StolpSaddles

I am looking for ypur pictures of draw down stands that you have built on hydalic basis. I have a wodden one now that works but I am planning on building my own similar to the one in the Stolman books. I am looking for ways to have the draw down work and still be able to tilt and rotate. Has anyone used the clamp mount that is shown and how well does it work? I see the flaws in the Weaver stand, the swivel mounts do not look like the will lock up well. I was thinking of the Stolman style and place in lock pins at different angles to help lock in solid. All comments and help would be great, like they say " a picture is worth a thousand words" Show me and I an build it

I sew the centers together, first I hand stich it draw the opening closed, then sew on the leather.

The felt pad is madde with 3/4" heavey felt from Brand felt. It is one piece with a football shaped piece cut out of the middle about 4" wide and 4" short of the back edge The front has a cutout with reinforcing leather across the front. Center is joined with a leather strip. Wear leathers are attached as well as the perimeter is sewn If you are looking to only build one, do not bother as the cost of felt and shipping will cost more than to buy a new pad.

I agree 100% woll pad. I build my own contoured using 3/4" felt from Brand felt. I have made about a dozen and have not had any complaints. They are no problem to custom shape to the persons saddle as well. After riding they take on the shape of the horses back.

I use slip joint pliers with a couple of tabs welded to them. Works great and can be adjusted for any thickness of leather. Might also be called water pump pliers.

I like it. Better than the wine cork I have been useing

You can touch up a ceramic blade with a wet stone. I just got 2 from tandy and needed (as usual) to have a finish to them, Uses 800 then 1000 then 4000 grit japanese water stones now the bevel shines like a mirror.

I covered my 4 x 8 table with a sheet of 1/4" nylon material. now I have a large cutting table

Jim The motor is just a small freebee 110 volt ac motor

I like this idea. Looks a lot more user friendly than the stolman jig i just built. Not to happy with it

Hi Ben I should have added the seat photo, here is one as well as the headstall. There hare a lot of saddle makers out there so I thought that I will be different and do themes for them. Kamloops B.C. has a cowboy festival every year, this year they have an amateur saddle maker competition that I was invited to attend so I think this saddle as well as my wife's saddle will get entered

My wife talked me into building a saddle that was fully tooled. I built one similar to this one but not as much tooling. The saddle is built with herman oak leather on a Bowden 15 1/2 tree. I used Tandy ecoflow antique with no blocking. The seat insert is chap leather with all other black leather as latigo leather to resist impact damage. The conchos are actual 45 lc shells cut down. The seat insert is in the shape of a spade with 2 aces carved into the cantel seat. Now I can say I am sitting on a pair of Aces The problem with a custom saddle you also need custom saddle bags, head stall, reins, riffle scabbard, holsters....oh no it never ends,,,chaps..

Hi Brent Boy you have a good eye, yes the cantle binding is not dyed leather. I use chap leather for the seat and 8 oz latigo leather for all the other black in the stirrup tread, horn wrap cantle binding as well as the trim on the Pommel. The reason I use the latigo leather is that it resists the dents and damage that you always get in these high wear areas, this also means that it will not take your tooling. I took this up as a hobby because I could not get a saddle to fit my horse, so I built myself a saddle. I enjoyed it so much I am starting another one. It will be #14. For me this is a hobby that I hope to build on for a retirement job ( retirement is not sitting back doing nothing, it is just a change ) PS Like you work as well Brent You can see my hobby website at http://www.stolpsaddles.com/

This is my latest project

I have made my own burnishing tool simular to the one above but I use a piece of hard fir on a shaft mounted between 2 bearing blocks from princess auto. with a pully at the end to the motor I can choose the speed with the pully size . I started out wit a square 3x3 and used my setup as a lathe with a wood plane to turn it round, then filed in with a couple of round files 3/8 deep grooves to facilitate the various thicknesses of leather so as to finish the round edge as well. I just recently added a strip of leather to one section as a power strop Cost: Motor free wood free rod and bearings about $20.00

Hi Bob I would love to see pics of your stand. I am thinking of building one myself or order the weaver leather one but I see problems with that design. The draw down strap looks like it will not function in a tilt mode. The saddle can not be attached securely while tilted.... there must be a better system..

Thanks Darc. I think I will look for a new knife. How is the one that weaver leather sells, I think it is there mastercraft knife , not sure I will have to look it up in the catalog.

well I sat down tonight to sharpen my CS Osborne round knife again. I spent 1.5 hrs. on it. I have some good quality water stones from Lee Valley tools. I started with an 800 stone, then onto the 1000 and finally a 4000. Lastly I stropped on a leather with rouge. I figured I finally will have a sharp round knife. WRONG!!! !It still will not even cut a sheet of paper let alone my finger. I wonder if it will stick in the wall as a throwing knife when I throw it. I have had this knife for 3 years and it still is a piece of junk. I have never been able to get it sharp. I have a strait knife that is great, no problem to sharpen and keep sharp. This must be a bad blade. Can I re-temper it? Sure cant make it worse..

I have an Osborn round knife that works great while it is sharp. Problem is that it will not stay sharp. I can not cut out 1 saddle fender without having to strop constantly. Has this knife lost its temper. I am frustrated and ready to throw it out. Can I re-temper it. I find I use my snap blade knife all the time because of this problem. Thanks for any advise.

With all the work to build a good saddle why waste it on a Ralide tree... Oh i guess good is the key word..

Does anyone know who sells a stand for building western saddles besides Weaver leather? I have been using a modified wood stand with a drawdown but it does not tilt unless I lay the stand on its side ..cumbersome and not very efficient... Thank You

I find it easier to use a stitch grover for borders

I just loosen he blade swing it out and tighten one bolt back down, now I can hone it while it is firmly held to the bench,....don't slip and fall as it will behead you... Then stone the bevel and strop smooth, I lightly strop the flat side to remove any burr. Careful of that blade sticking out of your bench like this

I have one and am very happy with it, had it for 2 years now.

How do I get that dark antique finish on tooled leather and still keep the untooled and high areas light. I find that with the antique gel I still get allot of color in the high areas. The eco flow water base highlighter is better but still leaves a lot of color behind