Stan Freeman shaves with a straight razor and makes his own bread from sourdough starter he has nurtured for 40 years.

Given his penchant for anything that’s “old school,” it’s no wonder Freeman’s tiny workshop in Whitefish is a step back in time. He’s a master leather craftsman who relishes making things the old-fashioned way.

The sturdy machine he uses to crease leather is stamped with the year it was made — 1887. His stitching horse, a wooden chair with a clamp for holding leather while it’s stitched, is from the same era.

“I got some equipment from an Amish harnessmaker,” he said. “He gave me some of the tools he wanted people to keep using.”

Freeman, 64, has been working with leather for more than three decades. He produces one-of-a-kind fly-rod cases, briefcases, holsters, rifle and shotgun cases and golf bags.

He also repairs saddles.

“I do a lot of repairs,” he said. “I have a saddle coming in from Wisconsin right now for repair.”

For the most part, Freeman produces his top-quality leather goods in relative obscurity.

“I rarely sell anything locally,” he said. But people all over the country order his products. Texans are some of his best customers, especially for the fly-rod cases. He ships items overseas, too.

Flathead Valley businesses who deal with the local equine industry dole out Freeman’s contact information for saddle repair, though, and customers find their way to his shop when they need to. As one of his saddle repair customers put it: “You’re the most well-known unknown person I’ve known.”

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Freeman got started in leather work while working as a police officer in Dayton.

“I’m left-handed, and when you go to gun shops, all the holsters are for right-handed people,” he said. “Lefties had to order almost anything they wanted, then play the waiting game.”

Freeman started making his own gun holsters and found he enjoyed working with leather.

He moved to Whitefish in 1997, seeking a more rural way of life. Freeman has always done his leather work on a part-time basis and likes not having the stress of a full-time trade.

“It’s a one-man shop,” he said. “I don’t look to get rich.”

Leather craftsmanship takes time. He puts in eight hours of hands-on time making each fly-rod case, and that’s if it is stamped. Carving the leather designs takes longer. The eight-hour block of time doesn’t include the drying time required to shape the leather.

Freeman makes his own patterns and molds.

“You learn carpentry whether you want to or not,” he said about his handmade molds.

He’s a quintessential do-it-yourselfer who even made his own furniture for the home he owned in Ohio. The furniture went with the house when he sold it to move out West.

Freeman is passionate about history and the way things used to be.

“I like history. I like the way things were done, when there was more respect for the thing that was made,” he said. “I love the 1700s. I’m locked into that time period.”

His ancestors came from England and have called America home since the 1600s.

He tends to seek out solitary sports, such as cross-country skiing in the backcountry or canoeing Minnesota’s Boundary Waters area. Freeman once canoed by himself from Hudson Bay to Lake Superior.

Just as he has taught himself how to work with leather, he has taught himself how to survive in the wilderness.

Freeman hasn’t been able to fully escape modern society, though. He has a website for his business, Freeman Leather Co., at freemanleather.com. He keeps his cellphone in one of his handmade leather holsters.

Master leather craftsmen like Freeman are few and far between in this millennium. Much of the ornate leather work found on saddles and in other products is pressed out by machines these days.

“This is a dying art,” he laments.

But Freeman has no intention of giving up his old-school ways, even though the repetitive motions of stamping leather have left him with an occasional bout of tennis elbow, or “leather elbow” as his doctor calls it.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.