BigSiouxSaddlery

Dang I must have missed those. I'm a big fan of Jay Lynn's tools and swivel knives.

Well you could have fooled me because I've seen those exact same remarks many times before. It is my understanding that there are no custom makers to learn from in the OP's area. It is also my understanding that he has the Stohlman books and another book that I consider less helpful. Neither of those go into much (any?) detail of using different weights of leather to reduce weight. I still do not see the need for super heavy leather where and if it's not needed. A saddle damn sure can weigh 60lb completely rigged with super heavy duty taps, flank, breastcollar, etc if overbuilt in the first place. I've had those kind through the shop, and eventually, they need repair too and it isn't because they wore through on the swell cover. Different area, different issues. I won't take issue with having to build to one's clientele. I've just seen a lot of really poor first (and 2nd, and 3rd and 10th) attempts at swell covers and some of that could be alleviated by not using 13/15oz leather for that part, ESPECIALLY if welts are needed, in addition to a whole lot of helpful instruction.

I'll use as light as a 7/8 on barrel or cutters, or saddles that won't get roped on. Otherwise, I feel 11oz is heavy enough. Quality over quantity. The days of everyone wanting a 60lb saddle because "that means it's a good one" are over. I build for some guys that ride every day, I build for women that ride once or twice a week. You cut weight by trimming ounces, and one way to do that is by using lighter weight leather where heavy leather simply isn't needed. Cantle backs can be down to 9/10 oz. There's more than one way to skin a cat. I've been thirty years in business in the same township, I'm turning work away because I can't get to it in a reasonable amount of time, and I'd say I'm doing something right. I'm not going to look down on my customers because some of them are "weekend riders". They help pay my bills too. Some people need to tear others down to feel better about themselves.

Using 13/15 for the swells will make you hate covering swells. That is one of the problems with every written saddle making publication I've ever seen: they don't address using different weights for different parts of the saddle in an effort to reduce weight and make the job easier, especially for a beginning saddle maker. Not every saddle part needs to be 1/4" thick. I will order the lightest weight skirting available, along with heavier sides, when ordering skirting. I might even order some split down to a lighter weight yet, if I know I have an order for a saddle where keeping the weight down is a primary concern. One of the most successful saddle makers of all time told me he used 6/7 oz Mexican shoulders for his swell covers. While I personally wouldn't do that, using a lighter weight of leather will make the process easier. Another important consideration is the side itself that you choose for the swell cover. Not every side yields a swell cover. Some sides all but mark it out for you. I like to take mine from the center upper belly, with firmer leather to the front of the pattern, softer leather to the back, and if there is a difference side to side, firmer leather to the side the rope will be carried on.

You're quite welcome, both of you.

The "splashed" rivets are the easiest of all to remove. A friend of mine (now deceased) loved to tinker and build stuff for the shop. He made a press that has a hole just a little larger than the rivet head on the bottom, and a tiny drive punch chucked in the top. I put my piece on the press with the rivet head over the hole, and step.on the pedal to bring the drive punch down in the center of the "flower" and it pushes it right out. It took longer to tell about it than it does to knock a rivet out. For years before I got that gadget, I used an the Heritage anvil tipped on its side, with the rivet over the largest hole, and used a scratch awl in the center, and hit it with a hammer. The only time I'd have trouble with either method is if the leather around the rivet is rotten, and in that case, there's trouble anyway.

