Mulesaw

Like the title says, can anyone give some sort of explanation about the thread size used for sewing machines? I have tried searching the forum, but still haven't found an answer. I read about #504 and#207, #74 etc, and I have to admit that I don't understand any of it. Apparently someone uses a thinner thread for the bobbin than for the upper thread, but again without the knowledge I'm just using the same size in both which might not be the optimal solution. The thread that I buy doesn't even have those numbers put on them, so I just try to guess my way. So far I use the Serafil 10 on the old harness stitcher, and Serafil 40 for the patcher. But I would like to know if anyone has got a chart that would compare the European sizes with the # sizes. Or if someone can link to an old thread that will explain it :-)

Like the others said, please let us see it :-)

To me it looks like he is using a regular leather needle in the sewing machine. It does look like a big needle though. So you would probably need to go with something fairly beefy.

Really a nice piece. From a woodworking perspective, I like the chamfered drawer fronts, they give a touch of class. I don't remember having seen a bench like that for sale either. I think I have seen one in a museum though, but it is impressive that it has survived that long with all the tools etc.

Really impressive work!

Great looking saddle!

@Spyros I just checked the English page of Laederiet, ans it isn't quite as logical as the Danish site of it. The size is in mm and is for the width of the strap that goes through the buckle. They have a great customer service, so I would just phone them and ask, but then again I also live in Denmark. I just tried to Google for some German distributors, and here are just from the top of the list: https://pferdesport.sprenger.de/shop/pferdesport_en/harness-fittings/Special-fittings.html https://shop.tom-buettner.de/sattlerei/material/?p=1 I think that I'll have to try ordering something from Sprenger. That stuff looks really good. They even have a retailer in the USA, so that should make things easier for all of you living on that side of the Atlantic. https://hermsprengerusa.com/ Please note that I am not affiliated with any of these companies etc..

I use Laederiet but they are not based in the US, so that might be a deal breaker. There is also Pethardware in Czechia. Laederiet have a bunch of weird specialty buckles for making harnesses for driving horses. https://laederiet.com/produkter/97-for-harness/

@TomE It is a great niche indeed :-) I buy my hardware for the blankets either at laederiet (a Danish shop) or at pethardware in Czechia. They have a huge selection of stainless hardware. Just enter "stainless" in the search field. For some of the stuff they are a bit cheaper that the local shop I use, but I like to support a local business and generally it is more or less the same price. I haven't had anyone asking me about making new stuff like bridles etc. But people like to have their equipment repaired. So that is mostly what I do. I once bought a large box filled with old worn out bridles of various sizes and shapes. It was dirt cheap, but all those little special buckles and other types of hardware have helped me often, so I'd definitely buy something old and worn out again just for the hardware. I recently repaired a set of reins from PS of Sweden. Their products are gorgeous, I'd love to be able to match their standard some day. brgds Jonas

@TomE Thanks for the nice comment :-) The hardest part was the repair job of the torn part in the middle of the covering. It is a full ox that covers the phantom, so it was a bit of a job negotiating it through the opening of the sewing machine, but it worked even without breaking a needle during the job. I can't say if the fender is original or a later modification, to me it looked most like it was original. I am pretty sure that they use Colorado style AV that is hand held. It is probably called something else in Denmark though. It is the model that you fill with some warm water (38 dgC maybe 100 dgF?) before the job. I would love to make a leather holding system for the mares legs, (don't know the English word for that one), but they don't do natural inseminations due to the risk of the studs getting a venerable disease. So I guess they would have little use for that holing system. I do repair a lot of horse blankets for the station, and also some tack and riding boots for the riders out there, but the phantom was a fun project. Actually I wouldn't mind making a phantom from scratch one day. But I doubt that I'll ever have the need to do so. Merry Christmas Jonas

