TomE

@chuck123wapati is there much hay produced in your area? A long distance trucker in our area brings large square bales of WY and KS hay back here for sale. I buy small bales from local producers bc I can see it growing in the fields and it's easier to handle the small bales. The hilly ground around here is good for pasture and hay fields. Row crops are grown in the MO River bottom. We had a barn with a loft that was built in 1939 and was falling down in the wet Missouri weather. Habitat for Humanity salvaged the tin and the lumber, which they already had buyers for.

In defense of Deglazer, it works well to remove excess Barge cement without leaving an oily residue. @firearian, when you say "dyeing my cuts" do you mean the edges of the leather? I usually burnish edges with water before applying dye. I am typically dyeing the edge of bridle leather a darker color and the smooth burnished edge takes the dye in a neater manner than a rough edge.

Welcome @fitz101. You're making some handsome leatherwork. Good luck with the machines. I'll be interested in which items you continue to sew by hand.

That is totally cool. Don't see much hay put up in lofts in this age of steel pole barns. Did someone take the tin off the roof for another building? Shame to let those rafters rot in the weather.

@MtlBiker your artwork is more interesting than mine. I was a scientist making figures for papers and talks on mechanisms of DNA repair. Never learned about color space or profiles, but it would have helped for those times when slides didn't display the way I wanted. Here's a picture of human DNA ligase I, a protein structure we determined by x-ray crystallography, with our cartoon rendering of a chromosome in the background. That's about as fanciful as my work got. I am pretty good at identifying right-handed vs. left-handed helices in the stamped borders of leatherwork.

Thanks @MtlBiker! That’s exactly what I needed to know. I will do some reading and put this new knowledge into practice. I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

Maybe I'm being too picky. Here are the same photos posted on FB https://m.facebook.com/groups/FLeathercrafters/permalink/10160079757549603/?ref=content_filter and on this forum

Not sure where to put this. When I upload JPEG photos to this site they display significantly darker with the tones are rather muddy. This is true when viewing the site with different browsers, and this doesn't happen when I upload to other forums and social media. I crop and adjust tone/brightness etc using Photoshop before uploading a JPEG. Is there a different file format or settings that work well for you?

Might look at stearic acid added to beeswax as a hardener, and working the hot wax mixture into the pre-warmed leather. I read about this in the current issue of the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal. There's an article on "Custom Hardened Leather Arch Supports" by Jason Timmermans, and I see a fair amount online about using stearic acid as a wax hardener.

Similar to a halter snap. The clip can be spring steel or a cast piece with the spring in the base. Batz Corp carries quite a few variations in zinc diecast, solid brass, or steel. I find it easier to download their PDF catalog to find part numbers then search the website for the part. https://products.batzusa.com/item/spring-snaps/340z-rigid-square-eye-spring-snap-hooks/340z-1-np

Awls are no different from other tools that pierce or cut leather. Sooner or later you’ll have to sharpen them. I’m very happy with Osborne awls and hafts. Once I have them shaped and sharpened to my liking it’s not hard to keep them sharp - except when I drop the awl. I use wet/dry abrasive to sharpen and card stock coated with rouge to strop. Learned from a Stohlman book but Nigel Armitage has a video showing the same method.

Can’t beat Stohlman for classic leatherwork. Will add the holsters book to my collection.

Thanks. He's a 4 year old warmblood who started under saddle last fall and is learning his job.

Second that - I really like the tooling you've done. Makes me think I need to learn something more than cutting and sewing straps together. Is the artwork your design?

I thought this was an interesting demonstration, but I don't carve leather and am easily entertained.

Lucas Hub Oil is an upgrade IMO from standard 90W gear oil. Sold at Tractor Supply Co and auto parts stores. Not a sewing machine, but it quieted the gear box in my 14 year old rotary cutter (brush hog).

Don't think you'll go wrong with glycerin saddle soap, and you can always add conditioner later if desired. I clean a lot of tack with a bucket of warm water, a sponge, and a bar of saddle soap. Wring out the sponge - you don't need to soak the leather. After applying saddle soap, wipe off the excess using the sponge rinsed in water and wrung out. For tack, I like Bick's 4, Fiebings Aussie, and Blackrock conditioners. The Aussie is less likely to darken the leather than the other two.

That's a good looking sheath! I use a peg awl haft for sewing heavy leather. I have better luck guiding the awl with the larger handle. https://osborneleathertools.com/product/peg-awl-haft-143/

Thank you, @PastorBob. I appreciate your encouragement. Having fun learning new things after putting leathercraft aside for ~45 yrs.

EDIT TO SAY I DIDN'T NOTICE HOW OLD THIS THREAD IS. The leather rougher is helpful if the adhesive bond will be stressed during assembly. I use an Osborne leather rougher on the grain side of the leather filler shown here to improve the bond when making this round out of a 7 oz cover wrapped around a 9 oz filler strip. The rough surface is the grain side of the filler after roughing and coating with Barge cement. The cover is wrapped tightly around the edge of the filler piece and glued before sewing and trimming the excess filler. It is difficult to get the grain side of the filler to stick to the damp cover during assembly unless I rough the grain before gluing. Unlike a wire brush, the rougher has sharp pointed bristles that will dig into the grain and give it a suede texture without too much effort. I haven't had a problem with the Osborne rougher clogging when using on clean veg tan or bridle leather.

Thank you @Klara! The headpiece design is based on an Antares bridle. Thanks, @Bert03241. It's not perfect, but each one I make gets a little easier and I like it better.

I use a heated brass lollipop burnisher from Duane Watts. Warm the beeswax in the flame of an alcohol lamp, dab on edge, smooth and work it in with a hot burnishing iron. This video from Cary Schwartz shows the traditional Dixon style edge iron, which is hard to find.

I use a clicker board (red polypropylene) for cutting small pieces, and an Olfa cutting mat for squaring up hides and longer cuts. I try to modulate the pressure to decrease gouging into the cutting board/mat.

Finished my second bridle. Appreciate your comments and suggestions. HO bridle leather, stainless steel hardware, hand sewn with waxed #207 nylon thread. I'm trying a new-to-me edge treatment - burnishing with hot beeswax.

Bad kitty! Vinegar is used to neutralize cat urine odor and also to kill mold on dirty horse tack. Might be worth a try.