Randy Cornelius

He took the bottle of baby shampo and put a couple drops straight from the bottle on the piece of leather he was carving on and rubbed it in with his fingers. He stressed to use only baby shampo because of the neutral PH. Us the Lexol and the baby shampo right after you case the leather and before you transfer the design to the leather. It sure does make the carving a lot smoother. The knife just glides through the leather. RC

Goliger carries a consistant line of good chap leather and will provide swatch cards upon request. RC

Your awl must be super sharp to go through shirting. If you try to use a Tandy or Osborne awl straight out of the box it will not work good for you. They must be sharpened and polished to work good. I use awls from Bob Douglas which are much better but cost a lot more. You can make a Tandy work but you must be good at sharpening. Use a wet stone and sparpen to a needle sharp point, keeping the diamond shape as you go. Then polish with rouge. You might want to get the Stolhman book on hand sewing lots of helpful tips. Good luck Randy

FIY, I just listed a Jeff Cook round knife and 2 "Maul Master" stamping mauls on ebay.

My wife, son Riley and myself went out to Denver last week end for the WESA Market. I learned a lot of things out there but the most informative was the outing Sunday afternoon. We ran into several members of the Columbine Leather Guild nd they were having a meeting that night and invited us. Tony Lair was there giving a demo on the new water based Eco dyes. I must say I came away with a new out look on them. I am skeptic when something new comes out. Where I see them having a big impact is in the coloring of figure carvings and such. Very easy to mix with water to get a differnet shade of the same color on leather. He started out by having a cup with full strength, another with 1/2 strength or less and a 3rd one very diluted. He started by using the weekest strength first and demostrated how to color an oak leave several differenet ways according to what season it was, with different colors. Very interesting demo. Tony and his wife are just great people, she is always right there helping him and playing gofer in the background. If you have a chance to take a class given by Tony you will not be disappointed. Pete Gorrell was also there, we had seen him at WESA as he was set up at the Wickett & Craig booth. A very nice man who is willing to share his knowledge with anyone. He has a new book out on drawing patterns, I had ordered mine before I left and had not gotten a chance to digest it. Pete was good enough to give me some pointers. We had a very good talk and I would have liked to stayed in the booth with him all day but my wife does not share the passion for leather as my son and I do. If you don't have Pete's book I would suggest it for thoes who have problems drawing patterns. Pete was also invited to the meeting and gave a carving demo. I picked up a few pointers on the swivel knife. One that I did not think would make much difference but I will use from now on everytime I carve with my swivel knife. It is this, case your leather then apply a lite coating of Lexol conditioner, rup it in reall good with your hands. Then apply a drop or two of baby shampoo! yes that's what I said, I have to admit that I was shaking my head at that time but after he passed the piece of leather around and let us carve with his knife I was hooked. I never felt a knife slide through leather that good before. I may have suspected it was his knife but after I got home I tried it and it worked with my knife just as well. David Reis from the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal was also there, I don't think he did much besides eat, boy he can eat. LOL. David is always fun to have around. I want to thank the fine folks of the Columbine Leather Guild for inviting us to the meeting and for the fine meal they provided. We did not go away hungery. I also learned that those 29.00 shirts are bough wholesale for about 12.00 but that is another story. Randy

I am making a headstall for a young lady to show in and she wants all these spots on it. I do not have a spot setter and have to set each one by hand, (I have the tandy setter) They are such a pain in the A** that I want to charge by the piece, was just wondering how each of you charge, by your normal shop rate per hour or do you get more. I will post a picture when I get it done. It has a piece of mohair across the brow band that will hang down in the horses eyes?????? Yes, I question that, not sure my horse would put up with that but that's what she wants.... Thanks RAndy

It looks like you are a traveling man.... I have been to the east as well. Randy

My oponion is that if you are going to spend some money spend as much as you feel you can afford on the swivel knife. It is the one tool that will pay for it's self over and over. When picking a swivel knife you must take each for a test drive. Some like small barrels some like big, some in between. Get one with a good ball bearing system in the yoke, not so you can twirl it as see how long it will spin. But put your finger in the yoke, push down firmly and make sure the barrel does not catch or drag. It should turn smoothly as you apply pressure. That is the purpose of the ball bearing system so that it turns smoothly as you cut. I can tell you what I like and if you buy that it you may not like it. Go to a show and try them. My suggestions are starting at the lowest cost and moving up are, Barry King, Henly, (I have two of these) Old smoothy great knife but expensive IMO. Knife blades are a whole nother subject. Narrow, wide, angled or not. Buy the best you can afford. Randy

Steve, What bar are you at, there are only 2 or 3 in Denver? MIght drop by if I knew where you are, we pooped out about 2pm and went back to the room. Do you have a booth or just shopping? Randy

Tighten the belt if that don't work give them a call.

