flathat4life

Its all right. My first itroduction was kinda the same way. I didn't at all mean to come across arrogant like i did but folks on here are pretty forgiving. You got some good stuff there. Its nice to see the praying cowboy on your bible cover. I have a guy that wants me to make him one so the visual helps. Jed

Well again rawhider, Exalent job! You sher get a lot of braiding done. I apprecaite you takeing the time to share all your rawhide work when its completed. Do you cowboy and make rawhide gear on the side or are ya blessed enough to braid for a living. I always enjoy looking at your work. thanks for shareing jed

I'd say the Al Slohlman knives are better than tandys but not by a long shot. There both junk and as said above, your pretty much just paying for the name. I would suggest one of Barry Kings knives. I think they might even be a little cheaper the than the AS brand and the quality is MUCH superior. You cant beat the tight and smoooooth spinging ball baring spindle with a comfortable yoke where tour finger goes on top of the knife. They come with a pretty good hollow-ground blade for $45 plus 7 in shipping. Look him up on his website www.BarryKingTools.com. You wont regret buying eny tool from barry and you cant beet his customer service. Plus, if you ever have eny problems with his tools just let him know and he'll do what he can to fix it. Dont compromise the quality for just a few more bucks...... just my 2 cents. Hope that helps. Jed

Yep... as always JW, nice job! Jed

Again, excellent job Mark...I like your work! What is your method of fastening the leathers to spurs? I'm gessing that you just have the usual holes punch with a little slit in the back of the linning. Are these also lined with 2/3oz. strap leather? If so how is it working for you and do you feel its heavy enough. I'v made a few pair of dovewings simular to what you got here except they were just plain basket stamped 9/10oz. tooling leather, unlined with the spur buttons showing. Eventually, I would like to give this hidden style a try. Thanks, Jed

Nice work Mark! Its always good to see fine quality buckaroo gear. I think its cool to see a man takeing the time to recognize Gods beautiful creation and thanking him for his blessings. Jed

Nice work! I made some Key rings simular to yours but with more of a poper shape to them. Then I braided a simple knot on top. They looked like miniture popers that you see on a good set of romals. Then I twisted the idea and built of some fany little rein connectors to atach your rein chains to tour bridle reins. Like you say, their alot of work for such a small project but it's lots of fun =). Your conchos are a cool idea. They definatly make a more marketable product to a wider range of people. I think even a motocyle rider would be intersted i what you got there. very cool.. Jed

Mulefoot, I agree with you. If i recall theirs a short video clip on the web where somones doing a documentry on Dale Harwood. He said he liked going to the local gift shop and looking thrue thier Halmark cards to find flowers and leafs he thought looked realistic. Then for a couple quarters he had alot of ideas to put together and make somthing out of. Jed

Thats forsure. I would love to watch him run his tools let alone be able to the quality of work he dose.. He's sure a artist! Jed

Nice work again rawhider!!! I would agree with the others about slicking the edges on that poper. Differant types of waxs could work but i like to wet a peice of canvas with some saddle soap in it and use that to rub the edges. You might even put a cote of oil on her and top it off with some TanKote. It would realy add to the apeal of the romals and accent your excilent braiding work. Again nice work.. looking forward to the next pair.. Jed

Nice rig JW! The few minnor things that jumped out at me have already been mentioned so i wont bother with them. I realy enjoy reading threw these critiques/comments and learning the finer tricks of the trade from you exsperianced saddle makers. Jed

Nice work Butch! Like the swivle knife work.. keep it up and you'll be doing scrolls like your close neighbor Rick Bean =) Jed

Thanks Jettrash, pics were actualty taken on the fake countertops in the kitchen but same thing... i'l have to do some playing around and see if it helps. appreciate it.. Jed

Nice work as usual Rawhider.. look forward to seeing 'em finished Jed

A "SHARP" round knife and a see through straight edge are my two tools of choice. Depending on the chap leather i'l use a cork back ruler... The box knife would be my next favorite "if" i didn't have a good sharp round knife. Since the razor blades are so thin, they will glide through the leather like a sharp round knife. As soon as the blades start draging a little bit, just swawp out with a new one and keep cutting. I've cut out alot of leather with one and still use it on some things. Try getting the contractor grade blades from your local hardware store if worryed about snaping them. In my opinion, you shouldn't have a problem with the regular economy ones as long as your handling your knife right. When i first got started, i used a roler knife. Being self taught I didn't know better. I'v found that for one you cant get a straight up crisp start cut on the fring line with the circlar blade. Secound is that after a few cuts the knife will start pushing the leather a cause it to stretch out from under the ruler. That can result in a inconsistant width and crispness to your fringe.. i'v attached a pair of armitas that i built a while back. i used the box knife to cut everything because its all i had at the time. Everybody has there own opinion way of doing things. The reason i started useing a round knife is because to me its just the best and easyist cutting thing out there.Plus its a traditional tool. As Steve and others have said, the round knife has been used by the best saddle makers for over a hundred years for a reason....It shouldn't matter what tool you use just as long as the blade is sharp... figure out what works best for you and stick with it. I'm young and enexsperianced so take my words with a grain of salt... Jed

