tooled rear jockey

That’s beautiful. Love the work on the back of the cantle. Does that have to be done after applied to the saddle? It looks difficult.

Edited July 17, 2018 by paulamoose

The cantle back gets tooled on the bench.  Usually I form it to cantle back, and then later, once it has formed I re wet it, flatten it back out and tool up.

I am very amateurish at all of this - Some really good makers are Steve Mason, Cary Schwarz and Gordon Andrus...

here is a pic of a saddle that I am just finishing up...

Well it looks great to me. I have decided to make a saddle and have been reading the Al stohlman  book as well as I have Dusty Johnson’s and Jeremiah Watts videos on the way. I’ve been scouring this site for info. I unfortunately don’t have time for saddle school. Any advice to a fellow amateur leatherworker getting into saddle making?  I’ve been doing leatherwork for a about 4 years now and feel quite confident I can do this. 

Hello Paulamoose,

I am self taught as well - Once again because of limited time and the inability to take time to go away to saddle making school.

Here is my advice:  Be careful where you look to for direction.  There are saddle makers and there are Saddle Makers if you know what I mean.

1. Al Stohlman's stuff is OK - He complicates things a bit in my opinion but his books are a good resource - I have them and refer to them on occasion.
2. Jeremiah Watt's DVD's are excellent - He makes fitting the seat super simple - I refer to these DVD's all the time
3. Dale Harwoods dvd's are well worth the investment - I refer to these DVD's all the time
4. I have looked at Dusty Johnson's website - I find that his saddles do not have attractive lines and generally look unattractive.  I would be careful what I took from his DVD's as I would not want my saddles to look like his.  This is just my opinion though.

Here are makers who make saddles that I find well designed and attractive:

1. Mike Keetch
2. Steve Mason
3. Dale Harwood
4. Keith Seidel
5. Gordon Andrus

I spent a lot of time looking at pictures on the internet of saddles I thought were well designed before I started.  There are certain principles that apply to saddle design that you will see these makers use and it creates a nice looking, balanced saddle every time.

Materials:

1. Use good materials
2. I recommend Hermann Oak leather.  It lasts and lasts - Wickett & Craig will wear out a lot faster.
3. Use only a good tree maker.  I would use Sonny Felkins (Quality Tree MFG.)  His Northwest bars have worked well for me.
4. Use only stainless steel or brass hardware.  No nickel plated junk.

Before I built a saddle I built and hand stitched a rear cinch to see if I had the patience for all of the hand stitching required for a saddle.

With leather i have found that slower is better.  If i find myself getting in a rush I stop.  Leather working, like horsemanship, requires (in my opinion) timing & feel.  The leather has to have just the right moisture content.

I believe good tools are important.  I would rather have a handful of good tools over a bunch of cheap tandy stuff.

1. Spend the money on a good round knife - Bruce Johnson can hook u up.
2. Good Awls and awl handles are important
3. Barry King stamps are very good.
4. I do use Tandy's cheap punches as I find even expensive punches chip or dull quickly.
5. I use a Cobra Class 4 sewing machine - It is easy to run and works great.

Here is pictures of my progression to date:

Saddle 01

Saddle 02

Saddle 03

Saddle 04

I hope this helps.  Big thing is to have fun and take your time!!

I strongly believe in learning how to make your own patterns as it helps you to analyze saddle design and mechanics.  I made all my own patterns for these saddles and the goal is to continually refine them.

 

Regards,

Ron Lennox

 

Ground Seats - Area of huge debate in saddle making world.

I built first two with all leather and last two with tin strainers.

I believe tin strainers is the method I will use going forward on all saddles I build.

Advantage of tin in my opinion:

1. Very Strong
2. Quick to build
3. Easy to get a flatter profile across pin bone area
4. Uses less leather

R

20 hours ago, rdl123 said:

Hello Paulamoose,

I am self taught as well - Once again because of limited time and the inability to take time to go away to saddle making school.

Here is my advice:  Be careful where you look to for direction.  There are saddle makers and there are Saddle Makers if you know what I mean.

1. Al Stohlman's stuff is OK - He complicates things a bit in my opinion but his books are a good resource - I have them and refer to them on occasion.
2. Jeremiah Watt's DVD's are excellent - He makes fitting the seat super simple - I refer to these DVD's all the time
3. Dale Harwoods dvd's are well worth the investment - I refer to these DVD's all the time
4. I have looked at Dusty Johnson's website - I find that his saddles do not have attractive lines and generally look unattractive.  I would be careful what I took from his DVD's as I would not want my saddles to look like his.  This is just my opinion though.

