hidepounder

Hi Todd! When I'm doing edges I will wet, soap and burnish and I often dye immediately after burnishing. It is a very good idea to let the dye completely dry after dying the edge if you have the time to do so. It will help it to not come off on your hands quite so easily while you are handling the piece. When completely dry, buff to a shine until all residue stops coming off the piece. Hope this helps..... Bobby

That was very well said, Kate, I wish I could have expressed my feelings so well! Indeed I think all of the comments by Ray and RDB and everyone else have been excellent. I believe I know what post wareagle is referring to also and I am glad you made some comments regarding it. I was angry when I read it and started to respond but decided I should keep my mouth shut. Upon reflection I suspect the individual who responded to the question didn't have a clue about the answer but felt some need to be condescending and mean spirited in order to boost his own ego. Someone should invent a spray for people like that! Thank goodness those kind of comments are not at all typical on this forum which is evidenced by those who have responded here. I have spouted off twice now so I think it's time to get off my soapbox and go make something! Bobby

Wareagle, When I read your post I was a little shocked at your comments because it's been my experience that the people on this forum are very generous with their advice and the time it takes to give it. And while I'm sure there have been unkind comments made from less than honorable individuals who have nothing to contribute to this forum or to anyone else for that matter, I really don't think they represent a fraction of the people that participate here and I'm sorry that your experience here has been otherwise. I would like to say however, that not every query here deserves a response! There is a BIG difference between asking for guidance to improve and asking for a freebie at someone elses expense. It is pretty bad form to ask someone to share their proprietary technique or pattern that they spent days or weeks to perfect! Such a request will probably not evoke much feedback. But there is a lot of talent here anxious to help someone who wants to learn how to go about accomplishing these tasks for themselves. I like Peter's comment "You can help me to help myself get better". That is a terrific attitude and I believe the people associated with this forum will do just that! You commented that this is a dying art but I couldn't disagree more! The greatest leather artists of all time are currently producing their best works. I believe we are currently living in the Renaissance of the leather industry. And the support industry has exploded providing new products and tools designed to expand and improve the capabilities of the leather artisan. Additionally there are more shows, schools and clinics where an indiviual has the opportunity to learn from the best in the business than has ever been available before. I am proud to have the opportunity to be associated with the people on this forum as there are so many talented individuals here who give unselfishly of their time. I hope that your future experiences on this forum improve and that you will share your own expertise with those of us who are anxious to learn. Bob Park

Bruce & Ben you're both so right. Balance is everything. The tough part is trying them out to determine which maker's style you prefer. Going to a show is about the only way I know to compare them. As Ben mentioned there ae a variety of different style heads and handles and they both impact the feel of a maul. I use Beard mauls almost exclusively because I like them. However I have a 16 oz BK maul with a tapered head that I am crazy about also. I'm on my second head on that maul. I really like the taper on the maul, but I have a tendency to be lazy with my elbow because the taper allows me to lower my arm so much. I see a lot of WJ mauls out there with tapered heads also. I have never used a maul with the head turned like a mallet. I guess maybe they are mallets at that point. Anyway maybe someone can comment about those styles. They don't appeal to me because I don't care for the feel of a mallet but I think WJ and BK sell quite a few of them. The type of handle certainly impacts the feel of a maul. The traditional leather handles like BK and WJ make are hard to beat. I like the handle shape on my Beard mauls alot but some people don't care for them. It is easier to choke up on a handle shaped liked BK makes than it is on a Beard. I love the look of the hardwood handles that Ed is making. They almost look like trophies. And Ed is offering different head materials and handle shapes which is something new. We haven't had a lot of those choices in the past. I might also mention that Casey Jordon is now engraving the hardware on BK mauls for the tooler who has everything! I suppose no discussion about tooling mauls would be complete without mentioning stamping sticks. I don't use them anymore, but sure prefer them over mallets. There is probably an opportunity for someone to make a buck by re-introducing them. They have kind of been forgotten over the years. They were mostly home made and were commonly seen with single and double heads. The double headed sticks were pretty fast to tool with. I just always thought they were a nusance to recover, but with some of the new materials available now, stamping sticks could make a comeback.

Dom I'm not into armor and know absolutely nothing about it. However I think your workmanship here is excellent. Everything is smooth and finished nicely, your designs are balanced and well tooled. I think this is really nice work! Congratulations on a great job! Bobby

That's pretty interesting, Ben. As I said I use the 16 oz maul the most. But I prefer to use the 24 oz maul for most of my basket stamping which is right in line with what your study showed. My first maul was a 20 oz which I got along with just fine until I acquired the other sizes. So if circumstances dictate the purchase of only one maul, a 20 oz would be my choice.

