tour of the leathershop (photos)

[Jinglebob]

Thought I'd post these for anyone interested in seeing my messy shop and as to why I am in and out of the ranchers.net during the day. While waiting for leather to dry or glue to set up or any other thing I'm waiting on between pounding on leather to sniffing glue ( :shock: :lol: ) I check in here to see what everyone is up to. Here we go.....

Heres the view of the cluttered and messy shop! "Clutter and a mess are the sign of a genius at work"! :lol:

Another view with a saddle in progress in the front. Pretty small shop, huh?
:shock:

Heres a close up of Sheridan style leathercarving on the front of a flat plate rig. I have been apprenticing to a feller out near Buffalo, Wyo who does real good work at this. I hope to reach his level someday.

Bigger view of the whole saddle in progress.

Here is where the stamping and carving take place. Friend in Michigan surprised me with this big ol' slab of rock. It is inset into the table and or is about 2 foot square and 6 to 8 inches thick. Weighs about 250 pounds. I almost gave myself a hernia gettin it packed in the house and set into the table. The lights shed a lot of light and can be positioned right over my head for my "old" eyes when I am stamping and carving. :lol:

Here's the old poop at work! Seeing as how tomorrow is the first day of the Lenten season, I always shave off my beard and cut my hair real close. Can't shave off the mustache or momma would be mad! And none of my neighbors would recognize me!

Hope you enjoyed the tour. I hope to expand and make a bigger shop this summer, but I sure wish I could do it out of sod as that is the cheapest building material I can find! :wink: 'Course, momma wouldn't allow me to add that onto the house! :wink:

 

[Sagebrush]

Good pics.. Would like to see a picture of the saddle when it is finished.

 

[Anonymous]

Jinglebob- Did you ever meet a leather worker and cowboy artist from Sheridan by the name of Jack Sept? He's a cousin of mine- didn't even know he was back in Sheridan until my neighbor who is a pretty fair leather and saddle man went to a drawing and tooling school in Sheridan last year and they ran into each other....

 

[MsSage]

Awsome shop. I agree I would like to see the saddle when done.

 

[cowsense]

Great pictures......show us the steps as you finish the saddle. I wondered where you got your avatar, didn't know it was your saddlestamp! One thing about a small shop, everything is right at hand! :lol: :lol:

 

[Soapweed]

Lookin' good, Jinglebob. Hope that short hair-do doesn't bring on a blizzard. You'll need a stocking cap to keep from freezin' that old over-grazed lookin' dome come bed-time. :wink:

 

[Jinglebob]

Jinglebob- Did you ever meet a leather worker and cowboy artist from Sheridan by the name of Jack Sept? He's a cousin of mine- didn't even know he was back in Sheridan until my neighbor who is a pretty fair leather and saddle man went to a drawing and tooling school in Sheridan last year and they ran into each other....

Nope, I've never run across him yet. But I could probably find him at the big leather show if I asked around.

 

[Jinglebob]

Great pictures......show us the steps as you finish the saddle. I wondered where you got your avatar, didn't know it was your saddlestamp! One thing about a small shop, everything is right at hand! :lol: :lol:

I'll try and keep takin' pics as i go along.

And I hope we don't get a blizzard either Soap, unless......wait a minute! Don't they usually come with lots of blowing snow that fills up the draws and the dams when they melt off???? Shoot, I hope it works and we get a humdinger! :lol: Especially if it warms right up afterwards! :lol:

 

[Jinglebob]

And my avatar is my cattle/horse brand. The lazy c v. I think it looks like a longhorn skull, thats why I got it! :wink:
Sure was tickled when I found that avatar. Probabably have long neglected to thank Macon for having it there for me. Thanks, Macon!

 

[Mike]

JingleBob, Your shop ain't too small..................................

You just got too much JUNK!!!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

 

[Jinglebob]

It ain't junk if your using it, tho' some of it ain't been used in awhile....

 

[OldDog/NewTricks]

Nice shop - what kind of Tree is that - Fiberglass? - Is it renforced - Don't think i've ever seen a Blue one - it is blue isn't it. :???:

 

[Mrs.Greg]

Greg doesn't think your shops small,bigger then the basement room he uses.When he does a saddle he takes draw down stand into middle of family room to work :?

 

[nr]

Now we understand why you're you Jinglebob,
it's all that glue-sniffing. :wink:

 

[Juan]

You should have shaved your chin and not so far up your forehead.

