gary

And scones in lieu of doughnuts in the afternoon with the cream tea.

Hi Ed, I've used locks from the same maker from Abbey but smaller and single position only. They were for briefcases and they are well made and robust. Lockable too. Similar price - though I bought mine a couple of years ago but the prices have all risen. Which reminds me, before my wife does, that the briefcase I was making for her is still waiting, in pieces, to be sewn together. Cobblers kids or what! When using Abbey, either phoning or e-mailing, be very, very, clear about what you want as they sometimes don't ask exactly the right questions and, with such a large stock of items, they may slip-up. If you call or e-mail, get to speak (type) to Peter - they're all helpful but he has the catalogue in his head. (Or should that be catalog?) Gary

When I was in the Army and we had to repair boots and other things that the British Army likes to have really shiny and we had dinks, dings and gouges to repair (most often boot toecaps) we used to use a mix of beeswax and boot polish of the right shade. It took a bit of experimenting to get exactly the right colour. It's not too good for things that flex a lot like Sam Browne belts but works fine on fairly rigid structures. Also, as the beeswax hardens nicely, you can replicate the carved pattern in it. Might be worth a try if the saddle's no longer in use. Gary

Adam, Glad you found this forum - be warned, it gets addictive - couldn't find ahy really useful Brit ones. You're just over the Pennines from me - I'm in Carlisle. Enjoy visiting here - there's loads of coffee and doughnuts, I'm told, but we could always start a tea fund. Gary

http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk £12.30 (so about $24) each. Then there's postage and packing. You need to register with them to get a password that allows you to see prices. They usually give discounts for large purchases (depending on the item, sometimes as little as 10 is 'large'). Though I've not used this particular model of lock, others that I've used are good quality. Gary

http://www.borderstates.com/leathergoods.html Might help with the ID Gary

You might want to try a medical supplies place. They do some fairly thick felt (called orthopaedic felt in the UK) that I've seen in 1/8" to 1" thicknesses. It may suit your purpose. Gary

Randy Steffen's books - a four volume set 'The Horse Soldier 1776 - 1943' also has quite a lot of detail on cavalry saddles, as does his 'The Military Saddle'. Gary

There is a website called The Society of The Military Horse that has quite a lot of info on McClellans, of all the variants, and quite a few threads on making, restoring, and so on. www.militaryhorse.org/ Gary

"Gary: i will try a whites black butt soon, you "titille" me." Phew! My French is a bit rusty so I had to look that one up. Yes, I do wet the leather for folding round buckles but the White's just forms better, even when the others are wetted also. I'll PM you Gary

Pella, By 'smoother' I mean an awful lot. The feel is less coarse than Sedgewicks sometimes feels, it has a softer feel when cutting, it cut more crisply, it was easier to edge, it bent better round buckles and so forth and it had a waxier, classier, looking finish. That's what I really meant. Gary

Pella, I most frequently use Sedgewicks but the quality varies. I have used some pieces of Whites and really liked it; nice to cut and work with - it just flet 'smoother'. A saddler friend of mine swears by it. I believe it used to be more expensive than Sedgewicks but has come down in price. Gary

WaG35, Some time ago, when I carried a weapon all day, I found the service holsters useless and uncomfortable so I got hold of a pattern from Tandy for a shoulder holster and made one. I added a few personal touches that made it more user-friendly (pouches for magazines and a cleaning kit and so on). It was adjustable, within limits, but was okay for me as I'm fairly average. However, once I started using mine, everyone else in the unit wanted one so I had quite a production line going for a while. Not all the users were average so I ended up using mine as a test rig for approximating size and then adjusting the straps and adjustment holes for each customer.It worked out okay and all the 'customers' were happy with the result. Gary

