JerryLevine

I've been dabbling in leather work on and off for over 40 years. I started out with belts and holsters as a teenager. Following a long gap, during which I joined the Army and married my Wife, I took up tinkering again, concentrating on holsters, right up to the point the UK banned personally held pistols (we don't have the 2nd Amendment!). I diversified into rifle cases and bridlery, including repairs. On a trip to Kansas, I got hooked on Western riding and decided that my horse needed appropriate horse gear. I got a reasonably well fitting saddle (see my picture), but I wanted do the best for my horse, so I started building saddles, firstly for our horses then for others. I'd also like to be come proficient with leather carving, being severely artistically challenged and having only managed a few pathetic stamping efforts so far. A few years ago I was asked to restore some wood and leather shotgun cases and found that I was quite good at it. This has lead to making and restoring gun cases, fishing rod cases and even cases for fishing reels.  My best work seems to result from fitting out gun cases in goatskin and calfskin.  I refuse to have anything to do with zips!

I live in the South of England, with my wife of 30+ years, two kids and two horses (both of which are scared of cows!), where I have just retired from the Army. Although I have a day job, I have more work on gun cases, etc than I can currently deal with, and I'm seriously considering giving that up to concentrate on the leatherwork!