability and less likelyhood of breakage. The plans call for 1.75" thick lumber for the seat and a 5"x5" chunk for the clamp. Good thing my brother is good friends with a guy who owns a sawmill!!! Getting this dimension lumber in red oak shouldn't be a problem. Jordan, if you, or anybody else for that matter, wants to build and need a source for the lumber, just let me know. Potters wheel huh?? My brother used to be a potter by trade, he did it at Silver Dollar City for 8 years and about 5 or 6 on his own. Then he worked for a company as a sand sculptor, then he became a toy sculptor, which he still does, but now he also builds custom guitars. Hence the connection with the sawmill. Pottery is a lot of fun though. Sorry, it's late for me and I've rambled long enough. Tim

Here is a link to an ebay auction for some stitching horse plans. I bought them and they are pretty good plans. Very do-able. And shoot for 3.95 I didn't figure I had too much to lose. They are instantly emailed to you after you pay for them with paypal. Let me know what you guys think. http://cgi.ebay.com/BUILD-A-STITCHING-HORS...1QQcmdZViewItem stitching horse plans Tim .....sorry for the doubled link but it didn't work the first time ...........still not sure why the second link isn't working

Cool links......thanks for those. I've dabbled a little bit in watch bands myself. The only problem with these buckles is ............. most of them are more expensive than the watches I wear. Saddest part is that the buckles are pretty cheap. I guess my watch buying criteria is pretty low. And yes I'm saying I have had watches that were cheaper than the 8.95 buckles. Best watch I ever had was a Timex I got on clearance for 5 bucks!! Hopefully someday in the near future I won't need one at all!! Tim

Don't tell the girl that rang me up last time at the local TLF that..........cause she obviously didn't know about that rule!! Tim

While we're on the subject: I've heard a lot of talk about Henly blades and would like to get one........but how?? I can't find a website or phone number or anything. If somebody could add some contact info I would appreciate it. Marlon also gave away a good idea.....right now TLF has a 50% off one item coupon that is good on sale items too. So you can get it for 40!!! Timbo

I don't want to rain on anybodys parade. I used to have Gimp and it did a very good job. I mean who can gripe for free?? But the one thing I did not like about it was that it automatically converted every pic and pic icon to the gimp icon and .gmp file extension. The extension created some problems, but I worked around it. After awhile I decided I didn't want it anymore..............good luck removing it. Wound up doing a wipe and reload to get rid of it completely. As long as you like it and want to keep it you'll love it. Maybe there was something I was missing, but removing the program did not remove it 100%...........maybe only 50%. For quick and easy you can't beat irfanview. But like I said, it was a great program, but it was not for me. Thanks, Tim

Searched it, but didn't find anybody who give an angle for the tops. The search did yield some excellent info though. I'll keep looking. Tim

I am wanting to build a drawdown stand. I think I can pretty much figure out everything except the angles for the top of the stand where the tree sits. This seems like it would be a fairly crucial part of the stand............and since I don't have my first tree yet, I was wondering if you guys would be able to help me with this?? As a side note: what do you guys have covering the top?? Carpet seems to be what I see the most of. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tim

Hello Jeff and welcome. I'm another Mo boy from Neosho. Good looking holster setup too. Just checked out your site and you do really good work. Your molding is very very nice!! But then again so's all the rest of your stuff. Tim

Thanks Kev. Any idea what size your awl is? I didn't realize they came not only in different lengths but different gauges too. Tim

You non-cowboys are funny. I get a kick just thinking about the mental images you guys got from this!!! Nice straps rawhider. I like the shape and excellent carving and stamping too!!! Tim

Thanks Clay, PM me your address and I'll draw it off and mail it this weekend. tim

Okay, I have done a lot of hand stitching, but I have always done it the "Tandy" way. Meaning I've always used a diamond punch in a saddle groove, I've always used there "big eye" needles and for the most part used there waxed thread. I want to start doing it the "old school" way. I already have a stitching horse and the groover, but I want to start using an awl and Osborne "eggeye" harness needles and wax my own thread, probably linen. My question is that there are so many different sizes of awl blades and needles, I don't know what goes with what. Do I want the awl blade the same size as the needle?? Do I want an Osborne saddlers awl or saddlers stitching awl?? I assume that the different size awls correspond to certain needle and thread sizes. What do you guys use for awls, needles and thread?? Tim

Man, that homemade tree is the scariest looking thing I have ever seen. Looks like the only tools used to make it were a hacksaw and a rock. Is that bondo on it??? Timbo

Glad to have you Rob, I'm kinda new around here too. It IS a great forum. So what do you do with rawhide?? Tim

Varnish would bring out the color, but it would also hide the smell that I like so much. Might just try a little tung oil on it. tim

...ya know.....if Fred Flintstone was a biker, he'd really dig that. I like it, dare to be different!! Making a bike yer own is what it's all about anyway. Man, I love semi-flat black paint on anything!!! Its easy to touch up too. Keep it up!! Tim

Really nice work. I admire braiders work alot........I'm lucky to get my boots tied in the morning!! Tim

Geez Kev, whatcha trying to do........make us all look bad??? Man, that looks so excellent. It just screams high quality and high end. Check into casting with pewter. They make it lead free nowadays. Plus they have some really cool high temp silicone to make reuseable molds out of. It would be similar to the rivet on buffalo nickels you used to see around. Again, that is fantastic!!!! Tim

Don't you just start with a big piece of wood and cut away everything that doesn't look like a saddle tree???? Ok, that's my Dads philosophy on his wood carving. Sorry just had to throw that in. I haven't seen one in all my book searches, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. This is the place to ask though. Good luck!! Tim

I'm in no hurry.............are you done yet?? No, really, not that big of a rush. Especially when I spent a week off and on just coming up with the shape in the pic. I don't rush my stuff. Hell, I got a set of saddle bags I been working on for 5 years now. (think I've lost interest in them though) Tim

So this weekend I decided I needed to make a tool holder just to hold the tools I would be using for what I am working on at that moment. I'm also a notorious scavenger. Several years back on a camping trip, we bought some firewood for our campfire. Well some of it was seasoned red cedar. Now it does make a great campfire, but....it's too pretty to burn and smells great. So I hid a few pieces of it so it didn't all get burned up. So I had this chunk of red cedar and I'm looking at it and the bulb goes off. So I head over to my Dads house (where all the woodworking tools are) and after a little while with the bandsaw, the jointer, the sander and the drill press....... I'm done. Thanks to this forum for the idea too!!!!! Here's what I wound up with. Let me know what you think.......plus I made an extra one. Tim