Horsewright Knives and Leather

[Rufus1949]

Nice pic!!

Thanks kindly Dave. Be safe out there.

 

[RLB0414]

Dave, I hope you and your family are not in the path of any fires.

 

[lambertiana]

Dave, I hope you and your family are not in the path of any fires.

Tehachapi is a good distance from the fires.

 

[cbach8tw]

See any smoke though flying your way? So tragic. It looked like a moon scape.

 

[Horsewright]

It’s been awfully quiet in these parts. Must be busy making knives and bending leather.

And a lil cowboying too! Helped a friend process his small herd. Also we completely tore down and re arranged the shop as we'd purchased a new leather machine and needed some place to put it. That took several days. Lots of cussing and discussing. I was kinda a stick in the mud and liked how things were. Shh don't tell her but its better now.

Dave, have you seen the smoke come into your area from the LA fires? Be in prayer for those who lost everything. The Santa Ana winds just spreading the fires so fast.

We drove down to Ontario to pick up this machine, a strap cutter, the morning that the fires started, Tuesday of last week. Those Santa Ana winds were horrendous. Driving through sandstorms out in the desert and driving over, don't swerve for em tumbling tumble weeds. It was bad and I can believe the 70-100 mph ratings that they were given. Since we're a couple of hours to the north and inland some we haven't had any problems with the smoke or even seen it, We could smell it faintly one day but its not been a problem for us. We too though have been having those Santa Ana winds. I have read years back that they really are Santanas winds not Santa Anas, or satan winds not named after the town. These aren't anything new, they've always been here. They blow in from the desert to the east of us.

Thanks kindly Dave. Be safe out there.

Thanks! We've been pretty fortunate here. Although we often get wind warnings from the power company that they will be turning our power off as a fire prevention tactic, we've skated so far.

Dave, I hope you and your family are not in the path of any fires.

Tehachapi is a good distance from the fires.

Yes lambertina has it right. We're pretty safe from these fires. We have concrete tiles on the roof, no trees on the property and a very defensible space as well if we get some up here.

See any smoke though flying your way? So tragic. It looked like a moon scape.

No sir, no smoke. Those winds blowing from the east are blowing everything out to sea down there. We did have those winds yesterday morning too and were under a power outage warning. The Santa Anas yesterday up here were in the 35-45mph range. With the temps in the mid to upper thirties, I can tell ya it was pretty dang cold. That's when we went and helped our friend process his cattle. He's a fireman for Bakersfield City FD. He was heading back today to work and thought he might be gone for a while, so we kinda had to get it done. We were gonna do it last Fri but he was on call and thought he might be heading down the hill.

Meanwhile I finished off a new batch of knives and we got them on the website last night. Here's one for a member here. A Sonoran Belt Knife with a red woolcarta handle and an African Blackwood spacer:

Another Sonoran Belt Knife in dark ironwood:

And some on the website. A Coyote with an elk handle and a jasper spacer:

A Cowboy with elk:

A Vaquero with Bubinga wood:

Having done this for a couple of minutes now I kinda get an idea in my head as handle materials suitable for a specific model. One that has always just looked "right" to me is a Coyote with Bocote. I've probably made a hundred of these or more over the years. I'm not sure what it is but it does look just right to me:

And the new beast. Had to call some friends over to help unload it out of the truck as it is HEAVY.

It can be set up to cut straps of all kinds of different sizes.

Although this piece of water buffalo leather wasn't that wide it will cut twelve 1.5 inch belt straps at once:

Did I ever mention we make belts. These took about a minute to cut:

 

[Rufus1949]

And a lil cowboying too! Helped a friend process his small herd. Also we completely tore down and re arranged the shop as we'd purchased a new leather machine and needed some place to put it. That took several days. Lots of cussing and discussing. I was kinda a stick in the mud and liked how things were. Shh don't tell her but its better now.