What city is that address at, I have my GPS and I can put the address in to help me from my hotel. I am at the LAQuinta inn north just off I-25, Would I take I-25 south to I-70 then west to Cofax? We will plan on being there. thanks for the invite. Yes, Riley is with us! Randy

Hello from Denver, wife and I are in Denver going to WESA Market. Anyone else from Leatherworker here. Brought the camera if I see anything interesting that members might be interested in I will try to post or have Johanna help me. Weaver, Wicket & Craig, Barry King, Don Butler just to name a few are some of the people we know that are here. If you do not know WESA stands for Western - English Sales Association. One of the biggest markets in the country to see all the new things, horse and western related. Randy

I have had simular problems with Weaver and I feel that because they have a production line that they use the best of thier leather for thier own use and sell the 2nds to others. When dealing with W&C go through the phone promps and dial the extention for Glen Proud he is who I have been dealing with for years. Be sure to tell him what you are using the leather for and he will have some suggestions. Like the other day I needed a small piece of Bridle but did not want to buy a whole side he told me he had some double shoulders that were not listed on the web site. I am at Denver Market right now and will stop by the Weaver Leather booth and tell them of the problem and see what they say. Randy

At present there are only two tannaries left in the US that make Veg. tan leather. Herman Oak in St. Louis, Mo. and Wickett & Craig in Currensville, Pa. There are a handfull of other tanneries left doing Crome and other varities. One comes to mind is Prime in St. Joseph, Mo. When ordering hides from your sourse tell them what the hide is being used for so they can select the hide that best suits your needs. Different companies grade in different ways. Always ask for a #1 or a Grade A if wanting the best leather. I don't know much about Zack White Leather. So I cannot advise your there. You can buy direct from the Tannery at Wickett & Craig. I will tell you that if you order A #1 hide from them you will not be dissapointed. I have never gotten a bad hide from them. If you call them ask for Glen, that is who I always deal with. Randy

God nows I may not doing it right but the way my accountant wants it is this. All my tools that I buy that I will keep in the business are grouped into one lline item as they can be depreated. Then the usable or consumables, thread, glue, leather, paper ect. is one line. Then travel expenses to shows and classes I attend can also be deducted. Travel expenses to shop for leather and supplies is a deduction. As well as shipping expenses. If you use you home for your business you can deduct that % of what you business consumes as far as utilities, phone, insurance etc. Well there are most likely more learnard and experianced people out there to talk about IRS than me. RC

Berry has the best quality for the best price in the professional grade of handmade tools par none. Barry is just what you get he is a nice young man to deal with and treats each customer like a friend. He lives up stairs above his machine shop so I suspect it is not just an 8-5 job. I have seen his wife in the shop a couple times I have been there. RC

Jeff Ballard from Throurobred Leather is one of the investors that bought out Hidecrafters. I talked to him a couple months ago and he said that they were dropping several lines that just were not selling that well. He said they want to handle the items that sell good and that will make a profit. He said that along thoes lines they will be adding a lot more items as well as discontinuing others. I think they will have some growning pains but give them a year to come around and get things sorted out. RC

call one of the company's that make clicker dies. I bet they could make you one you could use your maul with. If not try a piece of square steel tubing. Should be able to get a small lenght at a welding shop. Grind it down and sharpen it. I may last for several before you have to sharpen it.

Hey Bruce, I have used clear shelf paper for some of those larger items you are talking about. I found that trying to tape a large project taks lots of tape and lots of time. The clear shelf paper covers a lot of area fast. It works really well also. I have found that sometimes the tape can be a pain to remove. The cheeper tape will tear and I end up cussing it. I try to use 3-M brand as I don't have as much trouble with it tearing when I try to remove it.But I still like to use plexiglass whenever I can. I like it because with tape I find that the leather will still draw in and curl around the edges and corners when it drys. With the plexiglass it will not. When dry it will retain the orginal shape better than the tape. As a general rule if I am lining a project I will glue down to plexiglass but if it does not get a linning I will use the tape as the tape will not leave a sticky residue. Boy I am glad this site is back up and running, I did not know how much I was adicted until it was gone. RandyI am member #62 and only have 1 post???? well if thats all that is lost.RC

I went to the IFoLG web site and there is no information on this show. Was just wondering if the show classes were the same etc.

Can you post some info on this show. Is it just like the IFoLG show that was in Ft. Worth? Sorry not familar with this show. Randy

The Al Stohlman Enc. Of Saddlemaking books has a good set of plans in them. You can modify them to fit your needs. Bruce Johnson posted a pick of his a while back. Don't remember if it had measurements with it or not. Might do a search. RC

I have tried the CS Osborne and Tandy ones and I have to say they are very low on my scale of tools. I have to do so much work on them to get them so I can use them that it is a real pain. I like a long slim blade, esp. for doing the cantle bindings on a saddle but to get a long Osbone blade it comes so thick that it makes the holes too big. I have to grind them down, polish, and shape them to use. I have started buying Bob Douglas awls, he make a slim bladed awl that works very good for me and they come sharpe, and polished and ready to use. They are expensive about 20.00 apiece but I feel well worth it. Couse I had to buy a Berry King awl half to use with it. That cost me too. Randy

I have always used a resist of some kind when applying antique, neat Lac is what works the best. That way the antique will only stay in the tooled areas. I have never put antique on leather without a resist of some type being applied before the antique. Randy

As he said Ohio Travel Bag has all kinds. But need a sales tax number to buy and they have a 75.00 min. order. Weaver is another sourse but they only offer 3 different kinds, also have to have a resalers tax number and they have a 50.00 min. Randy