ChrisMajoue

Beautiful! capsterdog - I have read the same thing, Ann hand sewed most of the saddles for Al. Amazing

I agree with zuludog. Also, another thing I do if this starts happening, and I was to keep things tight and/or thicker thread, is to get my needles through, and before tightening, pull them back and forth a bit to make sure any of the little extras are taken care of...sort of "burnishing" the inside of the holes. I don't have to do that often, but it seems to take care of it.

Yes, the stirrup cutouts forward a slight bit. What's your favorite pad? I was just thinking this morning that I may get another pad. And, what's the general lifespan of a pad. I seem to get 2 years or less out of them. I've also used this Prof Choice one too: http://profchoice.com/i-8128925-professionals-choice-roper-elite-pad.html Thanks! Chris

The first image looks like a Whip Stitch to me.

I think you will LOVE your McCall archer. My father-in-law just got one and he LOVES it. So do a few other cowboy friends. They swear by them. For everyone else, not to bash, but I'd stay away from Billy Cook. It's not the same company it was years ago. My first saddle was Billy Cook. The saddle felt great to me. After 1.5 years of new pads, changing a bunch of stuff around, and in general a lot of frustration, it continued to cause multiple sores (white spots, swelling, and non-sweat spots) on my horse at the time. It caused the same things on my wife's horse, and my next horse as well. So, called to deal with them, they were not nice, told me I didn't know how to use a saddle and wrote me off. So much for their "100% satisfaction guarantee". Luckily, the saddle shop I bought it from returned some of my money, took it to a saddle class, they tore it apart and found a few defects in it. Moral of the story, I will NOT ever look at a Billy Cook saddle again. Just my .02. After returning my Billy Cook, I got a Saddle Barn saddle. It's alright (no problems on either horse or me), but it's tiding me over until I can build my own.

Thor, I haven't made a saddle pad, and actually just thought of doing so the other day. I currently use the Full Monty: https://www.cavallo-inc.com/product/full-monty-western-saddle-pad/ I also agree with BondoBob from the thought that if the saddle fits correctly, not much need for anything fancy with a pad. But, that's to say your saddle fits the bunch of horses you ride perfectly. If you have your saddle to go on 10 horses, you need a good pad or pads to "help" with the other horses. I prefer the contour (so there's no bunching of material). My wife had a non-contoured pad for a while and there'd always be wrinkles (none that we could tell affected her horse). But, why cause that problem. My horse prefers the closed-cell foam bottom. I bought a wool bottom one and he kept biting back at my legs like when the mosquito season is here. Switched out to the closed-cell, and poof, happy as could be. So, my choice in pad is limited. Another reason I use this pad is because the entire thing isn't 1" thick. I have had prior experiences with the latigos and leg leathers coming down over about the same point and causing pressure points. Having the thickness grade of this pad has alleviated some of the stacking thickness around the side. I think that the only thing I'd change on this pad would be to have the cutouts moved about 2-3 inches forward. Enjoy and good luck!

Smirak, You may want to look into the Tandy beginner kits. I bought this one when I started: http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/department/beginning-leather-kits/55502-00.aspx It should link to the Deluxe kit, $80. It comes with some stamps, mallet, dyes, finish, etc., and a half dozen projects (belt, wallet, cell phone case, etc) and basically has little bits of everything to get all of those projects done. Yes, it's basic, but it gets you going in the right direction, for an very reasonable cost. I would recommend that to anyone getting into leather work. Plus, $80 is way under your $200 budget. Chris

ok, now that's pretty darn cool. I have not thought about throwing a piece of leather through my printer, but that came out nice!

From your 2 thoughts above, just for smoothing and burnishing, I'd choose the benchtop grinder. I bought a drill press prior to my stitching machine and it was awesome to get the holes drilled evenly for hand stitching thick leather (too tough to use an awl for me). I couldn't see a nice, easy way for me to use it to smooth and burnish due to the vertical angle. I'd prefer the horizontal for smoothing and burnishing. Just my .02.

Awesome! I love the board/bag design. I'm sure the same would go for chess pieces as well. Nicely done!