We drove down to Ontario to pick up this machine, a strap cutter, the morning that the fires started, Tuesday of last week. Those Santa Ana winds were horrendous. Driving through sandstorms out in the desert and driving over, don't swerve for em tumbling tumble weeds. It was bad and I can believe the 70-100 mph ratings that they were given. Since we're a couple of hours to the north and inland some we haven't had any problems with the smoke or even seen it, We could smell it faintly one day but its not been a problem for us. We too though have been having those Santa Ana winds. I have read years back that they really are Santanas winds not Santa Anas, or satan winds not named after the town. These aren't anything new, they've always been here. They blow in from the desert to the east of us.

Thanks! We've been pretty fortunate here. Although we often get wind warnings from the power company that they will be turning our power off as a fire prevention tactic, we've skated so far.



Yes lambertina has it right. We're pretty safe from these fires. We have concrete tiles on the roof, no trees on the property and a very defensible space as well if we get some up here.


No sir, no smoke. Those winds blowing from the east are blowing everything out to sea down there. We did have those winds yesterday morning too and were under a power outage warning. The Santa Anas yesterday up here were in the 35-45mph range. With the temps in the mid to upper thirties, I can tell ya it was pretty dang cold. That's when we went and helped our friend process his cattle. He's a fireman for Bakersfield City FD. He was heading back today to work and thought he might be gone for a while, so we kinda had to get it done. We were gonna do it last Fri but he was on call and thought he might be heading down the hill.

Meanwhile I finished off a new batch of knives and we got them on the website last night. Here's one for a member here. A Sonoran Belt Knife with a red woolcarta handle and an African Blackwood spacer:

Another Sonoran Belt Kinfe in dark ironwood:

And some on the website. A Coyote with an elk handle and a jasper spacer:

A Cowboy with elk:

A Vaquero with Bubinga wood:

Having done this for a couple of minutes now I kinda get an idea in my head as handle materials suitable for a specific model. One that has always just looked "right" to me is a Coyote with Bocote. I've probably made a hundred of these or more over the year. I'm not sure what it is but it does look just right to me:

And the new beast. Had to call some friends over to help unload it out of the truck as it is HEAVY.

It can be set up to cut straps of all kinds of different sizes.

Although this piece of water buffalo leather wasn't that wide it will cut twelve 1.5 inch belt straps at once:

Did I ever mention we make belts. These took about a minute to cut:

Great quiver of new knives Dave.

 

[Horsewright]

Great quiver of new knives Dave.

Thank you sir!

 

[waynorth]

And the new beast. Had to call some friends over to help unload it out of the truck as it is HEAVY.

I had a custom leather shop in Vancouver B.C. when I was 30!! we did sandals, belts bags and clothing!!- 50 years ago! If I had that machine then, I might still be in the business!! A miraculous machine by 1974, or any standards!!

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

And a lil cowboying too! Helped a friend process his small herd. Also we completely tore down and re arranged the shop as we'd purchased a new leather machine and needed some place to put it. That took several days. Lots of cussing and discussing. I was kinda a stick in the mud and liked how things were. Shh don't tell her but its better now.

We drove down to Ontario to pick up this machine, a strap cutter, the morning that the fires started, Tuesday of last week. Those Santa Ana winds were horrendous. Driving through sandstorms out in the desert and driving over, don't swerve for em tumbling tumble weeds. It was bad and I can believe the 70-100 mph ratings that they were given. Since we're a couple of hours to the north and inland some we haven't had any problems with the smoke or even seen it, We could smell it faintly one day but its not been a problem for us. We too though have been having those Santa Ana winds. I have read years back that they really are Santanas winds not Santa Anas, or satan winds not named after the town. These aren't anything new, they've always been here. They blow in from the desert to the east of us.

Thanks! We've been pretty fortunate here. Although we often get wind warnings from the power company that they will be turning our power off as a fire prevention tactic, we've skated so far.



Yes lambertina has it right. We're pretty safe from these fires. We have concrete tiles on the roof, no trees on the property and a very defensible space as well if we get some up here.


No sir, no smoke. Those winds blowing from the east are blowing everything out to sea down there. We did have those winds yesterday morning too and were under a power outage warning. The Santa Anas yesterday up here were in the 35-45mph range. With the temps in the mid to upper thirties, I can tell ya it was pretty dang cold. That's when we went and helped our friend process his cattle. He's a fireman for Bakersfield City FD. He was heading back today to work and thought he might be gone for a while, so we kinda had to get it done. We were gonna do it last Fri but he was on call and thought he might be heading down the hill.

