gary

I found olut by accident that the lacquer can be removed using standard metal polish - either the wadding type or liquid (Brasso over here). It doesn't age them but at least allows the metal to be exposed to whatever ageing process you use. It is time-consuming, however, and the rock tumbler idea sounds a lot more efficient. Gary

Over here that would probably be called a 'Staffy' harness (for a Staffordshire Bull Terrier). Agitation/protection harnesses are rare over here as the dogs they are used with (Pit Bull, Dogo Argentina, etc) are illegal in the UK. I have sent you a pattern for one of the tracking harnesses which is similar but the straps will need to be widened and you can adapt it to make the front plate for the medallion. My pattern is for bridle leather and you may wish to double the leather layers and use more rivets as mine are sewn. Gary

I've got a couple of patterns for leather tracking harnesses and also one for a seitel (cart/wagon) harness for Bernese Mountain Dogs. There was an article in LCSJ about 3 years ago for a double Bernese Mountain Dog harness. PM me if you want copies - one is in 'PowerPoint' format and the other two in 'Word'. They don't have carving patterns with them, just the strap measurements and so on. Gary

A couple of points that I have come across in the UK are that, if you open a business bank account the bank charges you for every transaction and action they take (like paying-in cheques or cash, counting coins, etc). If you open a personal account, the majority of banking services are free (not that anything is really 'free' - but they don't charge over and above the normal account charges). If your business has a business name, it's obviously a business account and they charge accordingly. So if your business is just 'J Smith', you can open a personal account without the charges. Though I don't think this is illegal, it is seen as 'sharp practice'. Second, if you have a business as a sole trader/proprietor you have to clearly state on any business cards, letterheads, etc, who you are, such as 'Whiplash Leatherworks - Proprietor J Smith' or 'J Smith trading as Whiplash Leatherworks'. It's probably all different over your way anyhow but I thought it was worth mentioning. Gary

So " Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham, wham, wham, wham....Oops...." is wrong?

Gill, I think I wrote one of the posts on edge staining with Dylon. Since then I've tried dyeing some plain leather, rather than just edges, and the results were quite hit and miss. The methods weren't scientific and the leather (thinned russet) had been lying around for a while so there could have been several reasons. I used water as a solvent in purple and green Dylon and even when it was a concentrated solution the colour wasn't very strong - it looked good to start with but faded as it dried. It took several applications to get an acceptable colour (well, sort of acceptable) and they were patchy. Fortunately. it was for a thistle insert (about 3" x 2" overall) on a guitar strap so I could choose the best small bits to use. I applied it with a dauber and didn't immerse it. I hadn't considered fixing it with salt but finished it with acrylic Resolene which seemed okay as it won't be used outside and shouldn't get too wet. Hope that helps. Gary

Luke's comment on pocket size got me thinking (a rare event). How about something to carry them in such as a back pack or one of those pouch or bag things that you wear round your waist with a belt attached (a fanny pack I believe they're called in the US). Or a pair of braces (suspenders) to keep those trousers up once those pockets are full. And maybe a truss. And no, no pictures as it was just a thought or two. Gary

I was once asked to 'recondition' a beautifully made Americal English style rough-out GP saddle that someone had cleaned using neatsfoot oil gel (which is awful stuff at the best of times). It was too far gone to bring back to 'as new' but I did have some success using, first a sort-of cabinet scraper (made from an old wood plane blade), wire brush, various grades of sandpaper and a brass bristled brush. Where there had been most wear and smoothing at the cantle top, parts of the seat and the skirts near the knee rolls, it would always look a bit ropey but those parts that had not been hammered too much came up quite nicely. I think there are instructions form making a cabinet scraper in one of the Stohlman books. Gary

Buddytink, For a book on tools I don't think that you can really beat Al Stohlman's 'Leathercraft Tools' and his 'The Art of Handsewing Leather' for starters. I can tell you about books on English tack but I think I'll let someone with better knowledge than me address western tack. Gary

