TroyWest

Real nice saddle Darcy. Excellent work.

Resolene is an acrylic finish that oil will not penetrate, so personally, I don't like it. But it will do what you want. It is made by Fiebings as a leather finish. It looks like milk but it dries clear and shiny.<br><br>Oil will penetrate Neat-Lac, but it takes a few hours.<br>

I believe that much of what we do on western saddles is done done for aesthetics and/or tradition. Aesthetics simply means the study of beauty, and there is nothing wrong with tradition, if it is a good tradition. A saddle doesn't have to have woolskins. It doesn't even have to have a skirt. You could cut out a set of rigs with a pocket knife. Hang them on a tree , add stirrup leathers and ride a horse, rope, barrel race, whatever. You don't have to have a swell cover, housings, horn cover, not even a seat, certainly doesn't need tooling. Without all of these things it just doesn't look very western. I don't think there is a set of rules that says it has to be a certain way, but if it's not that way, it won't look like a cowboy saddle. These things simply developed over time and became acceptable in a western culture. Saddles from the Orient look nothing like our western saddles. But we like the look of our western saddles much better. I have seen western saddles lined with woolskin, felt, foam covered with chap leather, and synthetic wool. A top end saddle will , for the most part be covered with a real woolskin. Somewhere in the past some maker lined his skirts with a real woolskin. He probably had it readily available, and it looked good, worked well and liked it. Others followed suit. It is now a very well accepted method of lining saddle skirts. I don't know if anyone could really say it started at a specific point in time as they have been saddling animals since the book of Genesis. Somebody, somewhere, threw a woolskin across his mounts back. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm guessing they didn't start sewing them on until the invention of the sewing machine, although Al Stohlman did sew his all by hand. I have built a saddle where the customer requested that I sew his woolskin on by hand. That's my $.02. Troy West

Very nice saddle Steve.

You are welcome sir. Troy

Hey Pete, A lot depends on the shape of the swell. I don't know what you have. An A-fork is the easiest. I'm assuming it's not. If it is something like a roper, a Bowman, or an O.Y. here's what I do. First I mark my borders with a compass and cut them. Mark around the horn, the base of the swell, the hand hold etc. You generally can't tool in front of the horn so there will be a blank space in front of the horn about as wide as the top of the horn. If I am basket stamping a roper I usually use a basket stamp with an angled leg. These are the most merciful. I start at the top of the swell, close to the horn and stamp a straight line down the middle of the swell to the bottom. I have done so many I don't mark a line or anything I can just stamp a straight line. I even find it easier without a mark. If you need one you can use a flexible ruler or a straight piece of leather that will contour with the swell. As I stamp this initial Line I space them wider apart than I normally would. You will just have to learn how much over time. I stamp one single line on both sides of the swell starting and stopping in the same places. Now you can let the saddle face you and stamp from your initial stamp line back to the border on the back of the swell. The reason for spacing the first line wider is because the curve of the swell as you go back will force the stamps closer together. It takes a little practice to make it sharp but you can basket stamp a roper swell as pretty as a picture. Then you would stamp the front side of course. Everything else "can" be tooled on the bench. Horn tops, binders, seat dish, can, if properly fit and marked be tooled on the bench. I generally tool my horn tops on. I basket stamp binders on the bench. I flower carve them "on". You can't basket stamp the binders on, there is just too much bounce in a cheyenne roll to get a good impression. You can flower carve them on the bench and do a nice job. You just may get a little stretch here and there which may throw your borders a little off. A lot of guys will carve a saddle with a closed border everywhere on the saddle and leave an open border on the back of the roll to conceal any discrepancies. Anyway, hope that helps. Best of luck Pete, Troy

I'm guessing its glass covered. Nice clean work Andy. Congratulations, Troy

Hi Pete, Wickett and Craig skirting leather tools great. Takes water well, cuts well. It is an excellent leather to carve. Should be much better than Tandy .The fact that it's thicker shouldn't be a problem. You say it is wax/oil impregnated? That's not typical russet skirting. I do tool my swells on whether floral or geometric. You do not want to tool the skirts after the saddle is assembled. You really couldn't do it anyway. Too difficult to get flat on a rock and the woolskin would be too mushy under the skirt. They must be tooled on the bench. W&C skirting should be a pleasure to work with. He may be getting something other than russet skirting. Try to find out what he actually orders. Troy

I really don't have the answer We tried some oil stain many years ago but never liked the outcome, too streaky. That doesn't mean it can't be perfected. My thoughts were to buff til you were satisfied and color the same as the top grain. Dont know how perfect the match will be as RO often doesn't color exactly the same as top grain. I guess that is the original problem. I havent seen anything that wont come back out unless it was something like vinegaroon. Of course you dont want black but you can make brown by using baking soda and water. It makes more of an antique color brown and still may not match the color your shooting for.

I don't ever use drum dyed leather so I can't really answer the question. What I do know is when you order buffed leather they usually use the sides that have the roughest top grain with scars and scratches because it is a good way to sell those hides, since you ordered it buffed they assume you are going to use it all roughout. They are not concerned too much with the other side. Years ago I went to a tannery. They had a large belt sander and a man would hold a side of leather up to it and literally buff the flesh side. After that I never ordered buffed leather again. You can use a small hand sander and buff the pieces you want, seat and 2 fenders pretty quickly and get a very nice nap, as nice as you want anyway by using whatever grit sandpaper suits you best. Just a small vibrating sander, not a belt sander. I havent done it in a while as I'm pretty content with the flesh side just as it comes from the tannery. My suggestion is if you have a small sander to do a little test on what you have and see how it affects the flesh side. If you dont have one they are pretty cheap. You can buff a fender in a couple of minutes. It does make a lot of little fuzzies though.

Ed, what type of colors or dyes do you actually use to produce those colors?

I think both Bob's covered it well. I like the maul as the weight and balance allow me to simply twist my wrist while beveling and backgrounding and have enough force to make a suitable impression. The mallet seems to require a little more effort. That being said as Bob stated it largely becomes what you grow used to and if you like it use it. A number of years ago a company asked me to go to Mexico as a consultant to help their saddle company improve the quality of their saddles. One of the things we did was take a number of nice new tooling mauls with poly heads. We gave them to each of the toolers. They were using 2"x2" oak sticks about 12" long for their stamping sticks. They called the tooling room the telegraph office 'cause when you went by there you could really hear the tap-tap-tap of the wood against their stamps. All 4 sides of these wooden sticks would be well worn with deep indentations on both ends until it was so worn they would toss it in the corner. There was a huge pile of these worn sticks in the corner. We thought they would be very happy with their new Hi-tech mauls. They used them for a few days, tossed 'em in the corner and went back to their oak sticks.

Tyrel, Your doing a very nice job.

Nice job Andy. Really like the swell.

Real nice Andy. Great color. I see you put no screw under the swell. Customer request? Back dee overlayed with silver and engraved? Nice job. Troy

Doug, John Mincer makes some real nice conchos cast out of white bronze that are handsome and affordably priced. www.mincersilversmiths.com

Nice job Bruce. Star looks great, name looks great. Pretty handsome deal.

Herb Bork in Pendleton or Boise Foundry. Boise foundry has a web site.<br><br><br>On that swell it will be easier if you get a horn with a base with 4 prongs rather than a solid base<br>

I completely agree with everything Darcy said. I even thought the same things I just didn't want to write a book or overwhelm you with too much information. Still, if you can apply those things it will greatly enhance your work.

Ross, An English point would be fine. You could also square off the tip of that billet and that would look good also. Look at Chuck Stormes web site. That is how he cuts all his billet ends. You can't tell from these photos that everything is flaring out. When you block in your skirts and they are still damp, bend them into a nice curve like the curve of the horses barrel. If you dont it will dry sraight out, flared too much. Then you plug them, making them stiffer and nothing can go down any farther than the shape of the skirts will allow. In other words, if you put a saddle on a horses back and the skirts stick up in the air at the back corners, they are flared out too much. They should have been bent down when they were damp in the blocking and forming stage. You are doing many things well. You have a pretty good eye to be doing what you are doing and it looks like you used a nice tree as well. Getting honest and constructive criticism is a good way to improve. I probably would not have commented had you not repeatedly asked for it. The problem with a critique is we tend to, even have to point out the negatives in order to eliminate them in the future. I just want you to know you are doing many things in a good and positive way. I also think you have a great attitude to learn. Troy

Ross, Continueing in the critique mode. I think the overall appearance of your saddle is nice. Nice flowing curves all over until you get to the front seat jockey, under the latigo holder you have a sharp angle at the front jockey corner. It should be a nice radius there also. Set your compass at 2 or 2 1/2" and make that a nice round curve in the future. I also find the sharp pointed back billit a bit of a distraction. It's too nice of a saddle to have that. There is a lot of work in that saddle and you are making a good hand. I hope that helps. Troy

I dont know if John built that saddle or not. He is about to teach a leather carving class with Carey Blanchard in Feb. in Little Rock, Arkansas. I dont have his contact info but Carey should. Carey Blanchard P.O. box 632117 Nacogdoches, Tx. 75963 (936) 569-9480 mooeyb4@yahoo.com Careys nickname is Mooey. Years ago he rode bulls and they would stop and buy beer but Carey would always get milk. They started calling him Mooey Milk Bucket and it stuck. Now he's just Mooey. He tooled the cover on the current issue of Leather Crafters Journal. John and Carey both are excellent toolers. Maybe you can track John down.

I agree with JW. Classic Steve Brewer saddle. I don't see a Blevins sleeve. Did you use Kreger Buckles?

I think your wife was right about leaving the center open and the lettering looks great.

As soon as I posted I see that Ross put up his pics. The original Ready flow pens had a metal screw on lid and aluminum pens. His look like they may be plastic which should hold up better.