I can't believe I missed this post! The idea of cramming yourself into a saddle that is too small for you has been around for at least fifteen years now. I think it was Crates that came out with the "Beers Roper" which fitted you into a 14" seat when you should be riding a 15-1/2" seat. The concept was to compensate for a guy's inablility to ride his horse. Squeeze a guy into a small seat with a high cantle and he didn't have to think about falling off! Of course he never thought about learning to ride his horse in the first place or he wouldn't be looking for a gimmick to get by with. Guys bought them because it was easy to stand up, as Russ suggested. The problem, however, was that they could never sit back down in the saddle or get their feet back in front of them when they needed too. It's a great thing to be able to get forward coming out of the box and standing up to head, however, it is necessary to get back down in the saddle and get your feet forward again before you get hold on the steers head. A horse needs to be able to handle the weight of the steer with his hind end and most guys who are riding saddles which are too small are unable to sit back down and push to the back of the saddle. Consequently their feet are behind them which results in their weight being over the swells, whether they are standing or not. This causes your horse to be out of balance and forces him to take a hold of the steer with his front end. It's hard on the horse, it teaches him to drop his left shoulder, the rider is out of control and you have now greatly diminished your opportunity to handle the steer correctly. This just doesn't sound like a good thing to me! Similarly when heeling, it is necessary to get to the back of the saddle upon delivery of the rope and the guy crammed into the saddle cannot do that. His weight is forward over the swells, which forces the horse to step forward and stop on his front end rather than stopping and handling the steer off his rear end. The more forward movement means more lost feet. Another consequence of riding a seat which is too small is that when your body is out of balance over the front of your horse, the rider tends to compensate by using their feet. That results in a lot of undesired foot and leg signals. How many times have you seen a guy lose his temper at his horse because the horse kept moving forward......because the rider was unknowingly squeezing him forward in an effort to maintain his balance. It makes about as much sense as spurring your horse around the corner to a heel shot while you're hauling back on his face! A good roping saddle gets your feet directly under you so that one has the ablity to ride down the arena with your weight on your feet and off of the seat, Now he can stand up and brace on the swells and then sit back down and push to the back of the saddle to help the horse to utilize his rear end. It is important to be able to do both. As far as I am concerned riding a saddle that is too small for you is nothing more than a sales gimmick that enabled guys who couldn't ride to compensate for not learning. You won't see any of the good rope horse trainers riding that way. The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a huge amount of roping talent out there and far less riding talent. These young guys today are so good with a rope that they can overcome their lack of riding skills but in the long run they are defeated by the guys that can ride. Lets face it....there are so many trully amazing ropers out there that the difference between winning and losing these days is in the roper's horse and his ablity to ride him. So I'll put my money in a saddle that fits me and allows me to stay out of my horse's way. He'll do his job if I let him. The other thing that just amazes me is the number of guys riding poorly made trophy saddles that they won somewhere. They may feel good for a while but very few of them are quality saddles. I know my first trophy saddle came apart in the middle of a short round about six months after I won it. It was embarrassing, expensive, humiliating and my partner didn't speak to me for a week! In my opinion Cactus, Crates, Courts, HRS, Reinsman, Taylors, Martins, etc., are all entry level saddles. They are production saddles, many are made in the same shops and they are popular for their price which is around $2500. There is nothing wrong with them but don't expect them to last for a long time. Most ropers will not spend the money to buy a quality saddle. I think that is mostly out of ignorance. I would expect to pay $4500 to $7500 for a good quality roping saddle that you can expect to rope in safely for many years and not sore your horse. However, if you ride a roper outside you are probably going to be crippled at the end of the day. The saddle will hold up but your body won't. A roping saddle is not intended to be be ridden for an extended period of time. They are used for short periods of time and that is the very reason so many people can get away with using production saddles as oppossed to having to have a good saddle made. Well that's my two cents worth and I guess I've spouted off about enough for now... Bobby

I use a 16 oz maul for 90% of my tooling. I sometimes use a 20 oz maul. I have a series of mauls up to 56 oz however they don't get used a lot. In my opinion there is not much that can't be done with a 20 oz maul. Hope this helps... Bobby

For anyone who might be interested in this class, you'll be glad to hear that the class fees are actually $300 rather than the $350 advertised. Just wanted to keep everyone up to date. Bobby

