Hennessy

i'll take a stab at responding eh ! blued saddle tacks were first used by noah on constructing th ark. they come in various lengths and have been used in th saddle trade for eons esp in th english field where nail length is important because of tree wood thickness.blued metal has a corrosive effect on leather over a long time,any metal does unless stainless or coated.they seem to have been passed over in modern western saddle construction for glue n coated nails. various nail lengths can be overcome with a good set of nippers .ring shank nails hold in wood really good ,th better th wood th better th bite.make sure its where u want it cause gettin one oot can be a b''',a good head on a nail is a must also,i have used copper washers under nail heads before eh .i've been using a 11/4 length coverd nail zinc coated n cut shorter if need'd,hope that helps.

heres something for all to try on a scrap piece of saddle leather.lacquer [dunno bout acry;ic] leather let dry then dye [oil dye] let dry buff [no residue] then lac or acrylic finish.does great and is th only way i'll black dye anything eh !

when in me home country n working with various saddle n harness folk,as a lad.the rule was horse first,nothing that pricks ,scratches,lumps or bumps goes against th horse, but away from th animal allways !

this sounds weird , but it was past on to me,i was skeptical,it works great. black oil dye [probably all colors] before dye put on a sealer,he used laquer,havent tried acrylic sealer ! after dryin apply black let dry then buff,very little comes off best way to oil dye with no residue problems

an old german saddlemaker back in australia showed me his strop makin.he found a metal shop n got a cup of fine metal grindings from under th bench grinder oil'd down a glued piece of chap on 2x4,applied th shavings n worked back n forth with a flat knife a lil oil a lil strop'n over n over until he had a good coating.on other side a ruff out piece of chap to clean strop works great too.

here's what ah'd do.i have a vise in my shop and some 2in pipe i use to roll equip aboot with .i'd get th pipe set it hard grip in vise lay or temporary glue a piece of skirt lea on pipe,punch outside in punchin into glued lea on pipe ,probably do th same with a 2 x 4 easy as pie^ !

bruce,kinda looks volcanic to me possibly a new zealand maker.or mebe he's from a monastry n he thinks aboot money all th time eh!

when i was a lad in sydney nsw australia i worked awhile in an ol' prestigous saddle shop there named davidson n smith.one of their top hands twere a cherman immigrant.now when i got around any discussions on steel quality ,craftmanship etc #1 was german steel #2 british #american.anyhoo everyone claimed this chap could edge a knife.i'd just bought my first round knife[dixon] n everyone said take it to klaus .he was gracious to show me on dinner break how to hone that knife,angle is everything.now its razor sharp and he passed on his knowledge n exp.dont stone unless absolutely necessary,strop frequently every so often if its all day every time your knife drags.the strop he told me to make i'll pass on here,i've always used a wood bed slat[ 2 x 1/2] to which i glued chap lea ruff up on both sides.he told me go to a metal shop n under th bench grinder scoop up a large cup of fine metal shavings.now get some thick oil heavy motor oil or heavier.smear oil down one side then sprinkle shavings over that get a knife [flat blade] strop shavings in,repeat over n over until surface becomes more or less pasted flip strop over n final strop blade on clean ruff lea,be careful that blade is bound to be sharp! i've stoned my dixon over th years but stropped it thousands it is still th same size n shape as when i first got it,that ol 'cherman ' knew his stuff .

i wished i'd a read something like this back in 79 when i bought mine n struggled n battled at the inch thick work i did. its a horse waitin to be a nasty bronc. u got it wiz,very in depth knowledge thanks for sharing

thanks for sharing your poetry favorites with me bruce, i'm fixin to expand me knowledge today,i love the ol aussie poems of yesteryear you can read australias formative future in their scratchin. 'the give m a fair go ' philosophy etc etc shines thru again thanks peter john

howdy bruce, i too am a poetry nut, all types too, although i do have me favorites.as a lad in a christian bros school in australia i had to verbatim recite 'the man from snowy river' a "banjo patterson poem. banjo patterson and henry lawson are my fav aussie poets,bob schild "cowboy poet" from blackfoot idaho me fav yank eh !i reckon i'll track down songs of horses on webb sounds like a neat book. mebe th author of th poem wrote these too.'the moving finger writes,n having writ moves on. neither time nor tide nor golden tongue'd orator can lure it back to erase even a word of it ' lol .i read this on the side of a railway boxcar in nz in 67 and have never forgot it lol adios peter john "

ferg i didn't craft these words but how appropriate are they! look back on our struggle for freedom.trace our present days strength to its source.you'll find that mans pathway to glory, is strewn with the bones of the horse "lest we forget"

yer aboot right eh !

g'day, cath ,if you'll post down on th machinery forums you'll get a wealth of good help even from th cobra man himself,i see th maple leaf .you must b a transplant in oz ah am in texas too maam. good luck that big cobra will take you places adios n hoo roo

had to get some new mud grips will make some ostrich hand grips full quill of course

thank you jb ,dink and bruce for your kind words, riggings were my niche,compliments my reward,i never tired of making them,time was never an issue,quality came first! the golden rules of business ah'd guess eh! god bless peter john

if by name your meaning me,i'm honour'd to be remember'd! lol. there 's a lot to makin a rig,years of refineing and modifying as the sport evolves,to the point now it needs to go back and revolve useing the 60-70's rig body or part thereof to make it more adaptable to fit various horses in a more comfortable way.the rig bodies of today are way too stout and hard.[my opinion] they have killed off the bb riders with arm jerking stout bodies, gloves that lock in the bb'r so he cant possibly get his hand snatched ! he ends up tearing around the arena 3 times before he can get off,if he's already off he's really in a storm!.if you go back to a softer body you'll need a machine that can comfortably sew 3 thick 14oz pieces of skirting,if you want to emulate the pr94 or later versions you'll have to sew 4 layers of 14oz skirting.that requires a special machine modifaction union lock was my machine and i modified it myself to sew 1 inch and that was hard and frustrating work .there was things that i did to my bodies to accomodate horse back varieties [shape] i feel i was successful there because horses bucked and my customers won,comfort thru shape and give! 12 world champions later the others [competition] copied my' roo' and all came out with their harder versions,kill'd me off and then the bb riders too,not forgetting th "bull riders" ! pbr has drawn a ton of daredevils to their field of action eh.the handle is a concieved shape [huh]well its usually made 2-3 layers sew'd, shaped ,i clamped mine on a body form, some build it on the body that will accomodate the handle.wait 2 weeks and laminate 1 piece of raw[hnl] onto shaped handle. wait a week lam' the next on , do it this way untill you've reached thickness desired.there u go.i sold my business and agreed not to teach anyone how to build riggings so i cant say much more! my 2 cents worth is in all liklelihood you'll be lucky to break even in this field of endeavour. if your a bb'r and your wanting to build your rig version then good luck peter john

HOWDY JOHANNA,I HAVE SENT YOU A MSSG, BUT AGAIN I'D LIKE TO HAVE ONE OF TH DVD ALSO I'VE ROBBED ME RATHOLE N HAVE TH MONEY SEND ME YOUR COSTA ETC N I'LL MAIL BACK A CK. THANKS PETE

grizz, your first coat in black , background only, clay said it all.i'm guessing its acrylic all th way.acrylic n oil based dyes dont overlap[they clash] your finish lacquer may also clash with acrylic,ive heard of people clear acrylic finish then lac over that overkill i think