Here are makers who make saddles that I find well designed and attractive:

1. Mike Keetch
2. Steve Mason
3. Dale Harwood
4. Keith Seidel
5. Gordon Andrus

I spent a lot of time looking at pictures on the internet of saddles I thought were well designed before I started.  There are certain principles that apply to saddle design that you will see these makers use and it creates a nice looking, balanced saddle every time.

Materials:

1. Use good materials
2. I recommend Hermann Oak leather.  It lasts and lasts - Wickett & Craig will wear out a lot faster.
3. Use only a good tree maker.  I would use Sonny Felkins (Quality Tree MFG.)  His Northwest bars have worked well for me.
4. Use only stainless steel or brass hardware.  No nickel plated junk.

Before I built a saddle I built and hand stitched a rear cinch to see if I had the patience for all of the hand stitching required for a saddle.

With leather i have found that slower is better.  If i find myself getting in a rush I stop.  Leather working, like horsemanship, requires (in my opinion) timing & feel.  The leather has to have just the right moisture content.

I believe good tools are important.  I would rather have a handful of good tools over a bunch of cheap tandy stuff.

1. Spend the money on a good round knife - Bruce Johnson can hook u up.
2. Good Awls and awl handles are important
3. Barry King stamps are very good.
4. I do use Tandy's cheap punches as I find even expensive punches chip or dull quickly.
5. I use a Cobra Class 4 sewing machine - It is easy to run and works great.

Here is pictures of my progression to date:

Saddle 01

Saddle 02

Saddle 03

Saddle 04

I hope this helps.  Big thing is to have fun and take your time!!

I strongly believe in learning how to make your own patterns as it helps you to analyze saddle design and mechanics.  I made all my own patterns for these saddles and the goal is to continually refine them.

 

Regards,

Ron Lennox

 

Super advice there, all of it.  Pay particular attention to the advice regarding who to take instruction from.  Some people are saddle makers, some are marketers.

Thanks for all the advice. One of my first projects when I got into leatherwork was rebuilding about half of an old pony workharness and I did all that by hand. Now I have a heavy duty tech sew machine which is awesome but there are definitely times when handsewing is the way to go. I actually canceled the dusty Johnson video order cause my whole journey is to make the best saddle I can... and I’m very fussy. Most of my projects have been made three times before making its new home. Unfortunately  don’t think I can manage the price of  the Harwood dvds. In Canadian dollars it will run $600.

Any thoughts on Bruce Cheaney’s videos?

Love your saddles by the way!

Edited July 20, 2018 by paulamoose

Hello Paulamoose,

I haven't look at Bruce's stuff so I can't comment one way or the other.  I think Jeremiah Watt's DVD's should be a big help.  The only thing I like to do different from him is I bore my strings through the tree.  Jeremiah screws his on.

Jeremiah Watt's DVD's are very in depth and what I usually find myself going back to.

Saddle making is fun - Just in a exasperating, long drawn out kind of way!

I don't know where you plan to buy your leather but Montana Leather in Billings has been pretty good.  In a perfect world you would hand pick the sides you want but that's not always feasible.

R

There are a couple of leather shops locally that carry Herman Oak, so as long as it’s not marred up I probably do that. My biggest challenge so far is finding a saddle tree. I don’t want to buy crap. I also can’t decide on style. I’m used to riding in a cutting horse saddle but the wades seem to be popular right now so I wondering if I’m missing out on something ! Lol. I do some colt breaking and have done ok in my cutting saddle ( which is a little too big) but all that slip has lead to a few meetings with the ground when I’ve have a horse that really means business. So I’m stuck.  And I have this neurotic need to get things right the first time. Sigh.  

Oh, and my dear husband texted me from work yesterday saying he’s ok if I buy the Dale Harwood DVD! So I ordered it right away. I can’t wait!!!!

My thoughts on trees are as follows:

1. Do not buy a cheap tree 
2. Sonny Felkins makes a good, reasonable priced tree - I like his Northwest Bars
3. Lately I have used all Swanke trees.  
4. A slick fork will make covering the fork with leather way easier than a swell fork saddle which more than likely will require a welt.
5. I like slick forks!  A deep seat and a nice cantle will keep you locked in.
6. Nice thing about slick forks is when you do get some daylight under you and the saddle you tend to come down right back in your seat - There are no swells to impede finding your seat again.  
7. If you ever plan to rope or cowboy out of a saddle wades make nice working rigs.

Enjoy the Dale Harwood DVD's - The way he handles a round knife gives you an idea of how it should be done!

Buying leather - The seat will come out of the butt piece of leather - This is a an area of the hide you want as clean as possible.  Finding a hide with no blemishes is tough!

R