BuckhornBrand

I have a friend who inherited a Consew Model 18. He thinks it was used to sew upholstery. I was wanting to know if this machine will feed and sew leather, such as two layers of 5oz chap leather. I have a new Class 4 that I'm really pleased with, but if this machine would work for a chap machine that would be great. It's complete on stand with motor, light, and bobbin winder. If anyone knows what the value would be that would help also. Thanks for the help, Chuck

Thank You Aurelie! Sorry, I haven't been on here in a while. But thanks for your kind words of ecouragement.

Brent, thanks for the advice. I've still got a long ways to go and I know experience is the best teacher, but a little help along the way sure doesn't hurt. Thanks for your time! Thanks Jeff, it is getting some use. Chuck

Thanks JW, the saddle was built based on one the customer had ridden and taken some measurements from. Rod had never built an AZ roper tree that narrow either, but the customer was pleased with what we came up with. If I was building another, I would probably have a little more undercut added to it. Thanks for all your help! Sorry Brent, when I said spiking the seat I was refering to after I had it cut and was letting it dry. I usaually spike things as tight as I can, then put drawdown strap on and pound out wrinkles under the strap as I tighten it. Seems like when it's dry I still have some loose areas around the swell. I also use the Stohlman style drawdown, I was wondering if I needed a little more leather over the front area of seat to put some pressure there when I draw it down. I've been using the method J Watt shows in his DVD on making the ear cuts for the seat. Sometimes it works well, sometimes I get them a little to wide. Thanks for your time Brent!

Thanks Brent, My saddles tend to have a rounder cut at the top of the seat next to the handhole, much like the one in your first picture. Of course sometimes that comes from trying to cover up a bad handhole cut in the swell cover. One problem leads to another! I'll try to flatten that curve out on the next one and see if that helps. Maybe a wider draw down strap would help also. I have a hard time getting my seats spiked at the ear, spiked under the swell, spiked at the front button and pulled down with the drawdown without having some slack leather at the backside of the fork when its done. I mostly build on association trees and a lot of 14 inch swells. I build an all leather ground seat, and have experimented with different size hand hole cuts. I'm trying to cut a pretty small hole, but have enough room and shape to get the corners of my skirts screwed in without much trouble. I tried to upload another picture but they are all to large, so I guess I'll have to get my wife to help with that. Thanks again, Chuck

Thanks Ricky, I like stamping on roughout but find carving on it a little tough. This saddle has initials carved on the cantle back and they were a little tricky. Thank you Brent, the crossover rope strap was at the customer's request. I have never done one on a swell fork before and it took a little thought to get it positioned correctly to keep the rope off of the swell braids. I had trouble uploading the pictures from the camera, it kept saying the file was too big. This was a cell phone shot and not the best. I finally nailed down both corners of the seat by the handhole. I should have glued it but wasn't sure it would hold, the backseep on the swells through me a little when trying to fit my seat and get it drawn down tight. Fitting seats always seems to give me trouble and I'm not sure how to make it easier. Thanks again guys, Chuck

Here's a saddle I just finished for a customer. It's built on an Arizona Roper tree by Rod Nikkel with 12inch swells and bulldog tapaderos. All comments and criticisms are appreciated, I still have a lot to learn. Thanks, Chuck

Thanks for everyone's input on this. I've ordered a new class 4 machine from Steve. He's helped me through quite a few problems with my current machine and has earned my business. I did call Campbell and had a great visit with Connie about his machines. They are very reasonably priced considering how long those machines will last, but it was a little more money than I wanted to spend right now. Thanks for the advice, Chuck

Thanks guys, I appreciate the information about the Ferdco machines. I haven't heard much about them in the past, maybe thats because nobody was complaining about them. Thanks Keith, but I'm only sewing leather. Chuck

Thanks Joel, I agree with you about Steve, he's been very helpful to me. Glad to hear you're getting along with your class 4 on a wide variety of leathers. It's good to know that a one man/ one machine shop like yours can rely on it to pay the bills. Thanks again, Chuck

Thanks Keith, There are worse obsessions to have! I know Steve advertises that some of you have his machines, I'm glad to hear you and Troy are getting along with them so well. Thanks for the heads up about the lockstitch and the 16's. I had heard the lockstitch machines were tricky. I would love to own a Campbell, and I'm glad to hear some good reports about them. I'm just afraid I might be getting in over my head with a hook and awl machine. As much frustration as I've had with this Artisan I'm not sure my nerves could handle it. How often do the campbell's need adjusting? Do they stay consistent once you have them adjusted, or is it a process you have to go through every time you use the machine? With my Artisan I have to readjust almost every time I use it. I can have it sewing great one day, shut it off and cover it up, and the next night I have to start all over. It makes it very hard to have consistent looking stitching on a saddle. I know all machines need some adjustments, but I need to make better use of my time. Thanks again Keith, Chuck

