ptanks56

Been working on a set for my 79 Wing. Heavy saddle leather for inboards and outboards. Edge 10 oz. Stitching is rough but 3/4 finished. Tops will be easier 6 and 8 oz. Taking my time and working out hardware plans before all done so I don't have to take anything apart. The most stressful thing is turning the outboards and edges rightside out after stiching. That heavy leather and the zipper effect of stitching, along with trying very hard not to "over-work" the pieces. My clothes washer top was a perfecr form to keep everything the right shape in the rears but the front was swepped and I had to shape those with a plywood form I made with the correct profile. Pics to follow

I also want to add thanks for the pattern, I had a friend ask me about making him one and I had a idea of the shape but no idea how to get it started.

Are you logged in as a user, if I forget to log in i get an error that does not tell me to log in, it just says that the request can not be processed at that time i think

Tom, It was me and it is great, right? Best supply for the gloves is the auto parts store, for the Nitrile gloves, the blue ones, they last a long time. If they get too hot just cut the fingers off and use them instead of the whole glove. I take em off and blow them back right side out and use them till they fall apart. Tank

take it to local stone shop and pay them to cut it. no trouble for you and prob not expensive

AWESOME ! ! I will send a pm with my e-mail and work toward a getting a few items to you to start with. Thanks Tank

Mark, A very exciting idea. I am in process of producing gun leather in sets and have no idea how to get these items out to the public I am a mounted shooter and I'm not even sure i can display my items at shoots due to some others marketing their items. As a new comer to retail I don't even know how to price my rigs as far as quality and style. This might be a great way for others like me to ease into the retail environment. I have attached a sample of a holster I have finished but the pic shows the carving detail. Tank

Hi Gang, It is nice to see pics of some of those who have created such amazing work on this site. So, I figured why not join in. I had a couple of recent pics of me and my best friend Galileo. When I see myself on Gali I think of an old movie line about a "Fat man on an old horse" but don't let Gali know I called him 'old'. We were in the process of killing latex baloons at the Hole In The Wall Gang, kids camp benefit shoot. This is the camp for sick kids that Paul Newman est years ago. I actually got a chance to have lunch with him about 25 years ago. I was impressed by the kindness and generousity of this man, especially at his level of popularity and fame. God Rest his soul. Paul Tankesley AKA Tank McKenna SASS # 79801 CMSA # 7643 withers & Winds Farm Chaplin Ct

Tina, Nice lookin stuff. I like the therapy of the leather and flesh myself. It's a great drug. Anyways if you try Nitrile Gloves the blue ones avail cheap at places like Pep Boys and Auto Zone to keep mech's hands clean, they give good grip on needles and thread, and can help keep hands safer. Start out wearing when you start a stich run and you can go for a long time. Nice job Tank

that's some amazing work. it looks like the relief is reversed in a lot of the fine detail.. maybe optical conclusion as paw-paw used to say. if you are willing to share technigue i would love a brief or long tutorial about how you get the effect. thanks Tank

I have been at this for about a year and started with some simple gun leathers for my Mounted Shooting and it kinda went a little overboard from there. I love this stuff. Carving is Cool. I am getting on with some rawhide work too but Jeeze what a learning curve. Anyhow a few samples attached. And as the rest of the newbies say "HIT ME" You guys have a great forum here. I guess i need to resize my pics or link them. Tank

Go to the local Home Depot or welding supply and grab a pair of C-clamp style vise grips with the big flat pads for parts contact add a thick pc of leather to the contact pad of your work clamp to work surface and off you go. you should be able to do some one handed work. Tank

I have a monument maker across the street. I cant believe I never made the connection DUH Tank

" I thought I was gonna die laughin!!!" Tank

Tandy LC "Safety Skiver" easy accurate and cheap about $6.00. Super Skiver is terrible and twice the price.

I was wondering with these splitters, I have seen them work on veg tanned and the like but I need something to split raw hide. Are any of these bench mount, crank or manual pull any good for this w/o slicing all the way through the raw hide. I am now in the process of hand skiving a few 90' strings and this is too tedious. Any suggestions. Paul

I have been hand skiving what seems like miles of 1/2" - 5/8" wide raw hide for my riada. Only a few too deep cuts so far. But, to the main point, I skive as long as I can on one side of the blade, flip it then go as far as that will take me. I take out the old and put in a new one. Now these blades are not too expensive. About 5.00 for 11 of them at CVS. My question is could/ should I try to sharpen these or just hand them down to my strap cutter. There is a fair amount of life in them for that. Plus if they can be stropped back to life how do you hold the skinny little things? Any suggestions?

I guess I should have noted that I am trying to keep the budget low for this project, like all my leather projects I practice on scrap and then run the final on my parts. I have ordered Grants books used and while I wait I wanted to work on strings. I was asking for width suggestions, plus if a "core" is typically inside a riata. Cant seen to get that info from any site so far. I have gotten pretty good at string cutting, I am practicing the braiding and pretty good at tesion maint. and uniformity. Can't really drop 130$ for DVD. If needed i can braid up some short sections with various cores and no core with varialbe widths to see how they feel. 3/8" dia seems to be what I am reading about. We will see. I hope to get a head start on string cutting before the books get here. Paul

New to board and been interested in rawhide braiding for some time. I am looking to build inventory of strings for working riata. Have ordered the books described on board from Grant and others. But want to start cutting strings and getting then ready. I assume 3/8" dia would be good. Any suggestions on lenght and width of string for a rookie. Paul

As far as the side of the foot you face the larger side of the spur strap... As a Horseman I think I like to keep the least of the clutter toward my saddle and tack so if the smoother less cluttered side is larger (and it usually is) that is were I put it. Saves my foot from tangling in my saddle fenders and stirrup hardware, especially if I have to bail off in a hurry. My $00.02 worth. Tank