Denise

Chris and Shaney Cheney now own Harwood Hardware (originally started by Dale Harwood) and their hardware is all US made. Here's their link: http://www.cheneycustom.com/harwood%20hardware.htm

Here is a link to help you post pictures. If I can do it, anyone can! Pictures sure help this kind of question too. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15122

Knut, I was at a seminar a couple years ago where Mark Howes said that you could rasp the regular Laporte trees (not the carbon fibre ones) to shape them as you want. He said he wanted saddle makers to be part of the fitting process so he encouraged this. I don't know about power tool use, if the heat would change things but rasping is OK. Sorry, I can't tell you about drilling but I am sure others who have used the trees can.

So, does he have a tree "studio" too? That's what I want to see next!!

Clay, my condolences to you and his family. I know he was a good friend and mentor to you, and he will be missed.

I won't post pictures of the paltry 6" or so we have now, but here are a few from last March. The first is Rod in front of the shop. The other two I took when we went out to burn a brush pile back of our house. It had been burning a while and you can see the hole in the snow it made as it burned and melted the snow. And you can see how well snowshoes work. The last one you can see what happened when he took the snowshoes off... Some years we get a lot. Some years not much.

I know he is still making cards. I don't know the wait. I sent off an e-mail showing him this thread. Hopefully he will pop in here. If you want, PM me and I can give you the e-mail address I have for him and see if it works or not for you.

Helmut, Is there anyone at your guild or through your closest Tandy that knows someone who would appreciate your tools? Sometimes it is knowing someone who knows someone who knows someone that finds the right home for things. I'm sure you would be happier knowing where they were going and knowing they were being used by someone who appreciated them. Keep looking! It will be worth it!

Here are a couple other threads that may have information that will help you. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2674&hl=twist+leathers http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16452

There is a wealth of information in the Saddles and Tack section on this forum. Here is a topic that is pinned in the Saddle Supplies, Trees and Tools section. It directs you to a few good topics with lists of tools you will want: http://leatherworker...showtopic=25822 In the Saddle Trade Resources section is this pinned topic on the DVDs which are available with comments from makers on how useful they find them: http://leatherworker...?showtopic=7974 Here's one to the books available, with comments from makers: http://leatherworker...?showtopic=1576 That should give you a bit of a start.

Northmount, Thank you for saying much better than I did. By the way, it is the transaction fee that has gone up from $5 to $8.50 on our last two shipments. Still a whole lot better than courier brokerage fees!

McJeep, The only fees I am aware of are the customs charge for checking out the item (recently gone up from $5 to $8.50 - nice 70% raise in pay all at one step!) plus the appropriate GST. I know sometimes I get things without those charges but I always count on them. I have never been charged anything other than that, but then we don't order in a lot from the US. What do they call the other charges, do you know?

As a Canadian, I can say PLEASE ship via the post office in some manner. George is right in saying all the courier companies DO charge extra - often $25 to $30 extra - as a "brokerage fee" on this end. No such fees through the post office. If people are not aware of this it is a very nasty surprise when they receive their item.

Bob, There is the resources forum here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showforum=20 There are lots of topics on different books as well as DVDs, leather sites, etc. I don't think it is exactly what you are thinking of, but is it close?

If the skirts are flat on the bottom, then the shaping the tree maker does to fit the shape of the horse is negated until the leather softens up enough from use to "block" itself, at least partially. From the tree maker's side of things, we put a lot of effort into rounding the edges of the bars and putting relief on the bar tips so that the pressure from the saddle to the horse is relieved gradually from full contact to no pressure. (Sharp edges are a bad thing!) Properly blocked skirts will make that transition of pressure even more gradual, which is a good thing. But a totally flat surface will mean the skirts will put pressure past where the tree was meant to and lift the tree off the horse in places, decreasing surface area on the horse. There are other ways that can cause problems. Especially at the front bar tip, you want your skirts to follow the curve of the bars so there are no "walls" of leather for the shoulder blade to run into. Instead you have a rounded surface for the shoulder blade to slip under. You will see some good makers even rounding the sheepskin enough that it faces forward and tacking it on to the front of the gullet to keep that round shape. And by blocking at the back of the bars, the skirts will come off the horse rather than possibly rubbing the loin area. The padded English panel system works very differently than a Western saddle with a tree that distributes the weight and not enough people recognize the functional difference between how the two styles of saddles work on a horse. At least, these are my thoughts... worth what you paid for them.

Glad to see you back, madsaddler!

She'll still fit the saddle. She just needs longer stirrups!

Mark, I checked Madsaddler's profile and he hasn't been on LW since September. So I doubt he will see your interest in his items for sale. But, you never know!

Meem There is a size limit on the pictures that can be uploaded to the forum. If you compress them down so they are smaller and then follow the tutorial posted here they can be added right into this thread. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15122

Nice work indeed. Always good to get those pictures before they take it out of the shop, throw it in the back of the pickup and drive off down the gravel road... I have heard that Keith Gertch isn't building trees any more. Is this an older tree or is my information wrong? Thanks.

Jeff, It sounds like you and Kathy have a great marriage and a lot of fun working together. I know Rod and I do! Thanks for telling us about Kathy. She sounds like a really neat lady!

Herb Bork at Bork Saddlery Hardware - http://borksaddleryhardware.com/contact-us.html The phone number is here. I don't believe they have e-mail but take their orders by phone. Boise Foundry http://www.boisefoundry.com/ These both make bronze horns.

Ray, this is my favorite combination for shoveling snow - plastic shovel and a good husband to operate it. Works great out here!

But Jeff, you say "we". Who really was the other part of the we???

I keep the active content link in my favorites and click on it directly that way. Works for me!