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LesWurse

English Saddle Billets

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We are experiencing leather quality problems with the billets we put on our English saddles. After just a few runs through the roller buckles on their girths, our customers are complaining of cracks in the surface finish of their billets. They mistake these as weakness in or low quality of the leather.

Our observation is that while you could still tow a truck or horse with these billets, the customer remains concerned about quality and safety. Our supplier has produced billets for us from English bridle, shoe leather and latigo but the problem still persists.

Does anyone have advice on the best type of leather and tanning process to produce billets that retain a smooth surface finish? Naturally the longer the billets are used, the more wear they will show. We are trying to avoid the cracked appearance from showing up right away.

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I don't think you should be using a finish coat on the billets.

Neither English Bridle nor Latigo require it. Neither does veg tan, just oil it.

Dan

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You should be using (as a minimum) veg tanned stirrup butt.

Better quality is achieved using 'saddlery rawhide' or 'buffalo' of a similar substance.

The rawhide referred to here is leather where the tanning has been stopped so that there is an un tanned centre to the leather. This shows as a yellow centre strip in cross section. It makes for a natural laminate and is extremly strong but is less flexable than 'buffalo' .

I suspect this UK definition is different to what is understood as rawhide in the USA.

To get over the grain or skin splitting, the chosen leather is stitched so that the grain side is inwards facing. This means that the grain is not worn by the roller or buckle bar as it passes through in use.

It does mean that any number stamping of the holes is a little less effective, but that is a price worth paying.

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