Meanwhile I finished off a new batch of knives and we got them on the website last night. Here's one for a member here. A Sonoran Belt Knife with a red woolcarta handle and an African Blackwood spacer:

Another Sonoran Belt Knife in dark ironwood:

And some on the website. A Coyote with an elk handle and a jasper spacer:

A Cowboy with elk:

A Vaquero with Bubinga wood:

Having done this for a couple of minutes now I kinda get an idea in my head as handle materials suitable for a specific model. One that has always just looked "right" to me is a Coyote with Bocote. I've probably made a hundred of these or more over the years. I'm not sure what it is but it does look just right to me:

And the new beast. Had to call some friends over to help unload it out of the truck as it is HEAVY.

It can be set up to cut straps of all kinds of different sizes.

Although this piece of water buffalo leather wasn't that wide it will cut twelve 1.5 inch belt straps at once:

Did I ever mention we make belts. These took about a minute to cut:

I have never seen such a contraption. That is wild!

 

[echoscout]

Lot of nice knives Dave. Looking forward to the Sonoran Belt Knife. Reckon that's quite a leather machine.

 

[mitch13]

And a lil cowboying too! Helped a friend process his small herd. Also we completely tore down and re arranged the shop as we'd purchased a new leather machine and needed some place to put it. That took several days. Lots of cussing and discussing. I was kinda a stick in the mud and liked how things were. Shh don't tell her but its better now.

We drove down to Ontario to pick up this machine, a strap cutter, the morning that the fires started, Tuesday of last week. Those Santa Ana winds were horrendous. Driving through sandstorms out in the desert and driving over, don't swerve for em tumbling tumble weeds. It was bad and I can believe the 70-100 mph ratings that they were given. Since we're a couple of hours to the north and inland some we haven't had any problems with the smoke or even seen it, We could smell it faintly one day but its not been a problem for us. We too though have been having those Santa Ana winds. I have read years back that they really are Santanas winds not Santa Anas, or satan winds not named after the town. These aren't anything new, they've always been here. They blow in from the desert to the east of us.

Thanks! We've been pretty fortunate here. Although we often get wind warnings from the power company that they will be turning our power off as a fire prevention tactic, we've skated so far.



Yes lambertina has it right. We're pretty safe from these fires. We have concrete tiles on the roof, no trees on the property and a very defensible space as well if we get some up here.


No sir, no smoke. Those winds blowing from the east are blowing everything out to sea down there. We did have those winds yesterday morning too and were under a power outage warning. The Santa Anas yesterday up here were in the 35-45mph range. With the temps in the mid to upper thirties, I can tell ya it was pretty dang cold. That's when we went and helped our friend process his cattle. He's a fireman for Bakersfield City FD. He was heading back today to work and thought he might be gone for a while, so we kinda had to get it done. We were gonna do it last Fri but he was on call and thought he might be heading down the hill.

Meanwhile I finished off a new batch of knives and we got them on the website last night. Here's one for a member here. A Sonoran Belt Knife with a red woolcarta handle and an African Blackwood spacer:

Another Sonoran Belt Knife in dark ironwood:

And some on the website. A Coyote with an elk handle and a jasper spacer:

A Cowboy with elk:

A Vaquero with Bubinga wood:

Having done this for a couple of minutes now I kinda get an idea in my head as handle materials suitable for a specific model. One that has always just looked "right" to me is a Coyote with Bocote. I've probably made a hundred of these or more over the years. I'm not sure what it is but it does look just right to me:

And the new beast. Had to call some friends over to help unload it out of the truck as it is HEAVY.

It can be set up to cut straps of all kinds of different sizes.

Although this piece of water buffalo leather wasn't that wide it will cut twelve 1.5 inch belt straps at once:

Did I ever mention we make belts. These took about a minute to cut:

Nice knives Dave.
That strap cutter will make it easier

 

[cbach8tw]

Nice knives and I see where that machine will cut a lot of belts faster.

