rgerbitz

The one I saw the maker had mounted it to the ceiling. Thank you for this.

Hello all, I've seen and heard a few different places where guys use different lasers to find center lines on saddles. Now that I'm ready to get one for myself I can't seem to find where anyone said what they have our where they get them. Anybody know? Thank you, Rob

Thanks NVLeather. I've been working with leather for a few years. Thank you.

Randy I'd like to say I came up with all the design ideas by myself. But they came straight out of the Watt videos. I made very few and very small changes. So have at it not mine to give away. Thank you for the kind words.

Hey there Terry, I got the rub stick off of Bob Douglas in Sheridan WY.

Nice job on the carving and stamping. The jockey and rigging lines are off to me. It would look better, to me at least, if the rigging faded up into the rear jockey rather than head straight up into it. You'd have to move the rear rigging D up closer to the skirts to accomplish that. I struggle with getting those all to look good myself. I can't tell for sure but it looks like the seat has a high spot where the low spot should be. Could just be a problem with the picture. The sewing on the cantle looks good. I'm still trying to decide if I should drink more or less when sewing a cantle to get the stiching straight. A good looking first altogether. Congratulations. Rob

Merry Christmas Everybody, Finished up saddle number 2 yesterday. This one went smoother, and faster than the first one. Still created more scrap than I'd like. Had to cut the seat out twice. Was able to enjoy the process more with this one. Have number three and four ready to cover the seats, looking forward to getting them better than this one. I'd would like to hear any critiques anybody may have. Thank you, Rob

Jerimiah Watt has a nice DVD on carving and stamping.

Anybody else?

Its a cool looking saddle with the rough out. Nice job. Rob

Nice job Brad. You might want to get the braiding straighter on the bars. I like the pattern change on the nose button. I'd try and get the nose button button smoother, from the picture it looks bigger on the ends and tapers towards the middle. Tthe side buttons, if they are to be more than ring knots, I think should be in porportion to the nose button. Meaning they'd look a little better with some ground work. I know people have different preferences but on these hackmores with thicker bars I like the heel knot to be bigger as well. I think it looks better and adds some more weight to help with the function as well. I don't know how many of these you've made but overall it looks like a sturdy piece of working gear that most any one would be happy to have. Rob

Looks good Mike!

If all goes well I will be there on thursday for a class at noon, staying till Sunday. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.

It's been awhile since I have put anything up here. This is a 5/8 bosal with and 11.5 inch body and 7.5 inch bosal. The interweave is done with rawhide the dark color is roo. As always I am looking for critism. Thank you, Rob

So who all is going to the leather show in Sheridan?

To make my patterns I followed along with Jeriamiah Watts videos and used a boat load of by guess and by golly. I learned, a little to slowly, that it is best to make your patterns way to big and trim and shave as needed then to try and cover 2 feet with 1.9 feet of leather.

I have a pretty basic selection of tools. There are a couple that I found I needed to get things done better. A cantle binding trimmer, which is a french edger with a longer reach and narrow blade. A 6 inch head knife for skiving, could of got along with the smaller knives but I think it is bit easier with the bigger knife. Some good quality awl blades. A variety of tools to slick and mold the leather, bouncers, creasers, and rub sticks I made some and bought some others. I used three hides making this saddle. I had to do the swell 3 times and the cantle 5 times before I was able to get things right. I also had to scrap the first seat cause somebody cut it to small the first time. You can only strech leather so much. I didn't split anything on this saddle did a lot of skiving. Rob

Thank you Mike.

Thank you.

Thank you Harrington, the tree was made by Sonny Felkins, it is has 15.5 inch seat. The leather came from herman oak and the hardware came from weaver the cinch hardware is horse shoe brand. A resort that offers trail rides ordered the first ten. My wife, daughter and a couple of others ordered the rest.

Only took about 10 months to complete but it is finally finished. I owe a lot to the people on here who freely give of their knowledge, this and other sites have provided me with a great deal of the information and inspiration needed to accomplish this saddle. This is the first of 14 saddles that I have agreed to make. I hope that the next one is better than this one and I am open and anxious for any critique that may be offered. Thank you, Rob

Really nice work.

Hello everyone. I am looking for a complete set of loop irons. Does anyone no of anybody who makes them or that has a set for sale? Thank you, Rob

Anyone know where to find cardboard boxes to ship saddles in? Thank you Rob

Great wording. Thank you for your time on this.