Hi Matt. I make at least several hundred slide loops a year with a stapler that sets a staple similar to Weaver's press. I use the Standard #2 machine that was made by Standard Rivet, and I use a little bigger staple than the Weaver press takes. Theirs is a 15 x 4 staple, mine is a 15 x 5, which is plenty big on smaller loops, but works better on the larger ones. It's a pretty straightforward process. The staple pokes its own holes, so no pre-poking needed. The anvil turns the points of the staple back up into the leather, but there is a bump left by the prongs. I normally put the loops on a loop iron after I've stapled them to form them up anyway, and I hit the bottom with a hammer to flatten the prongs so the loop slides easily and doesn't leave imprints all over the backs of the straps. If you have been riveting and hand stitching your loops, stapling will be a treat, even with a single feed machine. I have dies for my automatics for both the 15 x 4 and 15 x 5 staples, but more often than not I still staple them on my old Standard #2 hand feed machine. Regarding strength, slide loops are the first thing to fail on a harness, usually. It's just a fact. I don't mind handstitching loops like they are on English tack, but I have to get paid for it. There are two or three dozen slide loops on a set of team harness. You see the problem. I replace lost/broken slide loops free of charge on a harness that I build. The stainless steel staples hold up pretty well. Plated steel rots out quickly, and brass falls somewhere between the two. Longevity depends somewhat on the application I guess. On belts, I think they'd last forever. I hope that answers your questions. Good luck.

My choice as well.

Absolutely what Tugadude said!!

Are they the thin irons?

Interested also if OP passes

I revised my answer somewhat as Yintx replied while I was composing my reply. I'll start by saying I normally treat roughout like any other leather, which is a liberal coat or coats of neatsfoot, depending on the project. However, let me add that I do not build holsters, or at least not very often. Using Bick 4 will not cause harm to the leather, but I suspect it will leave a very smooth, slick feel/look to the roughout. Anything that will "seal" the roughout to prevent you leaving dark fingerprints will tend to do the same. My advice is to do a practice piece on a scrap of the same leather you are using for your project.

Harness makers do press loops from all 4 side with a loop iron inside, steel last longer than wood with heavy use) to get a very firm loop with 4 very well defined corners. When you consider that a team harness can have two or three dozen slide loops, it's cost prohibitive to block each one up individually for common harness. If it's a show harness costing many thousands of dollars per harness, then there's more room for individual attention to each loop. It's not out of the question for an Amish made contraption to have ended up in AZ. There are leather equipment sales and people do travel from all parts of the country to attend, Amish included. Some of those Amish are tool and machinery traders. They are almost as mobile as we are, especially if someone else is paying for the fuel.

Yeah, that and the sloppy welds. I find several things about this gadget and the reference to it amusing. The most obvious is despite the loops obviously being in the press, and the wordy description of their belt making process, their loops still aren't blocked in the end product. They could get the same result without the press. Lots of pretty marketing hype throughout the site. And of course there is the reference to the origins of the press. I could go on all day about THAT subject based on years of personal experience, but lest I start a huge pissing match, I will refrain.

That looks homemade to me. I have a similar setup, not as permanent. I use two angle irons in a machinists vise, with a loop iron on the bottom, and another on top so I can press from all 4 sides. I always meant to have a dedicated jig welded up, just haven't done it.

That is your take-up adjustment. I forget which way to move it, it's the opposite of a Randall, but that doesn't tell you much. It's good to set up a machine on one piece of skirting, but I would adjust that bolt until you see a difference. Then go from there. Curious what the serial number is on your machine. Most I have seen do not have that gauge, making me think it is a later model. I am fascinated by the serial numbers on these machines and the almost non-existent history on the Landis company. Edited to add: moving that take-up adjustment could possibly completely take care of your looping problem. You will need to learn when you have to move it for different types.of work. I agree with Campbell Randall's advice on thread. A friend and I were setting up a Randall that had not been used for at least 50 years, and we switched from nylon to poly and just like that the thing went from kind of sewing, to making a pretty darn good stitch.

IMO (and take that for what it's costing you) it is not possible to produce a better looking stitch than that of a Campbell type machine, when they are right. When they aren't right, you'll want to throw them through the window. Because there are more operations going at any given time than a threaded needle machine, there are that many more things to give trouble. If you are mechanically inclined, you will fare better than if not. And of course if the machine is in very good to newly rebuilt condition, you will fare better than if you buy a machine in unknown or very used/abused condition. A few limitations of the Campbell type machine: throat depth is 9". This is less than most other heavy stitchers. Also, they are pretty well maxxed out at 5/8" or a shade over. They seem to sew best and 3/8"-1/2". For heavier than 5/8", you'd want to consider a highlift, and then you're getting into considerably more money. You'll have to be constantly mindful of thickness during construction if you plan to sew solely on a standard Campbell. Inskirt riggings, breastcollar centers, etc will test the upper limits of the machine. Another thing I should mention is they seem to be extremely picky about thread. The tendency of our modern thread to develop kinks after a surprisingly short amount of time sewing will cause trouble between your thread locks, at least that has been my experience. Still, I have yet to see any machine make a prettier stitch.