I've tried sticking a pin in the map but it must keep falling out as it's never there when I check back. We live in Carlisle (England, not Pennsylvania) just South of the border with Scotland. 27 years in the Army for me (16 years for my wife, Ruth) and now I'm a police officer in a small and supposedly sleepy rural town after working for some time in Carlisle City. I'm getting too old to be chasing young criminals so we're moving to the West coast of Scotland as soon as we've sold this house and I'll be starting my own leatherworking company (web site link will be added once it's up and running) as well as letting the house to holidaymakers in the summer season. Three dogs, two horses, one house and three acres just outside Carlisle (open to offers if anyone's interested - for the house, not the dogs and horses, they're moving with us) and a house and thirty acres in Scotland. Did some 'resettlement' training in saddlery and harness-making when I left the Army after messing about for ten years and I realised I needed to learn properly. The leatherwork just took off after that. I've even made my own western saddle (as I could never really understand British style saddles) and retrained my horse. I would make more but it is not easy getting parts over here and no-one does any trees apart from Ralide. I learned to ride in Namibia and South Africa while serving there. Ruth learned with the Household Cavalry when she was serving in London so rides better than I do. My horse is just a 15.2 chestnut mare with three white feet and a white blaze (so I don't believe the rhyme [you know the one, "One white foot - take a look," etc]). Ruth's horse is a 17.0 grey mare which was mistaken two days ago for an appaloosa as she is so muddy at the moment. So glad to find this forum - a great source of inspiration, ideas, humour, and stunning work from everyone. I lurk quietly on the sidelines most of the time, being awed at the knowledge and experience there is here and people's willingness to share it unconditionally. I won't post any pictures of my work until I've done something that's worth looking at. Also, I won't post pictures of our house, land or workshop until we've moved; then there'll be something to look at. And I'll supply the cups of tea if anyone wants a change from coffee (good though it is). Gary

Great! I get to show off our dogs and share them with you. Three Bernese Mountain Dogs. One of them (Gillen -named after a small town on the Isle of Skye o nthe North-west coast of Scotland) is trained to harness and is much easier to use than a wheelbarrow when mucking-out our horses. And I made the harness, of course. He's the one wearing the backpack in the second photo. The other dog (Fergus - not named by us) was a rescue dog we got when he was a year old. He'd been bought for showing but is a nervous chap and could not have enjoyed being poked and prodded in the show ring. At least now he's got loads of space to roam. He'll carry a pack but turns into whirling kneecap remover when attached to a cart. The pup (Corran - named after a small town on Loch Linhe near Fort William in Scotland) is too young to pull a cart or carry a pack yet; only 4 months old in the photo. Great dogs, best burglar alarms we've had - Gillen and Fergus saved us from having our horse tack stolen last year - and good round the horses, sheep and cattle we've got round here. Just hope no-one tells the local burglars that they're pushovers if you've got a biscuit. I see carting with dogs is quite popular in the US but we're very limited over here as it's been illegal on public roads in the UK since 1906 as we, historically, were prone to overload dog carts and were cruel to them. I don't sell many cart harnesses. Gary

SACameron, If you're using the screw type Sam Browne studs (which save the expense of buying a setter but aren't truly authentic) put a drop of metal glue in the female part before screwing them up as it saves the screw dropping out later on. Barbour do linen thread as well. Gary

Snaallen, There have been quite a few posts on this over the past months. Perhaps someone with more computer savvy than me can direct you. For me, depending on the type and thickness of leather, once I've rounded the edges with an edger and the whole thing's complete, I rough up the fibres using sandpaper for thinner leather or broken glass for thicker edges (if the edges aren't rough enough already). Then I use a mix of dye, water and old-style paper glue (which contains gum tragacanth) to stain the edge and then polish, vigourously, with some old denim. Straps are easiest to polish up as you can pull them through a hand wrapped in denim. Small edges or less stiff leather can be placed on a board with the edge slightly overhanging and rubbed vigorously with denim. Corners and curves are not the easiest to do. I also sometimes use watered-down PVA glue as a final coat before a final polish. But, horses for courses. Some here have electric powered edgers (lucky people) but I find polishing by hand means I can turn the heating down in the workshop. Gary

I'm in the early stages of starting a business. I'll be building it up in steps, the first one being custom items - mainly dog-orientated stuff, and I've been touting myself round pet shops, field sports shops, saddleries, riding centres and stables to do some test marketing. A lot of people want to have a look at what you are able to make so I have a selection of items available for them to see and feel (and quite a few sniff them too!). They also make a useful starting point for a conversation about what people want (type and colour of leather and stitching, hardware, decoration, and so on). I also carry a bunch of photographs to illustrate other work that I've done so they get a better idea of what they may want. I've found quite a few people know exactly what they want but need some help in describing it or, if I need to illustrate a point, there's a handy example to show. Some want to buy the samples I've taken while others take a card and get back to me later. I think leather is one of those things a lot of people like to touch before they buy so the tactile input is another point of sale (or order) technique. Gary

Sadly, getting to be a rather wrinkly and dried-out one.

