Bruce Johnson’s Blog

Custom Leather Shaving Kit- angled view

One of my favorite personal items to make is a custom shaving kit. My early orders came from rodeo cowboys who wanted something bigger to carry full size shampoo bottles, hand towels, washcloths, and everything else a guy needs to pack around.  These kits are 11x 6×6 and I can always make them smaller or bigger yet.

Custom Leather Shaving Kit - side view

    I build several of these over a year. They have been a popular custom order for gifts, awards, and personal orders. This particular one has the rope border, basket stamping, and single oak leaf corner pattern tooled on it. I was particularly excited to get this order.  This one was a gift for a great roper and took me back to the roots of making  them.

To see other examples of my work, please follow this link to my website – Bruce Johnson Leatherwork.

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

Rope bags and rope cans are some of my more common requests, and I sure like making them. This is a recent order for a custom rope bag that went to a team roper in North Carolina. It was a gift order and from the guest book response on my website – very well received. 

Custom Leather Rope Bag

The design is pretty popular for me on rope cans, but hasn’t been done on very many bags. The oak leaves come out from under silver conchos. I can make these bags any size, but this particular one finished out with a 6-1/4 inch gusset and has a zippered closure. The pocket is large enough for carrying extra gloves, spurs, and rubber horn wraps

 The customer requested a shoulder carry strap instead of handles. I make my shoulder straps long enough to loop over the saddle horn. They also have a buckle at the ends to allow the bag to be hung up off a fence rail and not be on the ground.

To view other rope bag designs please follow this link > Custom Leather Rope Bags

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather

Thanks,

Rein rounders are one of the leather tools that are a little more rare to come across. They are a metal frame with holes arranged in a progressive size order.  They are used by braiders to draw braided things like reins, reatas, hackamore bodies, and leashes through to give them a rounded profile. Leather workers draw leather straps though to create round profiles for handles, dog collars and leashes, reins, headstalls, and other round strap work.

Leather Rein Rounders For Sale

Usually when I get a rein rounder in, it is already spoken for. Today I listed three for sale on my website. Two are bench mounted styles and have a wide base that is screwed down onto a workbench.  I also have one today that is secured in a vise. They are popular with braiders and others who don’t have a lot of surplus bench space. They can be stored easily in a drawer or shelf.

To see these and other leather tools I currently have for sale, please follow this link to my main website > Leather Tools For Sale

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

In spite of unseasonal California rain, rain gutters plugged with leaves, and reinstalling the downspout diverters, I  have added quite a few vintage leather tools for sale to my website this evening. There are some really nice ones in this set.

      First off are two good plough gauges. One is a Brindley and is much like the good old Dixons. The other added tonight is a good brass-framed Blanchard – one of the revered makers of beautiful leather tools that work as well as they look.

Blanchard and Brindley Leather Plough Gauges For Sale

I have added some great knives. There are two Gomphs that are very good, as well as a couple Osbornes with the Newark NJ marking. I also added an unmarked knife as well. I have had several of these unmarked knives and they are very good. Everyone who has bought one is happy. Two buyers of the unmarked knives have replied back that they were better than some expensive modern knives they have been using.

Gomph and Osborne Leather Round Knives For Sale

I have also listed three draw gauges – one with a 4 inch bar, another with a six inch bar, both with wooden slab handles. I have also listed an all metal draw gauge as an affordable tried and true user. These all have new blades and have been sharpened. They have all the gibs and are ready to use.

CS Osborne Leather Draw Gauges For Sale

I have also added several overstitchers, edge bevellers, edge creasers, and strap end punches. To view these and other tools I currently have for sale, please follow this link to the leather tool section of my main website > Bruce Johnson Leather Tools .

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

This is a custom odered leather shaving kit. It is one of the first orders given for the graduation and Father’s Day season so far. These are a popular order for these type of gifts as well as groomsmen gifts and personal orders.

 This particular shaving kit has a black strip border. Inside of that is a rope border surrounding a basket stamp pattern. This particular font is very popular for initials on this type of gift.

The gusset material used is a pebbled black chap leather to complement the black border and lettering. The strap is secured with silver cross conchos from Hansen’s Silver. To see other shaving kit examples specifically – follow this link to that section of my website >  Shaving Kits    . To see my entire website, here is the link for the homepage >  Bruce Johnson Leather .

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

I am adding some more leather tools for sale to the website today. I have three very good knives and some handled tools coming on today. One is a good sized hard to find HF Osborne in great condition. I have another Gomph knife that is a good one too. The third new one today is a CS Osborne in a really handy size for great control.

HF Osborne, Gomph, and CS Osborne Leather Round Knives For Sale

I also have some good handled tools fresh today. The Gomph patent leather/gum tool/freehand stitch groover  makes stitch grooves freehanded away from borders. It is a great tools to cut the top of stitches off for relining skirts. You run this over the top stitches to cut or weaken them. When you pull on the woolskin, the stitches pull through with very little stitch picking. That is a huge timesaver. Added today also are some larger size “layer creasers”,  CS Osborne #6 pricking wheel, round bottom edge beveler, and a nice using Gomph rein trimmer.

