oltoot

Probably not relevant but early Mexican trees were carved as a single piece from cottonwood roots. Perhaps someone familiar with woods could identify the source and that might help. It is intriguing to say the least.

Just have to say this: I am amazed that somebody as klutzy as me could learn to tie these turksheads and make the interweaves but I am positively overwhelmed to think that somebody with no books to read and no coaches could figure out how to do them in the first place. And as to the math, I and I'll bet many others who braid can barely balance my checkbook. In a word WOW

Specifically I can't say but this I can share. When I was starting out I had to work against overthinking things. I still fall into the trap sometimes but keep trying to remember that they are all the same at the ends and only different in how far apart the ends are.

I'd like to see your tools for embossing the blinds. I'll bet you didn't pick them up at Wal Mart!

I, for one, appreciate Sarden's original approach, Is This Correct?. Although I don't feel a great need to know more about leather after 50+ years in the business and considerable study of the national and global history of the tanning craft/industry, there is always more to learn or to reinforce. Some of the comments appear a bit snarky and egocentric but I hope that Sarden will be able to rise above and accomplish his original objective of producing an informative introduction to Leather. Though it appears that however it turns out it will always have some detractors. That appears to be the price of trying.

First to be clear, I have NOT in my 50+ years at this tried everything or even a lot of things. I was raised on pure NF. We bought it in 50 gallon drums. Later when I went to gallon containers of things I had some bad experiences with NF compounds and switched to Olive oil primarily because it was more readily available. Liked it better but it still left me with some appearance issues on new stuff and could bleed from chrome tanned stuff. Then I stumbled on to the product Lexol NF. For me, it was the answer to my prayers for all new items and chaps and other chrome tanned items. I don't understand why it didn't take the world by storm but it seems to have fallen out of favor and is getting hard to find in larger containers. A while back I gave Weaver's Neatselene a try and was favorably impressed. I haven't tried any of the butters or creams on the market for a variety of primarily personal reasons. First off, I just about refuse to work on anything that won't be thoroughly cleaned first which usually means at least partial disassembly so I haven't seen a real need for anything that is designed primarily for top coating. These are my limited experiences. One thing that I would emphasize is that any oil or conditioner is better than none and just because a dab of something proves beneficial DOES NOT mean that a bunch will be better or IOW be careful not to overuse whatever it is that you are using and be honest about user error when evaluating.

Decide first if you are going to use or collect because for collecting the more the original features are preserved the better whereas for use you might make some different decisions. For collecting don't replace the sheepskin as it looks to be original and not in terrible shape. You will be pleasantly surprised with how much the cracks will fade as the whole thing is brought back to life. If you are going to take it apart, wait until it is rehydrated and conditioned before subjecting things to stress. If you are going to replace the strings, just cutting them off close can make the stripping process easier. They look like they have already been replaced once so may well not be worth the effort to salvage them anyway. Try to find a maker's mark somewhere and do the best you can to read it. Then you might submit photos along with any UK history you might know to Mike Graham via the Western Horseman magazine to get a more complete history, value estimate and perhaps a little advice as far as restoration, etc

This is a good old treasure and worth some TLC. While it may not prove to be too useful to ride (narrow gullet and bar configuration), it could be quite collectible. If possible, make a plastic tent and use a humidifier to get it rehydrated (not drenched) before you start putting stuff on it. Yes, it is terribly dry and as such won't take any care products very thoroughly or evenly. If you decide that it is too much for you be sure and take it to someone who will restore it vs repair. The good advice (and some not so good) should pour in on this forum. If you have the time, wait til all the advice comes in and then sort through it rather than just start jumping.

Lay out to overlap basket stamp impressions quite a bit and you will get much better results

Does she think that's funny?

Near Rock River? I live in Rawlins and often take hwy 30 when traveling East.

Lucky dawg!!

You are doing great. Just a few thoughts and suggestions from years of making and using and looking and changing. I think that you will be happier with the day to day performance of your plate and for that matter all riggings if you tip the angle just slightly forward, IOW drop the back of the rig plate down about 1/4 " from the horizontal. The idea being that the natural or "home" pull line will be angled just slightly forward so that the saddle in use will be held ever so slightly forward and not sliding back. Things are going to try to get straight on the horse's body so use that to the advantage of all concerned. Having been through a few Cheyenne rolls now, make it a practice to take each of the pieces that make up that thing off between initial and final and using A 1" French edger to skive that fold down. A long taper on each side of center makes it not only thinner where all comes together but makes it bend better and sew better. Not so thin, of course, so as to make the roll turn out floppy but that happy medium. BTW the seat leather should be French edged only on the outside. That part of the leather that is covered by the cantle binding doesn't need to be nearly as substantial as the seat side. Consider (after much observation and thought) not lacing or sewing your skirts together in back. This is one of those things that only comes into play every many many horses but once in a great while undesirable weight and friction will be brought to bear on a thin or naturally bony horse or with too much junk tied on behind the cantle. I see lots of disasters in the making with the bigger and bigger nylon combo packs being promoted for back country use. Even if it doesn't take the hide off, it's gotta be uncomfortable. I know, it could be considered giving in to the tiny percentage of possibilities but I for one have become more and more sympathetic to the poor horse's lot in this relationship. They give and give and just endure a lot without complaining until they just can't stand it and then they often get blamed for being idiots. Just my opinions on these matters.