last time I was home from the ship, the owner of the stallion station asked me if I could have a look at their phantom. One of the stallions had gotten a bit carried away and ended up biting and tearing a large hole in the side of the phantom. The owner wondered if I could repair it? I told him that I could and we agreed that I'd do it in my next home period. So this time while at home I fetched the upper part of the phantom in a trailer and towed it home. The first part of the project was to disassemble it and assess what needed to be done. The back end of is sealed with an inflatable fender that in turn is secured in the other end with a cargo lashing. The front end had been repaired earlier on, and in all honesty it didn't look all that good either. Regular cable zip ties held the leather on to the frame of the phantom, so after cutting those up, I could bring in the leather to the workshop. I glued a piece of veg tan to the backside of where the hole was torn, and then sewed alongside where it was ripped. Near the front end there were also 3 smaller holes that I patched the same way. The damaged front part was so far gone that I decided to replace it instead of trying to patch it all up. I had a piece of thin leather that I had bought at a sale that would fit the job perfectly. I doubled it and glued and sewed it onto the main body part. A bunch of grommets were installed and the repaired cover of the phantom was reinstalled on the frame. Finally I made a round cover that covered the lacing that closed the front end. This was hand sewn on in a way that it can be removed without much fuzz if there is going to be needed a new repair sometime in the future. I think the repair job came out all right, and the best thing was that I had a reason to do a lot of sewing with the old Singer class 7 sewing machine :-)

Looks very good.

Yes, I only discovered that the Opening Person was based in the US right after hitting the "submit" button I haven't checked how much the postage is though, so it could be quite reasonable (or prohibitive).

I buy all my needles from Nadel24 in Germany. https://www.nadel24.de/Schmetz-Rundkolbennadeln-System-794 So far they have had all the needles that I have been looking for. And the needles come in packages of 10. I also like their sewing machine oil.

Very nice work. I think the Sasquatch is a great looking feature. The sheer size of that package makes me wonder if anyone would apply for a concealed carry license for it

@Klara Thanks. When I made the breast plate, I used a different type of leather, and I found those edges were more difficult to polish. I guess I'll just have to see if it becomes a problem with the missing carabiner, and if it does I'll just install one. That shouldn't take long. The top of the N in his name bothers me a little, it is not completely in line with the rest of the letters, but honestly I don't think that Bent will mind.

I completed the halter this Sunday. I decided to give polishing the edges a new try. I haven't had much success in that previously, but this leather seems to take a nice polish, and that came as a surprise for me. I just did used a it of sand paper followed by some beeswax and a rubbing of a piece of canvas. I would like to try some Tokonole, but I haven't got any out here. I really hope that it will fit the horse, otherwise I guess I'll just have to call it an experiment. All in all a nice doable project with minimal tools and equipment required. The biggest obstacle was to make the round throat latch due to me bringing too narrow a strip of leather for that. I am also amazed with the length of leather required to sew a halter. I had hoped to make two and I was pretty sure that I had brought plenty of leather with me for that, but I soon realized that I would only have enough to make one. Prior to polishing the edges, but with the head band installed. The name embroidering. Polished nose band. Headband and neck band both polished now.

Hi Frodo My little brother lives in Japan, and I have forwarded your post to him. He sent me a link to a Japanese dealer, and explained me which Kanji sign I should look under. But there were only regular Sam Browne buttons. No backing plates. He'll try to ask in some leather shops if they know of it, So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a positive reply from him at some point.

Good to hear :-) Good luck with the project. (I am sadly too far away from you geographically to be of much help)

The rusted rivets and the missing buckles for closing could be dealt with. My suggestion is to clean it first with some saddle soap, then once it is dry again, give it a try with some neatsfoot oil or some other oil. The worst thing that can happen is that you have spent a bit of money on the oil and used a bit of time. It probably won't ever be as soft as the day it was made, but if it becomes usable with a bit of scars to reflect its age - well then I think it is worth doing it. I don't think it looks all that bad, but getting the grime of and giving it some oil will let you assess whether the leather is too brittle to continue with. Replacing the rusted rivets shouldn't be much of a problem, To me it looks like there is missing a strap to carry the satchel over the shoulder, and there's also missing two buckles to closing the front. The front "pocket" seems to need some stitching in the lower part, but that's about it as far as I can see. Sentimental value is hard to valuate, but I would guess that a school boy satchel sees a lot more rough handling than the satchel of an elderly gentleman, so it might not need to be 100% as sturdy for your father to use now as it was 50 years ago. If you write in your profile where you are located, it makes it a bit easier if anyone is living near you that might have a chance of vetting the piece in real life. Brgds Jonas

I guess it depends a bit on where in the world you are situated? http://www.kaufmanshoe.com/backup/shoemakingsupplies.html https://www.frankfordleather.com/prodcat/shoe-repair.asp These two came up from Googling shoe repair supplies USA. I was actually searching for a different supplier that I once visited. That place looked like it stocked EVERYTHING you would ever need for repairing or making shoes. But I forgot the name of the place.

