gmace99

I designed a girth for a American company and decided to make one on the side for an advert. Also for a little bit of fun.

Monica I have well over a hundred photos of the stages involved in making a saddle. Far to many to post. However my intention is to post some in answer to questions people may have. For example if someone askes how to put a new seat on I may post the pictures of that part of the job. I also have half of the saddle making on DVD again far two big to post as its over two hours long. If I get to retire this year at the ripe old age of 55 then I hope to do some short you tube videos to help people out.

Thanks Jazzman. I still make small leather goods like key fobs. I am a professional saddler and one of my hobby's is leather work. I sometimes do key fobs if a kid comes into my store I will do a quick demonstration and make them a simple key fob then let them stamp their initial on it. The big smile that comes on their face when they see that stamp on the fob is worth the little demonstration. Then I give the fob to them. There are a lot of skills used in making fobs and coasters that you need to make a saddle. You cut the leather,edge strip, stain and polish. A saddle in part is just a bigger version of a key fob. I noticed from one of your posts that you are new to leatherwork, You are going to enjoy it so much. I still get a sense of achievement and pride every time I complete a job.

I make my own edge seal. I use pearl glue and sometimes wallpaper size. I make a tiny amount at a time as it goes of fast. I get about 3 or 4 tea spoons then add warm water. it should feel tacky to the touch. If you have made it right it will set like gel. to get it liquid again put it in the microwave for a few seconds or stand your jar in a bowl of hot water. A lot of the trade in Walsall still use this also

I was going through some pictures and found my file of a English style saddle I made a year or two ago. I have about 100 or 200 pictures of the stages of making this saddle. This is just a few stages.

The top tool is called a saddlers palm and sometimes called a collar palm

I looked at the source code on your site and could not see any keywords and also thought that your meta title could be improved to help the search engines. I am in no way a expert. I am a saddle maker who has built a few of my own sites for years and was always told you need keywords for the search engines. The other thing you need is robot text from Google and Bing to put into your code. This code you can get direct from google. www.google.com/webmasters and Bing www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster Most search engines you can submit your site to them to let them no you exist. Their are programs that do this for you or you can do it manually. I agree with Dwight, I think your site could look better if you move the stuff at the bottom and only show a few products like the picture he posted of your front page. I again agree with him about the unfinished look of your belts and keyfobs. It could be as you said you like that look and it has a more modern to you. After all beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am not a fan of carving leather but that does not mean it is a bad thing. I do think if you where to put a little more work into your products it would look more professional. Edge strip and stain the edges would give them a quality look. However if you like that minimalist look where you just cut a strip of leather and rivet it then don't change your design. Leave it to the public to decide. If they buy it then your idea works if they don't then you have to change. I also believe mention your business as often as you can so I will finish of with an advert. If you need a hand to perfect some of your techniques you can always come to my Staffordshire shop for a day days course.

try putting a match stick or two in the hole the blade came out . then tap the handle back on to your blade

I think There is a video just posted in All about us and of topic. Jess Jones posted. This shows you how to make a gun belt...It is titled Watch our new leather shop talk series on you tube. Hope it helps

Scotland and England

I am in the trade and buy from Sedgewick's and Pittards direct. They will only supply the trade. However if you want their leather Abbey will sell you it at a premium. I rarely buy from Abbey as there prices are not the best I have found. I used to use Andrew Midgeley and sons and found them to be a really helpful company. Midgeleys will sell small amounts and carry several types of leather, If they don't sell what you are after I am sure they will point you in the right direction. If you are after some light brown 4.5 mil thick saddle/bridle leather (if I remember correctly it is more a new market type brown good for making belts also) I was offered some the other day from a guy in Walsall for around £40/45 a butt. it looked like sedgewicks leather and if it was it would normally cost about £110. Message me on this if you want more details. I made a bag out of this leather and if you look at my other post in show off you can see it..it was a wood and leather bag. the colour is lighter than it is in the photo.

Time to report him to Craigslist. It could be a con. He will take payment via western union and tell you he will have it made in 6 weeks. 6 weeks later no one will answer the phone and I will bet no one will have heard of him at that address he gives out.

Just had a thought. It's something I have never tried my self so might be no good. How about sticking some masking tape on to the back of the leather. It will give you a straight line and make the leather stiff enough to cut. It should pull of easy. As I said I have never tried this myself so practice on a spare bit first.

Have you tried scissors? If your near Kilkenny look up porters saddlery. I am sure Simon Porter will show you how to do it is a really nice guy.

www.uksaddlery.com

I seen a picture of a wood gusset style bag on this site last night and thought it would be a nice bit of fun to make. Also a good way to use a bit of wood from an old pallet and a some leather that no one wants in a saddle these days as the colour is out of fashion. I normally make English style saddles and it was nice and relaxing day getting away from the norm. It was a simple style and easy pattern to do. The hard bit was cutting the wood as I only have a hand saw that I bought five years ago and probably only used once or twice cutting the shape was interesting but managed to survive that task with all fingers in tact.

Thanks for your kind words guys.

Thanks Guys. In time I will load up about 200 pictures I have of a saddle getting made stage by stage to my uksaddlery.com site

This is two saddles I made the side saddle was one I made for the Master Saddler competition in London. I won a premium award for it. The other saddle is a English style jump saddle. I made that just to make a saddle that looked different from others on the market. I am lucky enough to have a job that can double up as a hobby. If any of you guys want to see lots of pictures of a General purpose saddle getting made you can find them on my shops Facebook page under the pictures section. look up Dosthill Saddlery

I use the shoulder crease if I'm making several bridles at once. If I'm only doing bits then I pick up my screw crease. I do get a better line using my shoulder crease.

I'm a saddle maker and mainly buy from Pittards and Sedgwicks. I have bought from Andrew Midgley in the past and can say they are a great company to deal with they are very helpful and take time to listen. Depending what type of leather you are after the other company I found helpful is Marcus Gear in Walsall and I think they will sell single hides. uksaddlery.com

Instead of picking up pliers, Pick up a piece of beeswax and grab the needle with that and pull it throw. After doing that once or twice your fingers will grip the needle easy and give you better finger grip.

Hi Guys I am about to start teaching a few courses on leather work at my new building in Scotland. The first course I will be doing is a 12 day course ran over 2 weeks. This will be making a English style General Purpose saddle or a English style dressage saddle. The Course will start on the 27th July and finish on the 8th August The cost of the course is £1200 pounds this is about $1800 dollars at todays exchange rate. This will include Materials. And you get to take your saddle home with you. I am setting up a website and have a temp one running where you can see a bit more information The temp web address is albionsaddlery.com in time this will move to my main web address uksaddlery.com. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at sales at uksaddlery,com

I hope to get my new site up soon.

Thanks for the reply. Denise I will look at that section. Gary that link is not my company I have not set up my site as yet, I will prob use my domain name uksaddlery.com This site is running as one of my online businesses. I am about to close it down when I retire. So might as well use the name. Thanks again guys.