Sheilajeanne

There's still a few good ones out there!

I found that wetting the leather before dyeing would help in getting a more even coat. Before I found that out, here's what the FIRST coat looked like! The finished product looked a LOT better...

The casing has to be just right. Too dry, and the figure won't have good definition, and your cuts won't be deep enough. Too wet, and the cuts will tend to close up. It takes practice to get it just right.

I got a large number of stamps at a pawn shop a couple of years ago. When I finished sorting them out, I found I had a number of duplicates, plus some I knew I'd never use (some picture stamps). I listed them on the board here by number and manufacturer, and said I'd sell them at X dollars individually or X dollars for the lot. There were no pictures - if you wanted to know what a stamp looked like, you had to look up the number on Tandy. Most of the stamps WERE Tandy, and those that weren't were Tandy clones, so I could say 'looks like Tandy stamp number xxx.' Someone on the board bought the whole lot. Actually, I had a couple of offers, as I'd priced them quite cheaply, just wanting to get back what I'd paid at the pawn shop. https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/85348-stamps-for-sale/?tab=comments#comment-578870

Garyak, then you're going to have to get Bear Naked: https://www.bearnakedwonders.com/pages/store-locations They have several suppliers in the States.

Drumhack, do you have Microsoft Paint on your computer? If so, it's dead simple to resize your photos! Open it in Paint. Select "resize" from the menu at the top. Select 'pixels' and choose a size somewhere between 500 and 800. You only have to enter the one dimension - the other will resize automatically to keep the picture in proportion. Looking forward to seeing if we can figure out what went wrong!

Chuck, I think its worth is in its history with the family. Doubt he'll part with it. It really doesn't look in bad shape, but yeah, any rigging would need replacement if it was going to be used. I used to hang out with a member of Canada's Governor Generals Horse Guards Calvary Squadron. He told me his newest piece of equipment was a curb bit dated 1916. So, tack and saddles can last and still be functional if well taken care of. http://www.gghgsociety.org/cavalry/

If I were going to use it, I'd also check the fleece lining to make sure it's in good enough condition to protect the back of the horse. Not so big a concern with a western saddle, due to the thick saddle cloths they used, but better safe than sorry! Saddle sores take a long time to heal. And the horn definitely needs a bit of attention - maybe replacing the stitching would be enough to fix it.

Well, even if he's not coming back, I'm curious to know what y'all think about restoring the saddle! Always hoping to learn something new. I rode English for many years, and one of the saddles I used regularly belonged to my instructor. I have no idea how old it was, but I'm guessing at least 40 or 50 years, as it dated from his days in the cavalry. It had been well cared for and was in excellent shape.

Won't let me upload the last one, as I've exceeded the number of allowed MB. Maybe the OP can do it now that I've explained how to reduce the size. I could have made them even smaller by reducing the number of pixels further. Even 500 pixels gives a nice sized clear picture, suitable for posting on the internet. Right-click on the photo to get the option to open it in Paint (or whatever other app you choose.) And you don't have to give the picture a new title unless you want to save the original photo at its original size. Just save the smaller one and it will over-write the original. It would be interesting to see what the saddle would look like after a good cleaning and treatment with some leather balm/NFO. You'd definitely want to replace the stirrup leathers and rigging for safety's sake, if you were going to use it, but the seat and skirts might be salvageable with some TLC>

Okay, here's how I resize pictures. All MS operating system computers that I've owned have an app called 'Paint' Open the picture in 'Paint' and from the top menue, choose 'resize'. Since the pictures are so large, I resize by reducing the number of pixels rather than going by percentage. In this case, I chose 800 pixels. The other dimension of the picture will resize automatically. Hit 'save as', give it a new title, and bingo, you're in business! Continuing...

I sold my kennel in 2015. Took down the website, and all relevant advertising I could find. I STILL sometimes get calls from people wanting to board their dogs! I've been tempted to take a dog or two into my home, just to make a few extra bucks, but my cat might have a problem with that, if the dogs weren't cat-friendly. The net is a powerful tool!

CONGRATULATIONS!! Great work! Lovely! (And I think I see the 'rookie mistake' - the latch isn't 100% line up with the horseshoe, but no one's going to notice when the latch is closed!)

I haven't heard anyone mention this supplier, but I think they are really great. Tribal Spirit Leather https://tribalspiritmusic.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw4c-ZBhAEEiwAZ105RXsg0ssq0FF0s04HJcHkLlahNyJG2l4ITvd4PHvVLCzlWohSleQp5xoC2fMQAvD_BwE They specialize in moose and deer leather, but today I saw where they now have cow leather available, tanned using the same method they use on their deer and moose leather. They are owned and operated by Canadian indigenous people, and all moose and deer hides come from hunters who have killed the animals for food. They offer split leather as well as full thickness hides, and have an absolute rainbow of colours. Prices are reasonable, especially if you watch for their specials, or are buying in bulk. Their leather is much better and cheaper than what I've seen in Tandy's stores. They also have bison leather, rawhide and hoops for making drums, sinew, and native medicines, plus too many other products to mention. Shipping is very fast, and my first shipment included a CD of native music. Not to my taste, but it was a nice gesture! Some of their products such as bear grease, certain medicines, furs and feathers cannot be shipped to the States

Cool! When I first started archery, I remember reading that about the feathers having to come from the same wing of the goose. I think Ernest Thompson Seton's book Two Little Savages goes into quite a bit of detail about how to construct bows and arrows. That might have been where I saw the info. Hmm...still have that book somewhere! Both my brother and I tried making our own bows and arrows as kids. We weren't old enough to be very successful at it though! I remember my brother ramming a splinter of wood all the way to the base of his fingernail during a failed attempt to make an arrow. A trip to the hospital followed...

