Go2Tex

Thanks Crystal. Yeah, I was just thinking about how Tandy antique actually seems to color the acrylic resist. I was thinking about then trying to remove the acrylic to expose the highlights without then having the color bleed all over it again. That's the hard part. I was thinging of trying a hint of black dye to the brown. It would sure darken it.

Yeah, 2 coats did help somewhat. Letting it dry real good helps too, of course, but takes a lot of time. Still doesn't resist dye very well. It works great against antique paste but then that doesn't give me the overall colorization I'm looking for. Could be I just need to use antique and let it set longer. But, then antique isn't really color fast. So, the problem is essentially 2 parts. First, I need to match the color and secondly, I need a resist/dye combination to achieve the stark highlight effect.

Received this pic from a customer who wants something like it. The question is: If you were going to try to replicate this effect, how would you go about it? I tried it with resolene as a resist and then Fiebings medium brown antique, then some Fiebings medium dye. The results were not quite the same as the picture. The edges are dark brown and/or black dye. That's not the problem. I can do that. It's the nice light highlights on the pedals and leaves that have been obviously resisted with something and I can't seem to replicate this. Anybody care to suggest a solution? What will resist dye?? I tried saddle lac sprayed on spots and then dyed. Maybe I didn't wait long enough for it to dry, because my results were inconsitent. Oil dye definitely went right through resolene like it wasn't even there. Regular leather dye seemed to be resisted better but not good enough. Also, my color does not match using medium browns. I get more of a redish color. It might be the lighting of the picture, of course, but I would like to match it as it appears. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

Don't know why nobody answered this yet, but I'll give it a shot. As far as I can determine, about the only difference between skirting and strap leather is that strap/tooling has been run through a splitter. When done wet, it tends to firm the leather and gives the back side a nice smooth, even appearance. Now, I suspect some tanneries might have a little different process they do on the strap sides to make it firmer, but I rather doubt many of them do, particularly the import stuff. Just my suspicions. I could be wrong, as usual. I know that Hermann Oak strap leather is the best I've seen but I don't know if they process it differently than skirting other than splitting it down. I've taken skirting straight off the back edge, split it down and it makes excellent straps. Other skirting becomes rather flemsy when split, by comparison. Of course, you can firm it up by wetting it and compressing the fibers with a rubbing tool/ slicker. As far as natural vs golden, I use whatever the customer wants. I like natural the best for carving because you get a good contrast which gives more depth.

Yeah, I wondered about that too when I first saw one close up. But, they're all like that. It also gives your pushin' hand the right angle and you have a little more power it seems. Nice woodworking too, by the way!

You will most likely discover that your factory saddle is not laced all the way and it will be either nailed or screwed to the bottom of the cantle to hold them onto the tree. You will need to remove them completely from the tree and punch more holes so that you can lace them up a few holes close to the cantle and then leave the outer part unlaced. It's how I build all my saddles and then round off the skirts too. The problem is that the loose ends of the skirt will still be moving around back there and against each other and might even pinch. It might be worse that way. Having said that. I doubt it is from the skirts being laced at the ends. It's done on almost all roping saddles and if it was a problem, more folks would be worried about it. Broken hairs sounds like friction to me. I notice you don't ride with a rear cinch and the back end of that saddle is probably moving around a lot as it is and removing the lacing won't help. If he's not sore, then the hair is just long and being broken off due to movement of the pads, like the hair on a dog's neck from a collar. Just curious though, does the saddle have real wool lined skirts or imitation stuff? It might have an effect on the movement of your padding.

As I recall, it was fairly dry, so I oiled it a bit and then gave it some glycerin saddle soap and finally some Tan Kote. The leather was actually in really good shape for it's age and neglect. So, it wasn't hard to get it looking good.

Wow Darc, I didn't think it could be done without stretching that hole so out of shape it would never look right, but you done it on that one, apparently. Learn something every day on this forum...... I notice you skive the cover down pretty good around the hole too. I suspect that helps some. I don't think I could do it that way, though. When fitting the cover, I end up putting it on and taking it off too many times to have to fight getting it over the horn each time. But, I really like your idea of fitting the cover before you cover the horn for that nice tight fit.

Just a thought........ how about using a safety razor and just shave the hair off the area to be glued?

I sure don't get the impression the Artisan folks are posting to this forum to make sales. I doubt they really need to.........

Regards keeping the horn small, try splitting your leather pieces down a bit. The middle, or filler piece, doesn't need to be thick at all. I temper it really well, so it's nice and hard. Then, when you are pressing the edges together with the pliers, try to get the crease line as close to the horn as possible and stitch as close as possible too. You can pound with a hammer on the area of the crease to make it thinner also. After you do your initial fitting of the bottom piece, establishing the location of the fold and stitch line, take it off and pound it down on the flesh side with a hammer. After stitching, cut the excess off as close as you can to the stitches without compromising it and that's about the best you can do about the size, that I've found. As to the fork cover horn hole on a big horn, the only way to do it without a split that I've seen is to cover the horn after coving the fork. If there is a way, I'd sure like to see how it's done.