Well I finally got my stamp in the mail today from Grey Ghost Graphics. I like it alot. It's pretty much exsactly what i wanted and turned out well... The stamp leaves a good impresion. These are just pratice peices so i didn't case'em but even still, the impression is realy crisp. I'l be picking up a dead blow hammer this weekend. That should make the stamp a little easyer to run. Jeff's costomer service is great and he shipped it fast. I would recomend him to enyone looking for a inexspencive good quality stamp..... Sorry my pics aren't very clear. For somereson i couldn't get the camera to focus right. Jed

thanks rawhider.. the rope strap concho is somthing that i was messing around with this winter and made up.. i'l probly end up taking a pocket knife to it before to long.. might take it off and replace it with a samller on or just eliminate it alltogether.. as you can see, the saddle hasent seen very many miles yet but i look forward to breaking it in when the spring brandings roll around =) Jed

thanks megabit... jed

well here she is.. I tied it on a older and shorter rope of mine that i dont ever use.. plan on makeing a couple more for some of my better ropes... Its a little ruff around the edges but for my first rawhide/braiding project i pretty proud of my self.. the pineapple knot that go's down the shaft came out better than i thought it was going to.. i had to undo it the first time i braided it.. when i turned my strings around to go back up the knot i got a little confused.. looking back i think i had it right the first time but just gave up and redid it instead of thinking it through.. i ran out of string on top and didn't have enough to braid the ring knot.. i compromised and just did the quick fadora halter knot i already knew how to tie.. Besides the fact that i didn't know how to make the ring knot work... maybe if some of you guys want, you could post a couple pics demostrating how to tie it.. hope to get another one started here soon with some larger string... Thanks for all the help.. i realy apprecaite it! Jed

Thanks!... I appreciate it! Jed

Where will this be shiped from?.. how much will it cost or is it included in the price?? Thanks, Jed

Rawhider, First of all, exalent job on the rag slide! now i have a question... - after cuting a bevle on the leather, wraping it to match, taping, shapeing and braiding.. do you take the knot off the mandrel to dry then take out the leather collar?? im gessing that you dont leave it on because then in would shrink and you couldn't get it off.... dose the leather collar come out before or after letting the knotsit and dry.. Sorry for th stupid questions.. i'm just getting started and dont have eny type of sorce i can pull from to learn... I realy appreciate you guys getting on here every day and helping others no matter what their exsperiance level is... again Thanks! Jed

Thanks alot luke... i appreciate the help i just stuck the strig end of my honda in a bucket of water so i'l be ready to make progress here in a little bit... i'll keep my fingers crossed and try to get it right the first time but mostlikly i be untieing and starting over aleast once before shes finished... should have some pics. posted within the next couple of days so check back in.. Jed

i agree with UKRay 100%.. get a pile of scrap and stamp away... not only will it help you get used to the maul but it will also giv you practice with the stamps... when i first started out, a old guy in the local saddle shop gave me two pretty larg boxs of skirting scrap... i think i only lasted me 2 weeks but it was the best thing that could of happened to me.. just bought a 2lb. tapperd head maul from Wayne Jueskie(spelling???) for basket/ geogromic/ border stamping.. fixing to order a lighter one from bary for bevling/small stamp and a larger one for punches/ big baskets/ Geos. As its been said above by others, you will never regret getting the maul or go back to the mallet...dont cross over, stick with the maul tell you get the hang of it.. it only took me a couple hours to get past the ocwardness... After a week or so it got to where i didnt have to think about it and now its just second nature.... Jed

ok so here I am.. I was up tell 2 o'clock last night trying to figure this out... i got as far as my pics show but then i was getting a little tired so went to bed... Just about made my eye balls fall out trying to figure out how you braided from both ends ... After studing your pics real hard i sorrta just had to jump in and do it... theres one spot where i missed a braid and didn't get it under the strand i was suppost to. Other than that, i think im on the right track. I gess im not doing to bad having never worked with rawhide before... the only exsperiance i have with braiding is tieing the fadora knot on the bottom of a horse halter...can i tie that on the bottom of this honda? or should i learn how to braid somthing else.. i went diging threw some of my books and found The Leather Encyclopedia that a old guy gave me a few years ago when he fouund out liked leather work... i never cracked in open tell just now... i think it shows how to braide some other knots so i look through it.... In addition to the questions i asked above.... how do you braid the stringsdown the shaft... with a educated gess i'd say that the four strands are braider down then doubled back to for a 8 plait braid but im not forsure.... also, it the knot on top of the shaft apart of the same string or is it seperate??????? (This is so exciting for me... I'm finnaly working with rawhide.... ) Again, sorry for my ignorance..... Jed