David Genadek

I have the Wild Blue equipment that I would give you a really good deal on. I had it here for about ayear then they put in DSl in my area so I switched. I was pretty happy with the wild Blue with the exception of working remotely then the delay was really annoying. Things change real fast in that world but a year ago they were the best option in my book. David Genadek

Speaking of Kathleen Bond does anyone know what she is up to now a days? David Genadek

I think the big thing is to do it consistent from year to year and you will be ok. I exspense my hand tools and keep them in a seperate pile because I want to know how much money I'm spending on them but you sure could throw them into supplies. Because they do all end up as a direct exspense. The reason the books seem to look so different is because they have different purposes. The IRS wants a big broad picture you may want a different picture so you can manage the business. In the end all the numbers are the same it is just different views of the same numbers. David Genadek

You should place a mental dot in the center of the scroll and the viens or cams should try to point at that dot. The scroll is the major form in this art so it should be studied. Getting the proportions correct there really adds to carveing and later when you daw your own designs the scroll can be used to set the proportions of the design by using a series of scrolls to determine the flow line. David Genadek

Dave there is no correct order. I switch depending on the design and the effect I want to get. I will often bevel before I pear shade so the shading can move into the bevel but not always. What you want to think about is what is on top of what,and where is the stem or the line of flow. As you do some tooling you will learn which tools will help hide the mistakes you may have made with the previouse tool and that will dictate the order you use after you focus on the main flow line and what is the closest to you. Play on scrap and feel free to mess up. David Genadek

I use Osborne awls but they take a lot of work to get useable. Randy's suggestion of Bob Douglas is the best route. as far as I know he is the only one making an awl blade that is ready to go. Next time I need an awl blade that is where I will go. David Genadek

I use lights form Orion lighting and have been really happy with both the light, cost and the electric bill. I have used them in two of our barns and just put up another 16 in a shop addition. David Genadek

I use Stillwater cinch co. Stillwater Cinch Co 1025 Stillwater RD Nye Montana 59061 www.stillwatercinchcompany.com stillwatercinch@nemont.net (406)328-6431 These gals used to work for Champion cinch and when Champion went down they helped the cord guy get some money so he takes care of them. They have been wonderful to work with. I often get some wierd sizes from them and they get them right out .

Welcome from MN Chuck! Do you know why the Mississippi flows south? Iowa sucks. Do you know what a perfect 10 is in Iowa? A 4 with a six pack. Do you know the differance between a bufallo and an Iowa cheerleader? About 200 pounds Do you know how to equalize them? Force feed the buffalo. Sorry I have a love for Iowa MN jokes. I'm just north of the border you would be welcome to visit anytime. I'm not sure what people mean by Sheridan carving now a days but I have a bit of experiance drawing designs and would be happy to show you what I know. I'm out of Iowa jokes now too. David Genadek

You either have really crappy leather, a really dull awl or a combination of both. At most it should take a little bit of a wiggle to get the awl through. What kind of an awl are you using?

I stab one hole at a time. It is worth takng the time to learn that skill as you will never regret it. When you sew the wool trim it an angle way from the edge first them take some wide masking tape and stick it to the wool so it doesn't get in your way. The same would apply to the fake stuff if you were hand sewing it too. I learned at a saddle school in Nebraska. They thought I was nuts and I kept dropping the awl into my leg. The local feed lot cowboys were really giving me a hard time. There I was in front of a Landis 16 on a stitching pony turning pages of Stohlmans hand sewing book with my foot trying to learn. I kept going but ended up with a big blood splotch on my pants. I have attached Stohlmans response to my story a few years later. I have taught a lot of people to hand sew since and non of them got bloody but they were not turning pages with their foot. David Genadek stohlmanletter.pdf stohlmanletter.pdf

I use real on my leather saddles and fake on my cordura line. There is no comparison the real wool is far superior but you have to look at your business goals to make the decision. When you hear about real wool on a fabric back realize that is just a marketing tool and does not exsist in reality. However, there is a very dense synthetic that is a good compromise if you trying to hit price or keep weight down. David Genadek