I like it with the retainers. It's more of a classical design. Of course, you could just make slots in the flap, like cavalry bags.

Hey Bruce, what tool(s) are you using for the boning? You did a very nice job of it.

Hey Darc, your stamping looks so good you don't need to clean it up but I usually have to run a beveler or a push beader down it to get rid of the tool marks left by the serpentine or carlos stamp or just to even it up. As for the glassing issue, you nailed it. Exactly what I've experienced but I'm beginning to think it's all in the technique and the type of leather. I don't use a piece of glass or plexiglass. I've been using a wood slicker, which by it's nature probably exerts more pressure than the glass. So, I think I'm going to declare this a hung jury...... and get me a piece of glass and try it real lightly and before it dries to the point of burnishing it. Drum dyed leather is another problem itself. Now, are we talking laminated glass?

Do my eyes deceive or did you filigree those babies? No wonder you're swearing off making them. But just think how proud you're gonna be when you see them flying through the air over the top of some bull at the NFR, eh?

I found that molding for high detail works best with cased leather about 5-6 oz, that is dry enough to hold the crease or shape, etc. Dye is almost always applied after everything is done unless I want white stitching. I dye the inside or liner before assembly. Those hard to find details can be located by pressing the gun into the grain side, marking the location of the feature. I even use the gun to make an impression on the grain side for details like the slide grooves on autos. Of course, those are merely for show since they are not deep enough to actually serve a purpose otherwise, and you can only do that for details that are semetrical for both sides.

Yeah, they're easy to make and adapt to any tree or stirrup set-up. I use a lighter weight metal than most premade strainers which are all one piece. If I need extra strength up front I double the metal and wrap the edges of the bottom piece around the top piece so they are nice and smooth and quite strong. Or, I can use different guage tin for the seat piece and front piece. The seat piece front edge gets folded over for extra strength but the rest of it really doesn't need to be that heavy to work. The front piece gets pretty narrow between the stirrup slot and hand hole and the thinner metal can be weak in that area. So, I double it up right there if needed. Simply put, the 2 piece gives me more flexiblility of fit and design. Plus, I don't have to go far to get the materials. The 2 piece strainer is also able to flex where the 1 piece is rigid. Depending on the application, that might be a plus or minus.

Tractor Supply sells small sheets of galvanized tin, various guages. Then just use tin snips and cut out your own. The 2-piece strainer is pretty easy to make. I feel your pain about the bucking rolls. They take a lot of time if you aren't tooled up to make a bunch of them at once. I just charge enough to pay for my time on them like anything else.

Well, then it seems you are going in the right direction, learning the western saddle trade. Have you ever considered incorporating the webbed seat of the English saddle on a Western saddle?

Thanks for the ideas. So, Muley, you're saying to buckle the flap under the angora, right? That seems the best way to do it, if not a bit inconvenient to use that way. I kinda like the idea of two straps on the front of the flap, either side of the concho that drop down through a loop coming through the flap from the inside front piece of the bag. It's essentially the same attachment used on the old Cavalry bags. By the way, just so there's no misunderstanding, I didn't make the bags in the pic.

I'm wondering if anyone has a good solution to the problem of how to buckle saddle pockets that will have angora wool sewn to the flaps. If that's not complicated enough, I also want to put a large concho centered on the flap. (See pic below) Now, my first implulse is to use normal buckle system under the angora which would hang down and cover the strap and buckle. Then, I found a set of pockets that had a simple closure consisting of a strap sewn to the flap that is inserted through a loop on the inside piece and protruding through a hole in the flap. That would work except for the concho idea. The pictured pockets close with a purse snap of some sort under the concho it appears. I'd like to have a more secure arrangement if possible or practical.

Jake, I tried it with kinda the same idea. I took the top piece with the wings and made it the bottom piece but I didn't cut the cap off. Of course, it is then reversed to show the grain side. The pattern will have to be worked out with scrap for the particular horn, but you will get the idea after you try it. The wings are cut and skived where they overlap at the back so they lay as smooth as possble, (that's the tough part). But, you leave enough leather to fold out flat all around, including the overlap area in back. There will be a very slight line where it overlaps but that gets covered with your horn wrap later. It's no worse than the line where the horn wings overlap, so I think it's not a problem. I guess you could try to butt together in the back rather than overlap, but you'd still have a line there. Anyhow, from there, you do a full round filler and then your full round cap and stitch 'em all three together. I don't have a pic of the bottom piece pattern with wings to show ya, but I do have one of the finished join.

OK, I see now. Thanks. One question though. Why a donut and not just a regular filler? Does your wing piece go up under the donut? If it's not attached, seems like you could just use a full filler piece and tack it down. Must be something I'm not getting.

I figure $25-$35 per flower for my floral carving. That includes the time to develope the pattern.

Whoa! How'd you do that laser engraving? I know absolutely nuthin' about it.