By Nick Pernokas 

Clay Miller was raised by an artistic family in Farmington, New Mexico. He did a few leather projects at a young age, but then became interested in sports at school. Clay’s dad was a racehorse trainer and Clay worked for him after school. 

“I was going to follow in his footsteps and become a racehorse trainer,” remembers Clay. 

By the Nineties, Clay was working full time in the racehorse business. There was a lot of downtime at the tracks, especially if it wasn’t a race day. When the Millers were at tracks away from home, like El Paso and Denver, they really didn’t know any locals. Frequently, they would be hanging out on the track on the backside and just killing time. There was always something that needed to be repaired, like a billet on a saddle or a pair of chaps that needed a patch. Clay liked to do this type of repair work and he would go to the local Tandy store to get supplies. Word got around the tracks about Clay, and soon people were bringing him exercise saddles to be repaired. While he enjoyed the work, he admits that it was rudimentary.  

Clay married Debbie in 1998. While Clay was back home at the track in Farmington, an incident occurred that would alter his life. While acting as an outrider, Clay was kicked by a horse. The impact of both back feet sent him to the hospital and made him reevaluate his choice of career. 

By 2001, Clay had gotten to know the manager of the Albuquerque Tandy store through his repair work. He decided to go down to Albuquerque and ask him for a job. But was told that the only job available was a management training position. 

“I took the job thinking that I’d work at it a while and then go back to the racetrack.” 

Clay ended up really liking both the job and the people. One of the people he met was an old saddlemaker named Billy Wootres, who came into the store frequently. Billy did some beautiful floral carving and he also made his own stamping tools. 

“He kind of became a mentor of sorts for me.” 

Billy introduced Clay to the floral carving that he did. Clay found that he really enjoyed this type of leather work and he went to some leather shows to learn more about it. 

Clay managed his own Tandy store in Albuquerque, when Tandy decided to open a second store there in 2002. Tandy moved Clay around to a couple of different stores. He finally ended up at a Tandy store in Rapid City, South Dakota. Sadly, Billy Wootres passed away while Clay was in South Dakota. Clay was able to purchase Billy’s stamp-making tools from his family. 

“I had no intention of making stamps professionally at that time. I was still planning on working for Tandy. I thought it would be fun for something for me to do on the side.” 

In 2010, Debbie decided that she didn’t want to face the harsh Dakota winters anymore. By now the couple had six children, including a set of triplets, and they were looking for a permanent place to raise them. Debbie had a friend who worked at the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Temple, Texas. The friend told Debbie that she could put her nursing expertise to work there. Clay put in for a transfer to the Temple area, but Tandy didn’t have any openings. He realized he’d have to leave Tandy.  

The family made the move to Texas, where Clay did contract tooling for some local shops for a couple of years. While he was tooling for other shops, Clay began to experiment with Billy’s stamp-making tools. Soon, Clay began to make stamps for himself. Other leatherworkers heard about his stamps and began to ask for tools. 

Today, Miller’s Custom Leather Tool Co. is located in Temple, Texas. Clay has broadened out far beyond making stamping tools; he now includes swivel knives, modeling tools, awl hafts, various trimming knives and mauls in his repertoire. Clay’s stamping mauls are known for their unique patterns and varied colors in the handles. 

“Originally, if somebody had asked me if I wanted to do something with bright colors, I‘d have said, no,” says Clay. “I was always into traditional looking tools.” 

Someone asked Clay to make a maul with a multi-colored handle and he decided to give it a try. He found a company that was making hybrid wood and colored resin handle blanks. He made a few handles from the blanks and when he posted them on the internet, he was flooded with requests for different colors. 

“It snowballed from there.” 

Today, Clay uses his own molds to produce the custom handle colors. He begins with a 2” x 2” x 5” mold, into which he puts his basic handle with wood removed to accommodate the resin. The colored resin is poured into the mold and then the mold is placed in a pressure chamber. The air pressure cures the resin, making it extremely hard. The handle can then be put on a lathe for final shaping. This process lends a unique individuality to each tool, which would be hard to achieve by using mass-produced blanks. 

Clay has also started a line of wet molding forms for making pockets for various leather products. This can really speed up a job for the leather worker. 

Clay makes his stainless-steel stamps one at a time from stainless bolts. This can result in a lower inventory, but makes for good “old timey” quality. The stamps start at $35. 

You might see Clay at the larger trade shows like Wichita Falls, Prescott, Sheridan and Waco. If you can’t make it to the shows, call him at 254-654-4906, or go to millercustomleathertoolco.com. 

Miller Custom Leather Tool Co. 

1203 S 55th Street  

Temple, TX 76504