 

[jfk1110]

Beautiful work

 

[Horsewright]

I had a custom leather shop in Vancouver B.C. when I was 30!! we did sandals, belts bags and clothing!!- 50 years ago! If I had that machine then, I might still be in the business!! A miraculous machine by 1974, or any standards!!

Yep it's sure gonna help around the place. We've been using one of those standard hand strap cutters for years. The advantage here besides volume is so much less waste as these straps are super accurate. No wobblies here and thin there and a lil wide in that part. Seemed like with that hand one even though I had a lot of experience with it, it was tricky to get an absolute true cut!

I have never seen such a contraption. That is wild!

Yeah it's pretty cool! Long past time due on our outfit.

Lot of nice knives Dave. Looking forward to the Sonoran Belt Knife. Reckon that's quite a leather machine.

Thank you David! Yeah it came out cool. Big stack of boxes heading to the UPS store this morning. All our leather machines, including both sewing machines are from this company and everything is top notch.

Nice knives Dave.
That strap cutter will make it easier

Thank you Mitch!

Nice knives and I see where that machine will cut a lot of belts faster.

Beautiful work

Thanks guys!!!

Something a lil different in this batch too. I made myself a new roundknife for cutting leather.. I use to make a lot of these for sale to other leatherworks but I backed off due to health and safety issues. These #%^#$**($# suckers wanna jump off the grinder and bite you! I'd made a few in the recent past for friends and I was making one for a friend in this batch. I had one pre heat treated blank left so said what the heck and made one for me too. The one on the right is my new one and the one on the left is ready to retire. He started out the same size and shape as the new one.

I used mesquite on the handle of this one and African Blackwood on the other. Here are the two new ones:

These guys have one job and that is to cut leather. I expect then to cut heavy saddle leather cleanly in one pass and they do. When making one for someone else I always have that knife cut out its own sheath to make sure its sharp enough:

It got er done. I don't make sheaths for my own as they live on the workbench. They are the one tool that is never put away and since my leather work bench is pretty big there are usually a couple on the bench. One on each side with in easy reach.

I might actually get back to making them, kinda thinking about it. The one above goes to duramax here on the forums a fine leather bender. He has one already and needed another.

We do a lot of gun leather too and often matching up with a sheath.

Over the years we've put together quite a collection of "blueguns", molds for making holsters. Its crazy how expensive these plastic things are, bout $55 on average.

We keep em in a big box under the workbench. I was digging through them the other day looking for a specific one to make a holster for a customer. Got em all laid out It kinda struck me. There is one there an extremely classic and popular handgun and I've only ever made one holster for it which is crazy considering how many there are out there in the world.

Kinda prominent in that pic above. Any guesses which one? Anyhoo I often save lil leather jobs like this holster and another I need to do for in between knife batches. Kind gives me a lil break.

 

[waynorth]

Kinda prominent in that pic above. Any guesses which one? Anyhoo I often save lil leather jobs like this holster and another I need to do for in between knife batches. Kind gives me a lil break.

1911-A1??

 

[Horsewright]

1911-A1??

No sir I make tons of holsters for the 1911 and lots of its variants

 

[waynorth]

Someone will come along more knowledgable than I am, and get it right!!!!

 

[Horsewright]

Someone will come along more knowledgable than I am, and get it right!!!!

Genealogically you are very close.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

Yep it's sure gonna help around the place. We've been using one of those standard hand strap cutters for years. The advantage here besides volume is so much less waste as these straps are super accurate. No wobblies here and thin there and a lil wide in that part. Seemed like with that hand one even though I had a lot of experience with it, it was tricky to get an absolute true cut!

Yeah it's pretty cool! Long past time due on our outfit.

Thank you David! Yeah it came out cool. Big stack of boxes heading to the UPS store this morning. All our leather machines, including both sewing machines are from this company and everything is top notch.

Thank you Mitch!


Thanks guys!!!

