flathat4life

Make sure you are case'n your leather good and stamp'n it at the right time.. moister content might be cause'n most of your grief. Also try to be as consistant as possible in every blow on the stamp. I dont know what kind of leather you're stamp'n on either or where you're cut'n out of the hide but that will make a differance too... (if you're stamp'n on cheap leather i would incourage you to get your hands on better quality, you'll imediatly notice the differance in consitancy of color and depth. Not to mention how much better it takes oil and antique) Another thing to consider is your stamp'n table. The more solid it is the better your leather will asorb 100% of the blow. If you dont have a very thick slab of rock on top of a solid build table or counter top, you'll probly have some vibration keepn ya from get'n consistant impressions in the leather. Hope mabe somethin there helps, just a few cents that have helped me.. God Bless, Jed

Excellent job Leatherrookie! Thats beautiful, i like everything about it. Very clean work! What color of antique did you use? Thanks, Jed

Well here it is haha. After a long time of wanting to do sheridan work i finally got the guts to jump in.This is my first try at sheridan carving and also the first checkbook cover i've made. Their are alot of learning mistakes and probly things that im doing wrong or the hard way just because im kinda self teaching myself here.. but I geuss thats part of learning lol. Drawing the patern was the hardest for me. It was a real strugle for me to achieve the flow i wanted (or that seemed right) and the right proportion of everything, or at least to my slowy developing eyes haha.. I picked up The Sheridan Style Carving book by Bill Gardner and Clinton Fay and basically followed Bills directions in drawing out a patern. But even with his help from the directions it still took 4 nights to draw. Even though i know i'll continue to get better with practice and studying others work, i think drawing my patterns may always be my weeker point. I still want to be as good as i can be though, so i'll keep try'n. I decided to just bite the bullet when I started this and got the minimal basic set of tools from Barry King. The only thing i didn't use Barrys tools on was the background. Only because the bargrounder he sent is so small i cant even see it to run it well but also because it seems to small propotion wise to everything else.. idk mabe i'm wrong . I hate the look of the cheep mat backgrounders though, think i'll be ordering another larger bargrounder soon. The Sheridan book was exremely helpful for me. I would recomend any one else starting out in sheridan carving like myself to get it. Its pretty much the only thing i've had to teach my self this stuff, it and the incredible group of leather workers on here that post thier advice and their inspireing work. Thanks so much to the people that make this place what it is and to everybody that helps kids like me out that are just starting. I really appreciate it. Now that i've rambled on and on lol.. Please look this stuff over and let me know what you think! I am REALLY gratefull for any critics that any one has. please hold nothing back, if you see something say it Thanks again to every body on her that i've gained help from, Jed Here's pics of the pattern i drew, the checkbook cover stamped and the checkbook cover finished. Sorry for the poor quality pics

Where is this splitter located? And also, could you ship it? Thanks, Jed

Hey Bruce, Is the crank spliter still avalible for sale? You're website says its sold already but i figured it cant hurt to double check.. thanks, Jed

Alrighty, Thanks guys. I appreciate it. Jed

Where might be the best place to get some #1-A grade HO 7/8oz tooling sides. I would like to get the best there is out there if I can. Also, about how much dose it run? Thanks, Jed

Pretty!! Pretty!! As with everyone else, love your style and traditional 8-stringed slick forks! I'm always looking forward to your next one! Jed

Nice work again Mark! i like your stuff. Jed

Tk, I paid the same price for everything that is advertised on Barrys web site. Call Wayne to get one of his catologs but his stuff runs a little more that barrys.Still have a lot left on the list to get but i just have to keep chipping away at it. I'v been trying to save up for a high quality tree though so my tool buying has been on hold.

haulbuilt, I really appreciate the offer but i just bought a set of his dvd's a few weeks ago. been glued to the tv ever since to.. lol. It's amazing to watch Mr. Harwood use his tools (which are incredibly sharp!!!) and build such a fine quality rig in three days. It took a little saving but i would say the dvds were worth every penney spent. Thanks anyway though! again i realy appreciate! Jed

Nice work!!!

http://www.246ranch.net/images/cox_15.jpg A few days ago I saw your post and didn't know what you were talking about. In search of somthing else, I stubled across this saddle pic and noticed somthing that maybe simular to what you have in mind. I'm not realy sure what the purpose of the idea is but looks like you just take your two strings, go about half way down, fold the strings taking them back up the strand a ways, then wrap the tails of the string around the main body and out the eye you created at the bottom. hope that helps. jed P.S. - you may have to copy and paste the web address if the link dosen't work

