undeberg

Thanks for the heads up on the python. Where would one look for one of these older mold guns?

Help, I'm trying to find a model 29 smith and wesson mold gun. My client has a 4 inch barrel on his pistol and I can't find a mold gun anywhere. Boise foundry is now out of business, bunkhouse tools has a magnum python that looks similar, but I just feel like If I'm making a high end holster it should fit the clients firearm, not "sort of" fit. I would be happy to rent or buy a mold gun from someone that is an exact fit. Thanks, Brandon

I would skive the edges down to just the epidermis, the dense thin upper layer of leather, then put a layer of glue on it, let it get to that magic super sticky state and start folding. I find that having a shoe hammer to tap it down afterward makes those little wrinkles go away. I do this all the time on chaps and chinks. Taking a chrome tanned leather and burnishing the edges is pretty much a waste of time. I've never had any luck with that. Either cut it clean and leave it, or roll the edges like you're talking about.

Yes, I'll be using a dye to make the name stand out, as well as a beaded border around the edges of the name. I'm thinking a black for the beaded border and then a dark brown for the interior of the letters. The rest of the background will be natural skirting leather. Thanks!

I'm getting ready to start on a hope chest inlay, thought I'd throw this up to see if anyone had any suggestions before I start cutting into the leather.

Well, I wasn't planning on going into business, just thought I would offer to get this going if nobody else had. But if Rob is doing it for 40 bucks, I'll just go that route. I did a search on here, and got a couple of hits but didn't see the link to Rob's store. I'm more than happy to pay a few extra bucks to someone, I just didn't want to have to buy 4-6 of the common guns at full price. Thanks for the info guys!

I just talked to the guys at Blue Guns, they have a wholesale program, you can get them for 30 dollars each, the catch is, you have to order 2000.00 worth of them as an initial order. I was wondering if anyone has done this and sells blueguns for the 30 bucks? And if not, I'm considering doing this. But I'l like to get enough people interested to make the massive first purchase feasible. If you're interested let me know on here, and I'll tally all the ones you'd like and see about getting this all done. I can't pay postage for everyone, but I think for 35 bucks a gun I should be able to get them and ship them to anyone interested. That's roughly 68 guns that would need to be purchased. I'd be willing to buy 4-5 of them at 30 each compared to the 50 they normally sell at.

Keep at it, when I started working with leather I got a wild hair to build a saddle, I'd never made anything out of leather. Now I'm doing wholesale work for a local store and selling all kinds of western gear from chaps and chinks to saddles. I know how frustrating a machine can be, but don't feel bad about calling your salesperson. They should be able to help you with all the adjustments. I'm also a special olympics ski coach, I was one of the coaches for the World Winter Games Team USA that went to South Korea last winter. Sorry to hear about the fractured skull, but I admire all the parents out there that do whatever it takes for their kids. If you ever have any questions this is a great place to get them answered.

Most sewing machines will come with a roller guide that you can use to keep stitches consistent. On my belts, leather weight also dictates lining leather thickness, it's an aesthetic thing. Lining leather can be shorter, this does relax the leather in the worn position, it doesn't end up stretching the outside leather and compressing the lining leather as much. Not crucial, but if you're making high end belts, it's not a bad way to do it. If I do this, the lining leather is usually 1/4 to 1/2 inch shorter in length. When stitching the leather, I take my table off so the belt drapes in a curved position over the throat of the machine. I don't have any problems with stretched stitches when i do it this way. In all cases, my lining leather is oversized when I glue it down, (if I'm making the lining leather shorter I make two end marks on the strip I'm using to show me where the ends will be positioned.) I then trim, sand, stitch, edge, polish. I never dye thread, I think it makes it weaker, and it always ends up a strange color. If I dye anything, it's usually done prior to gluing the lining leather on, Most of my lining leather is in a light leather to contrast the darker outside leather or a dark leather to contrast the light outside leather. Rarely, do I use the same color to line. But it's all personal preference.

you can use the foam blocks that come from florists too. They tend to break down a bit over time, but they're cheap so they can just cut a block and replace them as needed. The foam is green. If you're looking for something a bit more durable, you can spray some of that great stuff foam in a disposable plastic form and cut it down to size after it cures. This will be much more durable than the florists foam, then just push the broadheads into the foam for storage.

The drum dyed leather that I have used has never bled off color. I've built several saddles with chocolate leather, and russett and never had them bleed like self dyed leather.

I have found that if you taper off water application for re-wetting purposes you don't have to worry about any water lines either. I bought a pump up sprayer and put it on the fine mist setting and I spray the boundary of where I'm carving with that a couple of times. This does result in a bit of rewetting on carved areas, but it's not a full saturation so it doesn't loose crispness due to swollen fibers. Basically, I'll dunk the area I'm going to work, and just mist the boundary a couple times to transition the leather.

Which area are you seeing this in? I see what appears to be the rear bars showing through the top layer of the skirt. This will happen if the bottom layer of your skirt wasn't blocked until it is flush with the top of the bars. At this point there's not much you can do with it because it's fully assembled.

