steveh

Hi Tim, How do you determine the proper angle that you have in photo #2? Thanks Steve

Personally I would not put any kerosene on the leather , being that you would not be able to remove it and the odor. The saddle is 63 years old and there are many things that can change and discolor leather. Sunshine, sweat , salts , dirt, blood, grease and any saddle dresssings the previous owns may have used on it. I would clean it with feibings glyceren bar and warm water and soft brush. The top fender the lighter of the too is darker at the top where the where the stirrup leather is covered by the seat jockey.Obviously the stirrup fender on the bottom has been replaced. I would conditon it and accept it for what it is. Maybe some other will have ideas for you. Steve

very nice job on cleaning up your machine and bringing it back to life.

Rob, I use pfaff 545, very similar machine to the 145, the difference being the 545 has larger diameter bobbin, I believe they use the same needle 190lr. I am using a 140 or 22 size with a 138 thread on top and in the bobbin. I really like the tightness and appearence of the stitch.I use this machine to sew, belts ,spur straps, chap yokes and shields. About the thickest I sew is 8 -9 oz. veg tan over 4-5 oz. chap leather.I have not sew any breast collars with it.The machine is gear driven internally as opossed to an internal belt. It has reverse. I would give it a try if you have the chance to do so. Steve

This saddle has many features of the , Cheyenne, great plains stock saddle, made famous by Meanea, and Collins makers of that era.It has a half seat, the seat jockey is part of the seat, as opposed to being a seperate piece. It has Cheyenne roll part of that time frame.The rear jockeys are round and seem orignal since the border follows the radius.It is double rigged with large skirts.The cattle figure on the seat jockey looks like it may be embossed from a stamp as opposed to being hand tooled. The border looks cut and stamped and the seat cantel looks hand tooled.This style was popular from the 1880's thru the 1890's.Since it is not marked it may be from a harness and saddle warehouse that exsited in the larger citys of that era.

I believe some custom boot makers do use the 31-15 with a roller wheel to do the decreative stitching on the tops and toes. Parts are available and if you can find a tight one it will serve you well.

this saddle is a 8 button, full seat, with some swell in the fork, the skirts are the large square plains style, the one rear jockey has been cut to make it round, was square originally. the stirrup leather run outside the fenders, based on these features this saddle will fall between 1910-1925. May be when you remove that buckel it could reveal the maker as they often stamped the cantel. also look at the seat by the hand hole, they often stamped there mark there and on a saddle this old it could be rubbed out, so look closely.

They are used for forming the leather into loop keepers on belts, billets, straps ect.

Very nice job

I just repaired a loose handle on a rose knife, If you will notice on your tang there are several small barbs that were chiseled into the tang that helped hold the handle on. When drilling a new handle I would drill shorter than the length of the tang, and use a drill bit about the width of the blade about a 1/16 of inch. this will allow the barbs on the tang to dig into the wood and help hold the handle. On the handle I repaired I used a clear two part epoxy that I bought at nappa for 5 bucks, I just smeared it on the tang and slid the handle on and it was set in 5 min. The furrell on this rose knife is original and it is nothing more than a piece of brass tubing formed ablong to fit the handle. steve

Sorry, after rereading your post I see you answered the leather weight question.

Outstanding work! Looks like your 5053 rigging plate, is an inskirt design? What weight leather do you use? Steve

When I use a beader blade, I scribe a line from edge with dividers, straight run or a curve, then I single cut a line with a standard swivel knife blade, then I use the beader blade following the original single cut as a track, This works good for me. Steve

Just some observations I have made. I buy old saddles at sales barns now and then and like to look at how they where constucted. F.E Meana plains style slick fork 8 button double rigged from the 1910's, has an all leather ground seat that is very sound, this saddle was well used as the latigo and off billet have worn thru the skirt leather. Miles City Coggshell swell fork, 8 button from the 1920's real bad condition but the all leather groundseat is outstanding , still has it rise and it did not break down, Otto Ernst swell fork 8 button from the 1920's, steel strainer sound ground seat. Point being that both these ground seat methods have been around all time and both have there merit. Steve

Does anyone know who won the saddle and boot catagories? Thanks Steve

champion leather machinery was manufactured in St Louis MO, they made several nice stitchers ,narrow throat, wide throat, and a post type among others. you can get reprint manual thru www.proleptic.net.

Marlon, The Maul you are refering. to was originally mfg by the Dyno co. out of Kansas. It was an injected cast poly material around a weighted center. It does not wear and it does not strike off on a tool like the the nylon mauls. Beard started making them after Dyno stopped. Marlon, are you familar Wayne Jesski, from Elko Neveda, he makes a maul, that has the characteristics you are lookig for. It looks similar to BK maul , stacked leather handle , but the striking material is not the hard nylon. I have one and it is my favorite maul. Steve

Blade thickness is also a consideration when sharpening you blade. some of the better blade makers offer different thickness 1/8 inch, 3/32, or 1/16 ect. I like 30 degrees myself and I use a blade thickness of 3/32. if your angle is too steep it will cut deep amd will not open up. when making a decrative cut you want it to start wide open cut and taper down to almost nothing. make sure your bevel is polished to a mirro finish. Start with 600 grit, 1200 grit, then 2000, then rouge your blade.

Looks real nice, nice layout, lettering and stamping.Did you sew these on your 31-15 with 138? Steve

Sounds like you are needing some very detailed engraving in a very small area, between the two legs of a basket stamp. Try your local machine shop. You may also want to try one of the maker stamp mfg, like infinity or harper.

Try contacting; Robert Beard or Barry King, Google them they both have websites.

#9 copper rivets and burrs, available from most leather supply shops.

Very nice work, I really like the rope border on the rough out. steve

Dixie, You might want gently clean the pieces you removed with a fiebings glyceren bar and some warm water, just to draw out the soiled dirt.Then condition them, neats foot does'nt do much for older dry brittle leather , paste conditioners like holes saddle butter, or picards seem to revitalize the leather a little better.Another thing you might want to do is to get some pencil rubbings of the stamps. You could probly have a good tool maker, make the stamp for you. In many cases some parts of the saddle are still in good shape , but the stirrup leather fenders and horn need replacement, I have used wickett and craig brown dyed skirting, as replacement parts when you get it oiled it matches up with the old leather rather well.I Have a saddle made by the otto Earnst saddlery with very similar to yours and it was made 1914 to 1918 this according to the book , history of saddle making unversity of wyoming. steve

I did some lettering on the fenders some trophy awards saddles several years ago, the padded seats where green suede, and they wanted the lettering to match. so I purchased "feibings proffesional oil dye", in green, they did make it, dont know if they still do. I ended up mixing a little black to make it a hunter green to match the seats. It has held up fine, there is a big difference between the oil dyes and latex and water based dyes. I would only trust trust the oils based dyes.