Duke

oh man, im drooling! that is exactly the kind of saddle I want to learn to make. your attention to detail is overwhelming. the hummingbirds are a nice one off touch, as are the stirrup hobble buckles. nice deep depth in your carving, I am in awe. I am hoping to become good enough to turn something like this out. I know this will take time, and I am more than willing to learn. that is why I have given myself 8 months to prep to do a saddle, including making my own draw down saddle stand, and a few other things before I jump into it. any tips, tricks, pointers, anything at all, if not a tutorial, would be awesome. thank you so much for sharing this with us.and btw, there is something I have bneen meaning to ask, and maybe you or others can shed some light on this: the latigo strap that is wrapped arounf the the stirrup leather, that is to turn the stirrup so that you dont have undo muscle strain right? how do I do it?thanks

twinoaks is exactly right, awl holes look better.

awesome, thanks for the information guys. I like the look of that stirrup kabatoff, I was leaning more towards lacing up the outside of my stirrup, but the pic of yours has me wondering of I made the right decision.and bruce, what I wouldnt give for a ferdco.*drools* maybe once I start makin more money at doin this, then I can afford one. or maybe even next tax season. hhmm, theres a thought.also, about covering stirrups with taps, I was thinkin about using 3/4 oz leather, just so it doesnt look crappy. still think its a bad idea?

sounds like a very smart, very good dog.

hi emily. it could be that you are using the wrong setter with your rivet. you should switch to a double cap rivet, and see how that works for you.the collar looks good, keep up the good work.as an afterthought, if you can post a pic of the rivet you are using, I can tell you what kind of setter you should be using. thanks

first thing you need to do is find a pattern or make a pattern that you like. then you need to get your self some tools. I reccommend a stitching groover and an over stitcher. also astitching awl. and then a few needles, and some good thread.practice with your stitching groover and get used to it. then use it to cut a groove in your leather. you can then use the over stitcher to space out and mark your holes for your thread.at this pointyou can use a dremel or the awl to punch the holes through the leather.you need to then pull a bit of thread out and attach a needle at each end. push the needle through the leatherabout 2-3 holes back from the beginning, and sew toward the end hole.then back stich over what you already stitched, and continue on.you will push one needle through the hole, on one side, and the other needle throught the same hole, to complete a stitch. use your hands to tighten the thread, by pulling on each side at the same time.when you get to the end, stitch back a few holes, and cut the string flush. congrats.you did it.hope this helps.

never feel foolish about buying a tool. its just one more thing that increases your ability to do something.

oh wow!!!!!! ok, I got it now! the light bulb just came on upstairs, lol. what a huge help bob. I am in debt to you, for your generous amount of help. I will look forward to the rest of the pics. please explain how you keep the pieces from sliding off before you put the tread on, do you glue it, or nail it, or stitch it? thanks a million

thanks bob, thats what I was looking for. I appreciate it. good thing I have a good imagination, hels to try to imagine what youre talking about, and try to follow along.

well I was worried about the metal rubbing agianst the taps and eventually wearing through it.that and it looks alot better.

I believe it would be steel wool.correct me if im wrong

ok so in my quest to build up my skills enough so that I can begin to make a saddle, I am starting small. going to be covering a set of stirrups. the stirrups are wood, wrapped on the outside with metal, and has a carriage bolt through the top, with a pipe as a spacer. my question is this: what is the ideal weight leather to use? is lighter leather better? I'm not going to be tooling the stirrups, as I will be making a set of tapaderos to go over them, so I dont need heavier leather. pros and cons of light weight leather? any and all suggestions on this would be taken to heart. thanks in advance to all who respond.

ah, the good ol tomfool knot. learned this one at an early age, and used it as a set of handcuffs on my brother. boy did I get in trouble for that one.

have not seen any for sale, so id try makin it yourself. I hope you plan on purchasing volumes 2 and 3 in the future, as they are also a great deal of help. they also refer back and forth to different areas.good luck and keep us posted

the interior is just the insert from tandy. no big deal

johnD, have you gotten your tools yet? what do you think? pro's an cons?

I agree, but the reason I didnt is that it was my first attempt and didnt want to get bogged down in the details. keep it simple when starting out, and build it up from there.

thank you everyone. I was told last night that if she didnt like it, it would be time to get a new gf. luckily she loves it. to answer Qestions about the color, it is a saddle tan in the hi-lite eco flo brand from tandy. thank you everyone for your kind words.

thanks everyone. this was a good project, and definitely a learning experiment. my next set that I plan to do will be a set of chinks, with the yokes being done in a sheridan style pattern, and then being filligreed and a darker leather being used as a backing behind the yoke.

ok,here is a CD organizer I made my GF for her birthday. what do ya think?another pic

this was my first attempt at a pair of chaps. the basket weave was with a wayne juetske #6 another picand another oneand 1 more

I agree with the head knife suggestion. I have one I bought a while back, but the handle needs to be shortened since I have smaller hands, and then sharpened the rest of the way.its an Al stohlman brand knife and I know that they dont come ready to use.

when I do my holsters, I use 8-9 oz and use a utility knife. after all my tooling is done, and ive glued the item together, I stitch it then sand the edges even, then bevel them.another way to do it, is to only cut one side out,andwhen you fold it over, use the side you cut out as a guide to cut the rest out.a sponge sanding block or a belt sander works good to even edges.

I have a pony, and still prefer to use a dremel, cept now Ijust got a new drill press, so good to go. helps bigtime!

yahoo.com has what they call widgets, that you can download.all sorts of different kinds of widgets, from photo albums, to clocks, to calendars and more. http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/neon-clock