Bob

Rayban, usually the rub sticks are made from Lignum vite (spelling not sure). I don't know why this is, but i suppose history and experience may have something to do with it. I'd like to know also,if there's some reason for this.

Reading this thread is just plain depressing and discouraging.... Sure the prices of gas is going nutz. What can any of us do about it???? Feels like this cow I saw this morning. Perhaps most of us can relate.

Hey Dany, there's no stupid question. Just stupid people that think they have all the answers... I had sense enough to phone Bob Douglas, after reading all the high recommendations of others, to phone him and purchase two of his awl blades. They're really nice too, they are sharp about half way up. They have the sharpest point and polished to a mirror finish. They work great, for 25 bucks. I wonder why I didn't buy some sooner.

Three old mischievous Grandmas were sitting on a bench outside a nursing home. About then an old Grandpa walked by, and one of the old Grandma's yelled out saying, 'We bet we can tell exactly how old you are.' The old man said, 'There ain't no way you can guess it, you old fools.' One of the old Grandmas said, 'Sure we can! Just drop your pants and under shorts and we can tell your exact age.' Embarrassed just a little, but anxious to prove they couldn't do it, he dropped his drawers. The Grandmas asked him to first turn around a couple of times and to jump up and down several times. Then they all piped up and said, 'You're 87 years old!' Standing with his pants down around his ankles, the old gent asked, 'How in the world did you guess?' Slapping their knees and grinning from ear to ear, all three old ladies happily yelled in unison --- 'We were at your birthday party yesterday!'

Denise, we've got warm sunny weather and 4 inches of green grass..... and we live in the warm sunny SOUTH....

I got a list of the Work Shop Schedule yesterday from David at the Leather Crafters Journal. They should fill up quickly, so book early. I hope this works, it's a "word" document. I never uploaded one before. Hopefully, you can download it and it works. WORKSHOPS_BY_DAY___15TH_ROCKY_MOUNTAIN_LEATHER_TRADE_SHOW.doc WORKSHOPS_BY_DAY___15TH_ROCKY_MOUNTAIN_LEATHER_TRADE_SHOW.doc

Keith, your exactly right. Thats the struggle many of us deal with balancing this with that. Getting pulled in every direction. There could be a book written on this subject. "The challanges of being self employment in a saddle shop" What a great idea and title. Someone should take up this. In case you don't have enought to do. LOLOL

Hi Kevin, many of the things already sold. The rigging plates are now relisted, the osborne stitch groover sold yesterday. Here are the item #'s Helmold bender and supplies 140222175903 Rigging plates 140222299041 More rigging plates 14022299432 Barry King stamping tools , barber wire. 140222180348

Hey everyone, there's some great stuff listed on ebay right now. Rigging plates, stamping tools by Barry King, a bender and die making equipment, osborne stitch groover, and a bunch of other stuff too. Use this item #140222180348 to do a search, then click on "View sellers other items"

I store veg tan leather rolled up in a cabinate, out of the sunlight and away from the lights. For storage purposes only. In a dark room works too. Stored flat is nice too, but I have space issues too. Hydration? Too dry? I don't think that would be an issue, not for me. I think most people would agree. New veg tan is best stored dry and out of the sunlight, or any light because it bleaches and changes color. I don't like to take out a roll with sun tan lines on it. Kept dry, in a large garbage bag would work too. Just keep out the sunlight.

Andy, nice workmanship. Very nice.

Here again is another couple pictures. Tomorrow when they're finished I'll post some more pictures. Please note, once you put the tag end in the vice and whale on it with the hammer, be gentle. It's not hard to break stirrups without the bolt in them. Espesially a small 1 inch like this. You should have a 3/8 inch seam allowance around the edge. More if you useing heavy leather, Less for thinner leather. One more thing, if you run into troubles and the leather is too tight. Dip the whole thing into the water. It helps get things moving along.

Duke, here are some pictures of work I did today. This should help you out to understand what I'm talking about. Sorry if it seems confusing.