I have a 2pounder that i just bought. Its a little on the light side for most of me average basket stamps but its perfect for the small ones and border stamping. Im definatly planing on getting a smaller 16oz. for bevling/ the small stamps and should be placing a order for barrys 48oz'r for the big stuff. I may be a little heavy for what i'm shooting for but if thats the case i'l use it to drive punches and such. For some reason i tend to prefer a little heavyer maul than what most guys a running. You can definatly get by with a 2 pounder for the balance of eveything though. Its big enough to BW yet light enough for runing the smaller stamps if you have to. my 2 cents worth.. jed

Thanks ATX, I'll do that.....I'm gessing that i would prefer my slicker to have some size to it. Exspecially since i plan on starting in the saddle making and will be tooling on alot of larger items. Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but it seems to me that the wider the slicker is, the more consistant it will be in slicking a desent size project. Plus it will speed up the process alittle. I'm looking at aleast 6 inches wide, with a desent thickness to the rounded slicking edge, and enough hight that its comfortable to use.... Maybe you exsperts could verify this just incase i end up making my own. Thanks Again, jed

Could some of you maybe expand on your preferance of slickers. On my Dale Harwood DVD's, he has one made of Lignum Vitae that he likes alot but it looks like something i would have to get the hard wood for and then make. Is there any advantage to it over the glass. I know Barry King makes a glass slicker thats on his website for half resonable price that i'v had my eye's on for a few weeks. Also, is there any where else that i could buy one of either the wood or glass. I know we're at the point here that it just comes to a guys personal preferance but I'm curious to hear your opinions anyway. Thanks to all of you for takeing the time to post your process on topics like this. I always learn somthing new and greatly appreciate it! Thanks Jed

Glad you mentioned that.. i was just about to ask. Is the dvd more of a documentry of Mr. Dorance or is it a real instructional video on how to build reatas. Just want to know if its worth the $120 or whatever they cost. thanks Jed

I went to a branding one time and there was a guy riding a pair that were stuffed with some old white fishing string. I noticed them because the guy had worn through one side and turned them around. They were starting to fall apart but looked pretty hard still. I'm gessing it would be sorta like stuffing a pair with horse hair but maybe a little harder to compress. not sher how often a fisherman changes his line but the fly and reel shop would probly give you the old stuff if you wanted it........ Just a thought. My favorite has always been the horse hair stuffed ones. Wool works to though and its a little easyer to come by if your doing alot of bucking rolls. It would be interesting to see somone try the fishing string and see how it turns out. Jed

Looks great!!.. would also like to see some more pics. Jed

Neat idea!! looks great. Jed

Ya... i wouldn't concrete nothing to specific on the sqared inch of tooling but give a general estimation of how big the item should size wise for the class. Otherwise, by the time you add up the front and back of say a good sized rope "bag", it would probly total to be twice as much tooling as the front of the peice of a simple rope "can", even though they are about the same in size. The square feet/inch of tooling should be somthing highly considerd but maybe not as inforced as the general size of the item.(lots of "sizes" and "toolings" in there but hope it makes sence) Jed

In addtion to the rope cans and rope bags, you could also add saddle bags, eny type of book/binder cover, brief cases, placks, various home furnishing items like lamp shades or ect.... Enything that is ruffly that size and takes a fare amount of construction. It would be their choice to make a lamp shade out of light skirting leather verses say a book cover or rope bag that was more involved. Just as long as the majority of the items in the category have about the amount of tooling then it should be alright. i dont know how your guys system works but just ideas. I would be neet to see what everyone who enters comes up with. Ecspecialy you Bob. I realy like your style and always look forward to seeing your next masterpeice. Jed

Yep, congrats on the exallent saddles guys!! there both pretty nice!! Jed

Elton, congradulations and exalent job on the saddle!!!!!! I always liked the old style square skirts. You got some pretty good lines runing there. The buck stitch on the fork cover is kinda atracting and ties in nice with the inlay seat...... All the way around i like you rig and hope i can be doing this good on my #4. If you dont mind, could you please tell me the specific demintions of your tree, primarly on the horn and cantle. How long did you have to wait for it and what is Bills going price? Also, can you direct me to somewhere on the forum here where somones already posted Mr. Bean's contact info. Thanks a bunch! Jed

Same here... I'm not suprised but its sure sad. As Chris Ledoux put it in a song of his, "Theres one Hell of a cowboy in Heaven now!"