TroyWest

If you send it to me, I'll see if I can sharpen it for you. Everyone thinks you can't sharpen a ceramic blade, but I,ve sharpened them after dropping mine on a concrete floor. I've never sharpened a ruby blade, but I believe I can. I engrave silver and use diamond impregnated wheels to sharpen my engraving bits. These wheels cut the ceramic just fine and I think would do the same to a ruby. Send me a PM and I'll give you my address. Pete, you could have modified your Henley to take a ceramic blade and kept that great knife.

Great looking belts Bob. I especially like the first one. I love the flower and that's a great flower center. Really nice.

I always use a glass slicker before I tool. I dont typically pull it toward me, but rather push it away from me. I do it all over the surface to work out some stretch and smooth the surface of what I will tool, whether its a saddle or anything else. I made several of these over the years out of plexiglass but finally bought one from Barry King and I really like it. Its heavy glass with wood on the holding side. You hold the wooden part and push the rounded glass edge against the surface of the leather. I use mine daily. Here's some brief cases I made and tooled with a lot of smooth leather showing. Glassing smooths the surface and just gives it a handsome effect for a professional appearance.

Bob, very nice piece, original and creative inside and out. A guy has to do a few of those to get it right. You done good. Troy

Great site Barry.

I used to talk with Don King frequently. He told me he used nylon. I use poly. Nylon has a lot of stretch. Poly does not. Poly used to be more UV resistant although I think they may have improved this property in nylon.

Hello Alan, Welcome to the forum and thank you for the compliment, Troy

I havent had to replace any of mine that were glued with rubber cement. I was actually taught to use wheat paste. Iwas also taught to use wheat paste to glue in ground seats, horn wraps and swell covers. I dont use it at all anymore.

I glue my plugs on with all purpose, then glue my woolskins with rubber cement, all over, for the same reasons as you. Easier to remove the woolskin years down the road if glued with rubber cement. If they are glued with all purpose and need to be replaced, you just tear up the woolskin when removing and it takes forever.

Thanks Billy P. I got a real kick out of your response.

Really nice Bob.

John, Thank you very much for asking Bobocat this question and sharing it with us. I really like his method and philosophy. Thanks again for sharing Troy West

I'm very sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. I have little doubt that your fathers love for you was very great. It is evident in his kindness toward you. I have little doubt that your love for him was also very great. It is evident in your thoughts toward him at this time. We pray that abundant grace and peace be yours at this time.

I would like for you to ask Bobocat how he laid out the decorative cut design he posted the other day. Did he create a pattern that he flipped to make the mirror image? He did it with excellence. My compliments.

Yes, you are correct. I have used and experimented with both of these products. I have applied the resist, let it dry, then applied oil to see if it would penetrate. It takes a while, but it does go through. Thats on a new finish. Point being, over time those guys are gonna want a wash-oil and I want to be able to wash and oil and have the oil do some good. This guy is a roper and he ropes big time. It is not a display only saddle. A finish that I've found that doesnt go away is resolene. It is an acrylic finish that oil will not penetrate and it stays on the leather for years. I certainly wouldn't antique a rough or smooth-out, and I dont typically antique a basket stamp, which are generally going to be working rigs. But if I'm gonna spend the time to full flower carve a saddle like this I'm going to antique it unless the customer doesn't want it. I have found in a few years you cant tell it was ever antiqued and it simply looks the same color as any other saddle that was carved and not antiqued. I know of no detrimental aspects, longterm, of using an antique finish. I did build a full flower carved saddle one time for a guy and antiqued it and when he came to pick it up he said, I can't ride that saddle, Its too flashy to ride with the guys I ride with. Can you sell it and just make me a basket stamp just like this one? I sold it and built him another one.

Thank you so much Doug. I really love my job and feel very fortunate to cut hides with a simple knife like they did 100 yrs. ago. But I do like air conditioning, down here in Texas. I think you would like an O.Y. Thanks again, Troy

Art, I appreciate your kind words very much.

Mike, the bar grounder he sent you is the exact size that I used on this saddle. I use bar grounders on everything. You do need a couple bigger and one smaller of that size to have a nice set to tool with. He sent me that set and asked me to tool a small panel for him. I think you'll like them after you get used to using them. Thank you Elwood

Thank you Bob, I'm surprised you could tell from the photos they were double beveled. It is a pain in the patooty but I just dont think they look good anymore without it. I love a skirt rig too and the hardware we have for 'em now is really stout too. I really appreciate your comments. Troy

Keith,I've already shipped it but maybe these pictures will suffice. I fit the seat with the leather still in the inlay part, and let it dry, then marked the inlay section so that it would come to exactly the base of where my binder would be. Then I cut that line only with a swivel knife so that when I tooled the seat jockeys I would have more than just that narrow piece at the handhold to hold the seat together as I tooled both seat jockeys. Then I put it back in exactly the same holes and let it dry. Then I cut out the inlay section. Fit the foam to the hole, etc. just like an inlay. I did put a fairly heavy piece of skirting under that foam from the base of the cantle up over the roll for 2 reasons. 1- to create a firm and secure Cheyenne roll, and 2- because I needed this seat to have a finished seat size of 14 1/2" so it would take out a little seat length.I did put a brass escrutcheon nail in the seat at the base of the cantle. It does give me confidence that the seat is firmly planted, but I'm not sure I really like the way it looks. At least you can see what I'm talking about from this photo. Does that answer all your questions? You know when we do stuff like this, there is no instruction manual. We just have to figure out a way that works for us as we go and hope it looks good when we're through. J.W., I really appreciate it.Troy

Shelly, Thank you again for your very kind words. The gullet on this one is 7 1/4" high and Jon's trees are beautiful enough to hang on the wall for decoration.

Thank you Mike. Sorry, but these are Ellis Barnes bar grounders. Maybe this picture wll show up better. If not, I may need the help of a kid. I can't tell even from this photo, but they are bar grounders.

Ashley, Thank you. I do rig quite a few this way. I built a saddle for a calf roper 2 yrs ago , skirt rig front d- rig rear. He told me a year later he will never go back to a conventional d-rig. Howard Council told me he builds a lot of calf ropers with a skirt rig if they will let him.

Keith, Thank you for your comments. I'll have to think on those borders around the conchos. It's certainly more trouble to put them on there. I have seen guys put borders around their rig rivets and I really don't like that. For anyone who reads this those rivets are domed brass rivets from Weavers. They are tough to snip off but they shine up purdy. There is no rope strap. This guy is a team roper and he didn't even want a rig carrier on the offside. I wrap the horn if they want me to, usually latigo wrap on a roper. Thanks again Keith. Troy

Shelly, Thats one of those 10 million dollar questions. You know we all do things differently. Al Stohlman tooled his on the bench, Chuck Stormes told me he tools everything on the bench, seat dish, binders, horn tops, etc. I've tooled so many on the saddle I don't even mind doing it anymore. The only thing I can say is you want a pretty firm roll, which we custom folks tend to do that anyway. I've never put anything, block etc. under mine. Just try one and see if you like it. I mark and cut my borders, sketch my pattern, cut it, then put my drawdown strap on to hold it tight to tool.