I do the same as Greg said, 9 oz on the outside, 7-8 oz on the inside. The liners on the inside are sew to the outside wet. the outside is dry. The outside is cut to fit around the edges, except the bottom, it's about 1 inch too long, the liner is cut large and wet, like i said. Sew them together, with a bubble. You do that when sewing the second half. trim the inside liner and edge both sides now. Use a hammer handle and push it into the top end to open it as much as possible. Some folks use glue or liquid saddle soap, put some inside. Or nothing at all. A bench mounted vise is now handy. clamp the long end of the outside piece thats dry, into the vise at the bottom. fold it over and insert the sturrip and push it in. Use a hammer to drive it on up to the top, if you don't have a vise, you'lll have to do this by hand. Trim the excess off at the bottom and push out the bubbles on the inside liner. Do the same for the other side, trim the ends off to butt together at the bottom and cover with the tread. Dip the whole thing into the water and rub the edges, use an awl to locate the bolt holes, drill it out, put in your bolt and spacer, let it dry. Cut your threads to fit, only cut them about 1 inch long. For a better fit, use a french edger to trim a 45 degree angle off the bottom side of the tread only on the top side where the thread starts to rise, only to the edge of the stirrup, on both sides. It'll lay flat. punch holes and lace together at the bottom.

There was some talk in another thread about cleaning saddles and charging 1.5 times the regular shop rate. I agree, thats great. Cause I hate cleaning other people's dirty stuff. I thought it was a good idea to start a new discussion about this. I usually charge for repairs by the item, not a shop rate. For example Stirrup leathers with new buckles 250.00 sheepskins with new string and concho's 300.00 So that way I can make some good money if I work hard. and the customer knows before they leave what it's gonna cost. However, for repairs that are not the "run of the mill" type repairs or custom stuff. I believe that you should charge for an hourly rate what you think is fair. Keeping in mind what you have invested. For example. Your experience/training your shop and location tools and equipment level of service/ how long will it take? Tomorrow/6weeks There's just alot that comes into play, at least in my opinion. I try to be fair with people and charge whats reasonable. When someone comes in with a broken Mexican saddle and wants it rebuilt. I just say "NO" it's not worth it and I'm not doing it. Spending 600 dollars repairs on a 100 dollar saddle don't make sense. The bottom line is. I try to earn 50 dollars per hour. Sometimes, I don't get it, sometimes I make better, it just depends. I've learned on thing about a certain type people, and if you haven't met one, you will. They'll come in and wanna know whats this cost right off, so you tell em. Then they want you to do it for half price. Mean while they just drove up in a 55,000 dollar truck outside.... and want you working for nothing. I stand my ground now.... It would be good to hear from others that make a full time living in the saddle & leather industry to speak up about their experiences, shop rates and what ever they'd like to share. Something that would help the rest of us.

well the weather here has been nice, the grass is 3 inches tall. But last night we got some snow.... it tried again today to snow. However, the sun is shining now and it's warm. Bottom line? If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute, it's going to change....

Troy, your saddle work is amazing. After I picked my jaw up off the floor. I can't help buy wonder how you did that. How can you make that work? With the skirts joined to the seat and swell cover in one? Won't that be an amazing thing to sew on a machine? I think this saddle would be quite a job to reline the skirts. Beautiful workmanship Troy...

LOL, thats funny Bruce... thats what we should do. Post pictures so we all know who's who in the zoo. What I just though of wearing a disguise and going incogneato... ahhahahahhelele Thats too funny

settle down elton, u just have to wait like the rest of us.

Elton, I've been using the Jolley knives for years. They're real nice blades.

Happy Birthday Jim Redding, we all hope you have a great day.

Rookie, I think I know what your talking about. I made mine, just went to the glass shop and asked for a piece of 1/4" glass about 4.5 inches by 6", or what ever you want. I asked then to sand and polish the edges and two corners off. (rounded off smooth) Then glued some leather on each side for a handle, it works great.

Well, it looks like an alright machine. It looks like a Chiness machine, thats alright though. The parts will be easy to get. From looking at their feedback, they're good sellers with good customer service. Thats what has been reported. They sell lots of machines. If you think this machine will work for your application. It looks good to me. The compound feed is clearly a plus. The extra option, with servo motor would really be good idea, if the budget fits. Your call. The only thing you might wanna consider is shipping. How close is it? Can u pick it up? Can you find the same thing closer? Nobody ships these things for cheap. figure about 100 -200 for shipping. Besides, if you can find a sales store that has that machine closer to you, so you can try it before you buy. Thats clearly the best way to go. Compound feed is always good, for most applications. You can't do fancy top stitching very well. Really the best buy to talk with is Art, he's the sewing machine Guru around here. He knows everything....

Drac, those are cute thingies.... if i had more hair, i could use one.

WOW Bonnie, nice work...