Introduction

[Timbo]

Howdy everyone!!! My name is Tim Jones and I am from Neosho, MO. I am so glad to find this forum!! Just wish I had found it sooner. My slave to the man job is being a service advisor at a Freightliner dealership. I've got a few hobbies right now, but leather is the main one. The others are my Jeep, my GTI and a 1963 Airstream travel trailer that my wife and I are rebuilding.

I've been doing leather for a hobby since I was 12. Did it off and on for years but got serious about it as a hobby about 15 years ago. I've built lots of different and varied things over the years, belts, holsters, chaps, cell phone cases, knives and sheaths, Harley leather and spur straps. Just a little of everything. The main reason I love this forum is the saddlemaking. That is my dream. To make saddles. I would love to get to the point I could do it for a living. But as we know.......takes money to make money. So I am slowly collecting the tools of the trade. I also want to start doing Sheridan carving and hope to start collecting tools to do that too. I don't own any sewing machines, I do all my stitching by hand and love every stitch of it!! (pun intended) There's just something I find very gratifying in hand sewing.

Lately it seems that most of my projects have been pretty self centered.............meaning I'm finally making stuff for myself instead of other people.

About 5 years ago I totally quit making any kind of biker leather........just struck me as odd that folks will spend 20 grand for a bike then want me to make them custom leather for less than ready made catalog stuff. Got tired of dealing with that and the attitudes so I just stopped. It taught me how to do one thing.........say NO. I used to have a hard time saying no to people even on things I had no interest in doing. But I've come out of that now and if I don't want to do it or it holds no interest for me I say "no". When something takes the enjoyment out of your hobby it can turn enjoyment to dread. This is why I very seldom do anything with black leather or dye nowadays.

Sorry for the rant.

Currently I am wrapping up a holster set for a cap and ball revolver and hope to post pics of it soon. I've been using a lot of Will Ghormley's patterns lately and love them. I've also done some emailing with Will and he is very helpful. I was having problems with the toe plug and he helped me out with a series of 8 emails with photos.....what a guy!!!!!!!!! It's hard to find that level of support these days but Will didn't even flinch. THANKS WILL!!!

By the way....one of my favorite things to work with are soft rolled horse butts. (see if that opens up some conversation) I make all my chap yokes out of them. Belts too. They wear like iron.

So with this posting I will officially stop lurking and start contributing.

Well that's all I've got for now but I'll leave you with some pics of a pair of chaps I made awhile back.

.........just remember I handsew everything. I love the old style of chaps and based my pattern on the old style. I make all my own chap patterns.

Thanks for looking and reading this.

Tim Jones

Timbo (on most forums)

Doc (at work)

Jones (when you want my attention)

Daddy (when you need money)

Edited November 23, 2007 by Timbo

[rdb]

I like the Rant, and the Chaps! Welcome!

[ClayB]

Hi Timbo and welcome to the forum. My first question and you might get this from a lot of us, Can I call you Daddy??? :biggrin:

I can relate to the saying NO thing. I need to get to that point too. I keep putting off making a belt with fish on it that I agreed to do last summer.

I think you will find a lot of really helpful people here. I'd offer you a doughnut, but somebody will probably warn you about them pretty quickly. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Clay

[pete]

HI and welcom. Really nice work- GREAT hand sewing!!

I'm in Mt Home just down the road. Hope that we caqn meet sometime- MAYBE at Springfiled leather!!! I go there 2-3 times a month. I take my son Nick to Springfield skate park for the afternoon(he's REALLY good) and spend the day swapping lies with Kevin.

I'm interested in what you said about horse butts. Are they really that good for tooling or just belt making? I have a few to make for Christmas( for relatives- so it's not a chore!) but want to be able to do extensive tooling.

Let me know what you have found.

Thanks

ps- I'm with you on the "projects of interest" I played with national bands for many years(fiddle, mandolin, keyboards) and since moving to Arkansas can't find anyone to jam with. I don't jump at ANY chance though. I'll play a wedding or dance only if it's fun and I really like the guys I play with. I miss it to a degree but it beats the heck out of gigging for 4+ hours and wanting to be home watching Iron Chef with my 4 year old.

pea-aire'

[Don101]

Hi Timbo welcome to the forum and im glad you found us, dont hesitate to ask questions, and pics are always welcome, Don

[Timbo]

Thanks for the welcome everybody.

