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jwwright

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I finished this saddle about 3 weeks ago. It's another Buster Welch roper, which I have built quite a few of in a row it seems. I am finishing up a Wade this week. I have not done many inlaid seats up till now, but I starting to do more of them. As always, constructive critique is most welcome. Thank You, JW1609_9.jpg1609_12.jpg1609_8.jpg

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JW,

Your saddle looks great as usual. I do have a couple critiques/ opinions....Only because you asked. I'm being nittpicky, so please take it with a grain of salt. I don't know what you are using to trim your shearling, but I would taper it a bit more so that there is less showing. It just cleans things up a bit, in my opinion. This is tough to do with hand shears, but it is easily done with electric shears, and the right blade. Secondly, make sure that cantle binding doesn't curl in too much, particularly on the sides. And finally, when it's all done, make sure those billets curl inwards. It's a little thing, but I feel it contributes to the overall appearance of the saddle. Like most things in life, you can only make one first impression. Every saddle you make has one chance at a first impression. Again, great job!

Ryan Cope

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I think I would have stamped the exposed stirrup leathers to match the fork cover and the rear jockeys. And thats just my personal preference. Also looks like the ears below your cantle binding might have been cut a little short. It is a nice saddle. I like the braided welt on your fork cover. You did a nice job on the inlayed seat. Good job. Matt

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Ryan, Thank You for your thoughts and suggestions. All good points to be mindful of, and well taken.

Matt, Thank You as well. If I had built this saddle for myself, I might have stamped the stirrup leathers as you suggest.....although I generally tend to ride a near full rough out myself. This saddle was about 1/2 done for an individual that changed their mind about some cosmetics on it, so I am building a similar saddle for him with the stamping he wants, and this one ended up being a spec saddle. It sold, so there was another person that liked the rough out leathers!

JW

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very nice saddle. I also like the braiding on the swells. Hope to see the wade also when its done.

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I know nothing about making or riding western saddles, JW. so I'm not about to say anything other than this looks like a very fine piece of work. A question though... do you make a saddle 'rough out' simply from preference or is there a reason for it - is it for the look? do you get a better grip? is it more durable (can't see this myself) or what? Please excuse my ignorance.

Ray

Ryan, Thank You for your thoughts and suggestions. All good points to be mindful of, and well taken.

Matt, Thank You as well. If I had built this saddle for myself, I might have stamped the stirrup leathers as you suggest.....although I generally tend to ride a near full rough out myself. This saddle was about 1/2 done for an individual that changed their mind about some cosmetics on it, so I am building a similar saddle for him with the stamping he wants, and this one ended up being a spec saddle. It sold, so there was another person that liked the rough out leathers!

JW

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JW

Your rigs always look like they are made

by a fellow who knows what its like to use the

business end of a saddle.

Thanks for postin pictures.

FJ

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UK Ray.........Thank You for your generous comments. A rough out seat will provide more grip, even after it has been worn some what smooth it is "grippier" than a smooth out seat. Some people prefer this. Rough out on other parts of the saddle is a cosmetic choice. For a sure enough working saddle, the rough out tends to not show scrapes and blemishes as much. It is also a little bit of a cultural cowboy thing..........for using ranch saddles not be too "prettied" up. As with most things within the cowboy culture it varies from region to region.

FJ..........Thank You as well for your kind comments. I have spent all of my adult life making a living from the back of a horse..........for which I have been truly priviledged. I try to make each saddle as if I was going to use it.

JW

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JW,

I really like the overall saddle a lot. I like roughouts for working saddles A LOT.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the billets going outward. I never learned that as a marketing thing from a saddlemaker but definitely had it drilled into my head by a couple of western wear stores as best practices for selling/marketing saddles.

Like Ryan I did notice the wool. The same western wear stores would also trim back the wool at a steep angle with the electric shears to give the saddles a little extra touch. The idea was that no extra fuzz appeared at the edge of the saddle. They would also card the wool as well to further remove any fuzz. One of the owners would even take a final step of using masking tape wrapped around their hand to make sure that all of it was removed. We jokingly called her excessive compulsive.

