Name:
Mark S. Collins
Address:
Festus Missouri
Website:
www.theleathercraftsman.com
What does your company do with leather?
Actually I do not own a company
based in the leather industry. I own
and operate a web site dedicated to
the leather industry and driven by
my love of the old west, leather
craft and family history. In today's
world with a large amount of imports
including old west cheap replicas in
the market place; the number of
American craftsman producing hand
made leather goods dwindle every
year. My goal is to promote the
spirit of the old west and the pride
of hand made American leather goods.
My belief is based on a very rich
family history in hand made leather
goods. This started with a talented
and adventurous great uncle that
came from very simple means in
Southeast Missouri. Walter Lee
Newell started Newell's Saddle Shop
and Cowboy Store in 1935. In 1950
the world started changing and he
was forced to close his shop, but
his story continues today with
reclaimed saddles and his life's
history. My web site is dedicated to
Uncle Walter and anyone who is still
trying to produce hand made leather
goods.
How did you
first get started in leather
crafting?
My dad got me started with a Tandy kit when I was very young. He
also had plenty of stories from my great uncles saddle shop.
What inspired you to create your website?
After finding my first Newell Saddle on eBay I started asking my dad
(our family historian) a lot of questions about my great uncle and
his saddle shop. Maybe it was fate or luck but dad and I found more
saddles along with some original catalogs and magazine ads
.
At that point it was obvious that the story of Walter Lee Newell and
his saddle shop had to be told. Family stories were told for years
how Uncle Walter sold saddles to the stars of the silver screen.
These stories were exciting but could not be published until we
found proof. That proof came in the two catalogs that had the actual
information in them.
In those catalogs there were pictures
of Uncle Walter with Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, Sons of the Pioneers
and many others. The 1944-1945 catalog has a picture on the back of
it with Roy Rogers and Trigger endorsing the Newell Saddle. Here is
that picture:
Below
is another picture we have with Uncle Walter and Roy Rogers in front
of the Newell shop:
You may notice in this picture
that Uncle Walter also owned a music shop. Actually he was a man of
many talents. Besides the western store and music shop he was also
an avid photographer. At some point Uncle Walter did a weekly live
music show on a local radio station in St. Louis called KMOX. That
radio station is still on the air today.
I have deviated from
the original story. Below is a picture with Gabby Hayes in the shop:
Picture 10 is Gabby Hayes, picture 8
is a picture of the Son's of the Pioneers and picture 7 is Roy
Rogers.
With this much proof it was time to turn up the web
site and tell the world about Walter Lee Newell. So at that point
http://www.theleathercraftsman.com was born.
Do you sell
anything on your website?
The only item you may find for sale
is an original Newell Saddle that is for sale by owner. Everything
else on the site is informational only with links to current
craftsman and leather related products.
Your uncle's story is a whole interview in
itself, but please explain how your family first got started in the
leather crafting and saddle business, dating back to when you uncle
first started his business.
Walter Lee Newell was born Nov. 8,
1904 in Bollinger County Missouri which is located in the Southeast
part of the state and died July 2, 1993 in Los Angles CA. He was
born in a community know as Sank Missouri which had a general store
and a post office in the store. Walter was the first of seven
children of Doc and Nora Wycoff-Newell. The Sank store was the
typical store that catered to the community's everyday needs. Next
door to the store on the south side was a blacksmith shop operated
by Francis Newell. John Newell operated a gristmill just north of
the store and Doc owned and operated a saw mill near the store.
Francis and John were both uncles of Walter. The Sank store was
built in 1909 by Jasper Cooper who was married to Sarah
Newell-Cooper sister of Francis, John and Doc. However time and
conditions caused all of the Newell operations to close by 1930. Doc
and Nora then purchased a general store in the community of
Schlatitz Missouri after the Owner of the store passed away and the
store was put up for sale. Schlatitz was also a small farming
community located about two miles east of the Sank store.
With the closing of the Newell operations Walter moved to the St.
Louis Missouri and opened a Music store and Photography Studios at
1627 South Broadway and a Cowboy store at 1629 South Broadway.
Walter was also an experienced musician and did a weekly music show
on KXOX radio in St. Louis.
In the Cowboy store Walter
carried a full line of western boots made by Justin and Nocona,
Dobbs "Ten Gallon" western hats and cowboy Levi's. In addition to
human wear he carried a full line of horse furnishings. In the early
1930's he expanded his operation into making and repairing western
saddles and opened a factory at 1906 South 7th Street in St. Louis.
