GrampaJoel

Very impressive ! So how thick a magnafying glass do you use to see what you are working on?

Very nice job! Your making some great strides in the saddle building department.

Order a chap leather. Split leather is rough on both sides.

Gold shot Ron's picture is exactly how the 'OP's' saddle is made. Blow the pictures up pretty big. See the leather by the stirrup slot on the tree? The whole tree is slipped into a slip cover. The top piece of the slip cover is the outside leather. The underside leather is what is attached to the fleece. The Concho's are screwed into the tree from the top holding the leather in place on the tree. The Concho's replace the strings, or tugs, that attach the skirts to the tree. Take a good look at Goldshot Ron's photo and I think you will understand the method better.

Thanks guys. I usually don't do this, ( redo someone else's work). But they were old and made by the lady's friend and after twenty years a little to small around the waist. The lady intends to wear them, so i gave her a price quote and she excepted, so I gave it a go. The leather had some pretty bad stretch areas, and when I made my cuts it shrank in spots and stretched in others. The leather is twenty year old Tandy split. Not a very good choice for chaps in my opinion, but there they were, and there lay the challange. Thanks again for the compliments. Joel

My goal was to turn a twenty year old pair of split leather hand sewn weighted chaps into a pair of chinks. The chaps are raspberry in color and the customer wanted black fringe added and the chaps made into chinks. The leather is stretched in places and somewhat worn and the customer wanted to save as much of the original chaps as possible. They were made by a friend she said. So I cut and sewed and did my best. See below. From this -->> ] To this ->>

Very very nice!

Very nice for any number of saddle. You must have been a pretty good leather worker already before you started this saddle. You did a really nice job. Joel

Make your own design. I always do. That way you can get room for the information you want.

I have seen spurs worn with the buckle both ways. I prefer out, but that's just me.

You have some of the straightest braids that I have ever seen! I like the first one with the slot for a hold up string. You don't see those very often. At least I am guessing it's for a holdup string. Very nice work! Joel

You might think about a synthetic thread. Most of the time it won't change colors when hitting die. Joel

First I strip off the conchos, and fenders. I then lift the seat front and brace it up. then I brush off all the dust and dirt. I use various brushes to do this from a wisk broom to a shoe brush to a tooth brush. I even vacume if needed. Then I saddle soap it real good and rinse being very careful of any rawhide parts. I start oiling as it is drying. I don't use a lot of oil at this point. I use pure neatsfoot oil(feiibings brand). When dry(naturally not forced) I start looking for weak leather. I do repaires if needed and requested by the customer. I use a variety of sealers depending on what type of saddle it is, and what it needs. Bee natural products is an expensive favorite of mine. I also use the feibings brands of coatings. These go on after a final oiling. If the saddle is black and needs some touch up I use what matches best. I even use shoe polish sometimes. The black saddle in the picture was touched up a little. But mostly just cleaned up. I hope this helps. Joel

Very nice! Very Classy!

Frank. The leather you are using looks really clean. Will you share with us what brand it is? Where do you get it from? Thanks Joel

Incredible work as always!! I love the little burner on the bit loops. I have a question though. Do you build the reins with a certain button weight to match the bit hang weight? Thanks Joel

Thanks Josh I'll check them out. Looked before, but couldn't find it. Joel

justken Thanks, I am looking to replace what is already on the saddle per customers request. I also don't have a weaver account. My choice. Hench my question about suppliers. Joel

Hi all Will someone direct me to a supplier of synthetic wool skins used for relining saddle skirts. Thanks Joel

I know this might be to late, and not completely what you were after, but here is the only photo that I can find with a saddle and the strap on the stand that might help some. The saddle is sittimg on the strap in this case, but you can see how the strap is attached to the draw down levers. I think that is what you might be after. If not let me know and I'll go throw a saddle on the stand and take some new photos. Joel

Quite a while back I ordered a set of Lane fitting cards that are used to take measurments of a horses back. Ok I'm all set, or so it seemed. So now I want to build a saddle, and I tried to order a saddle tree the other day from a what seems to be a well known USA saddle tree maker. ( Oh,,,,and why is it always a 4-5 month wait with every tree maker??), anyway, I ask what measurements he needed and if he knew of and used the Lane fitting cards. He said he did and gave me the other areas he needed measurements for. Seat hight and width and length,Cantle tilt and dish, what type of horn, neck size and height and cap style and size. Then he ask for gullet height. Well I was prepared for everything but this. So I reaserched the net, looked at the Nikkels web site for a long time, and read everything else I could all over the net about measuring and choosing the right gullet height. Only to find that it seems that gullet height is an arbitrary measurment to each saddle tree builder. Usually determined by the bar angles and type of fork being used before leather is applied. So my question is,,, How am I supposed to give the tree builder this measurment? I don't know what the tree barrs will measure by looking at the Lane cards... Why did I spend money to buy the Lane saddle tree fitting card if they dont tell the tree maker how to build the tree? Dont they measure the bar angle and wither height and back length and such? How does one order asaddle tree when measurements are arbitrary? This is not a comlaint. I just want to know how to order a saddle tree and have it turn out like I want and fit the horse I am making a saddle for. Ok I'm hoping for some good replies . Thanks Joel

Very nice depth and 3D effect on the flowers! Joel

Leather in general is up. But so is everything else. My food bill, gas etc... My prices have gone up also. Just a fact of life mostly. Joel

Ya know, I blew this beautiful bag up real big on my computer screen to look at the incredible amount of details, I looked at every line, and cut, and I thought I found a flaw,,,,, but alas, I was mistaken. Absolutely beautiful work! You did an excellent job! Joel

So where's the ooo lala smiley when you need one? I'll just use this one. Very nice. She'll love it I'd bet. Joel