Does it do this no matter how heavy or how light of work you have under the foot? You can adjust take-up, and if it is adjusted for very heavy work and you try to sew light stuff, you'll get loops. Otherwise, I'd bet you have a problem with one or both of your thread brakes, in fact I would bet on that before the take-up adjustment. I'm far from an expert on the Landis 3, but those thread brakes can look good, and the tension seems fine, but they'll cause trouble when they get some wear.

Rarely do you see Conway buckles used as stirrup adjustment. Back when the switch was being made away from laced stirrup leathers, I believe there were some special Conway type buckles marketed to replace laces, and change the stirrup leathers into a quick change style. They have two horizontal posts. I see a few old saddles with this method of adjustment, and I hate them. I would never use an ordinary Conway as a stirrup buckle. A Conway is primarily designed as a harness buckle, for use where a strap turns back on itself, as opposed to a situation to join two straps pulling in opposite directions. While it may be fine in some, or even many applications where two straps pull opposite directions, that is not it's intended use, and I would never trust a standard one post Conway on a stirrup leather.

Oh I have more, I just didn't name them all! I have a couple Bauer's, a Landis 12 curved needle, an American curved needle but that one is supposed to be sold. There are 8 Landis #1s now, I think. I sort of collect old iron.. They don't all sew. . .yet. Some are projects.

It was called the Ben Veach stirrup buckle. Beach patented the style in '93(?), but sold the rights years ago. Harris may be having them manufactured for themselves, since the patent would have expired by now anyway, if I'm not mistaken. I doubt if you'll find any of those pegs and pins sold new. The best you could hope for is to find some new old stock somewhere. I have a box with a couple sets and some singles that I keep around just in case I need them someday. If you were desperate, the pegs wouldn't be that hard to make, at least for someone that has a little aptitude for metal working. That pin might take a little more ingenuity. I never have seen them listed in a catalog, and can't ever remember a name associated with them.

You cannot do better than a Randall that is perfectly set up. It produces the stitch by which all other machines are measured. The drawback is that at 5/8", it is pretty well maxxed out. It does best on 3/8" to 1/2" of leather. The Randall high lift machine was made for applications upwards of that. It also only has 9" (at the most) of throat. Once a person gets used to the 16" on one of the so called clone machines, you cuss the limitation of 9" a little more. The most versatile would probably have to be the cb 4500, but it will never produce the prettiest stitch.

I owned one for a couple years, and I've never hated a machine as badly as I hated that one. The stand was an original factory stand, and was a cobbled together piece of junk. I know people that have had these machines and get along with them fine, but one of the happiest days of my life was when it went out my door. I have a UL, a Landis 3, a Randall (Campbell style), an American Straight Needle, a Landis 16, a Cowboy 4500, and a number of Landis #1s, and I wouldn't trade any one of them for the Ferdinand machine. I hope you get along with yours better than I did.

There are people still using the Champion wide throat, and I'm a little surprised someone has not replied with some experienced advice. Needle length is very important, and there are needles that will sub over from one machine to another. But knowing which ones, that's the key! Ha e you tried calling Eli Schlabach? Not sure the spelling is correct on Eli's last name, but he owns Landis sales and service, and used to own Mast's Harness Hardware before Weaver bought them out. Eli is a very helpful, extremely knowledgeable man, and may be a wealth of information for you. He is Amish, so you will have to leave a message, but he will call you back. His number is 217-543-3464. He could very well have manuals, needles, awls, and all the info you need to get this thing up and running. He has worked tirelessly to keep these old stitchers running and parts available for many.

That is in order to release the thread.