Go2Tex

The cracking is not a good sign. Not much you can do for that but adding back the oils and wax will help preserve the rest of it and maybe give you some more use. There are a meriad of products to do that as you know. Hard to beat good ol' saddle soap, I believe.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me and then it would be difficult getting insured by anyone.

Soooo David, did anyone ever gander a guess? .................. OK, I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say it's somebody's prize Jersey heifer they're aimin' to ride down Main street in the next 4th of July parade. Right or wrong? :biggrin:

I'm going to be shopping for some insurance for my saddle making business and I thought I'd ask for some advice from the esteemed membership herein. Anybody know of a company that specializes in this particular risk catagory? I'm guessing I'll need something with some product liability, premises med pay for customers who wander up, and some coverage on my shop building. The problem is, of course, once you have a bonafide business at your home, your homeowners insurance will exclude any claim resulting from the business.

Well, I guess that's true after a time. I have forgotten about a piece I was soaking and left it in for much longer than the time required for the bubbles to stop and it was much more soggy than normal. But I've never tried it all night. You're probably correct about that sponge analogy but, frankly, once the bubbles stop, you really should be pulling it out, seems to me. Unless you're working in the Mojave, I can't see that piece being ready to tool for a couple days where I am. Of course, in about 10 days, I'll be someplace HOT and humid so I have no idea what I'll experience there. Maybe somebody from South Texas can shed some light on this subject of drying times, eh?

Wow, now that's got to be some mushy leather if you soak it all night. Are you sure you didn't mean to say you drop in the tub, then put it in a sack until the next morning? What are you tooling, rawhide?

At first glance, methinks this is not going to work out so well. The fender will be 3" too short for him and 3" too long for her and therefore, just won't fit either one real good. When she pulls the leathers down to fit her, it brings the fender up into the tree too far and when he pulls the fender down to fit him, it will be hanging below the skirt jockey unless you make it extra long, in which case it will look kinda like Dumbo the elephant..... especially with Jack Sprats sitting there....(not to be confused with Jack Schitt, who some say I don't know). But I digress..... I would build the fender to fit her but put a long enough leather on it to fit him. Once he gets tired of people laughing at him with that saddle with the little fenders, he'll order his own saddle and they can cut the extra leathers off her saddle so they aren't flappin' in the breeze down there. Oh yeah, and don't put your name on it.

Actually, you don't need to do any of that fancy stuff to add a pic. Just use the simple "file attachments" field at the bottom of your reply window, use "browse" to find it on your hard drive, then click "add this attachment", then click where it says to add it to post. Not a problem. See? Thank you Go2Tex for the picture explanation. It's actually better to upload directly from your computer rather than to use a third party pic service like Photobucket, because the pages will load faster for our dial up visitors.~~Johanna PS That is a beautiful saddle, but the pic is small. I would love to see a larger picture. Is it your work? Wow!

What works well for me is to use a carpet knife to rough cut my parts, then use a round knife to make the final cuts. It produces a little more scrap but I can do it so much quicker and then cutting the final part out is easier because I have a smaller piece of material to work with. The carpet knife is plenty sharp enough out of the box and you can strop it to keep it that way. It takes some practice to control at first because you are pulling it toward you instead of pushing it like a round knife. Just don't get too close to your lines you made for your rough parts and you'll do fine. Sometimes I even get cockey enough to cut my pattern out with one. Well, ok, maybe after a shot of J.D. I tried it once. For really thick stuff, it sure makes quick work out of it. As for sharpening your round knife, I totally agree with what has already been said except that I have been able to get a pretty good edge on my knives using a sharpening tool that controls the angle of the stone. Since keeping that angle is critical to putting an exact edge on the blade, and since I NEVER could do it by hand, I bought one of those gadgets made by Gatco and sold by Cabelas and others. It works really well and I can put an edge on a knife almost as good as the pros. Finish up with a stop board and you can shave with it. eh, I would not recommend you try shaving with the carpet knife, though...

Wow! Really nice save. So, did the de-glazer work at all, or did you try it? Seems it never works for me. In fact, I've never been able to even lighten dye once it hits the leather.

Gives a whole new meaning to "down under", don't it?

