TrooperChuck

I've only ever been to one TLF store, the one in Spokane, WA. It's a 100 miles drive for me, so I only go there every month or two. But, EVERY time I go there the folks who work there are polite, helpful, and fun to chat with. Like others have already mentioned, my biggest gripe with TLF is the quality of the stuff they sell. The saddle skirting is usually marginal quality and some of their tools are, well... crap. I'm going to start ording more stuff from other companies, but I think I'll always find a reason to go to the TLF store. If nothing else, the business I do there helps keep a few local people employed.

Great advice, Brent. I forgot about Stohlman's tool book. I own a copy of it, and when I was first starting out in leathercrafting I didn't have anyone to teach me, so that book was invaluable! Dennis... The book's full title is "Leathercraft Tools, How to Use Them, How to Sharpen Them". Fortunately, it's nowhere near as expensive as the saddlemaking books!

All this talk of toads and slugs reminded me of the slugs that live in south east Alaska. Some of those things are HUGE! Imagine a slug the size of a polish sausage. When you step on one of those (I NEVER did it intentionally) it makes a big mess! But those aren't the biggest slugs I've ever seen. In the redwood forests of California they have banana slugs. Bright yellow. Enormous. With big knobby antennas on their heads. I think they came here from another planet, and are planning on ruling the earth someday.

I would suggest buying the Al Stohlman 3-volume Saddlemaking Encyclopedia. Those books will give you a very good idea of what it takes to build a saddle. They tell you all about the tools and leather needed, and also have plans for building your own draw-down stand. They are fairly spendy books, but (in my opinion) quite worth the investment. Even if I'm building a saddle unlike the ones in the Stohlman books, I still use the books as reference guides. If, after reviewing the books, you decide saddlemaking is not what you want to do, you can always sell the books (probably to someone in this forum!) to recoup some of your money.

I am sooooooo jealous! Congratulations!

Josh: Looks pretty awesome to me!

MadMax22: I use the Will Gormley patterns for my CAS holsters and people seem to like the looks of them. As you mentioned, the old-time holsters didn't have the molded-to-the-gun appearance that modern holsters have, but I found that even with the patterns there's still a little bit of gentle molding and shaping that's needed. Fishguy: Thanks for suggesting the non-firing replicas. I never thought about using those. I guess, maybe because I never had any interest in a gun that couldn't be fired.

I never thought about beveling the border before tooling around it. Jake and Marlon, thanks for the info! Now, I gotta go practice on some scrap pieces.

I'm impressed with her inventiveness! I'd only start worrying if she started making clothing out of that stuff.

I've used those stitchers. Was never satisfied with the results. Now, I use a sharp awl and two needles. The saddle stitch works perfect for the stuff I do.

Without the folks who run the Tandy Leather Factories, and other leather supply businesses, we'd be unable to continue our hobby/business/madness. So, in recognition of the work they do, who's your favorite leather supply person? PERSON, not business. Mine is Cheryl, the manager of the Spokane, WA Leather Factory. Every time I go in there, she makes me feel like her favorite customer. No matter how busy or hectic it is in the shop, she'll drop what she's doing to help me find what I need. When I had questions about starting my own business, she got me pointed in the right direction. She's awesome.

Good advice, all. Thanks!

Does anyone know if the schedule for the Sheridan leather show is available yet? I'm planning on attending, and it's my first time to one of these, so I'm pretty excited about it.

They look great! I wonder what it was like walking around with those long pointy toes?

I use a small polyethylene cutting board for all my punches. For knife work, I bought one of those blue plastic (I don't know what kind of plastic it is) cutting sheets that are sold in the sewing section of craft stores. They come in lots of different sizes. I like it because it is marked with inches and various angles, which help me with laying out my lines. But, it does dull my knives a little more than the poly board does.

If you have a Tandy Leather Factory store near you, pick up one of their "Horse Tack Accessory" pattern packs. They have patterns for halters, bridles, breast collars, hobbles, and other stuff. The patterns are simple and none of it is difficult to make. Later, as your skills improve, you can look for more advanced patterns. The people in the store can give you advice on what kind of leather and tools you'll need.

I think Ian put it best... "When your happiness is dependant on the government, you're a lost soul." I want the government to protect our shores, negotiate treaties and agreements with other countries, fix our roads, make reasonable laws to protect the innocent from predators, make reasonable laws to protect our natural resources from those who don't care about tomorrow, and maybe a couple other things that I can't think of right now... I gladly pay my taxes in order to help the government to do the things I can't do by myself, but, for the most part, I just want the danged government to leave me alone. My biggest complaint about our government is the proliferation of professional life-long politicians. I believe our Founding Fathers intended elected officials to be temporary... it was to be a way to offer service to the the country. One could bring his or her knowledge, skills, and experience to help govern the country, but after a while you were supposed to go back to your real job so someone else could serve. Now, though, we have people ENTRENCHED in our government for so long that they become easy prey to lobbyists, corruption, and the full-time pursuit of doing whatever it takes to get re-elected. They've lost sight of the fact that it was supposed to be a SERVICE, not a CAREER. Okay, now I'll get off my soap box and let someone else have it.

Awesome belt, Marlon! I've never tried buckstitching, but now I want to give it a try.

Awesome! I'd never heard of these shoes. Thanks for the quick history lesson. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Dwight: The old cowboy who taught me to make saddles only used one type of finish on all his leatherwork. It was a mixture of pure neatsfoot oil and beeswax. He's been using that mixture for 60+ years, and now I use it. He didn't have a formula for the mixture. He took about a quart of neatsfoot oil, put it in a pot and added a tennis ball-sized lump of beeswax, then heated it up so they'd mix thoroughly. After it cooled, he simply kept the pot near his work bench and rubbed the room-temperature stuff into whatever leather he was finishing. I keep mine in a cheap crockpot because I found it penetrates the leather better if I heat the mixture before applying it.

Beautiful!

I didn't vote for the guy, mainly because I feel we really don't know much about him. But, now that he is our president, he deserves a fair chance to do the job and prove he is worthy of the public trust we've given him. I missed his inaugural address, but I did hear the benediction. I thought it was great!

Windy: Oh my gawd... I'm glad I missed that episode!

Mike: I teach wilderness survival to recruits at the Alaska State Trooper training academy, so, when those survival TV shows first appeared I was keen to see what they had to offer. I stopped watching after a couple episodes. I'm not saying those guys don't know what they're doing. But, for me, it seems like a lot of fluff and "Gee-whiz-that's-kinda-cool" tricks. I have to keep reminding myself that those guys are in the business of making TV shows. Without their self-created drama their shows would be pretty boring and they'd be out of a job. If you're interested in seeing what real survival instructors teach, you might keep an eye out for a program on the National Geographic Channel. One of their film crews came with us on our last trip, in November. The show is still in production, but I'm told it will air sometime this spring. I don't yet know what the title will be. There's also a History Channel program called "Tougher in Alaska - Arctic Troopers" which shows our survival training. That show has already been on TV. It's a great show about Alaska State Troopers, unfortunately the segment on the survival training is only about 7 minutes long.

Great idea, Kate! I just asked my wife if I could have the one in our kitchen... THAT wasn't a great idea. But, I'll be buying one next time I'm at the store.