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

The strap of the canteen can be made any way you want. For this one I used a conway buckle from Jermiah Watt. It is stainless steel and very, very nice. For a saddle canteen I usually keep the strap fairly short. Somewhere around 18-20 inches long. I like to tie the straps on with leather thongs and tie them off with bleed knots. For a saddle canteen I put a twist in it so it stays on the saddle horn better. The last tip I will give is to slip a cardboard paper towel or tp roll over the neck to keep it clean when you are dying or staining the canteen. This customer wanted this canteen to be finished in a "rustic" fashion so that is what it is. It can be finished much much nicer and given a way more refined look if that is what you want. Well there it is................didn't plan on it taking this long but I wanted to be thorough. Hope it looks interesting enough for you to want to make your own or at least use some of the tips I've passed on. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask. ............and if you've stuck with it this far....well thanks for that too!!!! Tim Jones Drunk Horse Custom Leather Pueblo West, CO

Now it's time to cover the cap with leather. The perfect piece of leather for this job is that stack of flanky, stretchy belly pieces that you don't ever have a use for. Allow yourself plenty of excess. I usually start with a piece 5-6" across in both directions. Throw it in a bowl of water and let it get good and saturated. While it is soaking I will cut the little button off the top of the canteen cap. Set the cap down on your rock or other hard surface and put the well saturated piece of wet leather on top of it, keeping it centered. Now take a 2.5" PVC pipe cap and drive it down over the leather and cap with you mallet. The trick here is to have drilled a hole in the top center of the cap to let the air out. Without the hole it will be really hard getting the cap to go down over the wet leather. You're going to have to smack it pretty good, but be careful and not smack it too hard or you can break the canteen cap. You also have to judge the thickness of your leather for this as well. Too thick and it won't go over the cap. Once you get the 2.5" cap driven down over it and it is nice and even all the way around, take a 3" pipe cap and slip it down over the 2.5" cap and press it down and turn. Keep doing this until you get a good ring going. Take the 3" cap off and set it all aside for 4-5 hours and let it dry out some. Once it has dried a little put the 3" cap back on and press and turn some more. This time it will leave a nice burnished ring. Take all the caps off and set it aside and let it dry some more. Before it is totally dry cut off all the excess leather up to the outside circle. Now roll the edges of this until they are sticking up out the pipe cap. You can also use the 3" cap for this purpose too. Set it aside without it being in any of the pipe caps and let it dry totally. When dry take the knife of your choosing with a sharp blade and trim all the excess off even with the bottom of the plastic canteen cap. When that is done and even all the way around, use your edger to round off the square edge you just made. Now you can burnish it and finish it as normal. When you are done finishing the cap be sure and glue the leather to the plastic. In this case I riveted on a small thong that I will use to keep the cap from being lost. I also make a keeper for the other end of the thong that goes around the neck of the canteen.

Now you can get the leather wet. Soak it inside and outside until it is just wet enough. Don't just throw it in a tub of water and let it sit. The longer it is in the water the more likely you are to start losing some of the depth of your impressions. It's hard for to tell you how wet to get it, just get it wet a little at a time until you feel the moisture level is something you can work with easily. You can always put more water on it. But no matter how much or how little water you use.......you are going to lose some depth to your impressions, especially those on the outside edges. Now before you go ahead and stuff the canteen into the leather, use your hands and thumbs to stretch the leather around the sewn seams. You don't have to stretch it alot but getting it opened up will help greatly in the molding process. Once you have done this go ahead and stuff the canteen into the leather. Be sure and keep the neck of the canteen centered in the opening and as soon as you can get the cap on. This helps to keep the canteen from crushing and once it is on you can get a little more physical in getting it in the leather. But don't get to rough with it as it could still crush or tear a hole in it. Once you get the canteen in there go ahead and resume your stitching. It will help if you will take one of your needles and open the holes back up so they will be easier to find when you are looking for them. I'll usually take 10-15 stitches then go over to the other side and stitch it for 10-15. Do this until you get it all stitched up. But be warned the last 10 or so stitches causes the leather to pucker and do really weird things that make it hard to find the stitching holes. To finish it off I will overstitch the last couple stitches and take the thread to the back side and cut them off flush. Now set it aside for a day or two (depending on your humidity level) and let it dry. Sometimes after it dries I will cut all the stitches out to do my dying and finishing, then sew it back up with bright white thread so it will looke all brand new and pretty. Something about nice white stitching just makes the final product "pop" if you know what I mean. On this canteen, before it is totally dry, I will even up the edges some by rolling them on my rock and what doesn't even out like I think it should gets a light sanding from my Dremel drum when it is dry. Be carefull with that tool as it is easy to take too much off or burn the edges. Then when it is dry I will edge it. I tend to leave the edges flat and just round off the corners. But if you have a big enough edger you can totally round them off which is also a nice look. You can also use a Dremel and sanding drum to round the edges to your taste........but be careful!!! (I'll dull a new sanding drum on some hardwood or something before taking it to the leather)