j20

A buddy of mine found this champion, now we want to get it set up and operational. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

For hand stitching the yokes what should my stitch spacing be and should I use a stitch grover? Saddle stitch or single stitch?

I was using a waxed nylon. I did end my stitch up top where it wouldn't be in a high wear area.

I'm almost embarrassed to ask this question, key word almost. I hand stitched on shearling to skirts the other night and was thinking I really have no idea what knots I should be using here, which is part of why this question is almost embarrassing to ask I kinda pride myself on my knot tying ability from being around horses the majority of my life and when I wasn't I was in the service I've learned many knots over the years and have forgot very few. I started my stitch by going through the first hole then going through the second to make a loop did this twice pulled tight tied a square knot with a half hitch on each side ran the dead end of that over so it pulled it up into the stitch on the underside as I stitched for about three inches. To tie to my needle i tried a surgeons knot had it pull out about a quarter way through then tried a palmer had it pull out and then tied a bowline it never pulled out but was a pain to pull through the holes. Finally got to the end tied two half hitches through where i started then back stitched a little ways and tied two more. Thinking about it that seems weak. What are appropriate knots for these situations? Also had my diamond awl pull out of the handle on the next to last hole but thats another story/question for later.

Those look good. Nice work.

I found one from Klenda saddlery Im using was just wondering about laying the yoke pattern over a strip verses laying it on the hide.

For the yokes how wide of a strip do most of you start with? I thought i would cut a strip out and then trace out the pattern and do the finer cutting. Best way to do this or no?

I wish panhandle had pictures of the chap leather so you can see the exact color other than a description of the color. Does anyone else have good chap leather or will panhandle email me a picture of the color?

Big Sioux I would like to see a picture of your dove wings. Also on the yokes what section of leather should that come from? What about the legs straps what kinda leather for those?

Looking to make a set of chinks and pair of dove wing spur straps. I see panhandle has chap leather which I would assume would be what I need for the chinks but what about the leather for the top or belt portion of the chinks? Also what leather would be best for the dove wings. Are there patterns on here somewhere for both chinks and the dove wings? Having a pattern for the first set would make me feel way better about tackling this.

Well this has turned into quite the learning experience. I greatly appreciate all the insight you guys have provided. I know some people that buy stuff for western decoration for restaurants and bars think this might be right up their alley.

Well upon further inspection this morning it has to be hollow fiberglass. I'm re fleecing re doing the rigging and sending it down the road. That's ok though I gained a good bit of knowledge and am better prepared moving forward. My harry Adams book should be here soon and I have some leather and tools on the way that can now be better utilized for future repairs.

I'm not sure I got a little worried when I got it stripped down and saw that tree. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I will probably still at least re line it the maybe just clean it up and sell it. Don't won't to put all the new leather on that I originally planned though. Would a fiberglass covered tree look like that?

Ok I'm sure it's on here somewhere but can't find it. Is it possible to upload pictures directly from my phone?

So after tearing into this saddle I'm very glad I never tried riding in it. The rigging is hanging by a thread so now thats going to get replaced as well. Its currently d ring rigged but ever since I traded my other saddle off for this one a few weeks ago I've been riding in an old big horn of mine thats in skirt rigged and forgot how nice it rode and fit. I dont think I'm ready to tackle a in skirt project but think I can handle flat plate rigging it. What are some of your thoughts on that? Switching from d to flat plate?

I think I have a good grasp of what I need leather and tool wise now. Which brings me to tread I'm leaning towards the nylon thread from panhandle at the moment mainly because thats where my leather is coming from, but what are some suggestions on that?

All I'm finding on tandys website is craftool brand any good? I have a speedy stitcher I got from there a while back with a few different needles, do these have their place or are they low end or just not used by those of you that do this on a more professional level.

Not necessarily looking for brand suggestions I'm going with king or osborne. Im more looking for exactly what awls I need size wise.

Im looking at awls and there are so many, you say pointed and diamond and even with it narrowed down to that I'm still finding quite a few to chose from. Which ones best suite what I'm doing? I will be doing no tooling. I think I'm going with the osborne head knife for now.

Where are some good places to purchase tools from and if you were just going to have a few basic tools what would they be? I have tried some tools such as punches and rivet setters from tandy both were junk and I have since replaced them with tools from Springfield leather those seem to be pretty good so far.

I was actually looking at downloading stohlmans vol. 1 from leathercraft library. I may do that this weekend. I have not been able to find a makers mark anywhere on this saddle.

What are some different methods out there for blocking and then holding in place to dry? I still have not found anything on plugging so don't know what that is yet.

That's actually what I'm trying to read up on now, how to properly block haven't heard of plugging till now. As of now I don't have a good grasp of it but I'll get there. This whole thing is a learning experience but I think I will greatly benefit from it in the long run. I did notice panhandle has 13/15 skirting bellies. Where would these come in handy? Wouldn't the belly have a lot of stretch to it? Their sides are very reasonably priced so that's looking good now. This project is ever changing but I want quality that's why I keep asking questions to you guys who have been there done that. I do work from saddle though not daily when I am saddled up I can't afford to be tied off and have a saddle failure.

I do already have some pre cut stirrup leathers from Colorado saddlery leftover from a previous project that I ended up not needing them on, so that sounds like a pretty good idea. I guess I was just thinking thick equals good and should have done some more reading first.