Gomph, CS Osborne, and HF Osborne Leather Tools For Sale

To view these and other tools I currently have for sale, please follow this link to my main website - Leather Tools For Sale 

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

It has been a long time since I have updated, but they will be more frequent again now. I have been working on gifts for the graduation/Father’s day season. No  gifts get shown until after the event, so not many new things I can show until graduation parties are done. I have been building a saddle also and that is pretty time intensive. In the meantime, I have had a lot of repair work to do, and that is not really much to look at either.

     The bigger news is the tools. I have a lot of good old leather working tools for sale. I have got in some really nice ones and am starting to get them on the website. The website has now expanded to three gallery pages to make viewing easier and to accommodate the increasing number of tools I am listing. I have a little over 200 or so to go on yet, so hang on. Some are good old vintage tools and others are maybe newer, but tried and true users like McMIllens and Osbornes.

  The main tool page has links to the category pages – cutting tools, wooden handle tools, and miscellaneous leather tools. Also to be a little more user friendly and a tease, there is a small gallery of  recently added tools on that main page. As even more of a tease and for serious collectors, I also have a gallery on the main page of some rare tools that are available.

    To whet the appetite of my tool friends, here are a few examples of some of what I have. I may have what you need to fill a set. Call me or email and we can talk about these.  Please click on the thumbnail images to open them up in a larger size.

     This is a pretty rare set of Gomph rosewood handle English point strap end punches from 3/8 to ¾ inch.

Gomph rosewood handle English point strap end punches

Gomph wood handle Eng point strap end punches - ends

I also got a run of Gomph rosewood handle round end punches in sizes from 3/8 through 1=1/8 with a few skips.

Gomph wood handle round strap end punches

Gomph wood handle round strap end punches - ends

 Finally, here is the cutest lace cutter ever. It is unused in the original little wooden box and all the graphics on the box have survived.

Elliott's lace cutter with the original box

  There are a lot more tools to come. By request I am going to start sending out email notifications when new tools are listed. If you would like to be on that list, please send me an email through my website and title the message “Tool List” and I will get you added. Eventually we will get one of those fancy software subscription programs installed, but for now I am running it manually. Please double check your email address when you submit it.  Thanks!

I have added  several more vintage leather tools for sale to my website lately and have some very nice ones.

W. Rose and CS Osborne Round and Head Knives

I have recently got in several good round knives. In this group of newly listed round knives  are a large W.  Rose knife and several C. S. Osborne round knives with the Newark NJ marking. These knives are all sharp and ready to be put to work.

French edgers, Creasers, Gouges and other hand tools

There is a small variety of hand tools. I have French edgers from Gomph and C.S. Osborne. There are some double line creasers from H. F. Osborne, and  a very nice small Gomph tickler.

C. S. Osborne rein rounder

One tool I don’t get very often is a rein rounder. These are used to pull leather or braidwork through to round the shape of it. If you need one, there really isn’t a tool that can replace it for function and ease of use.

To view these tools individually with more details and other leather tools  for sale, please follow this hyperlink to my main website – Leather Tools For Sale .

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

The last month has mostly been spent on repairs and plainer projects like farrier aprons and saddle bags for carry supplies to doctor cattle.   I did just finish up this full floral tooled rope can for a North Dakota cowgirl.

Full Floral Rope Can and Strap

This floral is a newer style pattern for me. The flower centers are antiqued silver conchos from Hansen’s Silver. She also got a matching shoulder strap with a complementary tooling pattern and matching conchos.   To see other examples of rope cans and other leather work, please follow this link to my main website – Bruce Johnson Leatherwork

Thanks,

Bruce

www.brucejohnsonleather.com

I have recently finished a run of spur strap orders. I did a few in a new pattern and one in a new style for me along with some tried and true patterns as well.

Oak Tooled Pattern Spur Straps

   I had a recent request for regular spur straps with an oakleaf and acorn pattern. I have a new tooling pattern I have been working on, and this was a chance to try it out. I made an extra set to have in stock as well.

Oak Leaf Tooled Spur Straps - close up

   This is a little closer look at the oakleaf and acorn tooling pattern for the spur straps.

Pull-Through Spur Straps with silver buckles

    These straps are a traditional cowboy style strap with basket stamping. These were a customer order and finished with silver buckle sets.

Pull-Through Spur Straps

    This set of cowboy straps were made to have in stock for faster orders. They have a center bar buckle but can be changed out for silver buckle sets as well.

Rough Stock Style Tooled Spur Straps

    This is a new style for me as far as tooled spur straps. They are a variation of the rough stock rider strap. The strap itself doubles through a ring and then comes back and buckles for a double layer of leather over the top of your boot. These were fun to design and build. The tooling pattern is a running vine type pattern that fits well and dresses up strap work.

    Thanks again for reading and following the blog, and I especially thank the customers who bring me these orders. It is more fun than should be allowed. Too see more examples of past work or links to contact me please follow this link to my main website -  Bruce Johnson Leatherwork

- Bruce