kseidel

Steve, Would you post how Harwood lays out his parts on a hide? Keith

Tim, Tough question to answer. You have to do what makes enough money to survive first. As finances allow, schedule time to make what you want. It is hard to be true to an ideal when you have to make a living. Your customers can and will dictate the direction that your business will take, and to some degree you have to do what sells. I think my best advice would be to remember to make a profit. Sometimes little stuff can be more profitable than saddles. For me, belts became much more profitable than anything else. And the added buckle sales made them too good to quit. There became a point where I had to decide if I wiuld be a belt maker and give up on saddles. I had doubled the belt prices to slow down the orders and make more time for saddles, but the orders increased! I was able to hire some help to make the belts so that I could get back to the saddle orders, but the profit was not there. So I had to raise the prices of the saddles to be in line with the belts for profit. Since the prices were higher, I felt that I should make them better, and so spent a bit more time on them (making them better, but reducing profit again). Then the orders increased for saddles. Eventually there were too many orders to fill for the hours available. That led to hiring more help. As the quality increased, the availability of qualified help decreased. Leaving me to work double shifts to keep up with the orders and still run the ever increasing retail store. At some point you don't have a life outside of your store and when you have a day off you are too tired to enjoy it. But you can afford a better lifestyle. Your retail store can subsidize your shop and allow you to work on developing new skills without having to charge for the actual time spent. You will have to weigh the profit against your personal development and find a balance that you can afford. You can make a lot of money on repairs and can usually hire someone to do them for you. I recomend it. They will certainly make their pay and soon make you profit. But they free you to do things that they cannot, allowing you time to make "bigger" things. Try to make things that you want to have in your store. People buy what they see. If they only see little stuff, you will be overrun with orders on little stuff. If you stock other items that you want to make, you will get orders for them. Listen to what your customers want, but don't let them control your store. I hope this helps to answer your question, and I wish you great success! Keith

need more info.... what kind of splitter, what kind of leather, for what project are you making lace. Keith

Troy, Is the top piece one piece without any separation at either end? I have been toying with making one all one piece but have been a bit uncertain as to shaping and getting the back skirt high enough. How did you form the first fitting? Also what did you do in the hand hole? Keith

John Bianchi has produced a new strap cutter that has the blade in the handle and the edge of the strap off to the side. Can be used right or left handed. Pretty inexpensive. Same principle as the plough gauge only pulling instead of pushing. I still prefer the plough gauge for heavier leather and wider straps like stirrup leathers. Keith

Tim, Great job. That is a lot of swell for one piece no welts. I'm sure this was a great experience for you to try those new techniques. Glad our input was helpful to you. Congrats on a job well done. Keith

Marcel regular dye works well for edges. You must slick the edges and let them dry before applying the dye. Any color you like. You can seal the dye on the edges by burnishing with parifin. Keith

Biggest drawback in my experience is the painful pinching of the rider's leg between the fender and the edge of the slot. I have not found a way to eliminate this without an unsightly large slot for the fender. Keith

You all are too kind. I'm feeling a bit embarased and I don't know quite how to respond. Thank you for the complements! Keith

No one has addressed your "squishy" question. It sounds like your leather is too wet. Basket stamping requires the leather to be mostly dry. Most people stamp too wet. You can cut your borders in wetter, but you must let the leather dry out a great deal to get a good crisp impression. Stamping slowly complicates this problem because you may have to re-wet your leather before you finish stamping. I like to use a pump sprayer and with high presure I can spray a fine mist to just keep the surface at the right temper. Don't re-wet too soon! Try stamping until the tool bounces on the surface, then it is too dry. You may be surprised how dry the leather will be and still take a good impression. Keith

Thanks Ken, I am constantly amazed at the amount of money out there and with the volume of people who will spend that much on an item. The gap between the wealthy and the rest of us is gigantic. I am glad a few of them have found me. Keith I have seen a few of his saddles, not many. I think they must have been well loved as most that I have seen were used up. The silver dollar saddle is incredible. Are you any relation to J.S. Collins of Collins and Morrison saddlery? You may use images of the belt as long as you include credits. Keith Dave, The silver and gold is current Bohlin production. I am the largest Bohlin dealer and have a great relationship with them. The co. has been sold many times since Ed Bohlin's death in 1980, and I have done custom work for most of the owners. I am currently the only licensed leather craftsman to use the Bohlin stamp on new and re-made Bohlin goods. Mr Bohlin was an incredible designer as well as ingenious mfgr. His designs have stood the tests of time, and his products are the most valuable to western collectors. I have tremendous respect for him. Keith

