hidepounder

Beautiful maul, Ed! Did you make it? The shape of the handle reminds me of Wayne Jueschke's mauls. Very nice. Bob

Terrific tutorial, Clay, and beautiful work as always! I specially appreciated your process on painting. It is very informative for me because I do so little coloring. Beautiful! Bob

Cute story about Jay Lynn.... 10 or 12 years ago I went to my first Leather Show in Pasadena. The buzz around the show was about a prank that Jay Lynn apparently played on Ellis Barnes. If you use any of Ellis' tools you know that the first and second knuckle on your left hand is going to be black and blue from being hit with your maul because the tools are so short. I guess Jay Lynn had teased Ellis about this in the past, and had made some tool extensions that he brought to this show. I had just walked up to the Hackbarth booth where, a few minutes before, Jay had apparently demonstrated the use of the extensions and announced their availability at his own booth. I didn't know Jay Lynn or Ellis at that time, but I'll never forget the ribbing Ellis was getting. Now that I know Ellis, I would have really liked to have seen Jay's demonstration! I still hold Ellis personally responsible for the the arthritis in the knuckles of my left forefinger! BTW...Lonnie showed me the new Hackbarth tool blanks at the Wickenburg show...they are considerably longer than the old ones!!! Troy...thanks for the catalog info...I didn't know he had one either! Bob

Sheridan Style Carving by Bob Likewise featuring Bill Gardner & Clinton Faye.

I have names for both of my sewing machines, however, as this is a family type forum I should probably refrain from posting them!

His name is George Rios, Ben. About 10 or 12 years ago, Jill needed a new saddle to cowhorse in and she wanted me to tool it. ( I hadn't tooled anything in 20 years). So I went to George,( he rolled his eyes when I told him that I wanted to tool it) he built the saddle and I tooled it. When I picked it up he had lined the fenders with this pig skin that was pre-finished. It is a similar color to latigo...maybe 4/5 oz. and completely sacrificial. I've been really impressed at how well it repelled sweat. It's lighter weight than latigo, too. Bob

Most of mine are just doubled because that's the way they are ordered....but I like latigo too, as long as it's good latigo. I think it does a good job of repelling sweat, also. A local saddlemaker here uses a pre-finished pigskin when he lines his fenders. He found that it repelled sweat better than latigo and is using it a lot. I haven't tried that yet, but have seen it work on fenders....I was impressed! Bob

Looks real good, Mark, nice and clean. Do you prefer to line with latigo? Bob

Happy Birthday Josh!

Weaver sells them in stainless also. Bob

Dually...what a great poem! I'm impressed! Bob

Nice job Crystal. I really like Sadies photo album! Bob

Josh, it's a stamping stick. Greg mentioned one earlier and I happened to have it under my bench, so I posted it so otheres could see what he was talking about....

I've had one of those systems for years and still use it for pocket knives and kitchen knives, etc. I reversed mine also. It is fast and handy, but not the best way to sharpen. If you're not careful you can burn the steel and it will eat up a blade it a hurry if you're not careful. I agree with Ben and Randy...it can be very dangerous! I've gone back to sharpening my head knvies and good knives by hand. I am anxious to make some different stopping belts for a bench mounted sander like Randy and some of the other guys have talked about. That makes more sense to me.... I think the better system is the flat rotary wheel systems they are selling now. Engravers use them to sharpen their gravers. They run in the $300 range. For sharpeniing knives, however, I think you need a reversable motor so that the wheel will rotate in opposite directions. I've seen one on line but the price was astronomical! Foot controled too. I don't understnd why someone smarter than me hasn't designed an economical one. Placing different grit plates for cutting/honing/polishing on the wheel would be fast and easy. You can mount leather on the plates for stropping also. Ben and I have talked extensively about these...he's more knowledable than I am. Troy uses his GRS graver sharpener all the time for sharpening. He's even been sharpening/polishing ceramic swivel knife blades on his, too. Bob

I never noticed that Bree! I'd like to have a lighter maul for the stuff I've been doing lately...I guess maybe that explains using the tip of the mallet....It seems like my patterns keep getting smaller which requires smaller tools...smaller tools require less strike...

MY NAME IS BOB, AND I'M A TOOLAHOLIC! Hell, I know I'm a swivel knife junkie, too, but I just can't help it! I'm down on knives now, I gave away all the junk knives I used to have. BTW, I won one of Pauls new knives while at Wickenburg...can't wait to try it. I know you said you liked yours. Time to fess up, though Troy, how many swivel knives and head knives do you have in the shop? My wife wants you to know the rest of the story, Troy. According to her, that baboon miraculously survived and wound up in Phoenix...she sees him every morning!