If you can find a heavy duty box you could pack it yourself. I've had good luck with using some of that spray foam in a can. Just make SURE that you don't let it contact whatever your shipping or it sticks. I start by putting a chunk of styrofoam in the bottom. Those one inch thick sheets work pretty well. This gives me some initial padding. Then I spray a liberal amount of foam in a plastic garbage bag. It should kind of fill it like a bean bag. Not bursting full. You need to be able to allow for your "item" to move the foam around, and foam expansion without bursting the bag. I place the foam filled bag in the box. Wrap my item that I'm shipping in a plastic bag, as a precaution against leaking foam, and set it on top of the foam filled bag. This will allow the foam to expand around your object making a tight, movement free package. I usually let that sit until it's done expanding. Then I stuff all four sides and the top with foam filled bags. Once again leave some space so the foam can expand. If you don't your box will burst. I let that sit overnight so it fully cures. Then I can open the box and determine if any open spaces need to be filled with more spray foam, or blocks of foam, or peanuts for that matter. I know this is kind of complicated, but it's the best way I've found to ship anything fragile. I would recommend shipping with FEDEX. My last box from UPS came in in a black plastic garbage bag. I counted 6 different boot prints on my leather. I'm pretty sure it didn't come from the supplier that way!

I like many others here am pretty new to saddle making. I have both the Dusty Johnson book and the Stohlman series. I must agree with Bruce that he was a saddle maker and not thee saddle maker! He has great information in his books, but like stated before some is pretty dated. The whole ground seat section is probably the most dated information, in my opinion anyway. Also his tool for making sure rigging is centered is a bit cumbersome and time consuming to construct. On the whole though I would recommend that one first though. I bought the Dusty Johnson book first and disagree a little with his order on assembly, dealing with the Horn mainly, I took his pattern for a horn cap and wrap and chucked it out. I'm not saying that this was a bad purchase though, don't get me wrong, I think he explains things very well and I still use a lot of information that I got from his book. I just feel that if a cap is put on properly it would take a serious wreck while roping to dislodge the cap and tear things up. I prefer to have my horn done before I do the swells. Dusty's book says to put the whole horn cap and wrap on after the swells are covered. Yes it would be easy to replace if it ever did come undone, but if you're just making a pleasure saddle it's more appealing, at least to me, to do the swells after the horn. By the time you get everyone's 2 cents you'll be able to pay for the materials!

You can also leave your bottom piece of leather larger on the edges and cut it to match up perfectly with the top formed piece after glueing and stitching. If you're looking for some pretty good edgers try big sky die and tool company. They are about 11.00 each and work pretty well right out of the box. They take a little fine tuning for tight corners, but work great. I like them better than the osborne and tandy ones. Also are pretty comparable to the ones that Weaver sells as far as quality. But the price is outstanding. Phone number for them is 800-282 4759. As far as stitching goes I can't say enough about having a stitch wheel. It really spaces your stitches even, and puts a little indent in the leather so your stitches lay flatter. You can also use some glycerine saddle soap on the edges. Get a bar of it and use it on wet edges. Work it in good and then burnish as described above.

The raffle is a must be present to win raffle. There are probably around 100-200 prizes ranging from fire gear to local gift certificates. The local FD sets up a huge fire school here every year and we have probably around 1000 people in town for the event. I guess if you were really interested you could send me a PM and we could arrange something. Thanks again for everyone's imput

That was my mistake, I didn't know what the name for that was, and I didn't even think about that when you said it. That makes a lot of sense for that application though. I had to pretty much plug through that with just pictures off the internet. That's the problem with a lot of the small stuff. You have to almost tear it apart to see how it really works, and somehow I don't think my local saddle shop would appreciate me tearing a new saddle apart!

I have struggled a little with my edges, I just bought some new western edgers, as the ones I had were all terrible, and have found that the new ones leave a much cleaner edge and it burnishes up very nice. I have also been looking at some of the cocobola edgers and was wondering how well they work. Getting my wrap to stay up on such a large horn was kind of tricky, I had to really stretch the leather around, and my next wrap had to be in so close to the same spot that it left a lump in the rest of my wrap and by the time I got done I didn't have enough leather left to go one more time around. I'll search for a larger hide for my next wrap! I'll definately move those plate a bit forward on the next one! Thanks for the tips.

It is actually a gold plated fire fighter badge set into the back. It's about an inch and a half square. It has two threaded posts on the back and some fairly flat nuts that secure it to the saddle. You may be able to set it into a belt, but unless you skive out a small indent for the nut you're going to end up with a bulge under your lining leather. Thanks for the compliments!

I don't think that Tandy will ship anything but the small squeeze tubes. At least that's what they told me recently. Though they did offer to send their brand of glue! Try www.istirrups.com They have a couple of different types of Barge cement in the quarts.

I'm looking for some constructive criticism on my second saddle. I built this for my local fire department to use in a raffle to raise money for their fire school. I'm a member of the Fire Dept. and wanted to say thanks for all the training and things they have done for me by donating a saddle to them. Being that it's only my second saddle, I'd love some feedback. I have a lot to learn!