La Grange Cowboy Gathering 2012

I did this same show three years ago and the week of the show a cold front blew in with rain and sleet and it stayed throughout the show.  Well two for two for us, the week was beautiful leading up to the show and then the rain came, and came, and came....  We still had a few troopers come out and swing by the booth and we managed to strum up a little business and meet some new folks.  Not many pictures taken but here's a few.

This was taken while packing up items in the shop.

Here is part of the booth. 

The booth next to me was none other than George Boutwell, the Texas artist.

This is my new chink stand that Doug did for me in exchange for the chainsaw chink work.  It worked out perfect and is a great addition to the booth.  Thanks again Doug.

We had some guys from Israel (they were from Houston but were raised in Israel) next to us selling fresh made crepes and orange juice.  Not exactly what I expected at a cowboy gathering but neat guys none the less.  Dutch oven cobbler outside and crepes inside, you don't get to see that hanging out in the mall.

That's all for now.  I'll be getting the orders taken at the show out soon as possible.  Thanks, RW

Legal Pad

I went back to the drawing board with my pattern for a padfolio (full size legal pad) and came out with this.  It works better than the ones I have made in the past and I really like it.  It will also be heading to the cowboy gathering with us, so come out and check out the booth.  I will have a small table full of ready made things and will be there to take any custom orders that you may have.  Fayette County Fairgrounds, Friday 4p-8p and Saturday 10a-8p; Best Little Cowboy Gathering in Texas.  Come on out and see the show.  RW

Spur Straps for the Road

Here are a couple of spur straps that I made for the table at the cowboy gathering.  You may recognize the floral "doves" from the antique tutorial.  I finally got them edged and finished.  I have found my new favorite spur strap buckles with these Horseshoe Brand buckles.

Another Double A Belt

The fellas over at Double A Breakaways came through with another belt order.  This one was a straight belt with a dyed background and decorative cut liner.  Thanks again to DJ and Mike.  Hope you like it.

Right now I'm finishing up some knife holster sheaths for my trade show table.  The first show of the year we are doing is this weekend, March 9th and 10th, right here in LaGrange.  The Best Little Cowboy Gathering will kick off Friday at 4 and run through Saturday.  Jake Hooker and many others are playing, hope to see you there.  RW

Chainsaw Chap Remodel

Well here is the latest project out of the shop.  It is a set of protective chainsaw chaps that I remodeled to resemble a pair of chinks.  There are quite a few pics to see some of the detail spots I put on it so bear with me.

This is how they started out.

 I cut all of the canvas straps off, rounded the bottoms, added a little fringe, and put a tooled belt on them.  Here's how they turned out.  The legs are a black canvas material over a layer of kevlar.

Here's how they look on my underpaid professional model.  He's working on becoming a plus size model soon.

I made the buckle straps wide so they hopefully would grab more of the chap to pull around the leg for more protection.

Here's a close up of the yoke section with his brand in the tooling.  These have a full solid yoke across instead of seperate sides like normal chaps.  I used all Jeremiah Watt stainless steel buckles.

This is Doug's name fingercut into the liner of the belt.

And a flying armadillo put into the liner of the yoke section.

All of the stitching was done on my new Cobra Class 4 that is by far worth every penny.  It breezed through this project with no complaints. 

They were done and delivered in time for his carving exhibition at the Rodeo Austin Cowboy Breakfast.  If you're around Austin area, go downtown and check out some of his work in progress, March 2nd, 6am to 9am.  On to another belt and preparing for the spring garden.  Take care, RW

New Machinery

My new sewing machine has finally arrived.  This machine will open new opportunities for the shop.  It will be able to handle many things my old machine could not, such as saddle blankets, saddle skirts, padded items, etc.  It will also give me better control of stitch length on my other goods.  Thanks to Steve at Leather Machine Company for the machine.

When I opened the machine package it had a "test run" still attached to it from Steve testing and setting up the machine.  It is something I would absolutely never come close to doing, but impressive all the same.

That's probably around a 1" thick hunk of leather stitched perfect. 

Also while I was down in Lockhart last weekend, my folks ran across a nice find at an estate sale so I went over and picked up a good running Singer 331K.  It is already setup with a roller foot and good feed dogs for doing smaller work such as wallet liners, etc.  I'll have a big learning curve to overcome on both of these machines, so I'll be burning through my scrap pile for the next week or so.  Hopefully some work will be rolling off of these soon.  I have a really neat project on the bench as we speak that I should have done in the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned.....

P.S.  The Ferdco 440 is still for sale and needs to move so I can have room for the new machine.  Take care, RW

Rifle Package

I had this order come in for a rifle sling, butt stock ammo cuff and a pancake style knife sheath.  The sling was built to match one that the customer provided.  The sling is basketstamped, dyed with mahogany and has the customers brand cut in.  The cuff is dyed to match and will hold ten 22 mag shells.  The laced holes are reinforced to prevent stretching when pulling it tight.  This package was a fun project.  It was tough getting a good picture of the whole setup but hopefully you can get the idea.  RW