Clay-Just make the belt out of fish and tell them you misunderstood............and what's wrong with your doughnuts???

Pete-Sounds like we might have to arrange a meeting at Spfld Leather. Kevin used to carry horse butts and still might have some, but I think his were hard rolled not soft. You can still make stuff out of them but they are pretty stiff sometimes. The only thing with horsebutts is that they take a great stamping impression but are very hard to use a swivel knife on. Which is why I usually just border tool them. One trick I use on them if I want to have some lines on them (like for a border or bead) is that I will use my stitching groover instead. The edge groover on the sides and my free hand groover for other things. It looks good and probably doesn't cut as deep as a swivel knife. Kevin was kind of pricey on them, so I usually order them from Siegel of Californian. They always have them. They sell them buy the pound and I think they are on sale now for 8 something a pound. I also see that your specialty is Sheridan...........now lets see what did I say about Sheridan?? Oh yeah, I want to learn.........TEACH ME!!!! I'd like to meet you in Springfield, but you'll have to come to my place too someday.........you can take your son to our skatepark here in Neosho or we can run him up to The Bridge in Joplin. Let me know when you're going to be goin' to Springfield next.

Thanks again all!!

Tim

[Kevin King]

ClayB took my line. I wanted to call you daddy to see if you'd send me money. Hell, i'd even drive down to get it. I am in Joplin. Welcome to the forum. Do you buy alot of stuff from spfld leather? I just got back from there today. I am thinking about starting to order from other sources though. Seems kinda hard to get good service sometimes over there. Unless you can talk to Bo. Kevin has been helpful on occasion, but is always too busy, and sometimes puts me off.

Anyway, It cost me $4o in just gas to go to spfld and back. I'm sure you spend some money on gas too. Next time i go, i'll give you a buzz to see if you need anything. And vise-versa?

Kevin

[Beaverslayer]

Welcome to the forum Timbo. As the others have mentioned, we are probably all going to call you DADDY...LOL...anyways, great looking chaps, very well done and nice contrasting colors.

As to the donuts from ClayB, personally you might want to shy away from them, he tends to lick the icing off the tops first....lately though, he has been good about staying away from the cookies.

Ken

[Timbo]

Thanks to everyone for all the new posts.

Kevin-Dang, wish I'd known you were going. There's a few things I could have used. Let me know next time, and I'll let you know when I'm going too.

I love the seats you make and I knew you were in Joplin, I think I saw something on a bike forum from you awhile back. We'll have to go to Spfld and hook up with Pete and have our own little gathering sometime.

Ken-Sorry I don't have any cash on me..........that's what the kids hear too. Thanks for the compliments on the chaps and as for the doughnuts........eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don-How'd you wind up in Germany??

thanks all

tim

[Kevin King]

do you ever get over to west 60 cycle?

[Timbo]

I used to go out there, but then I sold my bike and just walked away from the whole bike scene completely. One of these days I want to get another one, but, it won't be another Harley.........I wanna big enduro!!!! Like to have a street legal XR600 to ride back and forth to work. The ride home will turn into an adventure. I want to ride the trails alongside 71 hiway to get home. Right now I just have too many other toys and hobbies.

Tim

[howardb]

I used to go out there, but then I sold my bike and just walked away from the whole bike scene completely. One of these days I want to get another one, but, it won't be another Harley.........I wanna big enduro!!!! Like to have a street legal XR600 to ride back and forth to work. The ride home will turn into an adventure. I want to ride the trails alongside 71 hiway to get home. Right now I just have too many other toys and hobbies.

Tim

Tim,

Welcome from a newbie. Go for the Enduro. I knew a guy who kept a BMW Dakkar strapped into the back of his work van when he traveled for training or long off-site jobs. That's probably more extreme than most people will get, but I always dug the idea.

Brent Howard