I must have cut thousands of strap ends and have done them all using just a head knife. I have made quite a few templates out of thin tin (used cans) for each type of end (church window, blunt, point, etc) in each size. I still make the odd asymmentrical screw-up but can usually finesse it back to looking right. I thought about strap end punches but for the range I would need it would work out horrendously expensive. Just my tuppence. Gary

Hi Heathen, Nice to have somebody else here from my neck of the woods; I was getting a bit lonely. You've found a most useful resource in this site. If you don't know something there is bound to be at least two people who do or, if not, they know someone who does. It's also the friendliest and most helpful place I've ever come across in real space or cyber-space. I have heard you should avoid the doughnuts for some reason (or perhaps that should be 'donuts). Gary

Just as an aside, I'm not trying to divert or hijack the thread, but comments on bulk purchase made me think. Some years ago (maybe ten or so) a friend of mine showed me an English dressage saddle and asked me to guess a retail price. The quality wasn't bad, on the surface, and I priced it out at about £125 - £150 each. He was importing them by the container-load from somewhere in Asia and they cost him £35 each including shipping. He was making a nice profit on each one and there was no way anyone could compete with the price. Okay, there were some problems at the time such as leather quality but the makers started to use better leather, and I never saw a naked tree but, for the cost conscious it was a no-brainer. Gary

I'm making a cartridge bag at the moment. It's mostly for driven shoots so will be on the ground quite a lot. I'm using some thin pigskin as a lining where it will show, such as the underside of the lid flap, and adhering it to the bag leather which is some bridle shoulder. The bag is in light Havana colour and the lining is dark Havana as a contrast. I'm making shell loops on the outside of the bag and, as side-by-side or over-under guns are the most common here, I'm putting the loops on so that 2 shells can be grabbed at a time. I may put in double shell loops so that the shells are paired to make it easier. I see from you drawing that you will have 2 rows of loops with 5 shells per row. Gary

The costs here in the UK are higher as we either have to import quite a lot of the hardware and tree as there's not much choice or buy from specialist shops where prices are higher, for the same reason. Tax, postage, insurance and so on can really put the bill up. I made my first stock saddle about 12 years ago, for my own horse, and the leather alone cost in the region of £250, plain wooden stirrups were about £50 a pair, and I managed to buy two worn-out saddles for £50 the pair for the Blevins buckles, rigging rings, conchos and some other odds and ends. Woven wool shearling was then about £10 a metre. I was lucky with the tree as I found a shop that was closing an the owner had a couple of trees that he had brought to the UK years before and had never used - one of them was a perfect fit and only cost me £15. Then about 3 weeks (part-time) of work (which in the UK is currently about £5 per hour at minimum wage). After I had been using it about a month, someone saw it and asked if I'd make them one - they expected to pay about £200. When I said that was impossible, they offered me £100 for the one I was using as it was 'second-hand' I have been looking at costs recently and it would cost, in the UK in pounds sterling approximately what it would cost in the US in dollars (and it's about $1.65 to the pound at the moment). There are quite a few cheap imports available here for under £100 so custom made stock saddles are a rarity. Just my tuppence-worth. Gary

I bought a cheap pricking iron some years ago as I thought the prices were generally too high. Big mistake. The teeth were not well set, some at different angles to others, and the metal was poor quality. It went in the bin and I've reverted to quality irons since then. By the way, standard pricking irons are made with the teeth marking the diagonal '/ / / / / / / /', a pricking iron that makes the opposite diagonal '\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \' is called a portmanteau pricking iron (or portmanteau pricker) and was originally used by luggage makers so that corner and butt joints looked nicer and were symmetrical when finished. I'd agree that a 1 inch 8spi iron is a good all-round size. I sometimes use 10spi which is fiddly and I have a 12spi that I avoid like the plague as my eyes aren't up to it. Gary

G, Welcome to LW; great place and great people. I'm told the coffee's good but you can't get a bridie here. So much information available here that it can be overwhelming at times - but it's all good, useful stuff. I'm in Mallaig so if you're ever passing by, call in for a coffee/tea and a smoked kipper. That goes for anyone else as well. Gary

Ruthless, This may be of no use whatsoever as it's the other side of the world, but: Abbey Saddlery Gary