I have 1 lb rawhide for most tooling, 3 lb rawhide for basket stamping, 8 lb rawhide for punching and 6 different RH mallets in the 4 - 24 oz range. Because I have them all, I use them all but if I had to pick one, I couldn't, two and it would be the 1 and 3 lb ones. But that's just me.

after a strip from the back as stated, then circles, sizes depending on the hide. The idea is to get a circle(s) that is uniform in thickness and "character". Large circle from side, smaller ones from hip, shoulder and sometimes neck. Accepting as waste whatever must be according to the hide's nature is the difference between right and yeech. Some hides will have little waste, some a lot. You never really know until you get them stretched out so you can examine closely. Generally speaking, the fatter the animal the more waste you may encounter but that is only a generality. Some of the very experienced old timers could predict what quality and amount of waste a hide would produce before going to the trouble of finishing it but that took years and lotsa trials to perfect. Then let circles dry and retemper and cut strings as needed. I use the Vaquero but there are other ways. The experienced Argentines do it all with a knife. Not me.

Let's be clear, I'm not suggesting anything just sharing some experience that I hope some would find historically interesting. In the long ago, someone noticed that the lumber from monocotyledonous trees (cottonwood, aspen) had different properties than pine or hardwoods. It didn't tend to splinter as much when subjected to the stresses of things like the blows and slices associated with a lot of industrial uses. The passing years and changing supply chains led to the replacement of wood surfaces with metal for a lot of things and cottonwood lumber was becoming scarce. In the West, it hung on a little longer and it was still the favored material for truck beds in the early oil fields (thankfully, there is still some available to my treemaker) End of history lesson. Now then for some time into the 20th century, aspen was a favored material for cutting surfaces and there was a company (I don't remember who or where) that made and sold cutting boards of aspen. I was raised on it for cutting and a cottonwood log for punching and pouted a little when I couldn't get them anymore. As the last one I had had been sanded down to it's last gasp, I had the good fortune to move to a place that still had a sawmill nearby that cut large cottonwood and aspen planks for truck beds. I went for a visit and got to talking to the owner who was getting old and told me that it was getting harder and harder to get the kind of logs he needed for large planks and that his kids were talking about taking the business into the paneling business and weren't even going to mess with cottonwood or try to get the big aspen trees anymore (that has happened btw). Anyway that scared me enough that I ordered a small truckload of 4X14 planks, took them home, stickered and air dried them for a year, made some cutting boards, kept some, traded some, made some other kinds of tables and soldiered on. Now here I am, 70+ and the one I'm using still is about 2 3/4 " thick after a few sandings and I have one left. Now then if I were starting out and didn't have all that history weighing me down I would be using one of the poly sheets used in butcher shops on a 2x4 surface for most of my work (round knife, edgers, etc) The cottonwood log got left behind a few moves ago and I punch on a thicker poly piece over a metal backer. Skiving on a piece of thick, colored glass from an old countertop. That's the old guy's stuff.

Not a fan of all leather in the first place but certainly wouldn't use that stuff for one

Is that a Gomph style edger? Picture does not show much.

What he said (Keith), I would just add that there should really be no choice for someone who can make whatever is indicated; hang'em high. And tip the angle down a bit so that the collar (either a martingale style or a V shaped with dee or ring in the middle) lines up with the top of the horse's shoulder and the dees are in line with the whole thing and then they will not be subjected to out of kilter stress. If everything is in this proper alignment then collar, straps, etc need not be of gargantuan sizes to do their job of carrying part of the load. And for all to be right the whole assembly needs to be anchored snugly to the cinch in the middle. Think about it. The whole setup is only as strong as its weakest link and if you let the stress of pulls or jerks be concentrated on that weakest link by poor alignment?? Oh yeah and there is the 'small' issue of horse comfort, too. Oh yeah, I didn't come to these opinions early on in my journey. I was raised and trained in the tie hard and fast school and that included collars that looked like they would stand up in a logging camp. All that has a limited place but only a tiny percentage of the horse world actually lives in that place. As for you and me (and your lovely bride) Let's make the best of our world.

Keith On my Union Lock, the open or ground off part of the foot is outside. The bulk of the item being sewn goes outside with only the seam being on the inside. As the foot sets in the pic the front is on the right, inside on the top. As for the raised plate, in my work it is rarely necessary which is a good, no a great thing because deploying it means adjustment of the takeup so that the lock will be higher up and thus in the work and not balled up on the bottom and then returning it to 'normal'. RMR I have a sneaking suspicion that we may be talking about different things but when I use this foot I can sew at normal speeds with no problems and turn sharp corners or go around outside curves just like it was flat work.

Pics as promised. Foot and plate (that I rarely use)

If the seat you're sitting in is better than anything you've sat in up to that point, it's great, and women will be satisfied with a little different seat than men will, and tin with leather is the best. Now, having said all that, here's another thing, and to me the most important, to take into serious consideration. Look at the horse with no saddle (not a mutton withered fatso) then add a bareback rider. There is a place where the two will match up perfectly. The saddle (tree bars, seat, rigging, stirrup leathers) should maintain that relationship. Remember that the horse is just as important as the rider. There is, however, one big difference; the horse is less likely to praise you or complain if things are not quite right. They put up with a lot in this relationship and have always. They have put up with equipment that was poorly conceived and accepted training methods that were little short of brutal, even cruel. How blessed has mankind been to have such a tolerant partner to carry us through the centuries and do all sorts of work for us, but I digress, back to seats. "Perfect" will vary a little with seat length, rider size, etc. but good will do.

patience

am on a trip now, will post pic in a few days. Just ground the inside off flat, leaving the foot running flat on the work but allowing stitch line to be right next to something rather than not being able to get right next to it. Ends up looking like a very elongated u when viewed from the top.

I'm not sure just what you are trying to accomplish but I really opened up new avenues on my UL by taking a closed toe presser foot and carefully so as not to get it too hot grinding off the inside so that I can sew and turn along box type applications easily. The elongated u shape with the front holding things down and in line makes tracking right next to the vertical side of molded pieces easy and secure.