AndyKnight

all the stamping fits the outline of the silver so was not added after the fact. IMHO

Great looking tree. I have fiberglassed a few now also. T Lighter leather, no extras and you willl get it to 30 pounds. I build quite a few like lighter ones.

The best way is to hire a saddlemaker to teach you through at least one saddle. Some of us do that. It will give you a good foundation and save you lots of wrecks in the long run,.

I do it totally different ( no tacks or nails) and it would take me an hour to type it so use Bruce's method ! I then go right into the all leather ground seat. I also do that totaly different than most others and it would take me 2 hours to type it out. !! Day one , gullett , ground seat ,block skirts. riggings.

it will be interesting to see how your horse measures with the DL cards. By the pics I would expect most factory made trees to be too straight.( not enough rocker) . Other than that his back looks good as far pics are concerned .

for a previous saddle to affect the fit of the current saddle it must have done soft tissue damage to where there is chronic swelling. ( This will be able to be noticeable) This will then cause a future saddle to be prone to also cause too much pressure in the same spot. In most case swelling will be temporary. Denise will be more qualified to address that. If you are getting dry spots from excessive pressure it can be relieved by "padding away from the pressure." Never add more padding to alleviate pressure. Your current saddle may be no better than your first saddle. The best way to determine saddle fit is by riding . I would suggest that as the dry spots are consistent on every ride is that you still have issues. The" Level seat " is put into the saddle by the saddlemaker in the ground seat. The other factor that will have some bearing on this is the position of the stirrup leathers in relation to the low spot of the seat. So on a saddle that is going to be used on a down hill horse the saddlemaker may at his dicretion shape the seat accordingly. The issue then becomes whether the saddlemaker wants to do this knowing that the saddle will likely end up on normal horses and the the balanced seat will now put the rider in a butt back and feet ahead seat. Rigging may change pressure spots to a degree however if you can ride with a loose cinch it will show whether it is a rigging issue or your weight causing a tree fit issue. Riding with an overly tight cinch will compound saddlefit problems and also the weight of the rider. The heavier a rider is and also the more out of balance ,the more poor saddle fit is exasperated I am not sure if I explained myself very well. Andy

I would suggest the use of epoxy resin. available for example: /www.jgreer.com/Contact Us.htm This is a far superior product to the polyester resins that are used in the fiberglass repair kits. Also west system. system three..

just use a straight strip. Approx inch and a half wide, I believe that there is a tutorial some where on the site , that may help , Each piece of rawhide will act different ly so you have to figure out your string cuts right on the horn.

no matter how well the saddle fits you still need good padding. The saddle is rigid so you need to give the horse some room to move under the saddle.and to also absorb some of the shock. this is accomplished with the padding. Sheepskin ,once compressed provides very little padding. IMHO

wet the stirrup leather very well before twisting and they will stay. Most saddle makers use a either a jig or drawdown to stretch and twist until they dry.

Use full grain leather inside out..... is what we would do in the saddlery trade. 4-6 oz. glove tan

The paste was used to " glue"the fork cover on and to fill any voids. Very common back then. Some guys still use it.

that is dried paste.

1969 will be the year the saddle tree was built. They were one of the most popular tree maker of that time. Lots of white hairs trace back to some of the old standard trees. Unless the tree had been replaced the age of the saddle would be around that time. SF bowmans were popular in the sixties and early seventies.

some of your rear jockey issues may be not suffient blocking of the skirts.

I have used both. The ostrich that I have used goes in very easily however on the lighter ostrich I have laminated it to some thin cowhide as it can be too thin to be very tough. As far as color either should be more than surface dyed as it will wear off. When I use ostrich I flatten the quills with my hammer on my granite. Which one will hold up best over the long run I am not sure.

The best tip is .....Don't

Here is a pic of a saddle that a student from Sweden just finished in my shop. I think he will make saddlemaker. ! I know the floor needs sweeping.....

If they were made right and the right shape etc..... A round knife has to be a lot harder than a chisel???? How do you sharpen your chisel? If a file will touch it it would be too soft for a round knife.

Andy, I was curious what kind of nails you use on the bottom...are those clinch tacks or some other kind of nail? Darc those are brass clinch tacks ..... I also use escutcheon pins

a pic says a thousand words and i am about 10 words a minute!!

here is my version of a sam stagg rigging on a wade ...Not what I would prefer..

I also laminate my bars to give them more stability. Just cut out 4 pair today I also figure any more than 1/8 of rock is too much. that being said with trees that are not made to stringent precise standards ,they may or maynot be square even when they sit square.. That is maybe a little confusing but I have certainly found it to be the case.back when I used factory made trees.. That is one of the reasons I learned how to build my own. It can be either the rawhide twisting the tree and it may be the wood twisting the tree. I have years ago wrapped a tree in wet towels to soften the rawhide and then clamped the tree past square and then let it dry then put weights on it for a few weeks., Then let it sit for a few weeks . If it remains stable and square..and your comfortable with it.........

That is correct That is a wear leather to protect the fork when carrying a rope and roping.