Introduction

[abn]

Welcome, Aaron. Doesn't scare me at all that you're working for Tandy. I'm a customer at the Richmond, Va. store, and the staff there really treats me like a VIP. That's not the case everywhere. Lots of suppliers don't want to deal with the hobbyist, have high minimum orders, and still treat you like a second-class citizen when you're spending your hard-earned money with them. Not so with Tandy. Great group of folks, in my opinion.

Good to have you here! -Alex

[Srigs]

Welcome from another newby!

[Duke]

I asked my boss about a trade show in the east and I was told there are a few here and there, but not on a steady basis.I appreciate the comments made about how we take care of our customers.we really have an accellent customer base here at the portland store and we darn near bend over backwards trying to take care of our customers.what most people dont understand about buying the leather is that cost has everything to do with how we purchase. if we cant get it at a price thats going to be good enough to pass the savings on to our customers, it makes it really hard to keep that item in stock.sure,we can special order something for just about anyone. the question is,are they going to be ordering enough of that item that we can merit sinking the cost into having that tool made, or that buckle stamped, or that leather tanned.I had the good fortune of spending the weekend with a very authorative person on this subject. the head of our retail department,jim koerber.good guy.and he flat out told me, it doesnt matter what it is, we have enough resources that if someone wanted us to have pink or white erasers made, or the door handle for a semi truck....as long as they were going to purchase enough of that item that we could cost effectively justify manufacturing that batch, we will do it.just like alot of people ask me why we dont carry hermann oak leather. well, we would, but most people dont want to pay what we have to buy it at.let alone us try to make even a small profit on it. its just not cost effective.now if dont care, and want to order 250 ft of it, we can get it,no problem.keep this in mind next time you look at your leather supplier, and you will gain a new respect for what goes on behind the scenes.oh yea,I want to say thanks to anyone an everyone that showed up at the pendleton trade show, we had a blast.im going to talk to barry king more about that live chat kind of thing, and maybe see what I can do to set that up.I think that would be very helpful to people.him and his dad are very informative on things.

[ClayB]

Hi Aaron,

Welcome to Leatherworker.net. We are glad to have you here. Thanks for helping to spread the word about the forum, the updates from Barry King, and for explaining some of the things people wonder about dealing with TLF. It would be great if Barry decided to join us here and a live chat with him would sure be fun.

[Johanna]

Yep, tell Barry King that if he wants to talk to leatherworkers, I'll arrange VIP status and a full house.

Aaron, I used to work for Tandy, too, before TLF. I've often thought it was the sweetest job I ever had. How many places are willing to pay someone to spread the joys of leatherwork?

Glad to have you here, tell your friends.

Johanna

[Duke]

ok, so im home now, and boy did we have a great show.what a blast.looks like we'll be doing it agian next year.I must have told at least 20 different people about this site over the last 2 days. now that things seem to be winding down agian,looks like I'll be able to get on with my project. oh wait,I havent mentioned that project yet,sorry. I am building a replica of the stohlman workbench.I have the plans that Al stohlman made which was published in the leatherworkers and saddle makers journal a while back. at the moment, I have a cheap harbor freight toolbench that I am working off of, and it is definitely lacking.

I also over the weekend puchased the 3 book series that tandy carries in our stores, about saddle making.I am blown away by the amount of detail to which they go into in those books.its a shame they never got to put out the 4th or 5th books like they had hoped to. or did they? I dont know.more research is required on this.

johanna, I will definitely let barry know and see what he has to say. who knows, I may even try talking to bob, the owner of ferdco machines about doing some kind of discount or something.he and his wife are a few of the nicest people I have ever met. worth a try,the least they can say is no. as for a machine, at this moment I am working a deal with my boss's boss to pick up a "boss" tippman for 500 bucks. it was our store demo model for 8 years,and saw light use, but needs to be readjusted.shouldnt be too much of a big deal.

also I am in the planning stages of turning a shop press into a 10- 15 ton clicker. anyone know where to get decent yet reasonably priced dies? wow,it seems that a am a bit long winded when it comes to leather.sorry. will work on keeping it short and sweet. also, if anyone wants it, I can try to digitalize the stohlman prints for the workbench and upload it to here. just let me know and I will see what I can do.

I will also see about finding my digital pictures of the severe brothers saddles that I took when in pendleton a few years ago.

[Johanna]

Pics of that famous workbench start here.

Sounds great! Ask away, maybe we'll get lucky and they will say, "Yes!"

Johanna

[Duke]

thanks johanna, those pics will definitely help when I go to paint the scenes on the bench. not a good enough woodworker to carve them out of veneer like al did.but it will still look good,im sure.if I can find your email, I will try to email you a copy of the prints that I have for it and you can decide whether or not to post them.

[Johanna]

johanna@leatherworker.net

(Don't anyone else post your email address out here on the forum! It will draw tons of spam. I have heavy duty spam protection that you probably do not. Consideration for your privacy and risk of spam is the reason we "hide" the contact addresses inside the forum. Click any member's name to send an email or Private Message.)

I appreciate you spreading the word about the site. Word of mouth works well for us, and we always welcome new folks. If anyone else wants to share something on the Internet, whether it is pictures, patterns, tutorials, video, whatever- let me know, and we'll be glad to feature your contribution. This site gets over a thousand unique visitors a day, and we're always working to make it better.

Johanna

[Duke]

ok, well ive been extremely busy, and havent had a chance to update everyone but I talked to barry king about coming into the forum and he said he checked it out, and is looking forward to doing it but is extremely busy right now increasing his inventory for the las vegas trade show in a few weeks. he said after the trade show he will contact me and then I can contact johanna about a " live " forum. ok, so now onto the cool part. im about 95% done with my al stohlman replica workbench.I love it! it is very functional, and big enough to store all my tools and such. the other 5 % is to put the cupboard doors and drawers in and paint them. a buddy I work with at TLF told me he would have no problem coming over and drawing the scenes onto the doors and drawers for me.hes an accomplished artist.all I have to do is buy him a six pack. :beer: I will include pics very soon. any ways,enough rambling. I'll do what I can to keep ya updated.