Stitching Horse...

[PaulN/KS]

Any of you leather workers here have some pictures, plans or drawings of your stitching horses? I have some plans for the smaller Stitching pony style that you hold between your legs but I'm looking for the bench style that you sit on to sew.

 

[shmrck1]

Paul,
Check out www.johnsonslethercraft.com
for some ideas. Hope it helps.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[PaulN/KS]

Thanks snake-eyes but the page won't display...

 

[dodgecity]

it will if you retype the address and put the "a"in leathercraft

 

[omarick1948]

You see them now and then at Antique Shops and large Flee Markets.

 

[T.C.Albert]

I think Chuck has plans on his site for one over at Wild Rose Trading Company as a tutorial...
heres the link I think: http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/_leatherstitch.html
TCA

 

[shooyer_250]

TC,,,that's a fine horse, gonna one like it for my own use. PAUL, if you don't want to make one, Leather Unlimited sells them for about 20 bucks... the diff in quality, i reckon, would be determined by how much useage the horsey will get...Lee

 

[PaulN/KS]

Thanks for all the input Gents.
This will give me some ideas...
Paul

 

[BrownBear]

it will if you retype the address and put the "a"in leathercraft

I've tried every permutation, even using the link from googling them, and I get a server error.

 

[BrownBear]

I've got the little one from Tandy and one I made myself. Both have......er, HAD...... the same kind of tightening bolt you see in the Wild Rose picture.

Unscrew it and toss it out the window. What a PITA! Get yourself an Irwin 4" Handi-Clamp and never look back. Cheap as dirt, plenty strong and adjustable, fast, and one-handed operation.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I once saw a stitching " pony" made to fit into a hole in a shaving horse- a bench like stool used to hold wood while dressing them with spokeshaves, or draw knives. The only vise was a length of rope or braided leather, that was attached to one jaw of the pony, and then went through the a hole in the other jaw, and extended down to a stirrup that the stitcher wore on his foot. To clamp the jaws closed on the pony, he would press down on his foot. To open the jaws, he lifted his foot enough so the hands could shift or move the work in the jaws quickly, and the jaws were then closed quickly with a push of the foot to speed the stitching work. I saw an antique pony of this design, and the the strap had elongated the hole in the one jaw. I believe the jaw with the hole through it for the strap was held pretty stationary, so that the other jaw where the rope or strap was attached was the one that opened and closed.

Sitting on that 1-by can be a bit tiring, and even dangerous, if the edges are not rounded. Sharp edges tend to cut off the circulation in your thighs and legs after awhile.

 

[PaulN/KS]

Thanks paul,
I have a shaving horse that I use for making bows so an adaption like you wrote about might be a good addition...
:hatsoff:

 

[LaBonte]

The book "The Art of Handsewing Leather" by Al Stohlman has a pattern for a full size horse - there's a difference between a stitching pony and a sitching horse..........FWIW - being in the business I spend a good portion of my days sewing leather and I;ve come to prefer the pony since I can sit in a much more comofrtable position for long hours and I've spent many long hours bent over a horse so do know the difference

for those wanting to build a pony here's a pattern
Stitching Pony How-to

 

[dodgecity]

it will if you retype the address and put the "a"in leathercraft

I've tried every permutation, even using the link from googling them, and I get a server error.

BrownBear, just to check, I typed it in again just now, and it came right up. Something strange going on I guess.

 

[LaBonte]

Here's the exact link to the stitching horse that was typed in wrong above....... http://www.johnsonleathercraft.com/category/leather-stiching-horse

 

[BrownBear]

BrownBear, just to check, I typed it in again just now, and it came right up. Something strange going on I guess.

I'm betting I just caught them at the very moment their webmaster was plying his craft, with the site offline. Works fine for me now, but thanks for the retry.

Thanks too, for the clean link LaBonte. It's in my favorites now. Looks like a great building project, and just the right horse for some projects I have coming up this spring. I really like the looks of that foot pedal for tension, and the wider jaws. I'm a fairly quick stitcher, and it seems like I spend more time messing with screw clamps than sewing.

 

[rkmeyer]

I have ordered the plans for the stitching horse on Ebay and should have them this week.
The PDF plans looked pretty good to me. I made a set of jaws that go into my bench vice but that requires standing to stitch. If you are interested I will take some pix of it and post them. It consists of two maple jaws cut in the normal shape and a spring to open them as you loosen the vice. There are two strips of scrap wood on each jaw to prevent them from slipping down when there is no tension on them.
Dusty

We have an Amish saddle maker near here and he normally has some antique horses in his shop but depending on condition they can be pricy. The ones I have seen seem to be very short as though made for a very short man. I am 6'-7" so I choose to make one for myself that fits my frame.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Source: http://www.johnsonleathercraft.com/category/leather-stiching-horse