mulefool

Timbo, on the traditional Decker style tree like mulepackin posted, you would need to use Decker hooks to attach the bag or box straps to the tree. On a modified Decker tree the arches have some shoulder to them and you can use them just like you would a sawbuck and they won't slip off.

Welcome to the board. I specialize in building pack saddles and related equipment.(www.horseandmulegear.com). Right now we build our own trees. We use the manganese bronze arches from herb. We are the ones that made up the pattern for his modified arch. I'm always interested in new trees and the one you pictured looks nice. It's hard to find people doing a good job on pack saddle trees, which is why we started doing our own. I'd be interested in talking to you sometime about yours. Chris

For Christmas my uncle used to cook a rib roast with Yorkshire pudding, green beans, creamed onions, mashed potatoes. I'd wait all year for that great meal. When he passed away nobody carried it on. Maybe none of us thought we could do it justice. Merry Christmas!

I have built a number of saddles for customers who wanted extremely light saddles. I used a light weight Hermann Oak skirting. the skirts were pared down to maybe an inch around the tree but then on some I dropped the skirt down for an in skirt rigging. I have one I built in 1983 for a good friend. She still rides it. ALOT. In the summer she rides in the mountains probably at least 5 days a week. It's held up well, I haven't had to reline the skirts or replace stirrup leathers. I probably have another maybe 10 saddles of that type out there. I'm assuming they've held up since I still see the customers from time to time and haven't had them bring them in for work. As far as the LaPorte tree I have a friend riding one of those skeleton rigged and he ropes off it. Last I heard he liked it. I'm in the process of building a saddle right now on a LaPorte tree. My customer had tried one out and liked it. She rides alot as well so we'll be giving it a good trial.

Well, I agree a new fender would be the best thing. It's fully carved, so it wouldn't be cheap, but that would be the repair I could stand behind and say it will be right. The customer really likes the carving on it, although it's not anything special, it's a decent made factory saddle from I'm guessing the 40's or 50's. I'm kind of leery about the plug idea because I'm not sure how reliable it would be down the road and lining the fenders (I'd have to do both so they match) wouldn't be cheap either. Maybe if I'd done that before and knew how it would work out I might feel more confident about it. I appreciate your perspectives on it. Chris Just wanted to edit to add: My top priority is to do a GOOD job, not cheap, but I do like to make sure the customer understands when a repair may be adding more cost than the saddle is worth, so they can make an informed decision.

I got in a saddle for repair with a hole in the middle of the fender. It's dry and dirty and needs a reline, but it appears as though something corrosive dripped onto this spot. It looks oily but burnt and the leather just falls out in chips. If all the damaged leather were to chip out it doesn't look like it would continue past the area of quarter size. It has full stirrup leathers so I'm almost inclined to just clean and condition well and leave it at that. Although I get the impression the customer would like me to DO something. I could envision cutting a circle of leather out around the spot putting in a plug, redo the carving on the plug, and then lining from the back. Once this thing is cleaned and conditioned it will be pretty dark so i think the plug could blend in, however I'm not sure how well it would stay in and I also don't really think it's worth it. At least it wouldn't be if it were mine. Has anyone made a similar repair, or have any ideas on it? Thanks, Chris

I have some reprints of old catalogues and thought maybe I might find it in one of those, but no luck. There is a company called Cabin Creek CDs that has old catalogues on CDs and maybe you could check with them and see if maybe it's in one of theirs. i looked in R.T. Frazier No 15, main & winchester 1905, Meanea 1923, Miles City 1925 and Visalia 1923. Good luck, it's fun researching those old saddles. Chris

I can't quite tell from the pic, but it looks like the angora is not lined. Is that correct? When I have made angora pockets I have stitched the angora to a 6-7oz piece of strap leather for the flap. Then I attached a buckle on a strap from the back side of the bag. I attached a billet to the backside of the flap and the buckle came under the bag to fasten. On the bags you have shown maybe you could attach a strap to the back of the bag under that concho, then do the same thing bringing a buckle billet from the back. Those bags look really sharp, I've never made them with such long flaps but they look good. I just got an order for another set and I had some black angora to try for a change. Chris

Thanks for the pic. I may have another question about it, but I need to mull it over first. Chris

Just curious on the horn cap. When you say a donut do you mean a piece that actually has a hole in the middle? That this would be the filler under the cap? And when you cut the cap off the horn pattern and just used the wings for the neck wrap, is it still sewn to the cap? If so is there just like a little tab from the neck wrap that is stitched in right in the back? ( I don't know if that made any sense at all?) I've been wondering if there's a better way to cover my horn caps so I'm always interested in new ideas on it.