Okay, as a result of this thread, I am looking at dusting off my bow, and joining a local archery club! I can't remember the last time I shot. My shooting companion was my husband, and I quickly lost interest in it after he died. Not a lot of fun doing something like this alone, though for awhile, I was encouraging his older son to shoot with me. Fred, you've piqued my interest in learning the traditional longbow style of shooting, but it looks like I will probably have to join the local S.C.A. in order to learn that (Society for Creative Anachronism.) It is a totally different style from what's being taught in schools and archery clubs in N. America. Hmm...this could get very interesting! How are things going with the shooting glove? If you are planning to copy my glove, the biggest challenge is likely going to be finding a piece of elastic wide enough! I guess you could substitute some stretchy thin leather, if you can't find elastic that's the right width.

The cheap steel knives need frequent sharpening and stropping. This is pretty much anecdotal, but I've noted high carbon steel will ring like a bell if you strike it/flick it with a finger. (Have a quality round knife I paid big bucks for, and noticed this.)

If you do a search re. the Al Stohlman round knife, you'll find the newer ones are made of poor low-carbon steel, so they don't hold an edge well at all, and are a waste of money. That may have changed in the last few years, but I doubt it. ftnpenlvr, awesome work!

Guess it's way past time for me to dig out Hardy's book and re-read it! Wow, never knew that about the Queen! I certainly doubt I could do that, even when I was at my best.

Well, England being where the longbow was invented, it doesn't surprise me there are more longbow archers there than anywhere else. And Fred, you definitely have knowledge about archery that is not taught anywhere I've been shooting on this side of the pond! Very interesting! I'm the only archer I know that has never used a bow sight and shoots bare bow (except for the arrow rest). Everyone else seems to have every imaginable gizmo attached to their bow, from kisser buttons to bow stabilizers! I just came across this picture on FB. Who are the men in uniform holding longbows, as they stand vigil over the Queen's casket in St. Giles Cathedral? I figured you'd probably know.

Cool! And very pretty! Have yet to meet an archer that uses one, though I have seen archers use a caliper release.

What's the purpose of a thumb ring, Chuck? Yeah, I knew that about the traditional longbows. I have a book about the history of the longbow, and it covers what they found on the Mary Rose in depth. Actor Robert Hardy was the author - I didn't know up until then that he was an avid archer and historian! I just knew him as Siegfried on All Creatures Great and Small. https://www.amazon.ca/Longbow-Military-History-Robert-Hardy/dp/0750943912 Edit: VERY glad I bought the book when it first came out, and only cost $20!! Wow! My bow looks like a broomstick type medieval longbow, but it's actually laminated wood, and has an arrow rest.

Fred, for a left handed archer, the arrow rest should be on the right side, as when they loose the string, it tend to throw the arrow to the left. This would make it go off target if the rest were on the right. Does your bow not have an arrow rest?

Wow! That's a surprise! The biggest problem with being a leftie is finding a left-handed bow! My husband had one custom made for me. Up until then, I used a fiberglass cheapie with a rubber handle that allowed you to rest the arrow on either side. I had a guitar teacher who was left handed, but he played right handed. If you've ever played a guitar or other stringed instrument, you'll know the left hand does 90% of the work, so what he said made sense to me: "I can't do much of anything with my right hand!" Made me wonder why right handed people don't finger the frets with their RIGHT hands! Anyhoo, happy to be of help! If you have any questions, feel free to bug me! I really like the glove, and can't think of anything I'd change about it. Sometimes I have to slip the tabs off my fingers to pull arrows out of the target, and the elastic gives me the flexibility to do that without undoing the wrist strap.

Okay, third picture: Hope this helps! The furry bits you see at the end of the fingers are pieces of thread that were obviously cut rather than burned the way a decent leather crafter would do it! I have just been looking more carefully at the glove to see what makes it left-handed rather than right-handed. It's the shape of the finger stalls. The part of the stall that faces up when your hand is in the shooting position comes just to the base of the second finger joint. The other side of the stall is slightly longer. You can see that in my first photo above. And, of course, the closing strap has to be on the other side of the glove. Took me 3 tries to close it when I tried it on my right hand! There's a LOT more to fitting it properly than I can show in the photos. You will need to do some experimenting, and possibly borrow a glove or two from the other archers in her club. The elastic is a good idea. It allows the glove to stretch when I bend my hand into the shooting position. The finger stalls are too stiff to bend, so this gives the glove the flexibility it needs. The finger stalls all look to be identical in size. The only difference is the piece of suede going down the middle of the stall has to be longer to fit the middle finger. The suede extends pretty much to the tip of each finger.