steve mason

nice work, great job on the carving. looks real good

Last few years they have been very very late getting the schedule out untill a few weeks before the show, so don't hold your breath it will most likely be a while yet

I would think that if you are going to put a maker marker on yourself shouldn't it have your parents name on it instead of yours???

I am a full time saddle maker, just working to be inpendantly poor. I use to be a flyfishing guide part time, but I have made saddles and worked leather for a living since 1989 Steve

ta2r; In the next couple days I will stamp a little practice piece and post it here to help explain a little better of how I run the carlos border stamp.

not sure if any of you know of the buckarooguide website, if you are not she has a couple pages on the construction of a saddle that you may be interested in seeing. http://www.buckarooguide.com/ASlickForkIsBorn.php

bondobob; I do not have the stohloman books so I am not familiar with the method and jig system in it. could you explain the system and maybe show us a photo of the jig. thanks in advance Steve

Margaux; You have got some incredible advice with this post, I have been making saddles for almost 20 years and I have learnt quite a bit here, when experts like those who have replied do so,I listen, then I can learn, you have questioned which is a good way to learn but you must be prepared to listen to the answers you get from the experts. in regards to your drawing and the question of how padding affects trees, reread Greg's original post he explains it well, the angles stay the same the tree just is higher. I have done a quick sketch on a light board so the tree image and the horse image are exact between the two drawings, the proportions and angles are not accurate because this is just a quick sketch but it does get the point across. when I get a potential customer who wants me to build them a saddle for their one horse I tell them I can build them a saddle that will fit that type of horse and will not be micro fitted to a single horse since there is and never will be a way to make a tree fit a horse perfect since the horses back will always change depending age and condition, if the potential customer still wants a tree made to fit their exact horse, they obviously do not respect my abilities as a saddle maker so I will not make them a saddle, I solve the problem before it is created and I send them packing. Steve

I second the nomination for Richard Brooks, he does great work. Steve

Nice work on the saddle, looks like you did a real good job on the hidden stitch on the bind, good stuff. Steve

To all my friends near and far, new and old, I am wishing you all a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year to come from my little saddle shop in the great white north to you and yours. Have a great Holiday season, be sure eat to much turkey and have an extra drink or two also (but don't drive) Steve Mason

A good way to make the cut is to take a wooden yard stick and clamp the bind down with the stick on top of the bind, them make your cut, this can make the cutting process much easier than just holding the leather with your hands. I use a straight knife but a round knife works fine also. Steve

Most of my customers are cowboys,who have spent their entire life learning to be horsemen, which means they know how to pad accordingly depending on the horse they are riding and depending on the condition of the horse, if you pick good customers, saddle fit is not much of a problem, when you are building on top quality trees fit is not the problem, the problem is usually the gunsel saddling the horse not the tree or the saddle. If you market towards top quality customers you will only have to build top quality saddles or trees, if you market gimmick saddles or trees you will always have poor quality customers and therefore you will end up making poor quality saddles or trees. Basically try build for top hands, therefore you will have to build top qualtiy gear or you will be out of business. In regards to building a saddle that is flexiable or that can have the tree changed or any other gimmick is pure BS, any good saddle maker that I have ever met or heard of does not try to reinvent the wheel, they try to perfect the the techniques that have been proven for over a 100 years, building top quality saddles on trees made of wood and rawhide. this is what works and what will work in the furture, it is proven. maybe we all should quit trying to reinvent the wheel and just try to learn how to build good saddles or trees. maybe this is the Glenmorangie that I have been drinking tonight speaking but it seems as if you are trying to put a burr under our pads with every post you make, if this is not the case I appologize, but that is how I read your posts, I got a little scotch in my system so I might just be looking for a fight. Steve

http://www.ranch2arena.com/buckrollforms.html

you guys may want to try Jeremiah's watts buck roll inserts, they save you some time, he has a nice pattern, and the roll will be as firm or firmer than the best stuffed buck rolls you have ever seen. for tin I get them cut from a friend with a band saw to my pattern, then I go to shaping on the anvil.

Nice work as usual JP. Steve

In my opinion the middle filler of the horn cap should not be a donut, the filler should cover the whole horn cap and be nailed down, if it is not the filler will twist for sure if any roping is done or even ponying a horse etc. This is an essential part of doing any horn wrap either cap and wrap or wing style.

it is all the above

I am quite bias when it comes to saddle trees, I only use top quality custom trees made of wood and covered with rawhide, there is nothing better in my opinion. So I have only seen a couple trees from the maker you are asking about and in comparison to what I normally see in the trees I use, I don't think the trees you mention would even make decent firewood for me.

http://www.ljsaddlery.com

Howdy; a few friends of mine are wanting to build a couple reatas and make some hondos, do any of you know where I can send them to get some suitable rawhide for reatas etc. thanks much Steve

more pics

here are some pics of my shop. the inside is 11 1/2' X 19 1/2', my shop is an old single car carage which was made out of two sheds back in the 50's, I have enough workspace but it sure would be nice to have onother building the same size to store stuff in. I will post more photos in the next posts. Steve

SOLD

Howdy; Just wondering what you folks with more computer knowledge than I think of buying a factory refurbished laptop? we have found one that looks like it should work quite well for us, it uses the XP not the vista which is great because my wife made my website with frontpage and is does not work with vista, also we already have the office software that will work with XP not vista. So we really want a computer with XP not vista. I just am not sure if we should be concerned with the refurbished part? I would appreciate your opinions. thanks much