Leatheroo, I usually spend 40 - 50 hours on a plain saddle, however I hardly ever make a plain one. Most are full tooled and take anywhere from 200 -300 working hours. Some of the collector saddles can take a great deal longer. Some saddles I do all of the work on myself, and others I will have help. I have one saddlemaker working for me now but have had as many as six at once in the past. If a saddle is a "group" project, one man will build the saddle and another will do the tooling. The man with me now is very talented and he and I can both work on a saddle seamlessly. We try not to do the assembly line thing, but sometimes deadlines require we all work together. My oldest daughter is eighteen and is now working in the shop. She is becoming one of my most valued workers. Sometimes I dread starting a new saddle knowing how long it will take to complete.

Bob, I can only tell you my experience, and I have a retail store in a prime location, so what works for me is somewhat relative to my situation as a retailer. It is easier to get wealthy clients when your business is more visible. And I think one gets more credibility as a professional with an established storefront. Not many of the wealthy will find you at your home or at the ranch. The website adds to the package, but is only another tool in the marketing program. It gets a lot of attention, but not as many sales as I would like. We are in the process of renovating and updating it and hopefully by the first of June will have a new look and generate more sales. Thanks for the complements on the site. Check back once in a while as it is changing daily with new pix and text and eventually a new overall look. We also publish a catalog that we can send on request. The catalog seems to be the clincher in mail order sales. But the most of our sales are made in person in the store. My prices increased because of demand greater than the ability to produce in a timely manner. Raising the prices was supposed to slow down the orders. The opposite happened. It seems that the higher we raise the prices, the more people want the goods. The higher prices also made it possible to spend more time making the products which improved the quality even further, and drove the demand higher and subsequently the prices higher yet. I am sure there are more willing to spend less, but how many can you handle? As a custom saddlemaker, I think we should be priced high enough to be above competing for the same customers that buy the discount saddles. Those of us who have highly developed skills should make a much better saddle and charge accordingly for it. It does take a lot more time to make a lot better saddle. Ford, Dodge, and GM, do not discount their trucks and we all find a way to buy what we want and need. Those horsemen who require the better quality that our premium saddles provide will pay what they cost. The factory saddle will not withstand the workload, any more than a light duty truck. You are right that many cannot see the difference in the quality of the saddles at different prices. But they will always buy the better one if it isn't much more. If it is a lot more, they will buy the cheaper saddle, and when it fails, have to buy the more expensive one. As long as there are good saddles available for less money, they will not have to spend more, thus perpetuating the cycle of discounting prices to get customers. And all of us working hard for minimal wages. I'm sure that there will always be "discount" saddlemakers. I would like to see the gap in pricing be greater. I think it is better to build a better saddle than your competitor, not to under price him. You can't buy the good stuff at Wal-Mart or Big R. I hope this is a challenge to everyone and with inflation rising, it is a great opportunity to raise prices significantly. I wish you all a better lifestyle! Keith

Tell us more about the show. I am not familiar with it. Nice buckle! great "prize!" Keith

Randy, My base price is for a saddle complete and ready to ride. No tooling, No silver. Your choice of rigging, padded or hard seat, rawhide bindings (if you have to have it and I can't talk you aout of it), strings, wrapped and twisted stirrup fenders, covered laminated stirrups or monels, latigos and cinch of your choice, rear cinch and billets also your choice, Handbuilt tree, Premium materials, 1" extra dense bark tanned woolskin, horn wraps, rope straps, pretty much any thing you want. In addition, I warrant my trees and riggings for the life of the saddle. Stirrup leathers for 10 years. My list of extra charges is short. Tooing, lining (two ply skirting, smooth leather on both sides), recessed seat into swell, dyed background, and braided edges. I got tired of enticing orders with a low base price, adding all the extras that most customers wanted, only to be too expensive and trimming the order to what they could afford. This way I qualify my customer, and they won't have any surprises. I feel that if you are a trained, qualified and experienced saddlemaker, that you should be able to make a comperable wage to to other skilled tradesmen. Most better factory made assembly line saddles retail $2500 - $3000 starting price. Better made handbuilt saddles should cost significantly more. I hear all the time that cowboys can't and won't pay more. To that I say not as long as someone will make it for less. When we agree to sell for less money, we contribute to keeping this industry underpaid. We will not see young people coming into this trade and working hard to develop the finer skills if they cannot earn a decent wage. Help starving saddlemakers by raising "your" prices. (guess I got on the soap box there too) Keith

My Base price is $6500. I don't add extra for different riggings or padded seats or other construction changes. A full flower stamp job is andextra $7500. Artwork or "collector" saddles add $2000 with a minimum of $10,000 for tooling. Current backlog is five years, and I am turning away orders. Keith

Greg, What is the foam that you use for your padded seats? I am getting low on stock and am in need of a new supplier. The Co. I used has gone out of business and I can't find the same material that I got from them. It sounds a lot like what you described. Keith

Ryan Cope, Very nice saddle! Congratulations on winning the show. Your saddle has great overall appeal and a very professional apearance! I hope to meet you some day. My compliments. Keith Seidel

Pete, I drew specific patterns for the silversmith. The findings on the backs are 16 gauge folded wire. The fold is soldered to the silver like a split rivet only stronger and can be clinched tighter to the leather. Also not specific to leather thickness. I use a lot of silver from these guys and it really helps when both I and my silversmith understands what I want. The eight plait round edge braid is outlined in Bruce Grant's braiding books. It is similar to a spanish round braid and can be done with one string or several. With two colors, you can get the candy cane effect that I did on this belt or you can get a checkerboard. It is very time consuming!

Thanks All, It is nice to have customers that allow you to make things like this. ABN: He will wear this belt. I have made him several over $10,000 and he wears them all! Keith

I recently finished this belt for a customer. At the request of David and Johanna I am posting pics. Specs are as follows: This belt was made to match the buckle. The buckle and all of the conchos on the belt are made by the Edward H. Bohlin Co. Buckle is sterling and overlaid in 3 color 14k gold. Initials are paved in diamonds. Cost $7200.00. There are 8 acorn conchos on the belt, caps are green 14k gold and the nuts are rose 14k. Cost $800.00 each for a total of $6400.00. The spines for the oak leaves are white gold and cost $500. The belt is 1.5" wide x size 38. It is hand tooled and dyed a custom chestnut color, with a mahogany dyed background. The edge is 8 plait round braided with two colors of hand cut and beveled kangaroo lace. About 40 yards of lace and over 24 hours of labor in braiding alone. Total cost of this belt and buckle combo was $16,400 Keith

Troy, It is great to get to interact with people that we only get to see every coulpe of years. Keith

A couple of thoughts on this subject............ Which is getting deeper into "philosophy of saddlemaking" First, How would you gauge the position of a rigging on a finished saddle if the position is based on the shape of the bars? Second, If the tree fits the horse with uniform contact over the entire surface, then there is no "lowest" point of the bar as it relates to the horse. This lowest point is only relative to the tree profile as it is seen with a flat surface under it. Therefore, in theory, the rigging could be hung as far forward as the front of the bar without tipping the front down and the back up. It is only when the bar flares away from the horses back that the tree can tip forward. The position of the horn and swell probably should be placed relative to how the bar shape is desiged to sit on the horse, and usually is. But that is another topic to discuss in the tree forum. The most important thing to remember here is that it is important to know how your tree will sit on the horse and where you want the cinch to hang relative to the horses action. Keith

For exposed stitches on the back, I use one size larger stitch pricking wheel on the back as on the front, starting in the center. I use a tickler to crease a channel for the stitches rather than cutting out the grain with a groover. I find it easier to avoid pulling the thread through the leather when pulling the stitches tight. Keith

Barra, that method of finding rigging position is inconsistent from tree to tree. I have tried to find methods that work every time on any tree for any saddlemaker. With the tree sitting level as it would on a horses back, (not flat on a bench) I use a verticle line from the center of the base of the horn for the full position. I never want to be forward of this position, and sometimes this can be too far forward for a good functioning rigging. Nevertheless, it is the farthest forward weight bearing point on the top of the tree. I then make a verticle line at the frontmost points of the cantle. This being about the farthest back that bears weight where the rider sits. Halfway between these two lines is centerfire position. Halfway between centerfire and full is 3/4. Halfway between 3/4 and full is 7/8'ths. It is the most consistent way that I have found to place riggings given any set of variables. Keith