Yeah, been there tried that, making my own. Then I realized how much friggin time I spent doing it and the cost of a good tool started looking really cheap! I use the Barry King lifters and I can pull those babies up enough to hide lots of dirt and debris for years to come. :biggrin: As for how long they'll stay up there, that depends on the leather and just how much abuse it gets. Good firm skirting wil hold the shape for as long as anybody will care about on a saddle.

Martine, the problem with those Steele Equifit forms is that they only apply to Steele trees. Not too many custom saddle makers use them,.... just a wild guess there. Although, I suppose you could ask and see if one would. Then you could have the rigging and ground seat custom made for you. As for judging the fit in those pictures, I wouldn't even try to make a guess. The best way to judge the fit is to powder your horse's back, then wet the bottom surface of the forms, place the form on the horse's back and pull it back off again. Look at the transfer of powder to the form and check for gaps. Remember though, cinching will change the fit because it will pull the tree down into the back and, of course, the shape of the back will change when the horse moves, thus causing the problems with slipping, etc. Therefore, placing a form on the back only tells you part of the story. Here's my suggestion. Take tracings of your horse's back. Send those tracings to a good tree maker and have him tell you what tree to use. Then, have a saddle built on that tree maker's tree. Of course, that saddle might only fit that one horse perfectly, and of course, only at that particular time in it's life and that particular time of year and conditioning. Moral of the story is, you need only fit the type of horse generally well, for most of the time you use it and for the purpose you use it. When it comes to saddle fit, that really is about the best way to approach it. Good luck.

hmmm.......twisted fringe......sounds like the name of a rock group. Or, Hillary Clinton's voter base. I wouldn't have thought chap leather would hold a shape. I never can get it to absorb much water either. Who'd a thunk it? And all this time I thought you guys were puttin' some fancy braid on all that fringe.

Well, we'll see....if it ever stops RAINING!

HA HA, no more mold for me! I'm moving to south Texas. Only problem I'm gonna have is.... FLASH FLOODS!!!

Thanks! Maybe this sub-topic should be moved to resources? ...if only I knew how. Good idea. Done.~~Johanna

Aahh. That makes much more sense. Thanks

If you're planning on using it for competition, the pancake might not be your first choice. Pancakes are great for concealment, but not so quick on the draw as a holster designed specifically for that. You want an open holster with a forward cant.

Yeah..... honor.....OK..... I still don't get the "why" part of hiding the entrant's name. I thought the purpose of entering shows was to "show", not hide ones work. What am I missing here?

OK, looks interesting. Anyone who has entered this show, can you please explain the rule regarding the name of the entrant being covered. I presume that includes the maker's stamp? What do you cover it with, tape?

Hey Rod and Denise, what's the best way to store trees so they don't warp before they become saddles?

Yeah, I felt soooo much better after talking to a CPA this year. I was chasing my tail over a couple of record keeping/inventory issues that she was able to explain and I was then able to go back to doing what I do best, messing up leather and creating piles of scrap.

Add another check mark in the "plug method" column for me. I started out using the cutting the tunnel out afterwards method, and it works ok, but was always a pain in the (BLEEP). Barra, your question requires a rather lengthy answer to really explain it properly and a bunch of pictures, which you could find in various books on saddlemaking. But, for sake of discussion, I'll try a short answer and then let others add to it.... or, tear it apart, start an argument, whatever. With the plug method, you tack pieces of leather the size of your stirrup leathers and risers, (to form a smooth transition), onto the top of the tree bars where the leathers will pass over them when installed. Then you layer in your ground seat over the plugs and risers. After the seat dries and you have carved it down, you remove the plugs, leaving a nice slot or tunnel for your leathers to pass through and over the bars. With the cutting method, you just layer in your groundseat and then cut out a slot on either side for your leathers. I know of a couple different ways to do it and there may be others. The difference between the all-leather seat and tin seat is just as the name implies. The tin or strainer method has a piece of tin nailed to the bars that covers the space between the bars where the rider sits. It can be a one piece tin or a 2 piece tin, or half seat tin. The groundseat is then layered on top of the tin. The all-leather seat is exactly that, all leather, no tin. The cut-out method works best with the all leather seat because there's no problem with nicking the tin with your knife. So, you thoroughly confused now?

Well, as they say, one man's scrap is another man's future key fob.