jwwright

Lucas, I cover all horns, whether wood post or iron, after I put the fork cover on.........unless it is a saddle where there will be no roping and horn wrap.........like a cutter or reiner. If you will message me with your email address, I will see if I can maybe show / explain how I do it. JW

Thanks for the generous comments Picon and Luke...........boy, you guys are stacking it on ol Wes pretty good! You guys must know him from the RC board?.....I know he spends quite a bit of time there. I've got to know him pretty well the past few years, and he is a real good hand with a horse and cattle, and has built up a nice cow/calf and yearling operation. Luke..............the humidity can be tough on things if they are not taken care of........but it could be worse........this rig could be going to the west Texas red dust country! Thanks again, JW.

I finished this one up a few days ago. The tree was made by Jon Watsabaugh, true Wade 5" fork stock, the horn is 3.75" tall with 1.25" slope, the cap is round 6" finished. The cantle is 12" by 5" tall. The fella that ordered this saddle usually rides single rigged, but he did want the option of double rigging this saddle so........It is a plate rig with the ring hardware, and there are rear slots for flank billets kind of hidden so it looks like a single rig. The leather is Herman Oak, the stirrups are by Trina Weber and the cantle plate was done by Steve Burton. JW

I do not have any of their oblong or strap end punches, but I do have some of their round drive punches. I have had them for a couple years, used them often, and have got along good with them. JW

Nice saddle with a super carve job as well. JW

Thanks Steve. No, this isn't the one I'm building for Wes. I started this one and his at the same time, but I got held up for a little while on his, waiting for the big cantle plate he had made for it. It should be done in another week or 10 days. JW

Many Thanks for the generous comments. All the saddle makers here have been a big help and source of inspiration to me over the past couple of years. JW

I hope everyone enjoyed a great day of giving Thanks to God, hopefully with family and friends. Havn't posted anything in a while, but I have been busy in the shop. This is a 1/2 breed Wade I finished last week. The conchos and cantle plate were made by Jayson Jones. JW

An addition to the list is Randy Alexander, owner of Timberline Tree Co. In addition to his production Timberline Trees, Randy is also offering handmade trees built by himself seperately from the production side of the business. 435-789-8228

Just what I'd expect..........great stuff. JW

Oldtimer.......Thank You for the generous comment. The length of cord and strands depends upon a lot of things.............different colors, pattern, and length of cinch...........there are quite a few various lengths of material in a cinch such as those shown. JW

Howdy Brent...................I somehow missed this when you first posted it.....................really nice work as usual. JW

There is some pretty funny stuff on there..........although it seems a bit mean spirited to me, maybe just a little. Their "torture devices" postings show some ignorance..................there is nothing inhumane about ring bits or spade bits, when used properly they are much more "humane" than the way a low port curb bit is typically used . JW

Danny Pollard is a very well known bit, spur and hardware maker from Texas also. He makes some of the best rigging D's I have seen in stainless steel, all by hand. He will make them any size you want, and they are tapered and thin. He does have a website www.pollardbitsandspurs.com , however you can't order from the website..........but all his contact information is there. JW

Julia.........you might check with Bob Douglas. 307-737-2222 JW.

Real nice work Justin. JW

Here are a couple photos of this tree for sale. Also, the gullet measures 6 1/4" wide by 8" high. Arizona Bars. Thanks, JW.

I have a Bowden Buster Welch Roper / Ranch Cutter tree for sale. The seat length is 15 1/2", swells are 13", cantle is 3 1/2" high, 1" dish, horn is a TD #7 3 1/4" tall, 2" cap. This is not one of their stock trees, and is a good tree with rawhide work that is better than the average from them. $215, plus shipping. Thanks, JW

Smooth and clean as usual Jon. Looks great. JW

Hi Bill............Sounds like a good project. Bill Oliver made good saddles, so this one should be worth the effort. Unless the person who did the tree replacement changed things, there will be a filler piece between the seat leather and the cantle back leather, and this filler will be glued & tacked to the back side of the cantle. Could be the filler is on the seat side of the cantle, but I think Oliver put his on the back. Then the cantle binding was applied, and it was sewn through all the layers. So, being able to take the seat, cantle binding and cantle back off all in one shot would not be possible. This can be done on some lesser made saddles, but not a Bill Oliver..........again, unless the previous repair was done differently. I think that what you'll need to do is remove the cantle binding and the remnant stitches, remove the seat, remove the cantle filler , and the cantle back. You are going to have quite a few stitch holes in the cantle back, filler and seat, since this saddle has had a cantle binding sewn at least twice all ready. So, I would think that you definitely will need to put on a new cantle back filler, at least. Then you could glue the cantle back on........most folks use a couple tacks here under between the bars in the cantle gullet, and a few tacks on the top side in the junction area where the cantle meets the bars. Then, put the seat back on, fit and sew a new cantle binding. Just guessing a little bit here, based on the information you gave, but I hope this helps. JW

Thanks for posting this Steve..........sure is alot more constructive than folks taking pot shots at each other over varying methods. It's always interesting and informative to see how other makers are doing things, especially those of your calliber. JW

Thanks for the generous comments on the cinchas all.............I am self taught on tying / weaving cinchas and I would be happy to help any one. For me though, I have not figured out a good way of teaching / demonstrating without being "hands on" or video. I have had several folks ask me about the DVDs mentioned in the this thread......................I have not seen them, but I understand from folks that have that they are good. I used to build a BUNCH of cinchas.........nowdays, I mainly will do some extra fancy ones when I get a notion. JW

This is another BW roper that I built at the same time as the rough out in my other post. I finished both of these Friday. I am concentrating on not only improving my work, but to be more efficient with time as well. I built both of these at the same time, and I found that it did speed things up some, especially since they are on similar trees. JW

Bobby, Tyrel, Elwood and Troy..........Thank You for the comments. JW

Nice clean work Ty.....it looks real good. I have a question for you............I see a ring sticking up from under the left front button. I think that is for a rope strap, as I have seen some Arizona punchers with this type of set up, but have never looked one over up close. Can you explain to me how that set up works, and / or have a photo of it? Many Thanks, JW