greg gomersall

Pull it through a rein rounder to round it up or get a hold of your local shoe findings supply and ask for sewing machine belting. It's not cheap to buy but it is time consuming to make your own as well so it is a toss-up as to which way is actually cheaper. If you do not have a shoe findings supplier in your area try Panhandle Leather in Amarillo Tx. They stock it. Greg

You will find most of the ropes and cords are soft and spongey, kind of hard to do a nice tight braid around plus they stretch. The leather belting though you find pricey makes the best core you will find. If you are braiding nice reins the cost of the core should not be a concern considering what your string would be worth when you figure out what it cost you to make. Greg

The 8" twist handle copy of the Osborne that the TLF sells is a poor copy and the bevel on the blade is only about 1/2 of the blade where as if you look at the origanal osborne twist handle the bevel goes clear back to where the blade flattens out for bolting to the frame. The longer the bevel the easier the pull. If this is the type of splitter you are looking for either buy an original Osborne or the copy that Campbell-Bosworth makes are both worth the money. Like I said the TLF model is a poor copy geared to hobby use. Greg

Luke; Dave Shelly was a prominent gear maker in Cody. He opened his shop in 1908. He died in 1941 and his widow sold the shop in 1945. As for value remember condition is everything infact if there is any damage you will be better off leaving it alone than allowing someone to do a repair job that might be less than perfect. Things right down to the type of thread used in the repair are critical. Finally are the chaps for sale and can I see pictures of them. As for the inside pockets they were very commonly done like this in days gone by. Thanks Greg

MJ to where in oregon are you and Sir Liam headed? Greg

You could weld a bearing collar with an iside dia. that matches your rams dia. then use the set screw in the collar to hold your plate in place. I have a piece 1" thick and 12" x12" for a top plate. Quite heavy and this collar with one set screw holds just fine. Greg

Back in the late 80's when I was apprenticing under Hank he had a customer come in with a saddle Hank had made a couple years before on a Hercules tree. The horse had slipped in the mountians and fell about 70 feet off an edge. The tree was crushed. I took it apart and we sent the tree back. The owner of the tree company called to see what had happened and Hank told him. The reply was "do you expect us to warrenty that". Hank said your warrenty says "unconditional". They covered it but I don't think a tree-maker should have to cover something along the line of this or even stupidity on the owners part. When I have a question like this from a customer I tell them "No warrenty expressed or implied". If you rope a bull and things don't make it thru we'll work with you. Do something stupid like drive over it or have it fall off the back of the truck and get drug under the trailer tough luck. (I have seen more than one saddle drug under the trailer).. Greg

Lute you need to use some king of thread lube, You can get Frankel's liquid wax from Bieler's or Campbell-Bosworth has a thread lube as well. If your wax stripper is not functional you can put a cut in a chunk of skirting and use it as a stripper. If you need one I can get you a stripper (original) from a contact I have in England. What size of needle are you using with the six cord and are you using 5 cord on the bottom, if not you need to try it. Campbell-Bosworth carries Barbour's linen as well as a Hungarian made linen( it's half the price of Barbour's and Barbour's are now having thier thread made in Hungary but I haven't tried it yet). Greg

Lute your needle bar width seems to be within the two I have here, if your shim is working for now lets concetrate on the tensions. First off there should be just enough bobbin tension that you can feel a slight resistance when you are holding the shuttle in your hand and pulling on the thread. What type and size of thread and needles are you using? I will measure the settings on my thread take-up lever tommorrow and get back to you. Greg

Bruce this style of seat extension is also pictured in Visalia catalogs from the mid 20's. By the 30's it is no longer pictured. Ask Griff some time he should be able to shed more light on this technique for us. Greg

Bruce talked to a friend of mine this morning who has a photo of Bill and Duff Severe along with the first Severe Brothers Bronc saddle and its buyer Casey Tibbs. The saddle had a horn but they had bent the neck forward so that the cap was almost touching the front of the swell. This was 1955, the year Bill and Duff left Hamley's and went on thier own. Greg

Bruce it would still be legal to compete with a horned saddle. From what i've been told Earl Bascom was the first to cut his horn off back in the late 20's but I can remeber seeing guys still riding with horns in the early 70's though it was rare. By the mid 50's and early 60's most guys were cutting them off. In the first 50 years of rodeo alot of these guys only owned 1 saddle and they made thier living cowboying out of it during the week while rodeoing on a regonial basis when and if they could. I've rode broncs at ranch rodeos and bucking horse sales in angora's and an old horned committee rig I have in the past and I tip my hat to those that did it well. Loose fitting chaps are tough enough but if the angora is long it will work in between the swells and your thigh and is slick like grease. Most of the rodeos up here other than the PRCA shows are also having Stock Saddle Bronc Riding at them and you see a few wearing woolies with thier slick fork rigs. They are allowed to fasten thier rope down tight on the saddle and use thier rope as a night latch with thier free hand, most are but some are going one handed. Our local rodeo here in New Plymouth had $1,000.00 added money plus fees this year and close to 30 entries last month. The Elko County Fair and Rodeo has what they call the World Championship Stock Saddle Bronc Riding In July and it pays out around $15,000.00. The WRCA Finals in Amarillo has it as well as a requirement for each team competeing plus they have an open class as well. Not many are using a committee rig but you do see one from time to time. I don't know if Severe Brothers produced many with horns or not. I'll try to remeber and ask Randy at some point. Greg

