IanCantwell

I like it, wish I could pluck up the courage to have a go a basketweave. Can you tell me what that piece of wood screwed to the stirrup tread is and can anyone tell me if there is a standard way the small strap above the stirrup should finish (pointing in to the horse or out to the bush)?

Nice site and gear but couldn't get any of the links from the horse page to work.

Thanks Mike, That was handy, I was going to check back thro the posts to see if I could find a recommended method of softening up leather, I only put sheen on to see if it would darken I don't normally use it. Is that the Fiebing Aussie Conditioner or ? Ian

Do you have resin? We have a hobbycraft store that sells a resin to make paperweights. To cut down on the quantity mix with a cheap filler, a local concrete ornament manufacturer using fine polystyrene beads in his mix to reduce weight and expensive (double taxed) stone.

Hi Bobocat, Welcome to the forum. That is a brilliant tutorial, thank you for sharing it with us. Your photography is 1st class and the carving is very clean and accurate.

Hi Bea, Welcome to the forum. I sometimes take my horse with his slick fork western saddle to shows and allow young people to have a ride on him, they don't see many western saddles in England. I also have the same problem, they have short legs and it is very difficult to adjust western stirrups quickly and short enough. My solution is to take English stirrup leathers/stirrups and hang them over the horn. Maybe you could remove the western ones and replace with English using the original slots on the tree and not use fenders.

Just to update you an my experiment. I mixed 50ml of malt vinegar with 400ml of water and dropped in a couple of pieces of black iron. I left the iron to rust of a few days until the mixture looked a rusty colour. I took a piece of 15oz russet and an old belt (dyed black) and placed them in the solution for a time. Almost immediately there was a reaction with the new leather, small bubbles appeared and within the first 30 seconds it was evident a colouring was taking place. At 2 minutes the new leather was a dark grey colour and the old belt was black. At 3 minutes I removed both and the new leather was also black. I rinsed both under running water and left them out on the bench to dry, the new leather has lightened slightly to a dark grey. I then gave the new leather a couple of coats of Tandy Super Sheen and polished it up. I'm pleased with the result, it's not as dark as some dyes but it shows the contrast nicely, a bit antique looking. I did a cross section and it appears the reaction has gone about 1/2mm deep so no rubbing off with this method. See what you think. Edit: 2nd photo, belt was dipped up to second hole from right. I also slicked the edge by just dampening VERY slightly and rubbed up with a piece of old denim, it came up great with no need for edge coat. Anyone know if I should've edge coat to seal it?

I'm with Jordan on this one, just make sure you case with WARM water.

I think you'll find the key is sewn into the spine. I've seen a modern equivalent in plastic that uses a springy plastic spine but I guess this one being 40 years old will have a spring steel piece. I guess you could compare to an elongated bicycle clip (that keeps your trousers out of the chain).

Hi Alan, When I did my saddle making course the teacher and I took a hundred or so photos of the various stages and I took notes of the key points. I haven't had chance to type them up, keep them in my 'little black book' but I will do soon. Anyhow, if you want I could burn a copy of the photo CD if you think it would be of use or alternatively I might be able to upload it to my company web site and let you know the page URL. Let me know if I can be of help. By the way, I enjoyed the braiding tutorial but not yet got the nerve or time to have a go, someday. Ian.

Great looking seat, love the fade of the dark dye, did you airbrush?

Very neat and functional, like the braided work, a little different and really like that mean skull. Ian.

Nice one! Like the way you've done the fastening from the bottom up. Ian.

Welcome onboard, Sounds like you're taking a positive approach, I don't think you can go too far wrong learning from a master, I started that way and there was as much to learn about what not to do that what is correct, that sure cuts down on the mistakes. Can't wait to see you show off your work. Ian.

Hi Pat, I too am intriged by this method and might try it on my new saddle that's just started but I'm doing some trials first with scrap. I'll throw an old black dyed belt into the mix and see what happens, I'll let you know the results and the 'formula'. Ian.

Hi Rusty, Welcome to the net. For 'just messing around' that's a cool case, keep up the great work and post us some more. Ian

Welcome Dave, Glad to have you onboard, like the stuff on your site but as a fellow member said pretty slow loading the images even at 7Meg, could put off potential customers.

What a neat idea, lovely piece of work, is that veining on the leaves?

But it never rains in Kamloops! Well at least every time I've been in the Okanagan it's been sunny for 9 months and then too damn cold to ride a horse.

My pleasure, glad I could help, can't wait to see the finished article, rawhide eh!

Quickbooks is so simple and should be great for this and it does help you keep track of hardware etc. I use the program (2001) for my pump business in which I assemble pumps from loads of bought in items and a few that I manufacture from raw material. You'll probably have a way of doing this but just in case this is how I do it. I'd give each individual item you buy a stock part number and also the items you make (or intend to, you just keep on adding to the list). For raw materials (as leather is somewhat evenly priced (swings & roundabouts) I'd use one number. When I purchase items Quickbooks will average the cost price over time so long as you always buy and enter leather by the sq foot or at least convert it before you enter it into Quickbooks, but you can adjust if you need. I go through the usual create purchase order, receive items, receive bill and then Quickbooks will have a record of the stock and it's cost. To track manufacturing costs I set up two new accounts; 1) Other Expense, Name 'Stock Used In Manufacture', 8030 Sub Account of 8010 Other Expense, Tax Line 'Unassigned' 2) Other Income, Name 'Manufactured Stock, 7040 Sub Account of 7030 Tax line 'Unassigned' Say you make some chaps. Open Item List, click 'Activities, click 'Adjust Qty/Value on hand, for the adjustment account use your 'Stock Used' account. Run through your stock items reducing the quantity by the required amount i.e. -6 nickel conchos, -22 (sq ft of leather if you choose to buy and cost by sq ft), -1 buckle etc. Make a note of the cost price in the bottom corner, save and open new. Change the adjustment account to your 'Manf Stock' account then tick the value adjustment box. Add the number of chaps you've just made and enter the value you noted down, save and close. Quickbooks now knows you've used all those bits you bought and that you've 'x' pairs of chaps in stock at an average price of 'y'. If you go to 'Chaps' in you item list and double click it you'll have all the info available, don't worry about the purchase price of manf items as you'll not be creating a purchase order for those anyway. Hope this is clear and I'm not teaching you something you already know. PM me if you want.

You're not wrong. I'm lucky enough to be an hour from their factory and all the leading wholesalers over here carry their range, it is wonderful stuff to work with. Guess you'll be paying a premium over there with the shipping and the dollar rate. We've had it bad for years getting western stuff shipped here. Can't wait to see what you come up with, bet you'll be able to use every sq. inch.

I've not seen a Fiebings in dark grey only light grey but you could try someone who does leather furniture, there are quite a few DIY kits available to repair furniture but you might find because of H&S law they are water-based. I've mixed lots of colours in the past and not had a reaction so it might be as you say you've tried a water/spirit mix.

Thanks. Dyed it myself. Usually use Fieblings but didn't have any black so bought a small bottle of spirit shoe dye from the local cobblers. Experimenting at the minute with 'vinegaroon' to see how it works with smooth, tooled and carved leather for my next project.

Thought I'd have a bash at carving and decided on a holster. Used an F.O. Baird pattern, struggled with the cartridge belt part and might have to rework as the sewing isn't holding the shells tight enough, might try the loops through a slot method. Isn't it difficult to take clear photos of leather stained black? Your critique please.