oltoot

The stirrup leathers/fenders are not twisted/shaped on either western while they are small and pliable on the poly. Both westerns have wide flat tree bars and cheap/easy ground seats. Your pains will disappear with a saddle made on a tree with bars shaped for a narrow seat and a women's ground seat/seat.

#2 & #4 in first pic are Hackbarths but I don't think those are Hackbarth blades. Look and see if they have large dia shafts. I have one like #2 that I have had for ~ 55 years and it was old then. The Hackbarth blade was about worn down to a nub so I went to a machine shop and had an insert made so it would hold 7/32 Tandy blades true and have used it happily for the duration. I use Barry King blades now and have them ground to the old Tandy angle in thick and then I have no problems with undercutting.

You can get a compound from Weaver Leather, probably Springfield too, that adds body but I wouldn't worry as long as it isn't plumb raggy. Since it isn't molded to an exact replica of your gun, stiffening could lead to increased holster and gun wear. Grandpa Joel's suggestion was good too, (re restitching with bigger thread) if you want to have the stitching contrast, do the finishing, except for the topcoat, then stitch. Just another look.

I wonder if the relief was first molded and filled with some sort of backing (lumpy stuff) then sewn to body as thing was assembled?

2# rawhide maul for most work, 3# for basket and geometrics, assortment of rawhide mallets for lighter things, 8# maul for punching

Your stitching technique looks A+. To finish more satisfactorily try pounding over the line with a smooth faced hammer. This will usually close the holes back up a little and make everything look more uniform and finished. Osborne's little # 6 hammer is just about right. With the wallet on your marble slab, just a little tap, tap and voila!

I have a little different take on it. I get very few clean only and usually try on those to set the people up to save their money and do it themselves. On most repairs, I tell folks I don't like to wrestle with dirty old saddles so they must be cleaned and oiled as part of the deal and I tend to add around $50 for that. More if edges are wrinkled or curled and it takes extra attention to return the thing to well kept appearance. I don't like to see dirty, ugly stuff go out the door and back into the community. When a saddle leaves, I will encourage the owner to keep it up on their own.

It's not collectable but it isn't very far from useable. It could stand new strings and a thorough, take apart cleaning. Or if the tree is broken or too narrow for today's horses then it would be just decoration. That second word is, indeed KING. RANCH KING and TANNERS are both 50's 60's names and the saddle looks true to that period and that area. Blevins is still in business in Wheatland WY and you could just replace the buckle sleeves. Your profile doesn't say where you live but if you can take it to an experienced repairman to spruce up, it would certainly look like what it is instead of an old wall hanger. I wouldn't invest in new sheepskin if the existing lining is not torn anywhere. It won't increase the value as much as the other fixes will.

I have frequently cut latigo strings continuously off of circles with no problems. But I was using very lightweight stuff to cut 3/16 strings for nose and heel buttons. Never used it for the body but I don't know why it wouldn't work. And I know that whip cutters, if there are any left, cut the tapered sets for whips round and round off of Indian tan.

I dont read Japanese, but over here, rubbing in a little thick paste consistency yellow saddle soap then the glass slicker is one way. I haven't tried it but it seems to me like glycerine oughta work

staightness of braid lines, smooth transitions if thong is tapered. Smooth attachment of thong to fall. Smooth feeling thong and handle. If multicolored, harmonizing of colors. etc etc etcetera

Native peoples cleaned sleeping robes, woven goods, etc by placing them flat on the ground next to a snow drift and brushing snow through the item being cleaned, the colder and drier the snow the better. Obviously this was only available in the northern worlds and was quite time sensitive. I have used the method satisfactorily on woven wool saddle blankets.

I have found that the cores need to be extra smooth in order to finish nice with roo. Rawhide will cover a core smoothly that will look bumpy and rough with roo

This is a great machine for chaps, etc. but probably not quite enough for your work which would include marking and speed control as issues.

The order of work is important, too. I would try this 1) Cut top piece a little oversize, then swivel knife work, then cut outs, mark inside of cutouts lightly on back piece for alignment 2) Let both pieces dry thoroughly 3) glue top to bottom 4) Sew, using swivel cuts as reference 5) Wet assembly then mark and cut exterior 6) When assembly is cased, do bevel work 7) Dye and edge

I too have a stitch story, happened in Alpine, TX over 50 yrs ago. The forerunner of Big Bend Saddlery was Alpine Saddlery. We used a Landis 16 which had a reputation for locking a tight stitch under a variety of conditions. The then owner was having to learn everything from scratch and when the most senior saddlemaker said he was ready to sew things on the machine, he bounded gleefully to the little semi private alcove where the machine was to see if there was anything waiting there to be sewn. sure enough there was a flank cinch there so he picked up a billet to start with and waded in. Pretty quick he came back out into the common area heading for his mentor. He said "I think we need to work on stopping and turning a little more as he had been unable to get stopped for the turn at the point and run off the end, locking three stitches up the web between thumb and index finger perfectly before he could stop and get loose. He handled most of the hosp emergency visit stoicly but was quite vocal when the dr began cutting the stitches so he could work on him. Worst machine mishap I have ever heard of though I'd wager that most are kept secret.

