Miller Custom Leather Tool Co. was founded in 2010 when my family and I moved to Temple, Texas. Before coming to Texas we were living in Rapid City, SD where I managed the local Tandy Leather store. I had worked for Tandy in several locations starting in Albuquerque, NM. Working for Tandy introduced me to a lot of wonderful and talented leather people from all over. One of these people was a grumpy old saddle maker and master leather craftsman named Billy Wootres. Billy introduced me to his version of western floral leather carving. This introduction led to classes with other famous leather artists and trips to Sheridan, Wyoming to attend the Rocky Mountain Leather Trade Show. I immersed myself as much as possible in the craft and the people in the industry. On top of making beautiful saddles and other leather items Billy also made his own tooling stamps and I bought several from him. These stamps always worked better than anything I could get back at work and I really liked using them. After I moved away from NM, Billy and I kept in touch over phone calls and emails. I would send him images of my leather works and floral tooling patterns I had drawn and he would give me great feedback on how to make them better. In September of 2009 Billy passed and I was given the opportunity to purchase his stamp making equipment and tools. Over time I have upgraded from the tiny lathe he had to bigger and more efficient machines, but I still use many of his hand files and other tools to this day. Each leather working tool that leaves my shop has Billy’s touch on it
