Henry Hotze & Sons 1862 - 1962

by Bent Hotze

Page 3

Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13

Collars were made with quick tanned collar leather and stuffed with straw. Henry Hotze was a very skilled leather worker. All the sewing in the era was by hand. Saddlers prepared long bees waxed linen threads - Henry made waxed threads twice as long as anyone in the factory used, and whipped the long threads around in hand stitching with great skill. Mechanization of leather working came about later with the riveting machines and heavy types of sewing machines used to sew leather.

Now, let's get into saddles, how they were made, and the handling, care, and finishing of leather for saddles which was always made from cowhide. The saddle trees that Hotze used were made of Basswood. Hayes made the cheaper trees at the penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri. These were covered with buckram, and painted red. The best were covered with beef hide (like rawhide).

Fitting patterns for saddles is quite an art - since all the patterns were fitted in the round of the seat, skirts, fenders, cantle pommel, jockeys, stirrup leather.

Patterns are fitted to the object, not from measurements. For example, when Jay Kay placed bowling shoes on each side of a bowling ball, he than made a rough shield shape cover pattern out of heavy pattern paper. He made a bottom pattern first, with cardboard, than attached his cover pattern in three parts, and brought it up to cover shoes and ball. Than he went to a wood turner and had a wood model made to which he fitted his finished pattern. He ran zippers from a reinforced back to the front. The top then lifted back when opened to get your bowling ball and shoes. The bad sold very well in the first 10 years or so, but bowlers got fussy about their shoes being cramped, and out of shape, not from the ball rolling around, but from the necessary tight fit.

The bowling bag today is simply a small overnight bag. Roomy enough for a shirt and trousers plus shoes on top of the ball which is anchored in a cup. Tournament bowlers go for more elaborate bags which will hold 2 balls, and other accessories. Jay Kay considered ladies saddles the epitome of saddle art. Albert Hotze, quite an artist in leather articles, considered the baseball cover the most difficult pattern ever made. Baseball covers are made of horsehide and hand sewn, possibly the only hand sewn leather item in use today. Football covers are made of pigskin, a very light tough leather, but porous. Why horsehide on a baseball? Possibly because it doesn't scuff easily. The strongest part of horsehide is the grain side - cowhide is the flesh side.