Got one side of my rear jockeys tooled up last night.
Here is a fuzzy blackberry picture:
Tooling is still amateurish but I am slowly getting more comfortable with it.
I would appreciate feedback on what I can do to make it better.
Thanks,
Ron L
Have been working a little on this second rig. Starting to feel like I'm getting some traction.
Here it is with Fenders & Stirrup leather assemblies in as well as rear jockeys fitted.
The rear jockeys will be filled with floral tooling. The seat has yet to get a 1/8" bead border.
Next Step is to tool both seat & jockeys.
Ron L
Finally getting some time to work on this second saddle again...New shop is set-up and I have been able to put in some time.
Built these hobbles:
Tooled this fender:
And finished tooling the skirts for this rig as well as got the horn cap 'n' wrap started:
We have been doing a fair bit of riding - Built this breast collar for my first saddle too:
Really hoping to have this second saddle done for spring!
Cheers,
Ron L
As all can tell I have not been posting lately as I have been really busy - Haven't even had time to work on rig #2...
Anyhow, I moved back to Saskatchewan and am setting up a new saddle shop in our place here.
It's almost done. I'll post pictures as soon as I get it wrapped up.
We have been doing lots of riding and have had a chance to go to quite a few brandings as well as pasture rope.
It'd been nice to really use the first saddle I built - It seems to work prett
So no earth shattering progress recently as I have been busy getting a house fixed up...
But I did sew in the inlaid seat on this rig.
I have the house largely under control now so maybe it will free up some time for me to get this saddle done...
Ron
30/03/15
Hello!
This past saturday I made some decent progress.
Cut out fenders, billets and finally got up the nerve to proceed with the inlaid seat portion of this project.
Built my pattern by looking at saddles by Kent Frecker, Cary Schwarz & Steve Mason...I'm sure it isn't as nice as what they do but overall I'm happy.
Here's what I did:
Pulled the seat off the saddle. verified by measurement approximately where the pattern was going. Using the center line I had scratched into th
Saturday: Got seat rough fitted - Pulled it in and then let it dry up to where the seat and front jockeys were firmed up. I follow Jeremiah Watt and Dale Harwoods theory that you need to pound the leather into the middle - Draw the bubble into the center and pound it in. I also do like Jeremiah Watt and work a bubble into the cantle face and then compress it in - Really helps leather fit into cantle dish.
Sunday: Wet the center part of the seat down and pulled it back into rig. Marked my c
Last night I tooled up one of the skirts - Just a simple border pattern set 3/4" in from the outside edge.
Here it is sitting under the rig...
And then I cut out the cantle filler / cheyenne roll stiffener...It's out of 10oz Hermann Oak - and skived to a feather edge where it fades into the seat.
Once the barge is dried up solid i'll really wet down the outside edge and pull and glue it down onto the single ply that is the start of the cheyenne roll.
Once that's done I'll sta
Dang - Just typed up a whole entire update and the thing deleted somehow. This post is going to contain a lot less detail!
Anyhow - Life has been busy so haven't put in much time in on this thing, but here is progress from Saturday and last night.
Rigging plates installed saturday. I like to glue mine in as well as fasten mechanically.
Last night I blocked on my skirts and cut them to the bottom profile I wanted: Also, this time i'm not lacing my skirts all the way to the back tip.
Here is the latest progress:
Rigging plates are all tooled up and have one sewn and riveted, the next is ready to sew and rivet.
While I waited for glue to dry I built some stirrup hobbles - These are 1/2"w and set-up for 2.5" stirrup leathers. Jeremiah Watt buckles. Used 1/8" beader to create edge detail.
For my rivets - I know there is a lot of debate surrounding 'doming' rivets. I certainly agree that too heavy of a dome is undesirable - However, I purchased the domers f
Spent a little bit of time on saturday working on this - Re-made the cheyenne roll. First attempt went kinda bad so I decided to start over - Second attempt went smooth!
Not sure if you have see Dale Harwoods DVD's but he has some pretty good little tricks - One of them is to cut the bottom edge of the cantle back a little flat - That way you have to stretch the leather down and in - It puts a lot of tension on the top edge of the cantle filler so that when you go to fold the leather back to m
I really haven't had much time to work on this saddle as I have been very busy with work and a house I am renovating - However, on Saturday between building a staircase and loading a bunch of square bales I was able to get this final ground seat piece in - Overall shape is comfortable - I wish it was a little flatter in profile up front...Less rise I guess is what I mean.
Ground seat shape is so subjective. I am very slim. My pin bones are right there. To me a ground seat with a little dome t
So on Saturday I got the ground seat for this rig started - I use an all leather ground seat based off of the tutorial provided by Steve Brewer in the saddle construction forum on this website.. I like the all leather for the simple reason that it gives me a lot of flexibility - Especially for an amateur maker - If you don't like how things are feeling you can skive away more leather.
On this one I still need to install the final cover piece, however want to make sure I am good and happy with
Here's my new saddle shop - It's really compact - 8'x10' - However that's all the room I had and it is definitely functional so far.
And here is my first saddle which has a few months of riding on it now...There are things I am doing differently on these next saddles based on having used this one.
Some differences will be: Narrower cantles - 12.5" instead of 13" wide. Less cantle dish - 1" instead of 1.5", stirrup leathers will be 2.5" instead of 3", trying to get a flatter
So in view of getting back into the groove of leather work (I spend all summer riding / doing outdoor stuff) I have decided to do some practice work first - Meaning building a pair of chinks for a friend. These will be square bottomed, 'buckaroo' style out of a glove tan leather in a tan color.
My biggest challenge with leather work is floral tooling. I'm reasonably artistic, however, I have never drawn a floral pattern I really liked. With that being in mind I purchased Cary Schwarz's flora
Hello There,
I am a very green saddle maker - Have built one saddle so far and am about to start saddles #2 and saddle #3.
This blog will allow you to follow my progress and also, will help some of you who are contemplating jumping into addle making understand what is involved.
Saddle #2 is going to be a wade. Tree is from Quality Mfg and showed up and fits the horses it will be used on - It is going to have a 15.5" finished seat, inlaid, padded seat and buckrolls. 7/8" flatplate rigging, 2