In order of preference: http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk/ Helpful and will deal with small orders. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/index.html Ditto. http://www.theidentitystore.co.uk/ Ditto. They stock most of the TLF range. http://www.hwebber.co.uk/ Not used it, but it's worth a try, http://www.bowstock.co.uk/ Not used this one either but looks worth approaching. http://www.hewit.com/ Bookbinding supplies but do some general leatherwork stuff http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/default.aspx Findings and so on for cloth but some useful stuff, leatherwise. http://www.craft-fair.co.uk/suppliers.cfm?SubCatno=190 and a few here that should be worth a look. Gary

Dave, Nice to see another Brit here. Great information, great humour, excellent help and a 'must visit' and 'must-keep-visiting' site. I belong to a UK leather forum that hasn't had a post since June so this beats it hands-down for activity and I've found everyone far more likely to pass on trade secrets and useful information. I'm in Cumbria (until we move to the middle of nowhere in Scotland) so drop me a PM if you're close. Gary

There's been a store in Northampton, The Identity Store, that has stocked TLF items for at least 10 years. I presume it's an upgrade of the existing (albeit limited) outlet. Gary

Just my tuppence-worth. I am currently looking to become fully self-employed when we relocate - I currently do leatherwork one day a week (on average) and it's all bespoke or custom items. After carrying out market research and profit and loss forecasts for my business plan I have come up with a figure of £70 per day of instruction (I guess that's about $130 - $150 at the moment). That's for an individual; if more turn up then I can afford to reduce the cost (a little) per person. That cost includes the use of all tools, a couple of basic leatherwork techniques pamphlets, tea and coffee and so on. Materials are extra. I thought that was a bit steep at first but when I looked at the breakdown of time taken resharpening tools, cleaning up the shop, restocking, research, insurances, business rates, heat and light, advertising, pattern-making, postage and having to hold a fairly comprehensive stock of materials, it isn't actually that expensive - I would like to charge more for a bigger financial comfort zone but my current estimate of the market says that's about the right mark for now. There are options to enhance that part of the business (bed and breakfast, sale of pattern portfolios, middleman for selling tools and leather) that will come later so package deals may be available. Gary

I use a lot of bridle leather (mostly dog and horse items plus belts and some duty gear). I always used to use Sedgewicks but have been persuaded by a saddler friend to try John White's (he swears by it). I must say that from my, so far limited, experience of White's (a black side and an Australian nut butt) that it feels better, generally, than Sedgewicks and cuts very nicely. Having said that, my experience with White's is limited and I may just have had a good week at sharpening my knives. Sedgewicks sometimes feels a bit dry but that may be down to how long it's been in stock at the suppliers and lots of other variables. I have used Sedgewicks for years and have had no real complaints. Abbey Saddlery and Crafts stock Sedgewicks, White's and their own brand of bridle leather. Sorry I don't know anywhere in the US that stocks it. Gary

http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk/ PM me for a full run-down on Abbey. They have a large range of stuff and you need to register on their site to get access to prices. http://www.theidentitystore.co.uk/ These stock most of the Tandy range plus they do stock some leathers. Their website isn't much but they'll send a catalogue for a small fee and it gets refunded with your first order. Try also: http://www.claytonleather.com/ http://www.pittards.com/ http://www.hwebber.co.uk/ http://www.bowstock.co.uk/ http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1218/8296.php There are some leather dealers who operate through ebay UK shops, as well. They are sometimes worth a try but you need to exercise the usual 'eBay awareness'. Hope this helps. I have a few more if you want to PM me. Gary