TomE

Curious why the customer is interested in horse hide for this purpose. So many more choices in cow hide.

Could make the crystal studded strip as an inlay in a thicker strap. See this arrangement with fancy browbands/fronts on English bridles for dressage. The raised edges offer some protection for the crystals. Here's a dog collar with the same idea. https://youtu.be/ThF98j8fqzc?si=3NukH7_Z3PU0SFOW

Mine is one wheel with the cotton layers sewn together to make a firm edge. My buffing wheel is 3/4" x 6". Fits the curved blade of a hoof knife. I don't have experience with black compound. Green is plenty fine for my blades. I buy supplies from Farrier Product Distribution or Sharpeningsupplies.com.

I agree with @bladegrinder's choices. I have a 3/4hp Baldor motor with 5/8" shafts and a sewn cotton buffing wheel. I use green compound for everything. The other side is a deburring wheel. Has lasted 12 yrs in a machine shed although I'm hearing a bit of bearing noise. I use it for hoof knives and leather tools.

Not sure what "curing" leather is but if you're interested in hardening leather you can search the forums for "hardening leather." One method is to use low heat to work stearic acid (a long chain fatty acid) into the leather.

Thanks for the info. I appreciate learning from this forum.

I am not familiar with your machine but it looks like the knots are showing on top when the stitches become irregular. Would help to describe the weight of leather and needle and thread you're using. Changing the needle can affect the top tension. I don't understand the problem with your presser feet. If they have teeth then grinding and polishing the feet is an option.

Although @bruce johnson didn't say it, he sells high quality leather tools that are sharp and ready for use. Check out Bruce Johnson Leather on the web and on Facebook.

Thank you @bruce johnson, @chuck123wapati, and @AlZilla for your thoughtful replies. You all raise interesting points that will influence my experiments with leather this winter. Hope to spend more time in the leather shop once I finish the fall/warm weather chores - spreading manure, replacing broken fence posts, and weaning the foals. Thought I might turn this hobby into a business someday but my wife's business uses up most of my time. Maybe there will be a brief span when I'm too old to mess with horses but young enough to mess with leather.

I don't know of a good way to skive with a Class 14. It is best used for thinning larger pieces of leather than can be done with a manual pull-type splitter. It is also easier to do long splits on the Class 14. I still use my Tandy Pro splitter for lap skives on the ends of straps.

Would a bumping dolly be heavy enough to replace the anvil? One person holds the dolly and saddle and another person sets the rivet. They come in a variety of shapes for auto body work. Eastwood Co. sells quality tools https://www.eastwood.com/fairmount-double-ended-round-dolly.html

Nice design. I'm interested in seeing how you construct the slings. The only thing I know about duck hunting is that it's cold.

Looks like a comprehensive course and teaching is a great way to extend the teacher's skills and understanding of their art. For folks who don't have experience with the listed techniques/tools it might be helpful to provide a narrative overview of the skill areas covered by the course - construction methods, project design, tool maintenance, finishes, etc - or some learning objectives for each lesson. I taught medical and graduate students for 25 years and was asked late in my career to provide learning objectives for each lecture. That exercise made me think more critically about how the topics fit together, how to prioritize them, and what the takeaways were for each lecture. The learning objectives weren't " know this and that" but instead they were "be able to explain this and do that."

Bridle and harness leathers stuffed with waxes and oils will absorb neatsfoot oil without a problem. I’ll guess the leather was sealed with acrylic or similar finish. Cracking of the grain may well be due to low quality tannage. Might try burnishing the edges as another test of quality veg tanned leather. Maybe @RockyAussie or someone else can suggest a good leather supplier in your part of the world.

Beautiful folk art! Thinking about a summer day (although I'm happy that fall has arrived).

Y-knot Lace has a good selection of kangaroo lace that could be braided to make a drawstring. I've been pleased using it for laced reins. https://y-knotlace.com/

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with the raised leather. Always looking for new ideas and improvements.

I've had the impression that the grain layer of veg tanned leather contributes more to overall strength than an equal thickness of the flesh layer. This has been suggested as a reason to not use a stitch groover (removes the strongest part of the leather), and why splits are stretchy and weak compared to full grain leather. Well this paper from 1926 says the opposite. On per thickness or per cross sectional area basis the flesh side is stronger than the grain. For example, the grain side of a split that retains 70% of original thickness has half the strength of the unsplit leather. The flesh side split to 40% of original thickness retains half of the strength. Maybe not a big deal but it indicates that the grain doesn't have an outsized contribution to strength, at least not for these authors' cow hides. The sum of the strengths of grain and flesh splits is always less than the strength of the unsplit leather- that much I can understand. Does this comparison of grain and flesh agree with your thinking? I am particularly interested in the strength/stretchiness of straps. Seems it would be stronger to line a thick strap with a thin liner instead of using 2 straps of equal thickness that add up to the same overall thickness. Wilson and Kern - 1926 - Effect of Splitting on the Tensile Strength of Lea.pdf

I'll bet the horse will turn up if you fill the bags with feed. Did you include hardware to tie the bags on your saddle?

Looking good! I like the 3mm stitch spacing and it looks like you're using an awl.

The nice thing about the narrow feet is you can turn sharp corners without coming off the edge. With the in-line feet I back out of square corners so the rear foot has a place to land.

A couple of articles on tanning chemistry and several on currying - fats and oils. The files are too large to upload here, so here is a link to my Dropbox folder containing the files. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1unoj2zvcdb9xjo65u993/h?rlkey=4rx8dv5fz2obchca3n6k27qyh&dl=0

I have read that the stepwise increase in tannin concentration during the tanning process produces a more uniform matrix of cross linked collagen fibers. If the concentration is too high at the beginning there’s a lot of cross linking near the surface, creating a barrier to penetration deeper in the leather. It is my understanding that tannin solutions are used for multiple runs of tanning, starting the process with used solutions that are depleted in tannin concentration and working towards newer solutions with a higher tannin concentration. In the end some tannin molecules are tightly bound to collagen (hydrogen bonds and salt bridges) and a portion of the tannins can be extracted through back soaking. If you’re interested I can post some articles describing these aspects of the chemistry.

I like the appearance of the S point needle stitching and use it mostly for 15-30 oz bridle leather. The TRI needle creates a more noticeable hole but is good for hard leather with little tension adjustment. The Schmetz website is my go-to for needle information. https://www.schmetz.com/en/industrial-needles/needle-compass/cutting-points/

The inline feet from Toledo Industrial Machine work great on my Class 4. So does the narrow foot set from Hennigen Precision Engineering.