Mulesaw

@TomE What a cutie!! If we had a colt like that I would probably not get anything done during the day - save for watching him and feeling his soft muzzle all the time. Foals are just so adorable with that little fluffy tail and those long legs. Is the mare one of your Caspian horses?

@Handstitched Thanks, so far we are lucky with the weather. The pandemic is the worst obstacle for us since all the different countries have various rules and regulations. 3 hours drive to the ocean is far from someone living in Denmark where the maximum distance to the sea from any point in the country never exceeds 65 km :-) I actually dipped my toes in the Magellan Strait, when we were in Punta Arenas - just to have done it. (It was actually freezing cold). @TomE Hi Tom, I'm not on FB, so a post here would be super nice I think. I checked the Maefield Farm homepage yesterday, but there was just a lot of pretty horses, and no adorable foals :-)

@TomE I don't think I could part with a foal if we had one :-) A foal is just like a puppy, it makes me want to hug it and stroke it over the soft fur all day long. Maybe a small post in this part of the forum with some pictures at the end of May? (pleeeeease) @tsunkasapa I had to look it up to see what Iditarod is. A sleigh dog race would be so cool to see. Alaska is pretty high up on my list of places that I'd like to visit. @chuck123wapati I haven't been in Oakland, so It could be that they have hid the ocean pretty well over there. Normally it is a lot easier to find the sea outside of cities, being a country boy - big city traffic sort of scares me. I feel most comfortable in places where I can make a U turn if I need to or a three point turn if the road is narrow. And I find it a lot more comfortable to ask for directions out on the countryside compared to in a city.

House to barn 3 times sounds pretty good to me :-) That would give a chance of touching a couple of soft muzzles and that is a mighty fine thing in my book. Yesterday we passed through the Beagle Channel going from Punta Arenas down here. Glaciers and sealions all over the place, It is hard to complain about such a view.

Not really leather work related, but kind of a big thing for a sailor. It is an overwhelming experience to be at "the bottom of the world" on a place that has claimed so many lives of sailors past. We were incredibly lucky with the weather today, sun and a light breeze so most of the day has been spent gazing at the fabled and feared Cape Horn. We passed the Horn twice today, first westbound and then eastbound. From the South Atlantic into the South Pacific and then back. We are heading for Ushuaia in Argentina now for a crew change, and then in a couple of days it'll be home to the family for me :-)

Looks really good, thanks for sharing the tip. I even think I have an old book binder press stashed away in a corner. :-)

I buy all my needles from https://www.nadel24.de/ They also carry thread and sewing machine oil and what you might need. I have ordered from them four or five times and always been happy with them.

Looks really good!

Hi Carol I think you will find more response if you post in the Help wanted section of this forum. A good idea is if you could describe a little bit more precise what kind of help or service you are looking for form a leatherworker preferably in the heading/title of your post. E.g. Customized dog collar and leash for Tibetan Mastiff (or what it might be that you need help with). Brgds Jonas

Riskin it for a fiver You can hardly get a pizza for that kind of money, so super great deal (almost a steal) The only thing that springs to mind concerning the goat skin would be to make some gloves of it. I think I have read somewhere that goatskin is excellent for making gloves, but I guess it is normally done without the hair on. perhaps if you make them with the hair on the inside they could work as winter gloves? Maybe a ladies vest of sorts. Cheers Jonas

I would love to see that junction. We have a small village on the island where I live. It is technically just a straight stretch of road with houses scattered with lots of space between them, the length is maybe a mile or so. People felt that the speed of the cars was too high, so the politicians had some planners helping in finding a solution. They ended up making some chicanes every 150 m or so. The problem is that those chicanes has actually increased the speed of the cars, because everybody is hitting the throttle to make it to the next chicane before having to stop for a car coming the other way. I have to admit that I do the same. That solution was most likely not invented by someone with a car.

That is really one of the few things that most city planners seem to have no clue about. In a lot of Danish towns the general hope is that people will buy from the small shops/boutiques in the town center, because it gives some life to the pedestrian streets and that southern Europe feeling. But then they change free public owned parking lots into weird non functioning plazas, and people are left trying to find an overprized private parking spot nowhere near all the small shops. Next the politicians can't grasp why people suddenly decide to move all their business to mall areas outside the tons where there is free parking and lots of it. An educated guess from my side is that most of those city planners are types that lives in apartments and use a bicycle for their commuting. Well I quite often find myself driving with a boogie trailer or a horse trailer hitched to the back of the car, and If I need to make a stop to buy some groceries - there are really only a couple of shops that have a good parking spot for that. So I try to support those places even when I haven't got the trailer with me. By the way, this is a great rant you have started

I haven't tried to replace the elastic on a girth, but I have replaced or repaired the buckles a couple of times. If the leather is in good working condition, with the inevitable scratches that comes from use, I reuse it. I also do handstitching using the old holes if possible. Depending on if you are doing it for yourself or a customer, I would look at how much a similar girth would cost from new. Even if I can repair it, I always feel better at telling a customer if the price of a repair job will be somewhat equal to the price of a new item.