Turned out really nice. There's something distincntive about your carving, I'm not sure what it is but it looks a bit different but really nice. Chris

Well, it doesn't look like a first saddle. Turned out really nice. I wouldn't have thought to combine the barb wire with the basket stamp, but I think it turned out nice and a little different. Good luck with your second. Chris

I have a friend who loves to go to garage sales, anytime she sees an apron she picks one up for me. 25 to 50 cents a piece usually. I also made one for myself out of heavy chap leather but I don't wear it much because it was a bit stiffer than I realized. I even carved a yoke at the top. Plus the local hardware store should have some pretty cheap, too. Chris

Well, I think it's a personal preference and I wouldn't try to talk someone out of their personal choice. My own feeling though is that the bucking roll is placed down lower and contacts sooner than the swell on a fork so that is my own preference. Although my first preference is not needing a "bucking" roll at all. Chris

I'm not sure who makes a rawhide covered sawbuck. I've seen them before maybe 20 years ago. I've made a few sawbucks with skirts like the picture. Every single one went to Colorado for some reason, seems like they're popular there. I've never seen one up here in the Pacific Northwest. I make alot of pack saddles, both Deckers and sawbucks. Alot of my customers like the ability to do a little rasping on the bars to fit a particular animal in their strings, so the rawhide would be a problem if a person wanted to do that. Are you thinking about making one for your self or a customer? Chris

Wish I could remember where I saw it, but it seems like I saw one where the leather was tacked down with escutcheon pins around the slots. Chris

Great site. I was looking for your brochure the other day and I misplaced it and was going to give you a call. It's great to know I can just go to the web site and find what I'm looking for. I really enjoy using your tools. Chris

Hey! That's a photo from my website! Kind of cool to see it come up on a search I never would have thought of. Hopefully you can get an idea of how they work by looking at the picture. A few things to keep in mind. Sometimes, more on horse gear than perhaps the use you have in mind, people use a strap that is too heavy a weight of leather so that it binds up in the buckle and is hard to adjust. For the first end of the strap that goes through the buckle I use a round end punch. I make sure that when I punch the first hole that goes over the post that I leave enough of the end of the strap that a bit comes out the other side of the buckle and then I skive about the first 3/4 to an inch almost to a feather. this keeps from having a lump that might sore the horse. Although you don't need to worry about that, it will still give a tidier finished product. Hope that helped. Chris

Does anyone know of a supplier of English style billets for repairs? I don't really do much English repair but I've had some folks bring me in some Orthoflex saddles that have English billets on them. I used to get them from Seigel but they don't have any the right size right now. These saddles have two English style billets sewn to a piece of biothane that is then sewn with the stitch line in the shape of a shield onto the English style fender of the saddle. As far as I can tell you can't really remove the fender to make it easier to work on. Has anyone worked on these saddles that knows if there is some easier way to make the repair that I'm just not seeing? Chris

Truer words were never spoke, Greg. When I first started out I thought as a 'custom" maker it was my job to fit these horses. I was a little slow on the uptake, but eventually learned to send these folks somewhere else. Chris

You did a good job on the spots on those bags. How did you get them set so well? I had a customer come in the other day and want me to spot a set of manufactured bags and I just didn't think I could do a good job on it so I turned it down. I couldn't figure out how to get a solid backing for setting the spots.

Beautiful cinch. Is the covering of the hair where it goes over the ring on the shoo fly hitched?

I also do the neatsfoot and Tan-Kote. I have some of the Bee Natural saddle Oil with fungicide, I haven't used it on new saddles, but I do use on older ones that have a mold problem. I get my neatsfoot from Weaver and in the winter when it gets cold in the shop I get the white stuff in the bottom of the bucket. I try to keep it by a heater which keeps it dissolved out. I just assumed that it was just the way neatsfoot is, just the tallow settling out. Should I be concerned about that? Chris

Not sure if anyone else does this, but I put a layer of rawhide in the middle where the slots are to reinforce it. Chris

As I was reading I was going to suggest something along those lines, but you beat me to it. I think it turned out well, and it's really a good way to do that type of repair on a saddle that wouldn't be worth putting the money into a complete new fork cover. I bet the customer was happy with it.