Denise

Try Darin Alexander at artcords. http://artcords.com/ He's been making cinches for a long time and is very interested in how they function. He knows about the widths of the old style and a lot of history about them too. Worth the time to talk with him.

Longview Leather has just bought out Caledon Sales, which was an excellent leather supply company in Calgary. We'll how to see how that goes but here is there website: http://longviewleather.com/ '

That makers mark looks to be an elephant and I have read about that mark here before. Maybe check out Jumbo and saddles and see what you find?

I'm quite sure production saddles are clickered out, but even if they weren't I still don't think that pieces of leather stapled to the tree with an air gun by a series of production line workers compares to a saddle made by a single craftsman... Different techniques, different price level, different markets. But I guess marketing is marketing... (Note: I'm not saying all "hand made" saddles are necessarily better than all production ones. I've seen some pretty rough "hand made" saddles. But overall, there is no comparison.)

A major saddle production company recently ran ads in a major magazine promoting their "hands made" (plural) saddles, with a picture of one of the 46 workers whose hands made their saddles... Production line stuff, obviously, but since it can't pop out the end of a machine as a finished product, they felt they could advertise it as "hands made". I guess they felt comfortable calling them that... I don't think there are any regulations or standards in North America as to what you can or should call your work. Your own standards (and integrity) are what are important and what will eventually come through to your customers.

Interesting that Harry Adams says mules require a flatter bar angle and Steeles say they need a steeper angle. Shows how much mules (an opinions about them) can vary... The only thing that seems to be relatively consistent is that most mules need less rock than most horses, but how much less can vary quite a bit. Bar length would also vary depending on the size of the mule.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend, Joe.

It is not online. They are looking for items to auction or even just donations. They now have a facebook page about it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/393013794153718/ I will PM you more information about who to contact.

Anne, you have done a really nice job on that saddle, especially for a first one. Enjoy riding it!

Jinxed, what I think you are needing is the right shape in the groundseat to fit you. You can ride hard seats all day if they fit you, and padded seats still hurt if they are not shaped to fit the rider. Check out "ground seat" in the search function here and see what you come up with. I know there were some discussions on it a few years ago. You can also search for fitting males versus females. (It makes a difference..) Building a good groundseat to fit the rider is one of the discussions saddle makers constantly have, so you know there are many opinions on it...

This is looking really nice. I am very impressed with your work, especially for a first saddle.

Thanks, Clyde!

Actually, a true Wade saddle has a wood post horn, so that isn't replacable. (Just being technically correct here... ) But you can by aluminum horns made to look like Wade horns. Boise Foundry has some: http://www.boisefoundry.com/saddlecatalog.htm The webpage is really messed up, but if you keep scrolling down you will eventually get to their catalog and on page 8 they have a "Wade horn".

Very nice work. My question is where did you get the tree (inside frame) for it. Can you post pictures of the tree before you covered it?

You're very welcome.

The built in ground seat would make the tree by itself less flexible. Whether the saddle would be less flexible than a finished saddle with a properly built ground seat is very questionable (though the links above discuss how difficult it is to build a groundseat in these without affecting the amount of rock in the bars.). You say you want a ranch saddle. Are you thinking of roping on it at all? When you see how much you can make the tree bend with just some pressure on fork and cantle, imagine what will happen when a cow hits the end of the rope, especially pulling forward. Even a really good horse will only tolerate that a few times before he starts objecting to being roped off...

What you probably have is a Steele flex tree: http://www.steelesaddletreellc.com/STL.html They also have a "Fit To Be Seen" system of blue shapes they send out to people to try on horses to see which of their bar shapes and styles will fit best: http://www.steelesaddletreellc.com/FTTH3.html They have letter designations for the different types. There isn't an AQL on their website, but I bet if you contact them they will be able to tell you if it is theirs and, if so, what the fit designation is. There have been some threads on here about flexible bar trees and buidling on them. They have their issues. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=4947 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=34686&hl=+rubber%20+bars#entry216278 We also did a post on our blog about a flex tree we duplicated, making a solid tree instead because it was soring the horse. Maybe in looking at the pictures you can see if yours is made the same. Ours had GT on it, for their LT or gaited horse shape. http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/index.php/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/checking-out-a-flex-tree/

Yay you, Johanna!! I'm sure this took way too much of your time the last few days. Thanks for all you do around here. Is there anything those of us who have seen this need to do on our end to clear our computers or was it all on the Google side of things?

Thanks Johanna. Interesting that it happened not from this site but in getting to this site from Google. Weird. (But I say that a lot when I talk about computers...)

This just happened to me as well. I was clicking from a Google search onto a thread on LW and got redirected. Had to shut down IE (eventually it let me) to get away from there. So it is still happening.

No Tim Tams??? How will you survive????

It is sure coming along nicely Anne. Good work.

Wokka, Welcome to the forum! The chocolate cake with sprinkles are OK, but stay away from the doughnuts. Something about a dog licking all the icing off first...

Thanks for the information here. I was wondering how the show went. Maybe some day we can make it down there.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1576 Here is a pinned topic on the different books available and people's opinions on them. (I won't spoil it by an unwanted preview...)