rdl123

Hello Paulamoose, I am self taught as well - Once again because of limited time and the inability to take time to go away to saddle making school. Here is my advice: Be careful where you look to for direction. There are saddle makers and there are Saddle Makers if you know what I mean. Al Stohlman's stuff is OK - He complicates things a bit in my opinion but his books are a good resource - I have them and refer to them on occasion. Jeremiah Watt's DVD's are excellent - He makes fitting the seat super simple - I refer to these DVD's all the time Dale Harwoods dvd's are well worth the investment - I refer to these DVD's all the time I have looked at Dusty Johnson's website - I find that his saddles do not have attractive lines and generally look unattractive. I would be careful what I took from his DVD's as I would not want my saddles to look like his. This is just my opinion though. Here are makers who make saddles that I find well designed and attractive: Mike Keetch Steve Mason Dale Harwood Keith Seidel Gordon Andrus I spent a lot of time looking at pictures on the internet of saddles I thought were well designed before I started. There are certain principles that apply to saddle design that you will see these makers use and it creates a nice looking, balanced saddle every time. Materials: Use good materials I recommend Hermann Oak leather. It lasts and lasts - Wickett & Craig will wear out a lot faster. Use only a good tree maker. I would use Sonny Felkins (Quality Tree MFG.) His Northwest bars have worked well for me. Use only stainless steel or brass hardware. No nickel plated junk. Before I built a saddle I built and hand stitched a rear cinch to see if I had the patience for all of the hand stitching required for a saddle. With leather i have found that slower is better. If i find myself getting in a rush I stop. Leather working, like horsemanship, requires (in my opinion) timing & feel. The leather has to have just the right moisture content. I believe good tools are important. I would rather have a handful of good tools over a bunch of cheap tandy stuff. Spend the money on a good round knife - Bruce Johnson can hook u up. Good Awls and awl handles are important Barry King stamps are very good. I do use Tandy's cheap punches as I find even expensive punches chip or dull quickly. I use a Cobra Class 4 sewing machine - It is easy to run and works great. Here is pictures of my progression to date: Saddle 01 Saddle 02 Saddle 03 Saddle 04 I hope this helps. Big thing is to have fun and take your time!! I strongly believe in learning how to make your own patterns as it helps you to analyze saddle design and mechanics. I made all my own patterns for these saddles and the goal is to continually refine them. Regards, Ron Lennox

The cantle back gets tooled on the bench. Usually I form it to cantle back, and then later, once it has formed I re wet it, flatten it back out and tool up. I am very amateurish at all of this - Some really good makers are Steve Mason, Cary Schwarz and Gordon Andrus... here is a pic of a saddle that I am just finishing up...

I just decided to live with the dent - This will be my personal rig and the first time I get bucked out of this and drag a rowel across the cantle dish it will scar up even worse!