gpope Report post Posted August 2, 2013 Hello all, First, I'm a new member to this forum. I've been making saddles off and on now for some 30 years and, in general, I've been fairly pleased with my work. However, all my saddles have been made on a Wade tree or some type of A fork or very mild swell. I'm trying to build a saddle now on a Dinah Special tree and getting the fork cover right has really given me fits. I'm now about to cut my 5th - yep, you heard me right - 5th cover, and I am reaching out for some help. I'm attempting to put on a fork cover that will be covered with a pattern stamp, and will be laced under the swells. the front will be scalloped and tacked down. My failures at this point have been cosmetic. First, I fitted the cover, let it dry and then tried to stamp it on the tree. (i've done this before on a Wade and it worked well.) The stamping was unacceptable. Next, I fit the cover, stamped it flat, then laced the swells and fit to the tree. The lacing ran off at different angles on either side, although the stamping looked good. (By the way, I tried to minimize any stretching that the stamping would cause by letting the cover dry completely and then wetting only the grain side.) I'm at my wits end with this. Usually, even in the worst cases, I can solve the problems after a couple of screw ups. I would really appreciate some advice on this. It can't be as hard as I'm making it, or no one would ride a swell fork. Thanks for your help. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