Ah, nothing like a redevelopment of a city.. Those redevelopments always seem to be planned according to some smart people who thinks that this or that looks great on paper, and when it is finally done in concrete and tarmac. Well it doesn't work as they had hoped anyway. All city planners in Denmark dream about making that southern Europe feeling with plazas and pedestrian streets that are crowded with people in the evening. The problem is the always forget that the reason why it works in Southern Europe is because they actually have a climate that makes it nice to stay outside for an evening. Even in the late summer. We on the other hand normally have cold summerdays with lots of rain and wind, and that doesn't go well with sitting outside and enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Good idea with a cup of chocolate actually :-)

When I clean our saddles (European style), I normally use grated soap dissolved in luke warm water. I thin that saddle soap is more aimed for general maintenance cleaning, and not something that needs to be brought back from years of storage. I use a dish washing brush with soft bristles, and dip it into the soap water, then "scrub" the saddle in circular motions. I normally take a small area at a time say 6x6" or some natural defined small area. When I have gone over that I take a damp cloth and wipe the soap water and dirt away. The cloth is wringed to remove the dirty water. Then I dip it into a bucket of clean water and wring it again so that it is now "clean" an damp. It might be necessary to go over the entire saddle a couple of times depending on the amount of grime. When it is clean I let it dry and once dry I apply some neatsfoot oil or some other type of leather nourishing oil. The lambs fur underneath the saddle I would probably try to clean using a wet type vacuum cleaner. But for that I'd use either shampoo or wool washing detergent. Massage it into the fur with your hands and then remove it again with the vacuum cleaner (just like when you are cleaning a carpet with a wet vacuum cleaner)

Great job. I really like the detail with the closing strap that it forms like an "acorn" on the end. That really looks good.

Looking good. My only concern is the metal "feet" on the bag. A bag of this size will often be put on a table or a desk, and if it is a polished surface, chances are that those feet are going to leave some marks. I guess that if the feet were made out of leather, in theory some small grits of sand or stone could embed in them as well, if the bag was put on the ground. However this doesn't look like a bag that you'd put down at e.g. a bus stop, so that might not be a problem. Brgds Jonas

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all the moderators keeping this site up and running. I think you are doing a great job in keeping this forum neat, tidy and friendly. So thanks for all your moderating and help. It is highly appreciated. Brgds Jonas

Congratulations. And welcome to the forum :-) It looks like a mighty fine machine! Brgds Jonas

I am impressed that you wanted to make a test piece first, after all it is not a small fast project to make a bridle. Did you sew the brow band (or what it is called in America) on a machine? Those stitches look incredibly small and good.

Looks really good! Not much practice piece in my opinion. This would look good on any horse. Is the throat latch "sandwiched" between the neck piece and lining? (just out of curiosity) Brgds Jonas

I was thinking the following: Sailmaker (I don't know if it is a protected title in the USA?) Canvas and leather fabrication I find it easier to make a slogan, I know that wasn't really what you asked. But.. Here's a couple: Leather canvas or duck, I'll sew if for a buck Sewing leather is light as a feather. Sewing leather is hard, call Susan before you start. Leather goods that will last - Susan makes them accurate and fast.

@jrdunn I already sent an email to my daughter suggesting her to look at this thread, so I'm pretty sure that she'll have watched the videos before I get home. :-) I would love to make either working chaps or motorcycle chaps, but hardly anyone uses working chaps, and not many uses chaps for motorcycle riding either. there are some that use equestrian chaps that have some elastic leather on the back, but they fit more like pants. So I guess my best bet is to help my daughter make some and hope that some of her friends will want to buy a pair. Or I could try to approach the line dance community or the western riding community and see if anyone there are interested in having a set of chaps made. I have thought about bringing some yokes with me to sea, since I could tool them out here. And they don't take up much space in the bag when I travel to and from the ship. Brgds Jonas I have to say that that apron looks really neat. I guess that asking them if they needed a new apron couldn't hurt. :-)

Hi Dwight Well it sure is the prettiest ship that I have been working on so far :-) Right now we are doing a world circumnavigation, and I hate to admit it but Covid has made it a different experience as we had all expected. Normally we arrange "open ship" in all the ports we visit, so people can come on board free of charge and have a look at the ship but due to the pandemic we aren't allowed to do that. And likewise in some ports we aren't allowed to go ashore. It is a pity since most of the ports we visit will be a once in a lifetime visits. But we just have to get the best out of it as it is. At the moment we are en route from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Punta Arenas in Chile. From Punta Arenas the route is round Cape Horn to Ushuaia in Argentina. And then we change the crew so I get to go home for a well deserved holiday :-) Next trip for me will be from Valparaiso to Tahiti, which is also a trip that I am looking forward to. It is interesting that you mention the US Navy, at the moment we are sailing with cadets from the Norwegian Navy. they charter our ship for 3 months every year for the cadets to learn basic seamanship and leadership at the same time. A sailing ship is a perfect instrument for learning that no matter how tough you are - the Sea is still stronger, so you need to learn how to work with it, because you can't really beat it. And it is also a great place to learn to lead others and that cooperation is needed if you want to go anywhere. Brgds Jonas

@jrdunn Jim, I really appreciate all the help I can get, so all the explaining that you do is more than welcome! The odds of meeting someone wearing working chaps in Denmark are kind of like that chances of meeting a dotted zebra. So it is all new territory to me. Laura (our daughter) has expressed an interest in making a set of batwing chaps also, and they'll probably be with tassels/fringes, but I don't think that she'll go full rodeo style. Though they sure do catch your eye. We will definitely try to do the custom measurement next time, since that was actually not super well described in the Tandy pattern. And also we had to shorten the back belt up quite a bit to be able to fit the chaps on her. I would love to see the video, but I'm at work now and our Internet connection is really not very good. So watching a video is out of the question. Some days just accessing your email account is also a struggle. I work on a ship, so our connection depends on where in the world we are and how many people need to use the net. We all share the same net, so streaming or video watching messes it all up for everyone else. Here's a link to the company and the ship https://lehmkuhl.no/ It's a Norwegian tall ship, so we are not as well equipped with satellite discs and receivers as many modern ships. Brgds Jonas