mulefool

Just to be clear are you asking about corkscrew twisted fringe or are you asking about "Idaho twist"? The Idaho twist is just a slit braid at the top of each fringe. Just cut a slit and pull the fringe through. You can either pull it from front to back or back to front. Just make sure you pull them all the same way. Also make sure that each slit goes down the leg on a straight line so they are all lined up nice.

I was just curious how many of you have employees? How did you decide it was time to get one? Did you have trouble finding people who could do the work? I know I could use a part time helper, at least. From time to time I have people contact me and want to work for free to learn. I have always turned them down. It seemed like the things I would want them to do aren't probably what they would want to learn, and I have enough to do without worrying about trying to teach someone. Did you start with someone to do things like book work and ordering, cleaning the shop etc. Or did you start with someone to do work like cutting strings, punching holes, actual leather work? did you find it hard to have someone in the shop after working alone. From time to time I have had friends help with getting ready for a show or big order. It makes it harder to concentrate, although I spose you just work through that and get used to it. I think it would force me to be better organized and that would be a good thing.

Thanks grumpy. Our Decker bars are cut from cottonwood. I like it cause it's light and fibrous. Most customers that have any preference on wood at all want the cottonwood. I believe the old Forest Service specs are cottonwood. The sawbucks we presently get are pine with oak crosses. We're headed down the the packing clinic in Klamath Falls this coming weekend. Larry Difani always has a booth one down from us. We always have a nice time chatting with him. I noticed last year he appeared to be making his own sawbuck trees. I prefer a Decker, too. but we sell gear all over and as you know some areas are Sawbuck country. Sounds like you're pretty knowledgeable on pack saddles. Here's our website if you'd like to see what we do. www.horseandmulegear.com

I can't think of a guy who HASN'T studied female anatomy since his youth!

We would like to make our own pack saddle trees. We do Assemble our own Deckers. but we have the bars cut by Sonny Felkins and we get our arches cast from Herb Bork. We would like to ability to cut our own bars and also to make Sawbuck trees. I'm not that happy with what I am able to get. We do dress them up a bit after we get them, but we'd like a little better shape to the bars and just a nicer tree. It's been hard getting the time to do the research on putting together a little tree shop.

That looks really nice. I hadn't seen those two stamps put together like that. I imagine it's a bit tricky keeping it all lined up right. I've got that flower stamp and I've used that on an all over pattern. Surprisingly more men have chosen it than women.

Well, I learned "bottom to center, butts to back". But I think this is one of those things where there is a variety of opinions.

If all my customers were lawyers I think I'd be tearing my hair out. I had been charging $40.00 per hour shop rate. But I've been doing alot of re-evaluating of my prices lately, everything has gone up so much, I beleive I'll be raising it to $50.00. I also think it would be a good idea to have the shop rate posted in plain view. Do any of you have a minimum charge? I do think in even the smallest job you have about a quarter hour invested.

That's interesting. I'll have to give Panhandle Leather a try. I go through enough harness I should buy it direct from Hermann Oak but I use the cutting service from Weaver which saves me a ton of time. I make a lot of pack saddles with it. I usually buy backs so I don't have as much waste. But over the last year or so it seems like the quality has been getting worse. maybe I should look into an automated strap cutter, but those things must cost a lot I think.

I used a granite piece of tombstone for years but it kept getting smaller. It was only maybe 1 1/2" thick. About 10 years ago I got a granite surface plate from a machine shop supply place. It's 3" thick, perfectly smooth and flat and 18" by 24". It's just about perfect. Cost me $80.00 but I know it's going to last me forever.

To make step ins I just used my regular chink pattern and lengthened the part where the buckles would be. I'm not crazy about step-ins cause they kind of pull your pant legs up when you pull them up. Unless your pants are so tight you have to spray them on. The last pair I made I told the guy that but he got them anyway. A couple months later he brought them back and had me put buckles in. I've done a few pairs where I make them LOOK like step-ins but they have buckles.

Look under saddle construction. jonwatsabaugh posted a pic of his rigging placement jig. It's not like Stohlmans but it looks pretty serviceable.

I've gotten some from Big Sky, too, and was happy with them. What are you planning on having made up?

Thanks for posting this. It looks useful. I'm curious what leather you are using. It looks like Muir McDonald, but it could just be the photo. I heard they had gone out of business.

With folks spending 40,000 on a new truck, 4000 for a new saddle seems like peanuts. There's a pretty famous old photo out there of a cowboy with his new saddle on a pretty sad looking pony that is captioned something like a "forty dollar saddle on a ten dollar horse."

Really nice work. I sure like the tooling combined with the border stamp. Nice clean balanced lines. I'd love to give you some constructive criticism, but I can't figure out what it would be.

I've used latigo or mulehide. I like the mulehide better. Might look into the elktan. Does anybody know how "mulehide" got its name. I can't imagine it actually is.

Thanks for your thoughts and clarification David. As to the x shaped packer cinch. I know they are popular for this purpose and I sell alot of them for pack saddles. I started out using one of those and found that on my mule it actually made things worse as I had TWO cinches pulling things forward. Running the back cinch behind the belly made a huge difference in keeping the saddle from funneling forward.

It really looks great, congratulations on your win. I sure like how the flowers come out over the border, it really gives it a nice look. Plus just about everything else about it as well.

I agree it isn't always useful to use the top of the wither versus top of croup to determine whether the horse is downhill. When you are using the base of the neck as the measurement, I'm not clear exactly how you are determining the "base" of the neck. Could you clarify? Would you ever do anything different to the ground seat to level out the feel for the rider? What about using a slightly built up pad in the front to level the tree? I have to confess that in spite of suggesting my customers avoid horses that are built downhill, I bought a mule that is downhill. She was young, and I'm a sucker for a pretty face, I guess. Add to that a muley back and one of those bellies that funnels everything toward the front. I have used a 1/4" piece of felt on top of my pad in the front. Of course I use a britchen and I also use a mohair cinch for my back cinch and run it behind the wide part of her belly. It seems to work but I'm a little sheepish about this set up.

What is the difference between a pencil roll and a finger roll? I haven't heard either of these terms. As far as the filler I put it on the front. It's just how I learned. But if there might be a good reason to do it on the back of the cantle I could be talked out of it.

If the saddle just has a burlap covered tree in it, it's hard to imagine it would be worth the expense of a new tree.

Anymore when I hear that voice in my head yelling "Run, dont walk!" I listen to it. Sometimes I'll come right out and tell them why. Other times discretion is the better part of valor and my lead times just get totally unreasonable. Anytime I ignore that voice I regret it.

Makes me want to go out and buy a motorcycle. Really nice work and really nice site.

I couldn't get the "About Us" page to come up. Just a blank page? maybe it's just my computer. I agree with posting prices. It seems like there are an awful lot of sites out there without them, but it always annoys me. I don't want to have to contact someone to know if I can afford it. Your work looks nice, so don't under price it!