Something a lil different in this batch too. I made myself a new roundknife for cutting leather.. I use to make a lot of these for sale to other leatherworks but I backed off due to health and safety issues. These #%^#$**($# suckers wanna jump off the grinder and bite you! I'd made a few in the recent past for friends and I was making one for a friend in this batch. I had one pre heat treated blank left so said what the heck and made one for me too. The one on the right is my new one and the one on the left is ready to retire. He started out the same size and shape as the new one.

I used mesquite on the handle of this one and African Blackwood on the other. Here are the two new ones:

These guys have one job and that is to cut leather. I expect then to cut heavy saddle leather cleanly in one pass and they do. When making one for someone else I always have that knife cut out its own sheath to make sure its sharp enough:

It got er done. I don't make sheaths for my own as they live on the workbench. They are the one tool that is never put away and since my leather work bench is pretty big there are usually a couple on the bench. One on each side with in easy reach.

I might actually get back to making them, kinda thinking about it. The one above goes to duramax here on the forums a fine leather bender. He has one already and needed another.

We do a lot of gun leather too and often matching up with a sheath.

Over the years we've put together quite a collection of "blueguns", molds for making holsters. Its crazy how expensive these plastic things are, bout $55 on average.

We keep em in a big box under the workbench. I was digging through them the other day looking for a specific one to make a holster for a customer. Got em all laid out It kinda struck me. There is one there an extremely classic and popular handgun and I've only ever made one holster for it which is crazy considering how many there are out there in the world.

Kinda prominent in that pic above. Any guesses which one? Anyhoo I often save lil leather jobs like this holster and another I need to do for in between knife batches. Kind gives me a lil break.

Strap cutters suck something fierce. They have these new small plastic black ones with a metal knob that are much more accurate and great for smaller straps. About ten bucks on amazon.

The big wooden ones never like to lock in place real good.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Yep it's sure gonna help around the place. We've been using one of those standard hand strap cutters for years. The advantage here besides volume is so much less waste as these straps are super accurate. No wobblies here and thin there and a lil wide in that part. Seemed like with that hand one even though I had a lot of experience with it, it was tricky to get an absolute true cut!

Yeah it's pretty cool! Long past time due on our outfit.

Thank you David! Yeah it came out cool. Big stack of boxes heading to the UPS store this morning. All our leather machines, including both sewing machines are from this company and everything is top notch.

Thank you Mitch!


Thanks guys!!!

Something a lil different in this batch too. I made myself a new roundknife for cutting leather.. I use to make a lot of these for sale to other leatherworks but I backed off due to health and safety issues. These #%^#$**($# suckers wanna jump off the grinder and bite you! I'd made a few in the recent past for friends and I was making one for a friend in this batch. I had one pre heat treated blank left so said what the heck and made one for me too. The one on the right is my new one and the one on the left is ready to retire. He started out the same size and shape as the new one.

I used mesquite on the handle of this one and African Blackwood on the other. Here are the two new ones:

These guys have one job and that is to cut leather. I expect then to cut heavy saddle leather cleanly in one pass and they do. When making one for someone else I always have that knife cut out its own sheath to make sure its sharp enough:

It got er done. I don't make sheaths for my own as they live on the workbench. They are the one tool that is never put away and since my leather work bench is pretty big there are usually a couple on the bench. One on each side with in easy reach.

I might actually get back to making them, kinda thinking about it. The one above goes to duramax here on the forums a fine leather bender. He has one already and needed another.

We do a lot of gun leather too and often matching up with a sheath.

Over the years we've put together quite a collection of "blueguns", molds for making holsters. Its crazy how expensive these plastic things are, bout $55 on average.

We keep em in a big box under the workbench. I was digging through them the other day looking for a specific one to make a holster for a customer. Got em all laid out It kinda struck me. There is one there an extremely classic and popular handgun and I've only ever made one holster for it which is crazy considering how many there are out there in the world.

Kinda prominent in that pic above. Any guesses which one? Anyhoo I often save lil leather jobs like this holster and another I need to do for in between knife batches. Kind gives me a lil break.

I would guess maybe what looks like a Ruger Security Six (hard to tell on my phone) ? Lots out there, but most don't get carried much anymore.