Paul Long: The Master teaching masters

R

RonNewton

Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
340
The week after the Arkansas Custom Knife Show, Jimmy Chin from Taiwan, and myself were allowed to take a private one-on-one sheath class with the master of leather, Paul Long.

What a phenominal time with Paul. His knowlege of leather blows me away. His Texas style hospitality is above all others. The drive through the Texas hill country brought back many fond memories of my Texas roots and heritage. Yep, the secret's out, I'm really not an Arky, I was born in Texas but live in Arkansas.:thumbup:

This rare leather sheath making opportunity occurred in beautiful Kerrville, Texas.
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From the most important step of sheath making ( the paper pattern) to the final 6 sheaths.
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Jimmy's eyes stayed focused on Paul's every move like super glue.
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The "crosshairs" trick
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Paul Long, You ARE the man! Thanks for everything you taught us. Ron and Jimmy.
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COOL post Ron! Paul is DEFINITELY at the top of the class in sheathmaking.

Nice looking workshop...ESPECIALLY that stitching machine!

Peter
 
What a wonderful opportunity. Great looking shop, fantastic leather work !
 
What a great experience for you two, Ron.

Paul is definitely the Man in the sheath world, and Ron and Jimmy are just the two to soak up what he has to teach.

BTW, the sheaths are fantastic, just right for those knives!

John
 
Thanks John,Peter,Bobby and Dusty.

Jimmy plans to put the training to work immediately. However for myself, as long as the post office is in business and Paul hasn't retired, I plan to keep sending my knives to Paul. For the future it's nice to know how to construct a sheath using his techniques. Don't panic anyone, he has not said he's retiring anytime soon. Thank goodness. If everyone is smart they'll grab a set of his DVD's before they run out. I didn't see just a whole lot of them left in his cabinet.
 
Ron, while there may be a number of knifemakers who could do that level of work with proper training and gear, i suspect that it would still take them 5 times as long or more to finish anything. ;)
 
Joe,
You hit the nail on the head. At the youthful age of 80, Paul has many years of experience under his belt. From what I saw, there's not a minute of time wasted in his shop. I would be embarrassed at how long it would take me to make those same 6 sheaths. The guy is a working machine. I hope in 27 years when I'm his age I can just tie my shoes.
 
jdm61 said:
Ron, while there may be a number of knifemakers who could do that level of work with proper training and gear, i suspect that it would still take them 5 times as long or more to finish anything. ;)
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Yep - it's a tough enough job to be an artist, but to be an efficient one as well? That's the mark of a master.
 
Damn, I wish I could afford those DVD's. I'm not calling them expensive, either. I'd buy them in a heartbeat. Hope I can do it while there are still some left. What a great opportunity for the two of you! That Jimmy gets around, I remember seeing him in the thread where the DeRosiers went to Rodrigo's shop in Brazil, I envied that BIG time too.
 
I wish I would have known that he sold them too. I ordered mine from Chris because he had a few more DVD's that I have been wanting to pick up.
 
Thanks for the post!! Paul is a class act and just a few minutes on the phone with him and you'll understand! I'd love to get to watch him put a sheath together in person some day... :)
 
Somewhere around the time when Paul was just introducing himself to the forums, I decided to send him a couple of blades for some clothes. What I received in the mail totally blew my mind.

When I finally met him at Blade a few years ago, we instantly became friends.

He is not only an amazing artist, but a true southern gentleman.

Robert
 
Wow! None of my hats fit me any more. Thanks to all of you for all the kind words.

First, just a quick mention of the DVDs. Chris Crawford did what I think is a magnificent job of production on those three DVDs. I don't ordinarily sell them but I did have a few on my table in Little Rock recently. There is not, and will not be, a shortage of the DVDs. Chris has them reproduced as the stock runs low so there will be plenty of them forever. Just visit Chris at his web site. The link is below in my sig line should you be inclined to use it.

Now, the few magic days I had with two of my good friends will be cataloged with my "fond memories" forever. Jimmy is a super student and his attention ethic is flawless. It was such a great experience to have these two guys, both at the very top of their game, spend a few days with me in the shop.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of Jimmy's leather work in the near future.......and Ron's maybe a few years from now.;)

Paul
 
Paul is so much more than the greatest leather smith that this community has ever seen. He's the best fiend and mentor that a guy could have. The way he conducts himself in business and life is something we can all learn from

BTW

My Pappys got a picture of me and a Big Cape Buffalo above his bench :)

That made me smile Paul thanks
 
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