mulefool

I've got some from Sheridan leather Outfitters a few years ago. They even had black.

I've got one of the ceramic ones. It makes a pretty decent cut,but it doesn't round the center. I didn't know Barry King made them. I might look into getting one of his.

I'd take Canada in a minute. But don't they have rules or something to keep out the riff-raff? Most places in the pacific NW I like alot. Which is handy since that's where I'm at. I really like Wallowa county Oregon, North central Washington and even where I'm at now which is on the west side of the mountains. I don't really mind the rain so much either. Main problem: too many people.

Gosh, they look so 'lifelike". Now I'm going to have to think of something else to do with all that left over sheepskin.

I've gotten some nice ball rein chains from Hitching Post Supply. www.hitchingpostsupply.com

I've got several of his stitch groovers, too. really nice. Just like everything else he makes.

I love my Douglas awl haft and blades. But I imagine the feel of that end in your hand could be a subjective thing. I try to always have a couple extra blades around. I hate the thought of being almost done with a cantle binding, break a blade and have to let it sit til I get a new one.

boy you learn something new every day sometimes. that will be really interesting to see a pair without the welts. the one thing I like about stuffing them with wool is I feel like I'm not wasting all that since I've got a ton.

Once you have somewhat of an idea how things are done, it might be a good way to make first saddle. but I would get a book or video first just to get an idea of what's involved.

Ever notice how the better the quality of saddle the easier it is to reline the skirts? I just finished taking one apart to reline. It is a trail type saddle built along the lines of a McClellan but to get the dang skirts off I had to pretty much take the thing completely apart. I had to remove the entire rigging, the back skirt plate that went over the top of the bar was stuffed up under the back cantle cover and I had to pry that up to get it off. On top of that they shot a couple dozen nails though the sheepskin into the middle of the bars after the skirts were on. I can't see where there was much reason for that, other than to frustrate me. Oh, plus they Barged the wool on. I've had some other saddles where they must line them up against a wall and fire staples at the skirts like a firing squad. Now that I'm done ranting, what do you charge for relines and do you size up a saddle and give a higher quote if you suspect it's going to be one of these? I usually charge $225 but when the customer brought this one in I said I thought there might be some extra labor and told him it could be as high as $350. I thought that was pretty outrageous and that I would end up charging less and we'd both be happy, but now I'm thinking maybe I should stick with it. I guess the thing that frustrates me the most is that THERE'S NO REASON FOR ALOT OF THIS. It wouldn't have been any harder to make the thing so it was easy to take apart. Well, guess I got that out of my system.

I do have one of the LaPorte trees with the cable rigging. I haven't finished it yet since I was just going to build it on spec and I've got too many real orders to get to it. So far all I've done is cover the fork. It seems like it will be easy to work with and if you were making up a bunch you've got that consistency so it might work in a situation where you want to make up a bunch all the same. It's got the ground seat and the cable rigging so you save time on that. i rode one several years ago and really liked it. It was pretty much skeleton rigged and real light. My friend ropes off it all the time and it real happy with it. I've tried is on several QH with well defined withers and nice backs and looks like it fits that type horse well. They do have other sizes, though. When I ordered it I got it within a couple weeks so you don't have a long lead time.

Thanks guys. Of course all those mentioned would be a great choice. Some of my customers can afford that. Most can't. I guess what I usually need the most is something along the lines of Hansens. I'd love to learn how to do some stuff myself. Between hitching horsehair and making saddles I guess I need one more thing that takes up alot of time.

Sonny's info Quality Mfg. P.O. box 1244, Monticello, UT 84535 435-587-5070

Bob Douglas. Best awl on the planet. it'll make you happy every time you use it. 46 Wakely Road Sheridan WY 82801 307-737-2222

I like Goliger and Seigels. I have gotten some great leather from Seigels at good prices but the problem I have is that they don't have a consistent range of colors weights etc. it's just what they get in at the time. and they don't have a swatch card or samples. So sometimes I take a chance on something that sounds good and luck out. other times, not so much. The best price on oil tan I have found is Harvey Boutin & Sons. They call it velva and it comes in brown red and black.

I've built a number of them. Most of them have been a "B" shape that I get from Herb Bork in Pendleton. The last one I built was the 'B" where the center bar doesn't come all the way to the middle so the customer can move the latigo without untying the strap. I'm not that crazy about them either because they seem pretty stiff and big, but customers really like the idea. The funny thing is, I set them up usually so when the latigo is fanned out between the slots it's at 7/8ths, and so far in over 20 years I don't think anybody ever actually feels they need to change it.

Who do you guys use for silver work? Do any of you do your own?

I originally used Superior and Hercules way back when. For probably the last ten years I've used Sonny Felkins. I've been real happy with his trees. I tried a couple from Timberline but really wasn't that happy. The rawhiding wasn't that nice and the horn wasn't as refined and nice as Sonnys. Sometime I'd like to try one of Rod and Denise's trees after reading their posts here.

Here it rarely gets below 15-20 in the winter, but its real humid. The saddles we ride all the time are in an open barn and don't seem any worse for wear since there is real good circulation. We keep the others in a heated tack room. If we didn't they'd look like they were made out of green velvet instead of leather. If it's real cold out I take my blanket into the house to warm up. I guess I just like to keep that mule happy.

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping there was some secret trick I didn't know about. Not that it's THAT hard. The new owners have sure put a ton of time and money in Hamleys. It's like a museum and there's an art gallery upstairs. I hadn't been in there since the early 80's. I looked at their website this morning and found this.http://www.hamley.com/t-company.aspx I didn't see that when we were there. I had heard a while back that Alan Dewey was building saddles for them.

I can't imagine it would be good for it. But I don't have any actual information to prove that. Maybe you could do your own experiment. Cut a piece of leather in half and keep freezing and unfreezing half of it. Then compare them for suppleness, cracking, etc.

How do you guys go about lining Monel and brass bound stirrups? I glue in the lining and then use escutcheon pins to tack it down. I generally drill a tiny pilot hole for the pin. But it's always kind of a struggle to get those pins in because it's hard to get a good straight angle to hammer them in. And then with the rounded top of the escutcheon pin you really have to hit them right. I stopped by Hamleys last summer and noticed on some of their saddles (not all) the lining wasn't pinned in at all. Just glued. the saddlemakers weren't around so I couldn't ask them about it. I'm not sure I'd trust the glue alone to do a good job, but it looked nice and clean. How far apart do you usually place your pins?

Really nice. When you sewed on that overlay do you cut it out that shape and stitch around it, or do you stitch and then trim around the stitching? What kind of machine do you have?

Well, Good Grief, I've been pulling those things out with tweezers for the last 25 years. Now I guess I won't get to charge extra to use the old stitch line.

So I'm assuming Rod and Denise that you are using these? It sounds pretty interesting and seems to make alot of sense. Almost all the saddles I've built over the last 3 or 4 years have been for mules which as you know present some different fitting challenges. I'd be interested in seeing how this might work for them. I suppose everything he has done so far would be on horses.