oltoot

Note that you can adopt this method for 2,3,4,etc strand loops. Be sure and save the dimensions when you get a twist worked out and it will all look smoother if you punch a small round hole at he end of each slit. Then when done correctly, reins are easy to move from one bit to another and if yo use a 4 strand twist with a pretty substantial turnback, you have reins with some pretty good weight for release

I'm not very techy, I could send a pic from my Iphone if I had your email

if for display, it has character the way it is so just clean it up a little, IMHO

Bruce Grant, Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding, pg 47

This may not help because it is old (50+ years) info but when I was first starting I had makers mark lines made as lines of type for setting in a printing press and then assembled them into an appropriate bundle in a holder/handle that I could whack to my heart's content then when impressions began to loose their crispness I would just change out the individual lines of which I had had to get 100 each in order to be served. Worked for 20 years until I could justify getting the real thing

Fatter cattle=greasier hides ; Old dairy cows can be the thinnest and best

Do you use cores? or are they square?

If convenient, soak it up in hot water then cut with ease

For traditional wood & rawhide, I put Quality Mfg in Monticello, Utah at the top

Trimmed after sewing with rawhide and fitted front and trimmed back with leather

As a long time (I'm 75) user and maker I can assure that no one will like that pinked cantle binding for very long as the little points will soon curl up and poke in front and scrape in back. Learned the hard way. It looks like a good idea but soon backfires

Scored rawhide is a large cause of broken tree bars IMHO so a + for bar risers and that business about closeness is a myth, as far as I'm concerned; much better to have balance and comfort brought by a well shaped seat, so what if it is 1/16 or even 1/8 higher up in the air, if the insides of the thighs are as close to the tree as the bar risers allow and everything else is in balance.

I have also added bees wax. From candle makers supplies get white BW beads. Equal parts to the other ingredients. I have settled on much more water, about 2 1/2 cups.

I've never tried it so I can't say for sure (I just use 2 coats) but the old timer who I worked with when I was just a boy always dyed his black (smooth surfaces, not matted or backgrounded) with a coat of deep purple first, letting it dry and buffing it before applying the black, just sayin.

Barry King makes customs

The hardware and the way it is rigged will make it easy to identify by comparing pics with one of the good books that are out there (One by Randy Steffan comes to mind) My guess will be that it will prove to be the 1917 officer's model McClellan. The McClellan was first introduced in 1858 and went through many changes until it was no longer stocked as an item by the US quartermaster (I think about 1941) The US 7 might indicate that it was used by the 7th Cavalry at Ft Riley, Ks

If you can't find it, I can email you the pics from which the thread was made if you would like. Send email addy to oldcoot1913@outlook.com. Ron's tip will go a long way toward solving the problem.

Look at old threads, there is one there with lots of pics.

Go to your local moving and storage company and purchase a small or medium wardrobe box without the bar. Also get a roll of duct tape and use the whole roll. UPS is available to me so that's who I use

For most, the most important thing to remember is that leather isn't plywood and saddles aren't tool cabinets so you have to look and think while you work and remember that you are making a thing which has lots of different stress and stretch requirements (a saddle or some piece of equipment) out of a material that was part of a living thing a short time before and you must match requirement and material. Most will never be able to afford to sort their way to satisfaction but will have to look, feel, and think a lot to get the best job done. Learn all you can about the use that saddles get and the nature of cows and it will all help you make better stuff. Most of all IMHO be prepared to have a big scrap box with lots of stuff in it if you make very much good stuff.

Opinion based on 2 levels of observation: 1: Repair- Sometimes, with age, they can curl up between lining and skirt and just age poorly 2: Layout- Sometimes skirts that will be plugged to get edges right are not cut from as good a place as if they will stand on their own. (when trying to minimize waste vs maximizing piece suitability) NOTE# by some thinking, plugging every edge as a matter of course actually makes the skirts lay better on the horse's back but that doesn't jibe with my observations

Look for plastic rug runner material that has the little dimples on the back side. They are available in different spacings. Place as desired on cased leather and rub. The slight marks give you a pattern to follow without unwanted lines.

Just might add that things like rigging plates, etc that are multilayered, stamping after assembly `can eliminate some aassembly problems that can come from stretching. And if you stamp skirts after plugging, plugs will be more firmly anchored, but try to cut skirts from parts where plugs wont be necessary as I for one dont think plugs are a good thing

It is a little Wonder tree with a 5/8 single plate rig. It was most likely made in Denver in the company's later years and sold by a travelling salesman to some Georgia boy. It is amazing that it has held up so well in the high humidity environment of the Southeast.

This is not first hand, I'm just repeating stories I have heard: I got this RR rail anvil in 1963 in Alpine, Texas. This was the site of a recently closed machine shop for the SF Railway. The RR machinists, in order to test and tune the tools that they used (ie giant lathes and drill presses) would make these things for their own use and give them to friends. Back in the day, lots of cowboys carried them around to shape horse shoes with. The old original Big Bend Saddlery had 3 or 4 of them laying around and I still have this one (55 yrs later). As has been said: if I had a dollar (or even a dime) for every rivet that has been set on it or shoe shaped, I could buy a new diesel pickup and put fuel in it for a long time.