bdt46

I think if you take the complete course, it is a two year study program. It also includes some business type courses with it. They have a website with all the info. I think it is GREEN COUNTRY TECHNOLOGY CENTER and should lead you on to the course you are looking for! Good Luck

I have had contact with several former students of the program at GTC. It is like any other school, and will give you a good basic knowledge of boot and saddle making. The main factor is YOUR desire and ability to learn and be good at the crafts. Some of the former students were pretty good at the work and others were only fair at crafting items! So if you go to school there, learn all you can and practice, practice, practice!

Panhandle Leather in Amarillo, Tx.

John, the photos are loaded to large to be able to tell anything about the pad! Main thing is that if it pleases you for a first project, then that is all that matters! Keep on doing leather work and strive to learn and improve and you will with every project. Don't get discouraged if things go wrong sometimes, because mistakes are made even by professionals. Good luck and keep on working leather!!

As a Native American (LENAPE) I wear one set of earrings all of the time. When I am dancing at Native American Powwows, I wear two sets of earrings! They are as much a part of my personal identity as anything I can think of. Look at old photographs of Native American men and you will see that they nearly all had some kind of earrings, as did many other ethnic males of different cultures. To my way of thinking it is a personal choice on a man wearing earrings. Besides it makes as much sense to me to wear earrings as it does for a man to wear a business suit and tie!

You have me thoroughly confused now! The photo seems to be on the left or ON side of the saddle. This is normally the side to draw your latigo through the cinch, and buckle up your back cinch when you saddle a horse where I live! Lots of people throw the stirrup over the seat or hook the stirrup on the horn to get them out of the way to make the access to cinch and latigo easier. This is why I thought you were getting the wrinkles in the seat jockey! Maybe someone will have the right answer for you, as I apparently don't have an answer for you.

I should have added this to my earlier reply! It won't hurt anything, just keep riding and using the saddle and a lot of that will eventually work itself out. It looks like a new saddle and probably just needs a good breaking in!

Looks like the leather on that side of the seat might be a little soft or "flanky" int hat area of the seat jockey. If you throw the fender and stirrup up over the seat while saddling your horse, the the backward bend on the seat jockey could be causing a little stretch which in turn causes the wrinkles!

Joanne, I would suppose it depends on where you are from to some extent. Most cowboys around my area use from 32" to 36" cinchas. They all say to get proper cinch length, measure your horse around the withers and barrel, then divide the distance in half and deduct 4 inches, the remaining measurement is the length your cinch should be. Most horses will measure between 77" to 85" around. So if a horse measures 78" you divide that in half and that would be 39", then deduct 4" and that would leave 35" for the proper cinch length. Since most cinchas come in even lengths, then a 34" or 36" cinch would work. Personally I prefer the longer instead of shorter cinch!

Welcome Itaricans, you should try KONOMOS DISTRIBUTING on Harry Truman Blvd. in K.C. Mo. ! I do quite a bit of trade with them and have for many years. Bill Konomos is a super guy to do business with. They have a little of everything from leather, thread, glue, buckles, spots, rivets, or about anything else you can think of. They specialize in shoe repair findings. Also have used machinery sometimes and all kind of sewing machine parts and needles. Hope this helps a little. Their prices sure will beat Tandy's!

As I said in an earlier post, that like 8thsinners family, I was for many years in the cattle and leather business. I am still a fulltime saddle maker. All the years I owned cattle, they were a top priority in being taken well care of. For most people the cows are like a member of their family. Their health and welfare is many times put above the owners! Agreed, some people don't take care of their animals, and they usually don't last long in the business. I never worried about using leather from cows that were not taken care of because those hides are usually culled out for whatever reason. The Lowest grade of hides, TANNERY RUN, will show lots of blemises such as tick holes, scars, brands etc. I never use this grade of hide anyway. I don't thinkthat I'm being argumentative, I am just trying to be fair in my opinion! I would also like to see some of the documentation on the earlier mentioned abuses. Not the PETA propaganda, but any real documentation! Hope I don't offend anyone, just expressing my opinion!

Everyone seems to want to post their opinion on this thread, so I'm going to post mine! I'm sure I'll catch a lot of guff about it, but I have big shoulders, so take your best shot! Raised in Oklahoma, I have been involved in the cattle business and the leather business for a lot of years. There has to be a market for beef or there would be no reason to raise them. There are an untold number of jobs in this country that are directly or indirectly involved in the cattle industry. That is from producer to buyer to feedlot to slaughter to market to consumer and many other jobs that branch of from each of those. What about grocers and butchers and fertilizer and of course tanners! All that I can say to you people who worry about the treatment of animals and the byproducts of same is, if you are so concerned, then don't buy whatever the product or byproduct is that you are so concerned about! Especially the chrome tanned leather. Don't buy leather shoes, belts, purses, wallets or whatever, as most contain chrome tanned leather somewhere in their construction. As for me, I'll continue to use whatever I need to use to give my customers the best product that money can buy. I guess if all you people refuse to use chrome tan leather, it will just give some of us a broader market. I'm going to keep eating a steak or roast or whatever, and from the energy it give me, I'll continue to put a padded seat in my custom saddles when necessary.