 

[Jinglebob]

Now we understand why you're you Jinglebob,
it's all that glue-sniffing. :wink:

Thats the only good reason to work with leather, IMHO!

I used to be set up I the kitchen area, but the little woman seemed to fuss quite a bit about the dirt and leather dust, in the cooking area! :shock: 8)

One day, several of the neighbors was settin' here drinkin' coffee as i was glueing wool onto saddle skirts. That takes a lot of glue!

Our neighbor who is the local deputy sheriff drove into the yard. I went to the door and invited himin and told him we were just sniffin glue. he smiled and walked in and got a cup. Pretty soon, he said, "I thot' you was just kidding me about the glue sniffing. Man, that stuff is strong!"

To mangle a quote by Robert Duval, "I love the smell of Barge leather cement in the morning".

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Jinglebob]

Nice shop - what kind of Tree is that - Fiberglass? - Is it renforced - Don't think i've ever seen a Blue one - it is blue isn't it. :???:

No, it's gray. They are called "foam" trees as they are foam injected polystyrene? I think. Made out of similar material as "Rhino" bedliners, for pickup boxes.

They have a small amount of give to them and seem to fit different types of horses backs, better. Some people cuss them and anyone who will use them, but I've got this to say.

Nobody likes traditional methods and gear better than I do. I hate nylon cincha's and man made material. Hell, I raise cattle and plant trees. But these are gaurenteed for life and seem to be fitting better than any other trees I've ever seen. Anyone who swears that they won't try one and insists that you have to stay with traditional types, I have to ask, "Do you still use a rawhide riata or sisal rope to rope with? Do you do all of your heavy work with a team of horses? Do you own and/or have used a 4 wheeler or pickup to check or move livestock? Do you rid every time you go to work cattle or do you sometimes haul them in a trailer? Do you drive your cattle to market or haul them in a truck?"

There are some wonderful tree makers out there and I sure will build a saddle on a traditional tree, but I ride one of these. I won't argue with anyone who wants a traditional wood/rawhide covered tree, but until you have shown me a fault in one of these, I am going to use them for myself.

I got one about 5 or 6 years ago and rode and used it "barebones or skeleton rigged" and then covered it with leather and gave it to the youngest son for his graduation present. It has a cable rig and he cussed that rigging for about a month, while riding several colts. Now, he wouldn't have anything else. I ain't plumb sold on the cable rigging yet, but it does make the saddle quite a bit lighter. I can build a saddle that weighs aprox. 32 pound with one and they sure are easy for an old, fat man to throw on a tall horse.

And they are strong. We have roped everything from baby calves, to settin' back horses, to bulls and can't seem to tear one apart yet. And they don't seem to be as poorly made like the old fiberglass trees were.

The colder they get, the stronger they are, so the tree maker tells me.

He had a customer who had a saddle made on one, throw his saddle on the ground in front of the front tire on a pickup with a 20 foot goosneck horsetrail on back, that was loaded with horses. He then drove over the bars of the saddle with both the pickup and horse trailer tires. Said when he walked back to pick it up, all he could see was some tire marks across the seat. Didn't seem to hurt it at all. But the treemaker said that he would not have guarenteed it if it had broken. They have been making them for around 20 years.

Wished you hadn't asked? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[greg]

never worked with foam tree,you make it sound worth tryin,i hear you bout kitchen,get enuff dirty looks workin in family room

 

[Jinglebob]

never worked with foam saddle,you make it sound worth tryin,i hear you bout kitchen,get enuff dirty looks workin in family room

I found if you get them wimmen a job 60 miles away from home, whne the come home, they are usually too tired to complain about much! :wink:

And one of the fringe benifits is, when you only see each other once in awhile, it's pretty easy to get along and not get mad at each other which could end up in divorce! :shock: :wink:

 

[sw]

Your carving/tooling is looking good JB. Have you ever heard of a guy by the name of Al Twomey? He had a shop in Musselshell for along time, he died a couple of years ago. Anyway, his carving was amazing, very deep, all original, he did not use any boughten patterns, he just started carving, that way everything he made was original. What was really amazing, he lost part of a thumb, part of two fingers and all of one finger in WWII. He was a packer for the Ist Mountain Division in Italy, bringing stuff over the high mountains on mules cause there weren't roads. He would not say much about that or how he lost the digits, but he did refuse to make a knife scabbert for a friend of mine cause the knife had made in Japan on it. He said "You know we had a war with those %$&^#^#, you want a case go buy one from them." BTW, your shop is cleaner than some I been in :wink: