JRedding

We've attended Sheridan and Wichita Falls both. I thought the show in Sheridan was a little bigger, and the after hours fun there was great, the Don King dinner and Sheridan Leather barbeque were great fun. The King's museum is right there and a good time, Tom Balding opened his bit and spur shop up for tours the days we were there and hosted a showing of Chester Hapes saddles and arranged a good bull session with Chester for folks who came by. We drove to Wichita the years we went and had a blast getting there and back. From where we live if you plan the drive right we visited the PRCA Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, and was able to catch the TCA show at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City that same week on the way home. And there were a lot of interesting stops all along the way. Both of these shows are great, it's hard to attend either one and not have a good time.

I'm not good at math usually but this I can do, it's simple or I'd have to call in my teenager, I measure from the center (fold to center hole to find center) measure outward to the tapers or in this case the billets because it was a ranger, as far as you want to spread the conchos, divide that number x the number of conchas you're using and you'll have the right spacing to cover the distance you have to work with. That's probably not how a math teacher would do it but it works for me.

I haven't posted in a while, and they seem a little slow coming lately, so here's what we've got to add. It's a ranger style, I drew the belt pattern but I didn't choose it, it's made to match a pair of boot tops the gentleman had made some time in the past. Dyed background, with the leaves and flowers under resist and the rest oiled to a little darker color. Twelve Clint Orms conchos, six with his brand and six with a stone set in them and a finger carved back. It was a joint project, I tooled the belt and Arvis did the color and finish.

Washroad, not that you need to hear one more endangered species story, it sounds like you already know plenty but heres the one they do in our area. I live about ten minutes from the Colorado river in Utah and there are some trashfish in the river the humpback chub, the squawfish, and one other I can't remember, they got them declared endangered so now we grow them in cement ponds just outside of town. It's a big spawning type facility, with several biologists employed there full time, we're not doing anything with the fish, just growing them in cement ponds so we know there's still one left. This has went on for a decade or more. The real kicker we're told is in Washington the state fish and game pays the kids a bounty to jerk them out of the river and dispose of them because they're a trash fish that's destroying their fisherie up there. But just in case they ever dispose of the last one we have some in Utah in the cement pond.

I really admire a fine piece of braidwork, and I think this is two very fine pieces.

I must be good at ignoring the kooks and the things they do, I've never heard of throwing blood on people. You'd think there would be something in the anti- handbook about using real blood.

I've read every post on this topic twice and the worst thing about it all isn't just that we're going to be stuck with McCain/Palin or Obama/whoever that guy is. The worst thing I see is the fact that no one cares for either one enough to even take sides and argue their point. It's the fact that a cross-section of Americans like ourselves all feel screwed no matter how this works out. I expected this topic to really get heated, and it should, except everyone seems to agree on the fact neither choice is a good choice and nothing will help now, I'm not sure if one is better than the other, or if things will get better or worse, but I have concluded this is the saddest state we could be in and it's not just because of our choices for the White House. When the general population is scared of what tomorrow brings, some almost feel guilty raising kids that will have this handed to them because we've worked hard enough they should be given better, our elderly aren't given back nearly what they have earned, and the beleif that money rules all, while it may be true, is the most disapointing of all. I really hope there is some sunshine going to come out of this deal in the future because this isn't the way it was meant to be.

What a choice, the lesser of two evils, HMMMMMM!!!!!! I'm seeing one candidate who already said he doesn't want to choose sides ( shouldn't the president be on our side ? and who's the other side he's talking about ? ) and another that if a nap isn't already the focus of his afternoon it will be before his term is up. ( no disrespect intended to the elderly, just my obversation )

Doug, I'm still stickin' with it's the low spot in that seat, the photos do make it appear to have a round shape but if there were an apparant low point ahead of the cantle the roundness that's appearing would take care of itself. Everyones saddles ride different according to what we beleive and how we do it, no one theory is perfect and the shape one person likes may be terrible to another. One very popular saddler in Idaho (who's retired now so don't guess) built a seat that looked like a barrel to me, I couldn't stand to ride it for an hour, I tried. But his saddles were very sought after for nearly fifty years in that part of the country. The best a guy can do is try to implement the suggestions offered, take what you can use and leave the rest.

Doug, I think we'd need a photo taken at eye level of the ground seat and directly from the side. It sounds like maybe the low spot in the seat either is too far back, (behind the cantle points) , maybe not enough low spot, or no low spot. Post a picture from the side and you'll get plenty of suggestions.

some guys string all the way around the stirrup and they usually don't appear vertical to me, and some drill the stirrup just like you would a tree.

Art, I have rigged a few patches for horses that have scratched an eye and had to be covered up short-term, I've always used the pink-eye patches made for cattle, they're made to be glued on a cow but I've added a brow band on a halter and sewn them to the brow and down the cheek, the ones I've did were only intended to be temporary but you might round up one of those to get a pattern from. I'd think whatever you come up with it might have to breath a little, a tight fitting leather cup might sweat him to death on a warm day. Don't know if that suggestion will help but that's the only experience I have with a one eyed horse.

Where I live there are so many people walking around covered it tattoos and wearing fishing tackle in their face who'd notice a beard. A guy with a neatly trimmed beard is todays equivilent of clean-cut. You'd have to look like Grizzly Adams to even get a second look.

It sounds like water stain, if you're wetting only the area you're bending and leaving the rest dry it's just water stain, dampen the whole thing a little, it doesn't take much. But it will keep the wet area from slowly soaking into the dry and creating a water stain.

Been watching this months challenge and thought I'd add my little bit, I didn't have time to do anything just for the ocassion but I did have a couple of my own things handy that applied, one is the back of my notebook I keep around the shop and the other is one of my everyday belts.

you can also order them directly from Keith in Phoenix but there is a 250.00 minimum order. Be prepared though most of them are designed around specialized sewing equipment and have to be modified before you can sew them on a flatbed machine. Not every insert will zip together like you'd think.

Sorry Pete, I thought you were being serious. And I'm not incinuating the lousy help they have in our town represents all their employees. Just an example

who can work for 8.00 or 9.00 dollars an hour ? McDonalds is paying $10.00 an hour to kids who can't tie their own shoes or complete a single thought here where we live.

Overall I like it, I wish I knew how many saddles you've built, the main thing I noticed besides what's already been mentioned is the cantle binder appears to be square, maybe that's intended but I'd think it will wear quickly with a sharp edge like that. And it's hard to tell but the handstitching on the binder looks like maybe it needs a smaller stitch. More pics would be nice.

We've bought it from Tandy before, it's on the website listed under linings I beleive, hope that helps.

Just curious how this style collar became named a pulling collar, it appears as if someone looked at a work horse collar for the idea except a work collar with a set of hames pulls entirely different from how these will pull on a saddle. I've made a load of them but never seen the usefulness of them, they really just hang around a horses neck to me. Both the collars you originally pictured are proven designs, I've rode a lot of the collar on the left they're good in steep country and have no choking effect, this design has been used on pack saddles forever. It's time served packing heavy loads of dead weight says a lot for it's design. The collar on the right is also a good basic design for a pulling horse. It is pretty well the winner in extreme pulling by the saddle horn, this design in a heavier version and double tugs is widely used by steer trippers, it's doubtful there's a tougher proving ground for a pulling collar than steer tripping. If what's called a pulling collar today had any superiority for it's given name it would be used and the old designs would take a back seat. Until somewhat recently when it was popularized by clinicians it's only appearance I've been able to find was on parade saddles as a silver holder but maybe there's more to it than that. The fact he can't put his head down to get a drink indicates he won't be able to put his nose to the ground up a steep hill without it cutting off his air supply, at the top of a steep Wyoming hillside is a pretty poor place for him to choke down and start to lose conciousness.

A friend of mine is looking for a braider who would like to make bolo tie cords. He's willing to pay top dollar for top-notch work, would be a regular client, not just a one time order. If you're interested please PM me for his contact information.

Oil to the desired color, seal with Tan-Kote, Bag-Kote, or Neat-Lac, antique, then seal again over the antique. That should get you what you want.

You guys are really encouraging.

Noah, I have a splitter like you're looking for and never thought it was that great, due to shop space, prices of good splitting equipment and the time it can take to do it we've found it's simpler and cheaper to buy some leathers already split. Pre-split to exact thickness is available from the tannerys, and many dealers offer splitting services at a pretty reasonable cost per side. I don't know what you're building but before you turn down a job over finding a splitter that may or may not suit I thought buying it already ready may be an option no one had mentioned.