gtwister09

Bobby, FYI. John Bianchi has been using these felt based burnishing tools (maybe not exactly like this one) for years. In fact in the video series he made in the 90's for western holsters he has information on using the felt wheels. There are plenty of others who have used them over the years as well. Not sure what his wax compound combinations are but the wheels are felt. Regards, Ben

Dwight is correct that leather beeswax is just beeswax. White spirit is just another name for mineral spirits that has been added to your compound to make it more easily penetrate as a finish. Regards, Ben

Tina, Very nice as always. Great adaptation of the previous one. Regards, Ben

Steve, You are a lucky man to have that quality of silver/engraving to be able to add to your work. It is always good to see these types of relationships in today's fast paced world. Regards, Ben

Steve, Thanks for the additional photos! I have been admiring his work a lot on the BitsandSpurs forum. You are SO RIGHT! He is very talented. To say the least I am fan, It looks like you have been using his stuff a lot lately. Thanks again. Regards, Ben

Steve, Great work all the way around as always. I was telling Troy the other day that I have really liked the Swades that you and Glen have been turning out...Topnotch. As I said earlier, I like the contrast of the armitas. The cuffs sure look nice as well. Whose silver is on the the light colored pair? Your designs on the edge is certain neat with the stars and dots. Regards, Ben

Richard, I would send Paul a note and ask him his thoughts on the design of the knife. The metal has been quite well received in other areas (other than leatherwork) since it's initial release. You may hear some people talk badly about the CS30-V but generally when you talk with them it was when the steel was first released many years ago. There was some bad numbers given for heat treating and so it impacted the steel but those have been worked out for quite some time. There are a lot of fine knife makers that use this steel now. My initial thought on the this knife is that it appears to be is a slight derivative of a French Head Knife (not including the handle and pull back). Regards, Ben

Marlon, I have seen Crocus cloth listed between 1200 and 1500 as the grit. If you used your progression that you had listed then you worked through it. For a while you could get it at Woodcraft but I haven't seen it listed or in the stores for some time. The last bit I picked up it was cheaper on Amazon that what I could get it at MSC or McMaster's. Go figure! I haven't checked for a while. Regards, Ben

In my talks with several older saddlemakers, I have seen many of them have a decent stump that has a hollowed out center (some have a large piece of wood instead). The center section generally leaves about 2 inches around the outside as a border and they say that the depth of cutout is between 1 and 2 inches. They have filled that center section with lead. A couple of them beat it into there but almost all of them say that they heat it up every so often to smooth things out. You can certainly tell with some of them because the stump/wood shows signs of a little flame... One of the guys inherited his lead punching block almost 60 years ago and said that he had a picture of the saddlemaker he got it from that was dated 1912 and that the stump was in the background. Like Nutty Saddler many of them haven't sharpened their punches in a long time. A word of caution about lead in bags and punching blocks. One of these saddlemakers had one of his great grandchildren test high for lead and it was found out that his shop was the source. Of course in this case it was the child messing with his lead shot tooling bags but he had his table and some other things tested and several things came up high (not as high as his shot bags but high enough to be marked as contaminated). He had his bench and some tools cleaned professional. They advised him to replace his bags and get rid of the punch block. He said that he didn't really want to get rid of the block so they suggested when using it to cover with paper and throw the paper away every time and to spray it with a polyurethane every so often. He has since replaced his bags with steel shot bags. If he uses the lead shot stump much he hits it with some cheap polyurethane to reduce lead dust to a bare minimum as well as using paper under the leather as well. On a side note he had them test several leather pieces (different tooling leathers, latigo - chrome and retan and some chap leather). The different types tested was to see if a certain leather/chemical mix would yield different results. He punched several holes in each of them and had them run lead tests and they all came up negative. This was the test that they did in order for him to keep the lead punching stump. Regards, Ben

You have already received some good advice about Jeremiah, Gomph's and such. With Bob you won't have to worry about the quality of the overstitich wheels. However if you buy them off of eBay beware that sometimes the wheels may be worn out....(excessive wear in the shafft, some bent wheels, some that aren't sharp or missing teeth and so forth). The older CS Osbornes and even older HF Osbornes are also good overstitchers as well. The newer Osbornes are not the same quality as the older ones. Jeremiah has expanded his overstitchers as well. He has from 4 to 8 spi now. You can get them directly from him as well off of his web site. Regards, Ben

Shelly, Looks nice. The border is nice. Looks a lot like some of the other lace style borders out there. Regards, Ben

That's an awesome piece! Regards, Ben

Andy, As others have already said.... Nice on both of them. Great job of getting out of the rut. Regards, Ben

Clay, The saddle pictures are pretty grainy. Do you have some higher resolution ones? Regards, Ben

I no longer use this type but if you were wanting something to carry around then here's an idea. There were a couple of articles in older leather magazines about them. It is a Sears toolbox. The top is deep enough to have stamps stand up. I wouldn't do individual holes but maybe larger ones where you could put several in each hole. It also has a couple of drawers that you could use for maul and such. Just another possibility as you look. My stamping tools are now in multiple racks that have larger holes. You can find these in other threads. Regards, Ben P.S. Here's a couple of threads on caddys/racks... Thread 1 Thread 2

You might want to consider a leather weighted bag. Various things are used to hold down your work, Here's one discussion. Discussion Leather Weights and Bags Regards, Ben

This brings up a point on how to better navigate and utilize leatherworker.net resources.... If you know who does the work then go to their profile and many times there will be examples of their work and even gallery photos. For example here's Bob's aka...hidepounder. Bob's Profile Regards, Ben

Andy, Nice saddle.....you are on a roll for sure. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Ben

Scott, That's a nice looking set of chaps. Regards, Ben

Andy, That is certainly a sharp saddle. Have to agree with Keith on the rigging....not many of those around. I really like the continuation of the arrowhead/floral design from the back of the seat to the horn....NICE! The rest of the floral/basketweave design flows well also. I know of one ostrich seat that a guy has used for 12-13 years and it is still hanging in there and looks fairly nice still. It was a full quilted seat versus an inlaid but it should be a decent indication of the viability of the seat. Once again I have to agree with Keith that I can feel the quills and I wouldn't like it for my own seat. Regards, Ben

8thsinner??, Here's some additional thread for you to look at as well. Some other workstation designs and discussions. Workstation Link 1 Workstation Link 2 Regards, Ben

Clint, You may want to go the link below and choose which category to put your lace tool in. You may also want to read the Marketplace Rules near the top of those categories as well. Marketplace Forum Hope that helps. Regards, Ben

Mark, Check out this thread. Chuck and some others have some patterns and such for botas & half leggins. Botas - Half Leggins Thread Regards, Ben

Ed, Looks nice! Henley blades and knifes are certainly nice and have a well deserved reputation. Regards, Ben

Tony, I believe that is a Model 7 USM Skiving Machine. Regards, Ben