Contrary to popular belief, I don’t live, breathe, and eat leather…at least not all the time. One of the many small things I do on a regular basis is a little time with dirt under my fingernails. It’s a way of keeping grounded. As Malcolm Gladwell once said “we cannot separate ourselves from where we’ve […]

This spring and summer seems like the busiest time this year. Just one of the projects I’m working on is this year’s TCAA saddle. In my visits with my co-conspirator Scott Hardy we came up with this idea of a dyed border that would frame up the saddle. It is always an anxious process when […]

I taught a design and floral carving class at Christoval, Texas in June. We had ten students who spent one day working on paper learning principles of design and a systematic way of laying visual information down. The second day featured instruction on swivel knife work, and stamping tool selection and use. I was very […]

The first village liberated by the Americans was St. Mere Eglise. This little village is much as it was seventy years ago. The film ‘The Longest Day’ starring Robert Mitchum and John Wayne featured the story that unfolded here. Pfc John Steele made history when he, in the dark hours before daylight on June 6 […]

West of Omaha Beach lies Utah Beach where a far less bloody battle took place here on D-Day. Utah Beach would serve as the port of entry for allied forces. Vast numbers of personnel, materiel, jeeps and tanks began their trek to Berlin here.

Seventy years ago today, allied forces successfully cracked Hitler’s Atlantic Wall at Normandy. Specially trained Army Rangers landed near a point of land called Pointe du Hoc where their mission was to dispatch the 88 mm gun that was positioned on the cliff high above the sea. The Rangers achieved their objective in scaling the […]

I had thought about the possibility of making a saddle with an inlaid seat using beaver tail leather, but didn’t think it would work. The largest tails I’ve used have been five inches wide at their widest, so one tail would hardly be wide enough to get the job done. I had trouble imagining piecing […]

The saddlemakers of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association recently visited the tannery that is Hermann Oak Leather Company in St. Louis. What an educational and enlightening trip! I have always been a fan of Hermann Oak leather, but now I’m a true disciple. What Shep Hermann (current CEO) and his staff (75 strong) have done […]

When we stand next to our saddle on its stand, we have a hand on it. When we pause at a branding, we rest our forearm on its cap. We take our dallies on it and turn off. It often helps us step across the saddle as we climb on. It is there when we […]

A first class stamp was fifteen cents, gas had spiked to an astronomical 85 cents a gallon, and I was in Boise, Idaho the fall of 1979. College classes were calling me, but I was trying to steal some time with leather too. All of my classes were arranged so that I could have my […]