Sorry I missed you there, Art. I was there Thursday and Friday and stayed at the Super 8 also. Norm and Belinda put on a great party didn't they? As a home town boy could really tell you stories about Wickenburg and the La Cabana! If you go again next year, you'll have to visit the Ranchers Bar. That's turning into a real fun show! Bob

When I'm on the cutting table I lift my leather so that my knife doesn't come in contact with the table. Someone told me that I shouldn't do that because it is dangeous, but that is what I prefer to do. I always rough cut out of the hide and then take the piece back to the bench where I dip it in water, slick it, and then cut to my lines. While cutting on the bench I use a different knife, on a cutting board made that white poly/plastic? material they use for commercial cutting boards. When it gets too carved up, I sand it down smooth with a belt sander. I use glass to skive on...it saves my knife and allows me to skive very thin. I broke my skiving plate a while back and have using my bench top which is a chemical lab counter top. It works okay. I discovered that it is very handy to have different round/head knifes for different functions. I keep a small Rose knife that never touches anything but wet leather, I use a Bill Buchman knife to rough cut out of the hide, a small Gomph for general purpose cutting at my bench and a large Gomph for skiving on the bench. I don't NEED all these knives, I'm just a tool-aholic, but it seems like my knives all cut better and last longer doing different functions. (it's probably all in my head!). The biggest trick of course is getting them REALLY sharp! That's what takes all the muscle out of cutting. Bob

I have another one that I didn't take a picture of because the rawhide sleeve is off of it and it just looks like a piece of scrap wood. It's really heavy...some kind of exotic, but I'm not sure which. I haven't had the little one in my hand since replacing the rawhide 30 years ago. It feels kinda good...might use it awhile this morning. I've never seen one loaded with lead...I'll bet they hit pretty good. Here's what the Bob Beard mallets look like...just so that if anyone finds one for sale they can let me know about it! I made the rack so that I could move it around the bench...it's been pretty handy. Bree...that's funny! Believe it or not I use most of them. I've got to make room for another one....I won one of Pauls last weekend in Wickenburg.

Greg, Here's a stamping stick I used years ago and have just kept because........? Just because! I haven't seen a double ended one...might like it better. More balanced I'd bet! Bob

Kustom, I'm not sure I completely understand your question with regard to your term "scroll work". When you see a pattern that has been cut with a swivel knife and no other tools are applied, that is generally called "finger cutting". When you see tooling, it involves cutting with a swivel knife and then using additional tools to complete the pattern. The term "scroll work" could apply to either finger cutting or to a particular style of traditional floral tooling where no flower elements are used. Your better toolers do both. The first two award winning toolers that come to my mind, that are here on LW, are Troy West and Keith Siedel. Marlon just recently posted some of Travis Stillson's work which is absolutely as good as it gets! Peter Main, another award winning tooler, also does "scroll work" of a completely different style. There are several others here as well (my sincere apologies to all you guys I didn't name!) who are excellent toolers. If you can define "scroll work" a little better for me, I will try to answer your questions. Bob

Casey, I hadn't given this subject any thought before I jumped in (IMAGINE THAT!) I guess what I was thinking of was a category that non-saddle makers could enter. It should have to be a finished project that falls within a general category. Maybe a category similar to some used by LC&SJ? Maybe I should quit whining and just learn to make saddles.... Bob

Ben, I like the mauls that Bob Beard used to make. They were made out of some sort of black polymer. He had to stop making them because he couldn't get the material anymore. They don't bounce, they grip the tool, there is absolutely no flaking and they last many times longer than than the white poly. The heads are a little longer which allows me to choke up and use the end for a light strike on 2/3 oz leather or when I want more weight I can strike near the base. These mauls were cast, handle and all. I had heard that Hadlock & Fox was making them, however when I called a while back, they informed me they were not making them and no longer sold them. My assumption is that they were carrying Bob's and of course are out of them. I have a 16oz, 20oz & 24 oz. Wish I had a 12oz and a 32oz. I have never seen a used one for sale, and have never been able to talk anyone else out of theirs......oh well! Bob

The mauls I use are no longer available. But if I were to buy a new maul it would be one of Barry King's or Wayne Jueschke's, tapered mauls. When tooling I prefer the round maul which is used by twisting your wrist back and forth rather than swinging it up and down like a mallet. The tapered maul is very comfortable to use...I actually find myself getting a little lazy with my arm, letting my hand down too much, but I like them. Also, the nylon doesn't flake off onto my tooling like the old rawhide ones do, so I prefer it also. Barry's mauls are priced a little lower than Wayne's and their handles are shaped differently. Both are excellent!

I'm casting my vote for a TOOLERS category!