In a 1942 ad he claimed to be "The only exclusive cowboy store in
St. Louis" In Walter's 1944/45 catalog he states he made saddles for
such well known people such as Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes. Col Jim
Eskew world famous Rodeo producer of Royer Rogers Rodeo says "It is
my business to know saddles as well as horseflesh. I am a Newell
saddle booster because Newell saddles can really "take" it". When
the United States entered WWII Walter's shop flourished making many
different item for support of our military. Leather was more widely
used in that time where plastic is now used. The saddle factory was
set up well to produce such things helmet liners, belts, straps and
other military needs. After the war ended the call for working
saddles fell way off and he turned to making trail ride saddle,
parade and show saddles. In his 1948/49 catalog he still was making
and keeping in stock working saddles but he had turn his attention
to high end parade saddle and show saddles such as his Silver Dollar
Saddle with one hundred real silver dollars decorating the saddle.
This saddle was hand tooled in western floral design with Sterling
silver Conchos. This saddle was custom made to order and started at
$795.00 complete with Bridle, Martingale and a fancy Corona Blanket.
However you could still purchase the all plain Roper saddle with top
grade leather, full border embossed for $125.00. After the war
Walter made an aluminum tree saddle with a one hundred year
guarantee. Due to the changing trends in America Walter closed the
saddle shop in late 1950 and moved to Manitou Springs CO. where he
opened a western store selling western wear, new and used guns, and
items for the tourist business.
Because of the construction
of the Newell saddle many are still in use today as working saddles
and trail ride saddles. Several of his custom ordered saddles and
parade saddle are being restored to their former beauty and are
prized by their owners.
The below statement is from a Newell
catalog.
"We employ well trained skilled workman that have had
years of experience in the saddle making business, and do our best
at all times to put the best workmanship possible in all saddles. We
use only the best grade of saddle skirting leather throughout. Our
trees are all hand made by skilled workman. Our men are paid by the
hour. We have no piece work in our shop assuring you better quality
of workman."
Walter L. Newell
What led you to the Tippmann Boss for your
leather crafting equipment
needs?
I purchased
a Newell saddle that was in
great need of repair (basket
case). After evaluating the
saddle I decided it could be
salvaged but the undertaking
would be more than I could
handle with just hand tools. It
was obvious that the saddle was
originally sewed with a machine.
After spending a
significant amount of time
researching leather sewing
machines on the Internet I kept
coming back to the Tippmann. The
machine had great reviews at an
affordable price and was small
enough to fit in my crafting
room.
Even with all this
great information I was still
hesitant to make the purchase
because I had never used a
leather sewing machine. While
out and about on a weekend I
stopped at a saddle shop in
Farmington Missouri. The owner
(Mike) and I struck up a
conversation about saddles. He
was familiar with Newell saddles
and had repaired a couple for
customers.
I told Mike
my dilemma of making a decision
on a sewing machine to finish my
restoration project. Mike
offered to help me out and took
me into the repair shop to show
me his setup and sewing machine.
There on his bench sat a
Tippmann Boss. After seeing some
of the items Mike had recently
repaired and seeing the machine
in action I went home and
ordered a Boss. I have not
regretted that decision since.
How long have you had your Boss?
I have had my Tippmann for
over a year now.
What type of machine
were you using before the Tippmann?
The Tippmann was
in fact my first leather sewing machine.
Do you have any tips
or tricks for using the Tippmann Boss?
Something I like to do on many of my
projects is to make a stitched item look like it was hand stitched.
I will sew it with my Boss but at the beginning and end I will leave
enough thread to do a standard saddle stitch. This gives the project
a hand sewn look but was accomplished on a machine.
Please
tell us about the Newell Saddle that you restored.
When I decided to restore a Newell saddle I had no idea what I
was doing. In the end I put more money into the saddle than it will
ever be worth, but that was not the point. We live in a world were
people are used to going to a store and purchasing an item. That
item no matter what it may be is normally a throw away product. We
no longer live in a world were products are made to last a lifetime.
Or were in a world where people are required to learn how to fix
something that their very survival depends on it.
I believe
it is important to not forget were we come from and how to do basic
tasks to fix broken equipment. That is one reason why I took on the
saddle restore. I had no idea what I was doing but quickly found out
that it was not rocket since. In fact the saddle was simplistic in
its design and construction.
Here are a couple of pics of
the saddle disassembled.
I did not know exactly what the saddle looked like
new, but I had all the basics. It was obvious where the spots were
and the size of the spots. I also had a rusted up concho so I had an
idea of what that looked like. I also had a good idea from research
that Newell Saddles were sometimes one off show saddles. So with
this knowledge and my Boss I went to work. Below is the finished
saddle:
It is obvious from the picture that most of
the stitching on the saddle is new. All of the stitching was
accomplished with my Boss. The stitch length adjustment came in very
handy allowing me to hit the original holes in the leather.
This was an incredible experience that I will certainly repeat
again. Without my Boss this project would have been impossible.
Since then I have used my Boss on other projects and always
enjoy using it. Below is a holster I made for my favorite
six-shooter:
Click here to see more boss customers
| 
