Timbo

When putting in the ground seat, do you all cover the whole front of the cantle face?? Or do you just go part of the way up with the first layer of ground seat?? So you ever put the saddle seat itself to the rawhide of the cantle face?? How important is it to cover all the nails in the rawhide of the cantle face with ground seat leather?? Ok so it was actually 4 questions. Timbo

I'm pretty close to the above mix, but I use 3 parts saddle tan to 1 part mahogany. Its also a very rich color. Timbo

To me the lack of standardization is one of the things that is appealing about saddle making and lets face it, if it hasn't happened yet, it's probably not going to. There are loose standards within the trade and it seems to me they have to be loose. It is an art form and like any other art form it is subjective. The saddle makers and the tree makers are both artists blending there two skills together. Every artist has there own slant or spin they put on there portion of the completed piece. Order the same exact custom saddle from different makers and each one will be different. Same goes for the trees. There is a finite amount of shoe sizes in the world but there are no two feet that are identical. When I try on shoes I know what size to start with but that is just a start. I go with what feels good. (...and I have shoes from 8EE to 9.5D and they all fit well and are comfortable) It's hard to find brands of shoes whose sizes are identical to other brands. Same goes for horses and saddles and saddle makers. Too many variables to be able to put it in a box. I understand what you would like to see happen, but I just don't see how it can be more standardized than it already is. Each artist has there own standard. Just my .02 on the subject ymmv Timbo

Thanks Crystal!!!

I know the ones you are looking for, they are aluminum boy scout canteens. Not sure if they still make them but you can pick them up on ebay all the time. They have the cap on the side at the top. ....and to throw in a shameless plug...........search the saddle forum for "canteen tutorial" and you will find a how to I did. For some reason it never got pinned or anything it's just thrown in the mix with everything else so you'll have to search it.... Tim

First off the tooling takes more oil than the smooth sections due to the surface of the leather being broken. So in the future go lighter over these sections. Before you do anything to correct this that might cause harm.............just wait. If it hasn't been at least a week since you oiled it, just wait. I would not do anything else to it for at least 2 weeks. Give the oil a chance to migrate.....leave it in a warm room if you can as it will help the oil move around. But don't try to speed it up by applying heat as that will just dry out all the leather. Just be patient for awhile and see how it turns out. Tim

Actually the saddles sold by Colorado Saddlery are very well made for a production saddle. If you used one and liked it as much as you say you do and it fits your price range ..........buy it. I've gotten to know one of the guys that runs the saddle program at the prison (its in Buena Vista, CO) and he is a stickler for quality. I've also seen the Hadlock and Fox trees and to me they looked really good for a production tree in my opinion. If you're not going to rope with this saddle the production tree shouldn't be a problem. I've also seen the Baties trees and thought they were also a decent production tree. Seems there has gotten to be a stigma about production saddles lately, but lets face it........we all grew up riding them. I'm building my first saddle right now and it will the closest thing to a custom saddle I've ever even ridden. Are custom saddles better??? You bet they are......but can every one afford them?? Hell no. So what does that leave?? Finding a good quality production saddle. My opinion is frankly that as production saddles go the Colorado saddlery products are a good choice. Not priced on the high end of the spectrum but definitely better than whats available at the low end of the spectrum as far as production saddles go. So again if you liked it and it is everything you want........get it!! Tim

Just to throw another .02 into the ring......Ron of Rons Tools has a set of stirrup adjusters he just came out with that sound a lot like the Farrow adjusters mentioned in the post above. You cut 3/4" slots with a bag punch and the adjuster goes thru 2 of them at a time and a latigo string holds them in place on the back side. I picked up a set from him at the Fall CSMA gathering and he even includes a pattern for the end of the leathers. What I like best about them is the simplicity and light weight of them. Oh and his pattern allows for the twist in the end of the leathers and they look really clean when installed. They rivet in or can be sewn in and the rivet holes are sized so that you don't have to use a burr on them. Tim

Very nice.......very, very nice!! Tim

This is the part I did not understand.