Hi Klara I was taught to do a similar thing with the halter when putting on the bridle, except just throwing putting it all over the head of the horse, like a giant necklace. If the horse is calm I prefer to do it without it, but inside a stable or in the box he can't run off anyway :-) I can see on some of the pictures that the author does describe carabiners, so they must have been commonplace too, but maybe they were just more expensive? I guess that you are right actually about a well cared for strap being fast too. I think I am going to try it out, just for the experience. There is no mention of why a headband should be added, but practically all the halters are shown with a headband. My guess is that the halter sits a bit more securely, but that is just a guess. It is a bit interesting with the anti fly fringe. Cause I haven't seen those mentioned anywhere in the book - and for comparison, he devotes half a page and 3 illustrations on different types of hats for the horses to protect against the sun. As far as I can see, none of the halters are designed to be transformed into bridles. The author distinguish between halters and bridles, so I guess it was just the norm at that time. One of the halters he calls a marching halter, and that one seems to be more adjustable so that it would sit neatly to the head of the horse and I guess allowing it to be lead without a risk for the halter to come of by accident. The upper halter on this page is the one I am trying to make. It looks just like a modern halter - but with a head band. (save for the missing carabiner)

@Klara Hi Klara, the headband was the part I was working on when I took the pictures, so it isn't attached yet :-) But it will be just like a headstall with a headband in front of the ears going across the forehead of the horse. I am technically still working on it, since the halter is mostly a Sunday project out here. During the day so much is happening, but Sunday is not a full working day for us, so I try to take some time to do a bit of work that is not related to the ship. So maybe I'll get around to install the headband this weekend. It is an interesting subject when a snap hook or carabiner became popular. I would guess that the time issue was the most important thing here. When you have a dedicated stable boy, it wouldn't mean much if he had to do it the slow way. Also when we drive the horses in the trailer to e.g. the forest for a ride, it is really nice that releasing and mounting the halter is as fast as possible, to avoid having the horse without any headgear in the shortest amount of time. I know that you can also do it inside the trailer, but that is also a risky business since there is not much space, and if the horse jerks its head you can be injured, or it could step on your feet etc. So at least for Mettes horse we tend to do it outside the trailer, because the horse is much more calm when it can see the surroundings. But I guess that I could try to make the halter without a carabiner. If it proves that it is more troublesome to use it that way - I could always install a carabiner later on. Brgds Jonas

@chuck123wapati 6700 ft sounds a bit mountainous :-) And truth be told, right now I wouldn't mind trading for a bit of snow. We are heading to Curacao in the Caribbean, so it is going to be even warmer when we get there. The freight company managed to mess up a shipment of some extra plates for a cooler when we were in port in the Canary Islands, and since that cooler is vital for the air condition plant I can't do much more about the temperature on board though I would like to. Hopefully the extra capacity will help us when it finally arrives on board. But is is nice to watch a movie on Saturday night, where the picture is projected onto one of the sails. And just sit outside in shorts and t-shirt and still be comfortable. And there are quite a few stars out here at night too. But I would guess that you got a spectacular sky at night too in Wyoming!

@fivewayswelshcobs But being far from the sea must mean that you are either near some mountains or some other pretty scenery :-) Though I have to admit that it is kind of nice sitting in the afternoon sun after the temperature has dropped a bit and sewing an gazing at the ocean. The temperature is a bit too hot for sitting in the sun during the day. With 30 dgC seawater and some 30 dgC in the shade. @chuck123wapati hahahahaha, That was actually a really good suggestion :-) And thanks for the kind words Brgds Jonas