Miett....I appreciate hearing that the article was helpful. Try adding a few drops of Joy dish soap to your water. Sometimes it makes the leather easier to cut. I have tried several casing solutions, some home made and some manufactured and have been dissappointed with most of them. Bobby

Probably both. I would be surprised if Home Depot and Lowes don't carry them.... Bobby

Buddytink, I highly recommend that you do not buy a RubyAt knife blade. In spite of what you might have heard, they do require periodic stropping and sharpening, are extremely fragile and in my opinion at their very best will never sharpen like quality steel blades. Additionally the equipment required to reface ceramic and RubyAt blades cost hundreds of dollars. And if you ever drop one on the floor it's history. There are many very good swivel knife makers out there and Barry King is certainly one of them. A great person too! His knives are made of solid brass. Henley and Chuck Smith knives are stainless steel, Bob Beards are tool steel and Leather Wranglers, a very popular newcomer to the swivel knife scene makes aluminum knives with high tech alloy blades. The best thing to do is to see them at a show and try them out. However any of these makers will give you a quality product. Their contact info is on the LW Home Page. If you conduct a search here on LW you will find a lot of good info on swivel knives. It's a perpetual subject. Here is a link to a recent discussion....Click Here . You need to find a Tandy store near you and check them out. They will help you with entry level tools, which I recommend until you determine whether or not you are addicted. Hidecrafters is also a good source for entry level tools. Both can supply you with leather and supplies. Both have catalogs and will ship. A note about leather. Inexpensive leather does not cut well and is probably not he greatest to learn on. If there is a saddle shop in your area, you might talk to them about buying some scraps to practice on. That would also be an excellent source of info for you. Of course you can also come here....we are all addicted and are dedicated to helping....... Bobby

Joel...it looks to me like you're not getting your edges sanded enough to get both sides even. Are you gluing the two pieces out to the edge and what type of glue are you using? When I glue I use Barge (old formula) or Masters. I use a stationary belt sander with a pretty fine grit. I also don't mind if I get just the slightest amount of scortch as it has a tenency to harden the edges. The sander will remove any excess glue residue. I burnish with glycerine saddle soap (in bar form) and rub it vigorously with heavy canvas. I dye after I burnish and I stay away from edge coat products. Here Is a link to my approach on edging......Finishing Edges This Photo is of two pieces of leather that are glued together and then sewn. Hope this helps..... Bobby

Skald, I agree with Ferg that those are cuts with the swivel knife, however in my opinion that was the wrong tool to use in that instance. A hair blade or drag tool would have produce a much nicer result. Bobby

Congratulations, JW, and best wishes to the new couple! Bobby

Your engraved pieces look great Casey!

Katsass....I use the plastic bottles with the screw-on cap with a brush mounted in the cap. That has worked best for me over the years. The one I have my Barge in I've had since the 70's. I also use the "ketchup" style squeeze bottles depending on what I'm doing and I have some very small ones that I use for fine detail gluing. My experience with the teflon pots was similar to Bruces....the cap always got bumped and the glue dried up. Anyway, while the plastic glue bottles might not be the most efficient, I am happy with them. Over the years I have learned to thin my glue, when necessary, to make spreading over large surfaces much easier. I rarely use Barge at full strength. Once thinned I pour the glue directly on the leather and spread with a plastic spreader with a handle or the cheap synthetic 2' and 3" disposable brushes (I cut the bristles short to make them stiff and rinse in thinner when finished). Sometimes a piece of woolskin is the ticket. The Kabi glue pot of Bruce's is very interesting. This is the first time I've seen one and I'm going to have to look into it. Bobby

Hi Billy....thanks for the kind words! I don't have much trouble with scalping anymore. I've cut enough that I know how to avoid it with the wider blades or recognize the need to use specialty blades. Like anything else it's all a matter of logging enough quality hours. I have several Henleys and like them very much! My two most used knives are a Henley and a Beard. Both have Beard blades. Bobby Ferg....I looked at that too and couldn't quite grasp what they were trying to demonstrate.... Bobby

