2024 Stohlman Award Ceremony Returns to Historic Sheridan Inn
Barry King, recipient of the 2024 Al Stohlman Award, began his career working with leather at the age of nine, when he made a tooled holster for his BB gun as a 4-H project. In the following years, he worked on a variety of projects, aided by the great leather tooler, Bill Gardner. Later, while working at King’s Saddlery in his hometown of Sheridan, Wyoming, he was fortunate enough to have some of the best leather crafters and teachers working beside him, pushing him to be the best he could be for his age. These included his legendary grandfather and 1998 recipient of the Al Stohlman Award, Don King, his father, Bruce King, Uncle John King, and 2018 Al Stohlman Award recipient, James Jackson.
One way in which his grandfather pushed him to be a better leather crafter was to pass by his workstation at King’s Saddlery and comment, “What are you butchering today?” This inspired him to strive for excellence in order to keep the family legacy of great leather crafters and tool makers alive for another generation.
Once leather crafting became a passion, he made the decision to create some tools for unique designs that were not available to him. Although his first tools were not, in his own words, “best sellers or a clean product”, it did create the desire in him to take a machining class in high school. During this time, a talented shop teacher who dabbled in leatherwork, Dwight French, came to his aid. From there his desire to work with metal blossomed and became the basis for the business he founded, owns, and runs today.
An opportunity arose during his high school years for a scholarship from Tandy Leather Company. He applied for and was awarded the scholarship in his senior year. This gave his father, Bruce King, the idea to nominate him, without his knowledge, for the prestigious Ann Stohlman Youth Award, resulting in his being the first recipient of
the Award in 1994.
After high school, he continued his passion for leather crafting while attending college, purchasing a metal lathe during his first year to better pursue the tool making side of the leather craft industry. He spent his time crafting leather items at King’s Saddlery during the day and manufacturing tools at night.
In 1998, he decided to leave King’s Saddlery and devote his time and energy to developing his own new business, Barry King Tools. Today, Barry King Tools has six employees, who along with Barry, create over 2500 items sold to leather crafters around the world. He says his main enjoyment is teaching the craft and seeing how the knowledge he shares inspires and expands crafters’ talents in their own unique way.
Barry thanks his parents, wife, and children, instructors, customers, students and peers for all the support and encouragement that have made his “40-year life in leather” well worth all the hard work! Barry is the only recipient to date of both the Ann Stohlman Youth Award (1994) and Al Stohlman Award!
Excerpted from the Leather Crafters Journal. Used with permission. Laier, Tony. “2024 Stohlman Award Ceremony Returns to Historic Sheridan Inn”. The Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal. Jul/Aug 2024: p 36-37. Print.