gary

For the high gloss shine on the toes and heels, check out the first of these two posts. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25282&hl=bulling Gary

Neatsfoot (or neat's foot) oil. Better to use the pure NF and not the NF oil compound.

Give Le Prevo a ring and ask about the belt shoulders; I've always found them really helpful. They sometimes do 'belt splits' which are often cheaper.

Trouble getting off to sleep? Stop counting sheep, start counting endangered species. http://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php

Where are you? I know some good UK suppliers but that may not be much use to you.

Humperdingle, Just to get in the ballpark, Trade = 2 x cost Retail = 4 x cost and then finesse it from there. Gary

PM sent.

Here we go.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=52167&hl=

My pleasure - glad it's of use to you. Gary

Edit: And of course, if anyone else would find them useful, please feel free to help yourselves. Gary

Found it in PDF too which may be easier. McC Saddle bags detail PDF.pdf

Is this what you are looking for? It's a Powerpoint presentation so I hope it works for you. Gary McC Saddle tree details.ppt

Wool on sheepskin lining.

Get the Valerie Michael book http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Leatherworking-Handbook-Valerie-Michael/dp/0304345113 and the Al Stohlman hand sewing book. They're the best starting points. Gary

I have found that, when butt-stitching (oh my, that should get a few chuckles given the transatlantic audience), get the stitches on each piece to line up as closely as possible. Use a robust form of some sort to stitch on - plastic pipe is good but if you're box stitching a base onto it, use something with a solid base. I currently use fence post off-cuts as the wood is kind to the awl blade when you clip it doing a box stitch. Go through the first side quite strongly and then be really tentative going through the second side; if the point of the awl starts coming out in the wrong place, pull back and try a slightly different angle. If you have a curved needle I have found these to be too curved and need a little bit of straightening. If you're making your own curved needle, as Stohlman shows, don't heat it too much before bending. Hope that helps.

Welcome to LW, Jem. As far as I know, there was only one leatherwork forum in the UK (Cumbria School of Saddlery) but the last post on that was in 2009 or 2010 so 'last post' seems appropriate. I don't know of any specific leatherworker magazine but there may be specialist ones out there for cobblers and so on. A few general magazines do exist on outdoor pursuits but they cover a lot of area and leather would only be a small part. I've not heard of any UK groups. Some of the other Brits may be able to add more detail here as I'm sounding really negative and useless. If you live near the border you may want to touch base with UKRay on this forum, he's in Ludlow. Sorry I'm not much help here but best of luck. Gary

You have to register with Abbey to see their prices. They've always been helpful and never seem to mind dealing with a small business. I've not tried http://www.hostilehides.co.uk/hardware.html but found them recently. They don't look as they stock much stuff yet but may be worth a call.

I did it a few years ago. The leather seems to have held up well but I didn't do any hard riding or roping in the saddle. The two most difficult areas to do were the swells and the back of the cantle as the leather is quite thick and needs skiving down and I had no skiver wide enough so I had to do it all by hand which was time-consuming.

Try http://abbeyengland.com/Default.aspx and http://www.leprevo.co.uk/. One of them, can't remember which, bought Britannia Buckle Company a little while ago. Abbey do mostly made in UK stuff.

Bridle leather is fine to use. You can use a maker's mark but you'll have to find a way to make the best impression. Depending on the leather you may get away with hitting with a maul while on other leather you may need to use a vice or press. You shouldn't get wrinkling with bridle leather as long as you're careful at the bend round the buckle at the chape. The edges will look raw as the dye does not usually penetrate through the leather. You'll need to finish them with either a dye, for a contrasting or matching look, or a plain finish like beeswax and a lot of burnishing. Hope that helps. Gary

In my humble opinion, a couple of his techniques are just not good practice. He tries to cover an awful lot of topics including pattern-making and carving as well as basic techniques. I feel it's a bit too ambitious for the size of the book and the basics suffer as he spends time on the more advanced and specialised aspects. Gary

Don't look at the Geoffrey West book until you've read and used Valerie Michael's.

It fits inside the jaws of your stitching clam with the circular part downwards and the horizontal 'wings' resting on the top edge of the jaws. The loop is inserted in the vertical metal jaws. Hope the not very good diagram helps.

Normal stitching clams. Put something inside the bag to stop it collapsing. Dress the jaws of tyhe clam to stop them marring the leather. Gary