Don King: The Man in the Center 

By Nick Pernokas 

They say that a good writer should never interject himself into his stories. They say a lot of things. When dealing with “legends” of the West, they say when the legend outshines the fact, print the Read more

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Tanner Custom Leather

Heading West – I mean East – To Texas Horse Country

By Gene Fowler

Christmas morning, 1986, in Wilcox, Arizona. Eight-year-old Adam Tanner tears into his presents. His face lights up at the first glimpse of one particular gift Read more

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Brandit Franco: Drifting No More 

By Nick Pernokas 

Brandit Franco grew up in the heart of Florida’s cowboy country. The family business was starting colts and training ranch horses. Brandit’s father, Sam Franco, took a lot of horses to ride that weren’t making it Read more

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Don Gonzales: Riding the Wave of Social Media

By Nick Pernokas

Many of us, who have been in the leather business for a long time, started out with Al Stohlman books and Tandy Leather tools. Some craftsmen were even able to go to a Tandy store and Read more

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Big-Small World of Leathercraft, South African Edition 

WOODENWULF 

by Gene Fowler 

As I sat wondrously immersed in the universe of the television program Yellowstone during its recently concluded fourth season—the hats, the horses, ranchers, cowboys, pretty women, gorgeous country, and a lone guitar—the notion that Read more

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Clinton Hole: Finding a Niche

By Nick Pernokas 

The June heat came off the tarmac in shimmery waves outside the cattle pens at the Oklahoma City stockyards. It was just another sale day, and the cowboy enjoyed moving the cattle up the alleys on Read more

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Contour Saddlery: A New Way of Looking at an Old Art

By Nick Pernokas 

The third grader sat on her Grannie’s daybed, reading. Her grandmother’s cottage was in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and the open window allowed in the ocean air and the sounds from an osprey nest in the tree outside. It was a Read more

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Life in the Bush

Long-time Australian saddler finds renewed purpose in full-time book authorship  

By Lynn Ascrizzi 

Rick Allen, who lives in the Levendale area of Tasmania, retired last year after a three-decades-long career in saddlery. “I built my first saddle in 1989; I built my last saddle in 2019,” he said. Reflecting on his many years as a skilled leatherworker, he added, “I’m probably an all-around saddler.”  

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. Roughly the Read more

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DND Leather – Where Beauty and Function Come Together

by Liisa Andreassen 

When the colts she was riding started breaking her stuff, Dee Dee McGraw took matters into her own hands. She knew that making her own repairs would save her money, but what she didn’t know was that it would eventually lead to a full-time gig. She started Read more

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Buster Welch: The Man and the Saddle

By Nick Pernokas 

King Ranch’s Peppy San Badger and Buster Welch cutting on some cattle at Norias Division, King Ranch.

Tommy and I had roped the night before in Abilene. Now, over breakfast, Tommy said, “Let’s go see Buster.” That was one Read more

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