Tat2edCowboy

Very Nice Saddle!

I used an 8/9 veg tan for the tooling and used 8/9 Latigo to line it. It started out a bit stiff but he claims that after only a few uses it has softened up.

Here is a set of draft horse hobbles I made for a farrier friend of mine. They are designed to be used as normal hobbles or a 1 leg hobble. He also had me carve some draft horse shoes onto them, as well as stamp his business name.

Bob, Thank you for the reply, I am always striviving for a 4.0 in everything I do, I guess it is ingrained in my DNA now! As for the Bob Park link I did a search and had trouble finding it, so it would be greatly appreciated if you could post me a link to get there! I must say thank you for the advice and there are many items I see right off that I will be working on to improve in the future. As for the VA, stay on them, document everything, appeal and reapply every chance you get. It took me over 10 years but eventually they looked at my records, med history, etc... and gave me what I feel was a satisfatory rating. You can't let anything in life get you down, you learn, improve yourself, help others, and enjoy life! Life is way too short not to!

Thank you for all the positive replies! I will get some better pictures to add once I get the stirrups in. I was just so excited about finishing it that I wanted to get it posted. I should be starting on the second saddle in the next week or two, so if anyone has an idea for another saddle “theme” I am very interested in hearing your thoughts.

Thank you for the response JW. I will try and give her a call tomarrow!

I guess first and foremost I should introduce myself! My name is Sean and I am a disabled veteran. I joined the US Navy at age 21 and was a SAR swimmer for 2 years. I was jumping out of a helicopter during practice ops and hit the water wrong and buckled both knees backwards, did spinal damage, and had severe head trauma. I was in a wheel chair for over a year. During that time I apprenticed as a tattoo artist, and was a tattooist in New York for almost 10 years. After getting tired of city life and the tattooist lifestyle I moved to Washington state where I met my soul mate and now wife Melanie and her daughter Kelsea (at that time was 8). I was fighting the VA for a reasonable disability rating, so I was going to school for web design. Once my rating came through the VA stopped financing my schooling (considered unemployable) so I was left without anything to do. We decided to buy Kelsea her first horse and after some time I also began riding. I found that it helped in my physical rehab. We eventually bought a house on 9 acres, you know to house the now horses. After buying numerous crap saddles, that didn't fit the horse or rider (not being able to afford the nice custom saddles I see all of you making) and still finding myself with way toooo much time on my hands. With the support of my wife I decided to start doing some leather work for a hobby. So after 1 wallet, 1 belt, 1 cell phone case (all kits I might add) I got the bright idea to make saddles and tack. Some jump huh! I first got Dusty Johnson's book and DVD, still not understanding everything and with the advice I have seen on the forums here I got Bill Gomer's DVD and the entire Stohlman book set. I wanted to try one of the saddle making schools, but it was that or the tools to keep working. So, after tax return time and running up credit cards I got everything I needed to build 2 saddles. So now the first one is complete (minus the stirrups that you have probably see on my other post) Before I get into the saddle details I would first like to thank everyone that posts all the help on this site! While I haven't been active on posting I have read numerous advice and tutorials that have helped more than anything I have bought! Finding this site has been a godsend in helping me to complete my first saddle. Now for the saddle, it is built on a Precision Saddle Tree. It is the Cliff Wade with a 16" Seat and the Kevlar and Durahide covering. The leather is Herman Oak ( note to self, first saddle buy cheaper leather as it took 3 sides due to mistakes). I decided that I would step away from the traditional saddles since so many of you guys do it so great and with my tattooing background would you really expect any less (lol)! I also thought I would try and appeal to the younger cowboys and girls, so I did a flame theme. Yes I think I will try and stay in the theme type saddles. The skirts are short because originally a friend wanted to buy it and requested short skirts for his short backed horse. Unfortunately there was a tragedy in his family and he was unable to follow through with the purchase, but the skirts were already cut and I couldn't afford to remake them. I figure the purchaser might need the same thing. Also the seat is inlaid stingray. With all that said and sorry for being so long winded, the photos are attached below. Once again thank you to everyone that helped me on the forums whether you knew it or not. Any constructive criticism is more than welcome! Also any advice on a starting price for Ebay would also be helpful!

My first saddle is almost complete and I still need stirrups! Does anyone know where I can find a supplier for the stainless steel bound stirrups? I am looking for a 4 – 5" stainless bound Monel or something similar. I haven't waited until the last minute lol! I spent a lot of time with Basin Tack Company trying to come up with a custom aluminum stirrup but they can't seem to do the logo I wanted. I have also emailed Trina Weber of Webber Stirrups on a couple of occasions but she never responded. I have searched the web and the forums here but can't seem to find a supplier. I have found tons of them for retail but I would prefer to find a supplier as I plan on making multiple saddles. Thank you in advance for any help provided!

Thanks for the info Dawn (your carving looks really nice)! I think it might have something to do with the size of the skin also. The skin I am practicing on is a small and the beads are also very small, it doesn't take long before the beads are worn right off. I have a larger skin I think I will use a small piece of to see if I can get better results. I will also try your idea of coarse bits as well.

Thought I would show my couple of attempts to do it in a small area. The area between the eyes is just doing the carving with a dremel. The small one to the outside of the eye on the left of the picture was trying to use some white dye on the carving. The carving only seems to duplicate his results pretty well but seems to be really dull in comparison to the spot in the middle of the back. I didn't think it was airbrushed because if you look between the beads, most areas are still black. I guess he could have just airbrushed the highlights and left the duller areas the carving itself. I would think the airbrushed areas would rub off pretty quick though, being that it's on a seat. I think I will probably abandon this for now and just do the normal stingray inlay, but I do appreciate the responses and look forward to hearing if someone has better luck than I did.

I am making a saddle with an inlaid stingray seat. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to carve a design on stingray. The reason I ask is I found Alligator Bob's website and he does it on motorcycle seats. I tried emailing him and never recieved an answer. His website where I found it is http://www.alligator...om/stingray.htm . I have tried using a dremel with various bits but the design isn't as vibrant as his. The website claims he hand carves them but I can not figure it out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!