After a quick look at your photos, the fenders and wearleathers on the skirts appear to be replacements. The fenders have been stamped with the maker mark which is not all that uncommon on a large repair job. The saddle looks to to be a lot older than the 70s by the way it is made. There might be another maker name somewhere else on the saddle if it is a shop made saddle. In the 40s and 50s this style saddle was not uncommon, and many production saddles were made similar to it. Unfortunately many had no name on them. Of course the original makers mark could have been on the replaced fenders also. As for value its worth all you can get for it!!!!!! Hope this helps some.

Traveller, when you say your horse refuses to be sored by bucking when the saddle doesn't fit leads me to believe there is some other problem! Generally if a horse is broke at all, he won't get sore until after a ride with something that hurts him. Especially when you say that the saddle you use now is not a perfect fit. How many different saddles did you have to use before you found one that doesn't bother him? Seems to me like it could have been something sticking out of the bottom of the saddle or pads that caused the discomfort. Many of the factory made saddles have nails and screws in the bottom to hold the skirts in place and these sometimes work out and it is amazing how small a protrusion can cause discomfort to a horse. Just wondering how many saddles it took before you found the "RIGHT ONE"?

Ross, as someone who has been making saddles for over 40 years, I for one agree with you wholeheartedly! I think there is too much emphasis put on whether a saddle fits correctly or not. I almost exclusively make saddles for working cowboys here in Oklahoma. Most of them ride several different horses with the same saddle. They mostly realize that if properly taken care of, a well made saddle will outlast most horses! I try to make the best quality saddle that can be purchased, and one that will fit a variety of horses. Generally by the use of different thicknesses of pads and blankets, a fit can be made on about any horse. These are not pleasure horses, but ranch horses that are are used to do ranch work. You are right that the majority of horse people do not use a horse or saddle enough to sore one whether a saddle fits or not. If they have a decent quality saddle, then the average person will be fine with its use. Just my opinion!

I don't know what one costs as I've had mine for several years. But I got two different size dies for boot hooks, several different dies for eyelets, tubular rivets, etc. and seems like it was a hundred plus dollars when I bought it. But you must have one for the hooks because the hooks are so hard that you can't set them by hand! I don't know what one costs as I've had mine for several years. But I got two different size dies for boot hooks, several different dies for eyelets, tubular rivets, etc. and seems like it was a hundred plus dollars when I bought it. But you must have one for the hooks because the hooks are so hard that you can't set them by hand!

KONOMIS DISTRIBUTING in Kansas City, Mo. has all types of boot hooks in all colors and sizes. Call Bill Konomis and he will be great to work with. You will also need a Gotz Setting Machine (hand type) to set the hooks because it takes a certain type setter for the hooks.

disregard

Huntet- go to Bowden Saddle Trees website and look at their tree catalog and you can see the names and styles of some popular trees. They can be made to whatever specifications you want

KONOMIS DISTRIBUTING in Kansas City has all types of eyelets and the GOTZ machine to set them. A setting machine is necessary to set the eyelets because they are so hard to keep from mashing down and trapping your shoe laces!

I have a stone inlaid on each end of my bench and I find myself using the one on the right end 10 to 1, as I'm right handed. So I would think you would want yours on the left end as you are left handed. I use the one on my bench to skive on, hammer down stitches, and lots of other things also. I don't know how I got along for many years without them.

Any of the 3 phase machines will have to have the motor changed to single phase to work on your household current. The Pfaff 335-H3 sounds like what you need. It is a cylinder arm, with high lift foot and walking foot feed. It also has reverse feed and should be heavy enough to sew any of your holsters. But could be cost prohibitive to you if you want something in the $500 range. Wizcraft could tell you for sure about the machine!

Looks like the knives used many years ago , when people canned their own goods. On the old ranches and homesteads here in Oklahoma they were pretty common. They were used to cut cabbage into the thin pieces to make sauerkraut which was canned in mason jars.

I've had a large machinists granite block for several years, it came from Grizzley Tools in Springfield, Missouri. The price was the most reasonable of any place that I tried to find a stone at. They have several sizes available.

I wouldn't trade my Landis 16 or my Landis 1 for a carload of the CHINESE CLONES!!!!!!!