Timbo

Thanks for the welcome everybody. Clay-Just make the belt out of fish and tell them you misunderstood............and what's wrong with your doughnuts??? Pete-Sounds like we might have to arrange a meeting at Spfld Leather. Kevin used to carry horse butts and still might have some, but I think his were hard rolled not soft. You can still make stuff out of them but they are pretty stiff sometimes. The only thing with horsebutts is that they take a great stamping impression but are very hard to use a swivel knife on. Which is why I usually just border tool them. One trick I use on them if I want to have some lines on them (like for a border or bead) is that I will use my stitching groover instead. The edge groover on the sides and my free hand groover for other things. It looks good and probably doesn't cut as deep as a swivel knife. Kevin was kind of pricey on them, so I usually order them from Siegel of Californian. They always have them. They sell them buy the pound and I think they are on sale now for 8 something a pound. I also see that your specialty is Sheridan...........now lets see what did I say about Sheridan?? Oh yeah, I want to learn.........TEACH ME!!!! I'd like to meet you in Springfield, but you'll have to come to my place too someday.........you can take your son to our skatepark here in Neosho or we can run him up to The Bridge in Joplin. Let me know when you're going to be goin' to Springfield next. Thanks again all!! Tim

Howdy everyone!!! My name is Tim Jones and I am from Neosho, MO. I am so glad to find this forum!! Just wish I had found it sooner. My slave to the man job is being a service advisor at a Freightliner dealership. I've got a few hobbies right now, but leather is the main one. The others are my Jeep, my GTI and a 1963 Airstream travel trailer that my wife and I are rebuilding. I've been doing leather for a hobby since I was 12. Did it off and on for years but got serious about it as a hobby about 15 years ago. I've built lots of different and varied things over the years, belts, holsters, chaps, cell phone cases, knives and sheaths, Harley leather and spur straps. Just a little of everything. The main reason I love this forum is the saddlemaking. That is my dream. To make saddles. I would love to get to the point I could do it for a living. But as we know.......takes money to make money. So I am slowly collecting the tools of the trade. I also want to start doing Sheridan carving and hope to start collecting tools to do that too. I don't own any sewing machines, I do all my stitching by hand and love every stitch of it!! (pun intended) There's just something I find very gratifying in hand sewing. Lately it seems that most of my projects have been pretty self centered.............meaning I'm finally making stuff for myself instead of other people. About 5 years ago I totally quit making any kind of biker leather........just struck me as odd that folks will spend 20 grand for a bike then want me to make them custom leather for less than ready made catalog stuff. Got tired of dealing with that and the attitudes so I just stopped. It taught me how to do one thing.........say NO. I used to have a hard time saying no to people even on things I had no interest in doing. But I've come out of that now and if I don't want to do it or it holds no interest for me I say "no". When something takes the enjoyment out of your hobby it can turn enjoyment to dread. This is why I very seldom do anything with black leather or dye nowadays. Sorry for the rant. Currently I am wrapping up a holster set for a cap and ball revolver and hope to post pics of it soon. I've been using a lot of Will Ghormley's patterns lately and love them. I've also done some emailing with Will and he is very helpful. I was having problems with the toe plug and he helped me out with a series of 8 emails with photos.....what a guy!!!!!!!!! It's hard to find that level of support these days but Will didn't even flinch. THANKS WILL!!! By the way....one of my favorite things to work with are soft rolled horse butts. (see if that opens up some conversation) I make all my chap yokes out of them. Belts too. They wear like iron. So with this posting I will officially stop lurking and start contributing. Well that's all I've got for now but I'll leave you with some pics of a pair of chaps I made awhile back. .........just remember I handsew everything. I love the old style of chaps and based my pattern on the old style. I make all my own chap patterns. Thanks for looking and reading this. Tim Jones Timbo (on most forums) Doc (at work) Jones (when you want my attention) Daddy (when you need money)