Bruce, I'm not sure what Bill used but it is highly likely it was the same stuff. It is made by Dyo Chemical company however, Dyo recently blew up and I see John Mills ,the owner, has pulled the web site. I talked to him after the exsplosion and at that point he was trying to keep things going. He worked out a deal with LCI to make the product so I guess that would be the place to start. Your looking for Dyo Poly Cote Neutral. You can get it in colors too but I prefer to dye and rub it the traditional way and just use it as a edge finish. Dyo used to sell in Gallons but it has been so long since I have ordered anything other than 5s I can't say for sure. I would think a distributer would sell Gallons if they won't sell direct. In fact the shoe finders would probable carry in quarts. It is not cheap but it goes a long way. David Genadek

Go to a shoe store and get some Dyo leather balm. You can get the reptile conditioner which will be more exspensive and the only differance is the label. The leather balm will work wonders on it. David Genadek

I use edge and casing compund which is the base for antique stains. It is pretty much Gum tragacanth. I think the important concept here is that you really don't rub the edge you compress the edge and you use the edge product for two reasons. One to help bind the fibers together, and 2 to act as a lubricant so you can apply enough pressure to get the compression you need for a good edge. I finish with a polyurethane that was designed for shoe refinishing to create a patent leather look. These edges hold up for the life of the product. David Genadek

I find the Camoga to be less tempermental than a Fortuna. Generally cheaper too. David Genadek

Yep I have always done that hand sewing I think I learned it at a Federation show. I used to work for a company that did wieght belts and we sewed them on Landis 16. We used a sole leather and the stuffing would build up on the needle and awl so I used my hand sewing experiance and started waxing those every belt and it really helped. Parrafin is less sticky than beeswax. Big help on punches too but best done in conjuncton with polishing both the inside and outside of the punches with a dremel. David Genadek

Well I sure don't know where you can get those but here is an idea for you. I had a customer that really liked the hard Samsonite breifcases but he wanted portraits of his pet wolves on it. So my only choice was to mount it using chicago screws but they would have looked really junky so I made a border to hide them. It was so lonag ago I don't recall exactly how I did it but I do have a picture. David Genadek

In this case I stamped the original and sent it to a guy to pour the plate. I have learned a lot about the epoxies for my tree company so now I would just do it myself. I have found the Epoxy guys to be really helpful and they love strange projects. I went to a place in Seattle and my mind was blown at some the artistic applications for epoxies. You may have to take a trip to San Franciso where there just has to be a boat supply place. You can see in the picture how I just added layer around the border I used a bandsaw and a sander to clean the plate up. You might screw a few up learning but once you get it it will pay. David Genadek

I think it was Garr electroplating out east some where but the was 25 years ago so who knows if they are still there. On the resin plates I have attached a picture of one that I have used for thousands of impressions you can see it has some cracks but it still give a good impression. You can just save the original and pour a new one when needed too. There is a lot going on in resins and boat supply places are usually up on what is what so if you explain the application they can generally give you a good idea of what to use. David Genadek

I imbed a RFID chip in everyone of my trees that I get from Tacktrac, this number is assigned to the specs of a particular tree (serialized inventory) that number gets matched up with a saddle number for the saddle specifications. I use this system on a daily basis to help people who are buying and selling our saddles used. In addition I use a code that is stamped on the latigoe catcher that tells me just about everyting we need to know about the saddle. The saddles number is also stamped on the skirt where it can't be removed. I also keep a paper copy of every thing on a file for the customer David Genadek

I have attached two photos. One is of a guest book I did using Magnesium dies, the small border dye I epoxied a bolt on to and just banged it in. The bigger portion I used a clicker. The other picture is of a design a did for a saddle company. It was done with a fiberglass plate. There is a guy that does this for the saddle companies but you could easily do it at home. You just take a strip of leather and glue it around the edge of the piece to make a bucket then you spray it with a release agent and pour in some resin ( which you should be able to get at any boat supply). If you want you can throw in some fiberglass fibers for added streangth. When I worked for Ellis Barnes I worked on the plates he made for his belts. They were all done by electroplating and this is really the way to go but it is exspensive and you have to do a lot work polishing decrative cuts ect. to really get them to look like hand carving . David Genadek

Bev, No you can't call it a bridle until the riens are on there too. Sorry one of the pet peaves around here. Living with a horse trainer I have learned that we leather people can be a bit sloppy with our terminology. I get corrected often. David Genadek

I have a Nikon D70 and I love it. Here is a good resource for learning more about digital photography. The photoshop tutorials are awesome. David Genadek