Thanks Troy, That's a lot of information, you're 2cents could save a guy thousands of dollars! I knew the Landis 3's were good machines but I didn't know much about the 16's. Of course you don't just stumble across those machines everyday. Thanks for the information on the Campbell, I assumed they were mainly a heavy leather stitcher. I didn't know you could sew lighter things on them as well. I don't make a lot of chaps but every winter I get orders for a few pair from local guys. I need a machine that's versatile, I don't make enough chaps to justify having a light duty machine just for that. Thanks again, Chuck

Thanks guys. JW I haven't talked with anyone about a Ferdco but I may look into them. I see their ads but other than that I don't hear much about them. Ross, that's the reason I got this Artisan. I had talked to so many people like you that were getting along with them so well. I really thought I had done my homework when I bought it, but it's cost me a lot of down time. Unfortunately with a full time job and a family time is my limiting factor. I'm not as mechanically inclined as some people, so it could be partly my fault. But I can keep a small square baler humming along pretty good and really they aren't that different. Jon, I've looked at the campbell-bosworth on their website and some video's of them on youtube. But I haven't gotten around to pricing them, I just assumed they were too big for my space. I would like to see one up close and personal but haven't found anyone around my area that has one. Thanks for your input, I was curious as to how good they really were. Thanks again for your input guys, I appreciate it. Chuck

Hi everyone, I have a question for the saddle makers out there about what type of sewing machine they prefer for heavy stitiching. I'm a full time rancher and a part-time saddle maker. I bought an Artisan 3000 in 2008 at the Wichita Falls show and have never been satisfied with it. I finally sent it back to Artisan and they completely refurbished it for free. I haven't finished stitching one saddle with it and it's throwing fits, skipping stitches, varying stitch lengths, basically making my work look less than professional. I'm in the market for a new machine and wanted to get the opinon of some saddle makers. I've talked with Steve from Leather Machine Co. about his class 4 machines in the past. I have a lot of trust in him as he's helped me quite a bit with this Artisan even though he doesn't work for them anymore. I know any of these machines can sew nice lines on scrap leather but I want to know what machines work best for sewing up next to hardware on riggings, walking up the varying thicknesses of plugged skirts, etc. The older needle and awl machines are probably better suited for this but I'm not sure if I have room in my basement shop for one, and I hear they can be tricky to get adjusted. Thanks for the help, Chuck Norris

JW- I relocated last fall right after my daughter was born. I'm now in the smokey hills, in the N.E. corner of Ellsworth county. I was cow foreman here for an outfit in the late 90's and they bought another ranch and needed someone to run it. It's a smaller outfit than I was running but it's giving me more time for saddles. I've got three to build and the first one about done. Life's pretty good right now, but you could send us a little of that rain! Chuck

Thats a great looking rig, JW. I really like the shape of your seats and the nice lines you have around those forks. I fit the seat on a Mod. Assoc. today and thought I had done a good job until now! Always good to have something to aspire to I guess. Thanks for posting the pics, Chuck

Jon- That sounds like a great time. Thanks for the headsup on next years event. It seems like I never see much info about it until it's over. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. Hope you got some good feedback on your trees- they really do look great. Chuck

Steve, Thanks for the answer. I don't think I've been taking enough off the bottom layers, then I can't take enough off the top layer to make up for it. Thanks again for your great posting, Chuck

Thanks for the excellant posting Steve. Taking the time out of your busy workday to do that means a lot to a beginner like myself. I do have a question for you- In the photos of the bottom layer of the ground seat- it looks like you haven't skived any off the area between the bars, but skived heavily the leather on top of the bars. How thin are you taking that bottom layer of leather- where it covers the bars? I think this is where I'm having trouble, I don't think I'm getting that bottom piece of leather skived thin enough. Thanks for your time, Chuck Norris

Very nice looking rig Jon. Tooling and border look exceptional. ChuckNorris

JW- Great looking saddle, (as always). I was wondering how do you like the crossover rope strap on the modified association swells. I've often thought about it but hadn't seen it done before. Any special considerations when attaching it that would be different than with a slick fork? Hope you made it through the bad weather tonight. Thanks, Chuck Norris

Steve, I bought an Artisan 3000 from you at the Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup in Wichita Falls last October. You were a big help in my decision to buy the machine and have continued to be a big help anytime I had a question or a problem. Hope all goes well for you and I'll be checking out your website when it's up and running. Thanks for all you do to help us out, Chuck Norris

Thanks guys- Those were some very helpfull replies. Andy- thanks for the pictures- they said more than a thousand words. As hard as I thought about it I couldn't wrap my head around such a simple solution. You've been very helpfull with all my past questions about ground seats and I really appreciate it. Darc- thanks also for the pictures- I really liked your idea of extending the gullet cover to help clean up the back of the fork. Wish I would have asked the question a little sooner. Thanks again, Chuck

Hi- I have another novice question about tackling the handhole. I'm doing an all leather ground seat and I like the idea of cutting out the handhole after all layers are in and dry, but I'm stumped as to how I should do the handhole cover. I haven't been able to tear down any saddles with leather ground seats in them and the only one's I've done were using Stohlman's methods. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chuck

Dink Great looking chaps. I'm sure a lot of hard work went into them. It's hard to tell in the photo- but that looks like light colored hair on for the body? Beautiful work and tooling. Chuck