The Great 2009 Saddlebag Project

[santee]

Okay, other than another day or so out in the sun, these puppies are finished. 17+ hours of stitching (not to mention I had to re-sew one pocket front because it was crooked). Although my fingers feel like they've got the flu, the elation we all experience when completing a project is there.
Here's before and after to give an idea of the sun tan/olive oil results. I may topcoat these with Skidmore's.

[cowboy316]

Santee
   wonderfull job there bud  love the way its just a simple look
love how nice and even your stitching is mine is getting better
i finished my second holster it turned out better than the first try
now im working on a knife sheath for one of my huntinh knives
     Keep up the great work bud
         Cowboy316

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy Santee,

Beautiful job on your Saddle Bags! I love the look and design.... very period correct with a great looking finish. Excellent workmanship.

Hope your fingers recover from all of that stitching. I'll admit that I cheated on my last pair and had a local shoemaker sew the gusset's in for me.

[santee]

John, thanks again for your help on this project!

Cowboy316, stitching is just a matter of repetition. Once you get in the groove, you're okay until something interrupts (broken needle, broken awl, broken skin). Your last holster came out great, and the sewing looked top-notch!

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Very, very nice, Santee. I love that rich color. The saddlebags really look clean. Good job. thanks for sharing.

I don't know if you wear gloves to stitch but I have a pair with the fingertips cut off just for stitching. They don't prevent punctures and other finger tip issues but it makes it easy to pull nice, tight stitches without tearing up your hands.

[Irish Dave]

Very nice job, Santee. The bags look good. Congrats.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Howdy Santee

       Will there isn't much I can add to what has already been said, you did did a really nice job on these bags, and are making great progress in your leather crafting, keep up the good work.

                                             TW 



     Marshal Will

     Being in the meat business all the years that I was, we tied up hundreds of roast during the Holidays, and one of the big problems some of the guys had was the string tearing up their hands and fingers, so I had them wrap their fingers that came in contact with the string, with white tape, the kind you would bandage yourself up with, this enabled them to continue tieing, when I started in leather, and started doing my own stitching I remembered this and wrapped the fingers that came in contact ( or high stress ) with white tape, it works great and you have full movement of your hands and fingers, and when done, your hands don't look like Hamburger. LOL 

                                                  This works real well, give it a try 


                                                          tEN wOLVES 

[cowboywc]

Howdy
Good lookin bags. Nice work.


TW
I always use medical tape on my fingers when I sew with nylon thread.
WC

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy
Good lookin bags. Nice work.


TW
I always use medical tape on my fingers when I sew with nylon thread.
WC

Yea WC, I remember us talking about that, I guess great minds think alike, ( LOL ), The tape sure does take the hurt out of sewing.


                                            tEN wOLVES 

[santee]

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the tips, too!

[JD Alan]

17 hours? That's a marathon event. Beautiful work in every way.

[santee]

Thank you.