Ray, I've a couple of small drawer sets similar to those above and they're screwed to the wall at the side of my bench. They're great for the small odds 'n' ends but, as was stated, label them. I keep stuff like rivets and so on in them and you can pull out a drawer and stick it on the bench when it's needed and then bung it back in the cabinet thing when you've finished. Oh, that bit about 'bung it back ... when you've finished' is just theory. In reality it's 'bung it back when the bench is too crowded to do anything else and stuff keeps falling on the floor'. A second (FREE!) plan uses those 1, 2 and 4 pint plastic milk bottle things that get sent to the recycling place, the ones with the handle moulded into them. We go through loads as we run a B&B. I started using them in our polytunnel as they don't rot, they're waterproof and they don't break when you drop them (unless they're full of milk and you've just cleaned the kitchen floor). Now I've started using them in the 'non-leather' bit of the workshop for screws, nails, tape and such and they're pretty good. You can write on them in magic marker and, when they're finished with they go in the recycling bin. By cutting out the top you can get your hand inside to grab things. If you cut across the handle so it turns into an inverted hook, they hang on the edge of the staging in the polytunnel. I have some left-over wardrobe rail (you know, the metal tube stuff that's oval in cross-section) but I'm sure some dowel would suffice, that I'm going to screw to the wall in the shop so the bottles can hang from that as well as being loaded onto the shelves. I need to get out more. Gary

I still use leather from my supplier that is called bag hide. It is vegetable tanned but is lighter, slightly softer, and less compact than bridle leather. It is usually about 3mm (1/8") thick and has a pattern embossed in the grain side. There is also girth hide which is the same as bag hide but without the embossed pattern. Hope this helps. Gary

I was introduced to My link a while ago and it is worth a visit for some (negative) guidance. And the odd laugh. Gary

Ray, Have you tried any ships chandlers or boating suppliers? I had to get hold of some 'lift-the-dot' type fasteners a couple of years ago and found quite a selection (some of which looked like your picture)on various boating supply sites. They are also provided by places that cater to classic sports car owners (but their prices are way over the top). I recall that some are prodided with screw-in posts, on a screw-in plate and others are made for attaching through fabric. The drawback with some was a special fittong tool was needed. I did get some from a wee ships chandlers (I only needed a couple) in some land-locked town down south and extemporised the fitting tool. The good thing was they were stainless steel so shouldn't mar the leather like some. Best of luck. Gary

Dear Buttonwood, Thanks for replying. South Florida to the north of Scotland means I'm not in the running for this one. Gary

Buttonwood, Where are you? What do you define as a 'Hunter' bridle? Would you supply the leather and fittings or would the leatherworker have to provide everything from scratch? Would you prescribe the leather and fittings to be used or allow the leatherworker to choose? Are the bridles all to be one size or a selection of sizes? Do you have a price range for making them? Gary

I used to make (and still do, when asked) leather harnesses (example in the first photo). The Police Force I worked for had been using leather tracking harnesses for years but decided to go for an 'easy care' harness and chose, for many reasons, a nylon one (second photo). One problem they had with the leather styles was a problem with forward 'slippage'. I think this was because the harnesses were issued regardless of the size of the dog and, though they were adjustable, it was impossible to make one that would fit all sizes of dog from dainty spaniel to huge GSD. I made (ashamed as I am to admit it) the nylon harnesses for our dog section and they did seem to work well. However, some of the dog handlers approached me and purchased, privately, custom made harnesses as there was still a 'slippage' problem if they weren't correctly fitted/sized. And I vastly under-priced the first consignment of harnesses, by the way, but learned my lesson on that one. Just my thoughts and experiences. Gary

Emma, If I presume right, you're after a buckle attached to a leather strap and also a second leather strap, that fits into the buckle, with holes in it. I know some dress-making shops and fabric/zip suppliers do them as pre-packaged as a set. You may want to try kilt makers as they supply these for attaching kilts and there may be something similar available from coach and harness makers as they use a similar fitting on the aprons used by coach drivers. You could always try a local saddler and see if he'll make some up for you as, there, you should get a choice of buckle and leather. Hope that helps. If I can find any sites that do these I'll post them here. Gary