I am trying to get my website back up and can't for the life of me figure out how this cPanel thing works. Does anybody here have any experience building a site with it???? I originally built the site with Homestead.......but it did not transfer and now I have to rebuild it. But I sure can't figure out how cPanel works. Homestead was just point and click. Can anyone offer me some help or advice?? I'd really like to get it back up or at this point just get the home page down. Nothing I hate worse than checking back on an "under construction" site to find that nothing is being done to it. At wits end....... Tim

You could also use some plumbers lead or lead free solder for the same use. Tim

Noah, one of the cool things about horse is that it will burnish really well. It doesn't even take anything fancy to get a good burnish. Just dampen the edge with water and rub it really briskly with rough canvas or denim or gore tex. It will burnish up really nice with minimal effort. Give it a try and see what happens. Tim

Well I wish I had an amusing story about my leather shops name "Drunk Horse Custom Leather"..........but I don't. There is a little town west of here and out in the mountains is a road called Drunk Horse Lane and I always thought it was a cool name, that's all. So my lovely wife thought it would be a good name for my leather work. Somebody on the forum once asked me if it was a reference to the drunk horse on the move Cathouse and Ballou........nope......just a neat sounding name. After I picked it I also found there is a band named Drunk Horse......that has a cult like following from what I can see. So that's it......... Tim

If it was born today.............we share a birthday!!! Congrats on the new addition. Tim

I posted these pics at the end of the tutorial the other day, but wanted to make sure the folks that are going to build one saw some other options. This one is scalloped around the edges and I also made a different collar for it to help hide the neck of the canteen and give you a place to tie the lid leash. I also stitched this one up and wet formed it. let it dry and cut the stitching out. Then I dyed and finished it and stitched it one more time. I love the look of bright white thread that you tend to lose during the finishing stages. Anyway here it is. Tim

If you think you can do it and make him happy go for it...........but, tell him after all the details are worked out and it is done to his specifications any changes or things he does not like will cost him more. Be sure and get it paid 100% up front though and tell him that it is not refundable once the leather has been cut out for his project. Don't hesitate to tell him all this because he didn't have a problem telling you all of his "stuff" up front. Personally I would pass. Tim

Just thought I'd post up some pics of another canteen I just completed. The edge of this one is scalloped and pear shaded. I am also including a pic of the collar I made to go under the cap to hide the blue canteen. On the back of it i made a hole thru one of the scallops to attach the lid leash to. Tim

That is really cool. Funny but I've been thinking about something along those lines lately too. Good job!!!! Tim

Just get the whole thing wet so the color will be uniform all the way down the length. That is if it is a different color when it dries. Tim

So basically, the bottom skirt is barely longer than the bars??? Tim

This is a pic of a saddle by Out West Saddlery in Pagosa Springs, CO. The saddle weighs in at 26 lbs. I can't figure out how the skirts are done. It doesn't appear to have rear jockeys or maybe it has no rear skirt or they are one and the same. How is this done??? It sounds familiar but I can't remember if there has been a post on this already or not. Any help from our saddle makers would be greatly appreciated. Tim

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words, I am glad everyone likes it and are getting some tips to use too. Thanks again, Tim

I'm glad everyone is liking the tutorial and feel free to ask any more questions if you have them. I tried to make the tutorial encompass more than just the basics, which is why I've included the tooling and sewing parts to the degree that I did. I wanted to show everything so that no matter the persons skill level, every part was covered. Hopefully people new to the craft will learn how alot of things are done and maybe the old timers can pick up something too. I have learned so much from this site over the years that I wanted to put something up and give back a little as well. And everyone who reads this and builds a canteen HAS to post up pics of it when you are done. I can't wait to see what you guys can do!!! THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND CUDO'S!!!!! They are mucho appreciated!!! The Neosho boy........... Tim

Hope the above in red will help you get started on your project!!!! Tim