Skald, I think that Kate is right you are probably going to get a lot of mixed advice here. Of course I have my own ideas so here goes. In my humble opinion the best blade to start off with is a 3/8" straight blade. I happen to prefer hollow ground blades. I think it is important to spend the time it takes to learn to handle that blade. There is a certain skill level that once achieved makes the next step up much more pleasant and productive. It's a little like learning to swim before jumping off the high dive. I consider anything other than a 3/8" or 1/2" straight blade to be a specialty blade. I think a lot folks will disagree with that statement, but my logic is that I can make just about any kind of cut on any pattern with a 3/8" straight blade (if a cut can't be made with the 3/8" straight blade then the pattern is probably way too advanced for you to be trying at this point). Once you have mastered the use of that blade it will be time to try some of the other blades....probably a 1/4" angled blade would be my next choice. You will discover that the specialty blades allow you to make difficult cuts more easily, however if you don't know how to make the cut then the specialty blade will be less useful. The bigger the pattern, the bigger the blade I use. Consequently, the smaller the pattern the smaller the blade. And more often than not I will use at least two knives and very often three knives when cutting a pattern. And I'm a believer in useing good quality knives and blades Personally I am not a fan of ceramics, however there is absolutely nothing wrong with using them. For me they are too expensive for a blade that is so fragile and which requires such expensive equipment to sharpen. I'll put my money on a quality steel blade that I can resharpen easily with inexpensive equipment...which brings up another subject that has a direct impact on considering a swivel knife. Most of the beginner and intermediate toolers that I have encountered think they know what a sharp knife is and how to sharpen it when the reality is that they don't! So they are evaluating their most important tool which they are struggling with because it's condition is such that you'd sprain your finger with it! Once you learn to sharpen a blade you will be amazed at how well you can cut your pattern. There are a couple of other important things to keep in mind also. The quality of your leather and your ablility to case it properly, both, will have an enormous impact on your success with the swivel knife. So buy good leather and get it conditioned to cut before you start. Why not give yourself every advantage to be successful? Additionally, spend a lot of time performing perfect practice. There shouldn't be a single scrap in your shop that is not covered with practice swivel knife cuts. And remember, practice doesn't make perfect.....only perfect practice makes perfect! Our cuts are the foundation of everything we tool. Bad cuts = bad tooling. You will discover that all of your tooling will go faster and smoother as your cuts improve. So anyway, that's my two cents worth...hope it helps. Bobby

Wow Troy, that's beautiful! I'm not sure I could rope out of it, though. I'd put it on a saddle rack next to my television where I could stare at it while pretending to watch TV! The tooling is beautiful as yours always is and I'm inspired to improve my own tooling after looking at yours. Thanks for sharing! BTW.....why don't we see more plate rigged roping saddles? Cost? Bobby

When Andy Stevens contacted me and told me about this event I was thrilled. His idea was to assemble a group of accomplished toolers with different styles and put them together in the classroom. I thought that sounded terrific and would provide a great opportunity for anyone wanting to expand their tooling skills. It will be a hands on class with five instructors in a class of thirty. Students can expect to be exposed to a variety of styles and techniques over two days of participation. The class is being presented by the Western Folklife Center in Elko. This is an amazing group, well known for their support and promotion of western art and lifestyle. And Elko is a fun town with lots to see and do including the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the Great Basin Cowboy Gear Show and a number of related trade shows. Date: January 25 & 26, 2011 Location: Elko Convention Center, Elko, NV Instructors: Don Butler, Steve Mecom, Bob Park, Doug Krause and Gaylerd Thissle Cost: $350 Contact: Andy Stevens 308/991-2364 or andy@andystevens.net Students will be required to provide their own tools, stamp rock, pencils and paper, tracing film, light if they want, and a piece of prior work (this is not a class for beginners). Tooling leather will be provided. This is going to be a fun event and I am honored to be a part of it. Andy tells me that seats are going fast so if you think you might be interested be sure to contact him soon! He will answer any questions that you may have.

Knipper, I think what I would do is mount the studs on the outside piece of leather and then glue on a lining that is of adequate thickness to protect the blade. Bobby

Saddle looks great Steve! Loopinluke is right....you did a great job of keeping everything looking clean. What did you use for oil and what kind of finish did you use? Bobby

In my opinion you will need a variety of sizes depending on what you are making. I keep everything from a #1/2 to a #3 in 1/2 size increments on my bench. I probably use the #1 thru the #2-1/2 the most. I like Gomphs the best but the old Osbornes are proabably just as good. Bob Douglas makes a terrific line of edgers as does Barry King, Bob Beard. Ron's edgers are very good also. Bob Douglas can also supply you with the old Gomphs and Osbornes. If you think you are going to be doing leatherwork for some time then I would recommend spending the money on the higher quality edgers. If this is just a hobby for fun you might want to start out with the Tandy edgers until you decide wheather or not you want to do this seriously. Bobby