Don101

Bruce some things i can relate to here, i hate it when friends or work collegs come up to me and ask about making somthing for someone as a present or for them selves as they dont realise how expencive it is to buy leather in bulk or the cost of tools or how much you have in mind for a price its always great to watch there eyes light up when the price goes over 100 and most of the time its better to talk them out of it and stick to customers that realise the price of things rether than working for charity, Don

WoW amazing it looks like a photo really nice, Don

ah you noticed the line yes i wanted to make everything my self, ok i could have bought a packet for a coupl of bucks but its not the same as doing it yourself, good tip about the pear shader ill remember that i did think about stamping around with a half moon but thought it would be to fancy for a working cowboys saddle of the 1880s, Don

the tree is a couple of years old that is the same trees styles that were used by the meanea company, built by a mark hows i believe thats how its spelt on the saddle was written old time wade 05, i got the tree from a friend that happened to have a spare one over, as for resorces i used pics of original old saddles from the cattalogs of that period and based a lot of the design on saddles that are in the book cowboys and trappings of the old west, i also used the original saddles that i have for basic messurments although the seat sizes are smaller, but most of it was eye judgment to fit to the tree, i looked alot on Clays pic page to see where he cut for fitting the fork and seat and basically took it from there, but before i did any thing i thought about it twice and once again i didnt make any wrong callculations to my knowlidge and i only scrapped one piece, i reedid the fork as i wasnt happy with the scollops that were under the gullet, Don

Very nice love the detail on the hands they look real, Don

Pete here is a close up of the border tooling and you can see the hand stitching on the skirts, also a pic of the seat carving, Don

good topic Tracy and nice saddle very ornate and i bet it was a hard one to do with the carving on the fork, i wasnt comfortable with the seat carving on mine as i couldnt turn it around like i was used to doing, Don

Tracy i didnt take it the wrong way as i wouldnt even class my self as high as a novice although it was a great learning prosses, and through critic you can learn how others may do things or make a job easier or better, there are lots of topics in the forum about saddles although i cant talk or reply all the time through lack of experience or knowlidge i am abel to pick important tips up which helps alot also, Don

Pete ill get some close ups done for you its 2350 at the moment here so the lighting isnt that great, Don

@ all thanks for the kindness, yes it was my first i had no lessons no help just restored old ones and spent alot of time looking at clayBs web page which was a real big help to see how i could fit and make my patterns to fit the tree and style i was going for i read a couple of books on how to build saddles which helped in a way but not much help as regards to the old style building, Clay i dont ride much now and then the reason i wanted it was for reenactment more than every day riding, thanks again for the pics on your page it did help alot, Don

now i do like that one realy nice or maybe i should say evil, Don

the skirts are just over 7mm thick, maybe its looking that way because the felt does pop up along the edge a little

ive built the saddle in the old fashioned way the skirts are pluged around the borders and i prefere the felt as it was easier avaliable and is easier to work with than shearing

Well after months of slowly puting this saddle together its finished, it was a good learning prosess as the next one i do there would be a few different things and ways i would go about it, for the first i am happy, let me know what you think, Don

Hi Sylve welcome to the forum, Don

What about style of the tree or what you might want to have as a finished type of saddle, or can and do all tree makers be able to make old style as well as a modern roping saddle ( wades) or do they just stick to a style they know? Don

Adam welcome to the forum, Don

LOL its like every think it only hurts the firs time the more you stitch the harder the skin will get and after a bit you wont hurt its like playing a guitar it is murder on the fingers if you dont keep at it, Don

The loop seat was a crossover from half seat to full seat, the early ones still had seperate side jockeys so you only need to make one slot through the seat so that the stirup leathers are resting on the bars and not straining on the seat, here is a pic of an old one that i restored so you can see what i mean, Don

Have you tried ebay Item number: 200195502565 im not sure if thats what you want, Don

Josep welcome to the forum we are glad you found us please ask any questions you may have and do show some pics of your work, Don

Hi Karl what color is it if it is brown its 1904 or later as the saddles were black before that date i believe, Don

Hi Duane welcome to the forum, we are glad you decided to come out of hiding and join us, there are some exelent seats on your site, Don

i do have a question on the original i have the rigging is also nailed to the tree under the front jockey, is this nessesary as i believe not as the jocky and seat jocky prevent it from moving or how do you guys do it once it is in place? Don

i do have an original 1890s saddle with samstagg rigging and it is two piece, Don