avturk

Thanks very much for your reply.

I have two western saddles that I purchased used that have a similar type of damage. Apparently the previous owners used a saddle rack that was peaked rather than rounded and when the saddle was pulled off the rack the underside of the seat was torn, exposing galvanized metal underneath. I don't expect this will ever have an effect on the function or life of the saddle but it looks terrible. Any thoughts on how to repair this? I was initially thinking about moistening and stretching the ends back together and just stitching it but there is some of the original material missing now. I have never built a saddle or disassembled one to repair it.

I have a bosal that my puppy got hold of and chewed up the knot covering the bottom "knob" on the bosal. I had inquired about having a bosal maker replace it and he wanted twice what I paid for the bosal, so I am interested in trying it myself. I have a couple of the books by Grant on leather braiding and cowboy tack, and Ashley's Book of Knots, I was wondering which type of knot you would recommend. I expect the "pineapple" knot will be what I want. I intend to do it once with some leather that I have (the type of leather that you use for binding the edges of a project) to learn the technique before investing in some rawhide to do the final version. If you have any tips or tricks for me as I start this project they would be appreciated.

Thank you very much for the tips. I will look into the books by Gail Hought. You are correct about Bruce Grant's books sometimes seeming to leave out a step or something where you look at figure 5 and figure 6 and think that they must have forgotten figure 5.5.

Hello - I have a couple of bosals that need repair work on the heel knot. One is quite old and I believe mice chewed away some of the rawhide strands, the other is brand new and my puppy chewed off the heel knot. I am thinking about trying to replace the heel knot on both of them. The newer one is a bosalita (very thin bosal) and after the puppy chewed away the rawhide braids it looks like there is something underneath that gives the knot "body", looks like paper and glue or something similar, definitely not leather or rawhide. I was wondering if this is something common, the heel knots are always so big and apple shaped I was curious what was beneath the braids. I have leather lacing that I may work with to start (since I already have it) and get the hang of things. I have Bruce Grant's books (Leather Braiding, How To Make Cowboy Horse Tack, The Encyclopedia of Leather Braiding), any recommendations on what kind of knot to use? I was looking at the ones that he suggests for covering the end of a quirt or whip handle (crossing strands at the base of the knot) but I don't know if that's the best choice. Also, once I convince myself I can do a nice job on the braid where is a good place to get rawhide strings to do a nice braid? Thank you ...