Stitching Horse

[SooperJake]

I've seen pictures of several stitching horses that have the jaws angled, typically to the left of the user. Is there any special purpose for this? The reasoning I could come up with has to do with keeping a more obtuse angle on the leather tension strap on a horse, and for a pony, more light in to see the stitching groove.

What is the reason for the angling?

The gentleman this Hermes video showing hand stitching has the jaws of his very long stitching pony laying severely over,as if in his lap. And the jaws look to be held shut with leg pressure.

He never looks at the back of his work so how in the world would he be certain the awl has passed into the back groove correctly? Is there a stitching groove on both sides do you think? Is a stitching groove absolutely necessary?

Thanks,

Jake

[bruce johnson]

He is using a stitching clam that is held between the legs. It is a mostly European influenced deal. For me the angled jaws on a stitching horse are easier to see and feel the stitch marks from the pricking wheel or overstitcher. It is a more natural push for me too. A stitching grooove may not be absolutley necessary, but I do them on both sides when I hand sew. As far as this guy, I'd wager he's done enough that he has the experience to get a straight line on the back without looking. If you line the front up and keep the same angle of stab each time, that back side takes care of itself. I had an old Irish harness maker visit me quite a few years ago,. He took a rasp to my stitching horse jaws to make them more user friendly and sharpened up a couple awls I had at the time. He scratched a line on some old scrap and then sat down to school me. He sewed about 4 inches of 10 to the inch for a warm up, then another 4 inches of 12 per inch, and finished it off with 4 inches of16 - all spaced by eye and a lifetime of sitting on a sttiching horse. The back side was as clean as the front.

[SooperJake]

Bruce, do you run the stitching groover more than once to deepen the groove?

Thanks,

Jake

He is using a stitching clam that is held between the legs. It is a mostly European influenced deal. For me the angled jaws on a stitching horse are easier to see and feel the stitch marks from the pricking wheel or overstitcher. It is a more natural push for me too. A stitching grooove may not be absolutley necessary, but I do them on both sides when I hand sew. As far as this guy, I'd wager he's done enough that he has the experience to get a straight line on the back without looking. If you line the front up and keep the same angle of stab each time, that back side takes care of itself. I had an old Irish harness maker visit me quite a few years ago,. He took a rasp to my stitching horse jaws to make them more user friendly and sharpened up a couple awls I had at the time. He scratched a line on some old scrap and then sat down to school me. He sewed about 4 inches of 10 to the inch for a warm up, then another 4 inches of 12 per inch, and finished it off with 4 inches of16 - all spaced by eye and a lifetime of sitting on a sttiching horse. The back side was as clean as the front.

[bruce johnson]

Jake,

It depends. One factor is the size of the thread. I want it to be recessed..If I am using that hand sewing waxed kite string it might take a few passes from whatever groover I use. It also depends on which groover I am using. Nothing against the Tandy type grooovers because I use them all the time. They have a limit to how deep they will go, even with multiple passes. The shoulders next to the blade hole are the limiting factor there. I have taken my stock blades and carefully ground some the shoulder off to get them to go deeper. The old Osborne compass style groovers will cut pretty deep it you want and multpile passes will go deeper each pass. The patent leather tool/gum tool/freehand groovers will go as deep as the sides of the U-shaped tip are sharpened. After that they dig in and don't go any more.

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Jake,

Like Bruce described, it's about ergonomics... they might not have used that word back then but they sure had the concept right when building the old stitching horses. It is much more of a natural position then having the jaws upright and squared to you. I find on multiple layers of thick skirting leather that it's easier and less tiring on the wrist and arm pushing an awl at the angle set by the horse than trying to hold your elbow straight out to the side. If you hold your arm up at the two different angles and imagine using an awl, you can actually feel this difference.

Darcy