Denver Dry Goods produced thier own saddles. They were in business from the 20's till approx. 1986. They also marketed saddles under the Powder River Brand. They bought the Hermann H. Heiser Co. in 1945 and sold the Heiser firm to Keyston Brothers in 1950. While Hamley's developed the Association rig over the winter of 1919-1920 and were probably the largest producer of them into the 50's I would believe that Denver Dry Goods were probably the second largest producer of them. Greg

Arron Martin Harness suppy out of Walenstien Ontario will be able to sell you new thread tension plates very reasonable. It sounds like your needle bar has excessive wear on it. If you would please measure it at its widest point accross ( the back side of the bevel) I will compare that to the two pearsons I have sitting here. Might have to get a new needle bar made if the wear is too much but I know a retired machinist that has built pieces for me quite reasonable. We will get you going properly. Do you have a manual for your machine? If not let me know and also give me the serial # off the machine so I will have a better idea were it fits in the sequence( they made some modifications and changes from time to time). Hpoe this helps. Greg

Servo motors have an adjustable reostat you can adjust your speed with built right into them so why would you need a speed reducer as well? These Servo motors are D.C. current not A.C. like a clutch motor. Greg

Gremlin if you try getting ahold of Standard Rivet Company or Timco I am pretty sure they make a pronged type of harness spot that resembles the primer end of a shell casing. Greg

Art; they dropped the yoke off of the back of the copies that operated the needle movement ( stitich length) so that only the top portion advanced with each revolution of the flywheel. On the pearson that yoke also operated the bottom needle assist simultansly. This bottom needle assist could be adjusted to even compensate for different sizes of needles and when your work was moved back the pull came from top and bottom not just the top as with the reproductions. Like I previously said Tony Luberto about fell off his chair when we discussed this. As for parts there are a couple companies making pretty much anything one might ever need from new shuttles to thread locks and springs etc. and any half competent machinist can build what ever you might need otherwise. Schmetz produces needles in sizes 160,200,230,250 & 280 so needle availiblity is also not an issue. Greg

Pella try getting ahold of Landis-Letendre in Quebec for help with your machine. It appears (no offence) that you probably are more comfortable speaking french and they might be able to communicate more fluidly with you to help you with your machine. While you are talking to them quiz them out on a Pearson #6 Harness Stitcher, if you can figure out how to pay for it, it will be the best money you will ever spend on a sewing machine. I have used the same machine for over 22 years now, they are simple to run and maitain and are foolproof. Ferdco, Luberto"s and some other tried to copy it a few years back but they really screwed up with the machine they came out with. Art might want to jump in here as by the photo he posts for an avitor he has one of the copies. Greg

I use a 1245 pfaff with no speed reducer for a table machine, if you can learn to feather the pedal you should get along fine. One thing I might suggest instead of a speed reducer is to replace the clutch motor with a Servo motor. You will have all the control you seek and it is a real simple switch out. Greg

Pella both the 105-25mo and the 205-25mo were special order machines designed for sewing pleats in the feet of moccassons. They are a bottom feed only machine and you will probably not be very happy with them as a saddle sticher. Greg

Karon just put the price of Warren's trees up to 500 that is what prettymuch everyone else is charging as well. Greg

Darc I was just curious as there were some things about it that made me think it might have been a little newer than that. Greg

Once you have built a rig on a handmade tree you will realize how much easier they are to build on than a factory tree. They generaly don't have to be smoothed up or need much prep work and will have center line reference marks etc. They are worth every penny more in price. Call Sheridan Leather Outfitters in Sheridan Wy. they try to keep trees from Rod Nikkel, Bill Bean and Rick Read around the shop to sell. I don't think Rod or Rick are taking new customers at this time but you might try Bill Bean in Pearl, Idaho or you might be able to get Warren Wright trees from Karon Harwood in Shelly Idaho. Greg

Walt Youngman copied the tree of Cliff Wade's dads saddle for Tom Dorrence in 1939. They then improved on that design in what they refered to as a 1940 Wade. This is the tree we refer to today as the wade. The bar angles have changed but the design is basicly the same. the early wades also had a low 3" to 3 1/2" cantle on them. Darc, by any chance do you know the serial off of the cantle back on that visalia. Greg

Waddy that is one method as I previously described. Very effective and stable. Greg