They also took extra pains with beveled strings (they would even remove strings and redo them, polish, edges of all aspects of the saddle including breast collars and flank cinches. They felt that this additional attention to details set apart their saddles just enough to differentiate them foorm others in the same town/county. They also did this for headstalls, spur straps and all other gear as well. It is ironic that most people thought that the leather goods were definitively a step above the other shops even when they were purchased from the same place initially.

Ryan certainly hit the nail on the head with the one first impression. That was what those western wear stores preached over and over again...

Now this may just be the picture but the seat insert appears to be slightly asymmetrical and the cantle binding appears to be cut at the bottom. Might just be the pictures. I tried to zoom a bunch but it started loosing detail.

I REALLY like the stamped borders on the rough out. For some reason I have a soft spot for stamping on rough outs even though many will tell you that it is wasted time.... I still like it. It is one of those "little touches" that sets it apart.

Nice saddle definitely.

Regards,

Ben

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Thank You Ben for your input and comments. I agree with you on the beveled strings and polished edges..........I take the time to rub edges every where, and bevel strings and latigos and such. I think it matters also. The seat inlay is symmetric........at least the pattern I made my cut from was exactly so! I think what you may be picking up on the cantle binding at the bottom is......the light stitch groove is just a tck longer than it needed be. Thanks again, JW

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JW,

Sometimes pictures can be deceiving so that's why I asked.... Hopefully we will see the Wade next week. Enjoyed this one a lot. Keep up the great work.

Regards,

Ben

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Justin Davies............I am sorry that I didn't respond to your comments earlier. Thank You for your comments, and I look forward to seeing more of your saddles as you have time to post them.

Ben, I always appreciate the attention to details that you give.

JW

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Thanks for the valuable info, JW, I'm always keen to learn. One last question, how do you treat the rough out so it is waterproof? I would have thought a rough out saddle would have soaked up rainwater pretty quickly and become very uncomfortable to use. Am I missing something here?

Ray

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RAY........... NOT J W. but getting wet is ... life of the Buckaroo........

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Well, I think the overall first impression beats the heck out of anything you'll run across in any tack shop around these parts and most other parts, in my humble opinion...... curly billets or not.

About how much does it weigh? It looks like a light weight model.

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Thanks for the valuable info, JW, I'm always keen to learn. One last question, how do you treat the rough out so it is waterproof? I would have thought a rough out saddle would have soaked up rainwater pretty quickly and become very uncomfortable to use. Am I missing something here?

Ray

Ray, the idea is to keep that seat covered up with your butt sos it don't get wet. I tell ya, we gotta teach you Brits everything..... heh heh

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I really like the combination of stamps you used. I hadn't seen the two used together before. I sure like these critiques of the really finer points because I have had some things brought to my attention that I never would have even noticed on my own. For example the billets curving out. I'll be looking at my own from now on that's for sure. I do have a question on trimming the woolskin. I do have some hand sheep shears that are real sharp and do a pretty good job til I get to the area that curves just a bit under where the fender lays. I can't get them at the right angle because they run into the skirt, so I go to some regular scissors. but I'm thinking electric clippers would work better. Someone mentioned the correct blade. What would that be?

Anyway you know you've built a nice saddle when the critiques consist of the finer points. Chris

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Thank You Chris. I had seen that stamp pattern on a Watt saddle, and one by Snake Horse Saddler (Ashley) on this forum. Ashley set me in the right direction as to do that pattern. I have done it on a couple saddles, and people seem to like it real well.

JW

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Nice rig JW!

The few minnor things that jumped out at me have already been mentioned so i wont bother with them. I realy enjoy reading threw these critiques/comments and learning the finer tricks of the trade from you exsperianced saddle makers.

Jed

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Very nice saddle. I was just wondering if you skive your edges on the leather that you use for your horn wrap. I have only done a couple but someone toldme to skive down the edge to half or 1/3 thickness. That way it will wrap nice and flat with no edges. I couldn't really tell from the picture but thought I would ask.

Looks great and hope that I am putting them together like that one day.

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