If you are going to have strings. 1)Fit up the skirt and riggings complete, 2) then sew around all the leather rigging pieces ~ 3/4 in from edges. 3)Metal is placed but not rivited. 4)Any rivet that is going to be more than that 3/4 should be placed. If it has any sew around features do that now. 5)Put skirts back on, secured in their exact place. 6)Drill string holes through any top pieces, the tree and the skirt. 7)Take skirts off and punch out the hole with 1/2 " bag or oblong punch. Punch holes for lug strings if you are going to use them 8)Put strings (incl lugstrings) in. If you have a 3/4 or 1" french edger, use it to skive out a little place between the holes in the skirt and to edge the strings down a little where they go through the holes. 9) put the plugs in if you are going to use any 10)) glue up the sheepskin and then sew it completely around the outside edge. Only 1 row of stitching if you need to replace sheepskin 11) Set any remaing rivets, trim and finish the edges.

If he was going to always keep rubber on the horn anyway and understood that you were going to do what follows and was OK with it: 1) Using a fairly long and sharp knife, carve through the horn cover all around from the edge of the horn hole in the fork cover to the rawhide cover of the horn being careful not to score the rawhide. 2) Remove the leather horn cover. 3) Grind and/or rasp the horn cap to the desired size 4) Recover the horn, using the regular approach with tails pulled and tacked under the gullet. It will have a big, ugly hump in it but don't worry 5) Dry the assembly, the faster the better, if you can't set it outside in the sun, use a fan 6) When it is thoroughly dried take that same knife and cut through the new cover flush with where you cut off the old cover. Take some little cobbler's tacks and tak around the base of this new cover. Now it's ready to receive the rubber wrap and go home or it could go home and the 'gentleman' could do the rubber to his taste. BTW, I'm 70 nd haven't known many team ropers who were gentlemen. They are usually are a notch above bull riders though. Back to business. No, I didn't say anything about weting the rawhide and pulling it back then replacing it in this approach. I didn't forget I just don't believe it is necessary in this approach.

try smooth pigskin. before actually using it, try a piece next to your skin under something to see if you can tolerate that. or kidskin

Try to talk him out of it. If you can't and elect to proceed, don't gaurantee the work. Then 1) remove the fork cover and gullet cover and save them. 2) remove the horn cover and discard it 3) Take a piece of really wet rawhide and tie it around the rawhide horn cover, neck and cap. Keep it wet until the horn cover can be unlaced, taking care not to get the horn base wet as that is the key to strength 4) Saw the neck off where you want it allowing for the new cap. 5) Carefully drill a hole down through the neck, just barely exiting the metal neck then tap the hole to receive threads on the bolt you will use. Cut a steel washer the size of the cap desired. drill an off center hole in it so this it will result in making the cap you want. make a plywood horn top with a big hole to accommodate the bolt head and epoxy it in place filling up the hole on top. Rasp the new horn cap to desired contours then relace the rawhide the best you can. As the rawhide dries, every hour or so rub the cover and the laces down with a hammer handle so that rawhide dries smoothly. 6) Recover horn with leather, taking care that your new cover has about the same contours at base as the old one did so the front cover will fit. 7) recover gullet, you may need to start new if you had to mess up the old cover to get it off. 8) replace the fork cover, wetting it and letting it dry down. I would use carpenters white or yellow glue liberally

I made a shaft stretcher from 2x4's. I cut two pieces and rounded one side to be the front and back. Ripped them so that they fit down in the shaft with a little room to spare and stuck out a bit when bottomed out, then made the pieces that would do the stretching. They are ripped from 2x4's so that their width, added to the two main pieces would be the new width desired. Then taper them about two inches from one end so that you can drive them down between the front and back with a hammer. Sanding the ripped faces will make it work easier. Hold a wooden block on the end of the stretcher piece to hammer on so you wont mangle the piece. If you want to stretch the tops a lot, you might use two progressively wider stretchers. Then use a stretching liquid or you might try soaking the shafts in hot water by hanging them over a bucket or sink so as not to wet the bottoms. Place the front and back of the stretcher all the way down and drive the middle piece in so you wont tear the shaft linings. Its a little work but as somebody before said, shaft stretchers are expensive.

Yes, and real well!

YEEEESSSS! talk about nostalgic (another word I didn't use in the 'good' old days)

Weaver leather has quite a bit of brass stuff

If you can visit a vet clinic and get some used xray films, they are a good size, stiff and you can easily keep them over the areas you aren't working on. You can even cut a special shape with ordinary scissors. That, with the other tips should help. I live in a dry climate, too but it is a cold desert, not Sonoran (Southern Wyoming)