begrate

I’m no expert saddlemaker, but I’ve seen a cow or two, inside and out. I think most of what I’m going to say has been said, but I’ll repeat it to hear myself type. A cows rumen is on the left, and there is an enormous amount of movement in the upper left flank. That rumen can hold possibly 20 gallons of feed/liquid, or be close to empty, depending where the animal is at in their eating cycle. In a breeding female, the calf lays low, and is pushed to the right by the rumen. This puts most of the stretch in the right side down in the belly. The left side expands and contracts daily, or more, where the right side would tend to stretch slowly as the animal grows, or it’s calf inside grows. I would think that is the majority of the difference between the sides. Most pattern layouts that I have seen show cutting pairs of parts from the same side if possible, but those pairs need to be placed on the hide appropriately. Maybe fenders on the right side, as well as stirrup leathers. Skirts on the left, as well as cinch billets. Take your seat out of the left flank into belly, as this allows for the most compression and or stretch. I’m not righting this as a hard and fast rule, more something to think about during layout.

I don't mean to steal this thread, but are you guys using anything to pull the top concho, or rosette down tight against the saddle? I've tried to just bleed the strings tight, but it leaves an unsightly gap. I have pulled them apart on other saddles, and found the bottom rosette nailed down, but the top one was usually loose. Any opinions? Thanks, Reid G.

CourtneyLynn, I've only had two saddles in my short life, but both have rough out seats, and if I ever get one tacked together for myself, it will have a rough out seat. I ranch, and ride a few colts, and like the feel of the rough out seat. Both of mine have worn down pretty smooth, if they get too smooth, I can rough them up a little with a softer wire brush. Most makers I am aware of sand their hides down on the flesh side, so the rough seat isn't all that rough. I also know a few guys ranching in a smooth seat who complain about sliding around too much. If you were to get a chance, maybe borrow a saddle or two that you like to look and style of, keep riding them until you find one you like. That's just my two cents. Reid G.

Thanks for the input, I'm glad I asked instead of diving in. My wife has been after me to find something more useful to spend her hard earned money on, maybe I should just take her advice. Reid G.

A local shoe repair man called me the other day and offered me his shoe repair equipment, and I have no idea what the stuff is worth, hopefully there is someone on here who can help me out. He told me he paid $6000 for the equipment, and wants me to make an offer, he tried giving it to the local museum, but they didn't have room, so I think he'd be pretty flexible on price. Included in the equipment is a Landis outsole stitcher, I believe a 12? and a spare one of the same model for parts, also a Landis "finisher" I don't remember a model number but it is an enormous chunck of cast iron, and I do not at the moment have a place to put it, but he turned it on and seemed to work fine. It had at least two brushes, two strops, four or five various sanding wheels, and extra sand paper for each, and a cutting head with a good selection of cutting blades for it. There is also a Landis cutting/skiving machine, with a few extra blades, and several shoe last stands, and what looked to me like a large selection of lasts. He had quite a few hand tools, new heels, soles (leather, and several thicknesses of rubber, and maybe some crepe material?)along with a lot of nails, screws, rivets, sewing string, needles, waxes, some leather (mostly scraps of maybe 4 to 5 ounce stuff, mayble for boot tops?). The guy also had an older machine he said he never uses, but it drives small wire brads, maybe for attaching heels or soles? He said something about some types of dress shoes, but I don't remember a model or maker on it. There was also a an older Singer leather machine, don't remember the model number, but it is a lighter machine, maybe for upholstery leather, or canvas, but it would not handle saddle skirting, which is a little more my interest. Like I said, I have no idea what the stuff is worth, but I don't have room for the big finishing machine, and it all has to go together (He wants rid of it) so I'm thinking of maybe trying to buy the whole lot, and resell some of it, but I'm not going to dive in unless I know I can come out with at least a cheap set of tools that I can use, but I'd prefer to be able to make a little money on the deal. Thanks for any help , Reid G.

Thanks for the information Keith. Reid G.

Keith, I like this saddle, and have a couple questions about it. Do you have screws run through under the concho's to hold the rigging in place? Would a saddle designed this way stand up to a lot of roping? Thanks, Reid G.

Miller, The Will James they are refering to is a style of swell fork tree names after the Will James who wrote "Smokey the cowhorse," and a bunch of other books. He cowboyed for a lot of years, and I don't know if he actually designed the tree style, but I would say he deserved having one named after him. As far as a web site, if you snoop around on leatherworker.net, I think you could find a lot of pics of a will james, and probably better information on them than what I can offer. Reid G.

I'm far from an expert of any kind, but I saw a saddle made out of buffalo hide last winter, and I think it would work. Deer hide I'm afraid would be to thin. Reid G.