oldtimer

Santa brought a wooden mexican saddle tree, with a pumpkin size gourd horn ( Pancho Villa style) and an 80 foot rawhide reata from Jalisco, Mexico. Will build me a "Cola de pato" ( duck tail) saddle soon. I must say that the workmanship is fantastic, both in the saddle tree and the reata!

I have seen this problem too, and found out ( in my case) that the skirts were laced together out to the edge which created chafing at the back edge of the skirts. Solved the problem by removing 4" of the lacing so the skirts could flex away from the loin area, (which is slightly slanted upwards.)

Thank´s. I´ll need good luck for sure!

/ Knut

Try this website: http://zabasearch.com/

Fair dinkum will be fine! I´ll have two, please!

Didn´t expect to learn two more english words that have no real substance on this forum- but I´ll never forget them, and I´ll use them on a daily basis from now on, I promise ! Thank you! / Knut

WTF is Diddley-squat ? Sounds like something you can´t eat?

TwoCrow, You´ll get your money back, for sure ! Quality knife - beautiful braid!

Beautiful knife - beautiful sheath ! / Knut

How much flex are we talking about in a rawhide covered tree ( or a carbon fibre tree) ? Fractions of an inch in any direction, so why bother about flex ? And what loads are we talking about to create this flex in a rigid saddle tree? Chevy trucks on horse back? I might have got it wrong? Enlighten me!

This shows an example on how to use the cantle hand holes , to make a makeshift pack saddle of your Santa Fe saddle

Like Mulefool says, if you decide to cover the whole cantle , use escutcheon pins around the slots. If you decide not to cover the whole cantle, you can make scallops and nail them down with escutcheon pins. Attached is a pic of my Santa Fe style saddle that I built a couple of years ago. I used a mexican style rigging instead of a Sam Stagg rigging and it works fine. I also installed a rosewood horn cap with a solid brass Texas star inletted ( to cover the screws), bling bling !

What kind of thread do you use for saddlemaking ? Nylon or Polyester ?

I have lost one of my Rampart edgers, #4, round bottom edger, and I hope someone out there has one for sale or trade. Thank you / Knut

I have a set of Rampart edgers that I really like. Sorry to say I have lost one but I´ll try to find another one.

Thank´s for your advice! A good start! My plan is now to make a template of a piece of cheap split leather that I have. I have studied many pics of mochilas and it seems that they are made of two pieces that are laced together in the center of the seat, and the reason for that must be to get rid of wrinkles . We´ll see what becomes of it! / Knut

I got so inspired so I just had to make me a new bench for my Boss. To save space in my shop I also mounted my Adler 30-1 on the same bench. I had an old cast iron sewing machine stand which I cleaned up and painted, and made a new table top out of pine boards. I also made a flatbed attachment of wood for the Boss but I have already found improvements to do. I use my stitching horse as a chair when using the Boss and Adler.

I bought my copy from John´s ex wife a couple of years ago ($122 incl shipping to Sweden, I thought it was expensive at the time!). I have her adress written down so contact me : old-timer at telia dot com and you´ll get the adress. Don´t know if she still lives there and if she has books for sale now.The story I´ve heard about John goes that he kidnapped his wife at gunpoint when she had left him = Idaho state prison.

I guess you´re right! Scandinavian vikings never used horns on their helmets ! Myth busted !

Didn´t know that vikings had horns on their helmets ?

That´s correct! It is a shoemakers tool.

Unfortunately I´m not familiar with the Sleipner saddles. It seems that the saddle industry is a step behind in building wider saddles for Icelandic horses, as a lot of people over here have problems in finding saddles wide enough for their Iceys.

We have a lot of Iceland ponys here in Sweden, and they don´t need any special kind of saddle although most of them are gaited. The Iceland pony saddles I´ve seen have been built just like any english dressage saddle. Iceland pony have short backs, a thing to consider when you buy a saddle.

If you make the fenders a bit short ( up to the bottom of the bar) and put the stirrup leather on top of the fender there is no risk of pinching. I have been riding skeleton saddles for the last seven years and never experienced any pinching problem. On my latest personal saddle I made the fenders old mexican style and they work just fine.