TrooperChuck

Buckskin1: I don't own any of the saddlemaking videos that others have recommended, but I do own the Stohlman saddlemaking books. Just like BondoBob, I use those books everytime I make a saddle. (Only six so far, but hopefully many more to come!) I found those books to be handy even when I am making a saddle totally unlike the Stohlman styles. Money was pretty tight when I started learning saddlemaking (heck, it's STILL tight!) and after making my first saddle I REALLY wanted to make another one. To help me out, the old cowboy who taught me gave me a junker saddle that had been laying around in his shop forever. He told me, "Here, strip this saddle down, study how it was made, then remake it." I stripped off the nasty cracked and crumbling leather and found the tree and its rawhide cover were still in good shape. I used the old parts to make patterns, bought a couple sides of skirting leather, and made a "new" saddle. When it was done I sold that saddle and made about $100 more than the cost of the materials. (I made sure to explain to the buyer that the saddle was made with a previously used tree.) A $100 profit may not seem like much, but it was only my 2nd saddle and I was thrilled that someone liked it enough to buy it. Good luck to you! Chuck

I found that a plastic 35mm film canister and a length of scrap leather works well for backing up awl stabbings. Take a 2" strip of leather, roll it up and slide it in the canister. I don't remember how long the strip was, so you may have to experiment to get the roll to fit the canister nice and snug. By the way, I am a huge fan of Will Ghourmley. I recently used his Cattleman Holster patterns to make a couple holsters for Cowboy Action Shooting, and the pictures on his website inspired me to make a half-seat SamStagg rigged saddle. Once I get my hands on a digital camera I'll post some pics of the saddle.

Marlon, thanks for posting that picture! Seeing the different sized awl holes was a real eye-opener! I enjoy hand stitching and have done okay with Tandy-quality awls, but now I'm thinking I need to get myself a Peter Main awl, or modify one of my existing awls. I learn so much from this forum, and its FREE!!!! Wow!

You folks surely have revealled something to me that I've always wondered about... Why would any intelligent person live in one of those huge cities? Now, I have a little bit of an understanding. Thanks for that. Personally, though, I'll stay here in northeast Washington. I get more visits from bears, mountian lions, deer and elk than I do from people. The little village where I get my mail is so small that our post office is a room in someone's house. And, it's quiet... So quiet that on a winter night, when I stand outside and marvel at the beauty of the stars sometimes the only thing I can hear is my own breathing. The great thing about this forum is that there are people from all over the world. Just by visiting this site we benefit from the wisdom, knowledge, and experience of many others. I like that.

Like others have already mentioned, I only put a groove in thicker leather. I used to groove everything, but one day I noticed that it's hard to groove a smooth line in thin leathers and the groove was cutting away half the thickness of the leather! I like Badger's tip of using a creaser. I'm going to try that. Rawhide's comments about sewing thicker leather and watching for the exit of the awl, then adjusting until it comes out where it is supposed to, is exactly what I do. When I first started, my stitches were all over the place. After a lot of practice, I can now put the holes pretty much where I want them, but I still occasionally go off track and have to re-stab it. The funny thing about leather work is that lots of it looks really simple, and in theory IS simple, but even the simplest tasks still come with a learning curve.

Welcome to our obsession, Dynamik1! I started out much like you, buying everything from the Tandy Leather Factory in Spokane, Washington. About 90% of the tools I have are from Tandy. But, the other 10% are what made me realize there's better stuff out there. I think the best thing about Tandy is that they offer an avenue for new people to enter the leathercrafting world. And that's not a bad thing. Even though I've only been leathercrafting for about 5 years, I have seen a noticable decline in the quality of Tandy's tools. Especially the stamping tools. The last few tools I've bought must be made out of some super-cheap metal because they are mushrooming really fast. I have some older Tandy tools that were given to me, which I use quite often, and they aren't showing any signs of mushrooming at all. But the new ones... I think they're going into the "I-don't-use-that-tool-anymore" box real soon. Another item I bought from Tandy and was TERRIBLY disappointed with was their Craftool Draw Guage (#3084-00). What a piece of junk! The blade that comes with the tool is too flimsy. When cutting heavier leather it bends to one side and it's pretty much impossible to get an even cut. The threaded part that holds the blade must be made of pot-metal because within about a month of using it, I stripped out the threads and now the tool is useless. If you are handy at woodworking, or have a friend who is good with wood, make yourself a stitching pony. I made my first one out of 1x4 pine, a door hinge, and a spring clamp. Later, I made myself a much bigger one, and I think the cost of materials was still way less than what Tandy asks for theirs. Its good to see you aren't wanting to buy a sewing machine just yet. I own one, and have access to two others, and I almost never use them. I like sewing by hand. I guess if I had tons of jobs to do and limited time to do them in, I might try to get better with my machine. But, since this is just a hobby for me, I'm quite content with hand sewing. Besides, when I put on some music and sit down at my sewing bench, it's very relaxing. Good luck to you, and happy stitching! Chuck

I got a show schedule from LCSJ about a month ago and it looks like there's going to be some great stuff going on there at Wickenberg. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go. I'm hoping to go to the Sheridan show. I've never been to any kind of leather show, so I'm really excited about trying to get to one.

Traveller: Thanks for the pic. Beautiful horse! My advice is the same as Oldtimer's... remove those laces on the rear of the skirts. Your horse is rounding out and moving in new ways. When his back encounters that solid rear portion of the saddle it's rubbing him hard. Unlacing the skirts will allow them to flex a bit as your horse moves. good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

That's a great line! Made me laugh. Thanks.

Thanks, Timbo... for some reason, Old West sticks in my mind. Dang it.

Being fairly new to saddlemaking, I've been using Bowden trees. But, last September I was in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and visted Old West Saddlery. The owner, Bob Beecher, spent about 4 hours with me, showing me his work, talking about measuring horses for saddle fit, and discussing techniques and materials. He showed me a Timberline tree, the first I'd seen from someone other than Bowden. What a difference! It was obvious the Timberline tree is the superior product. I'm still using Bowden trees, because they're in my current price range, but I'm looking forward to "upgrading" soon. By the way, (at the risk of sounding like a commercial advertiser...) if you're ever in southern Colorado go to Old West Saddlery. It is one of the best saddle shops I've ever been in!

I've never seen the "wrap the needle" technique. I can't wait to try it out. Thanks for posting that, Celticleather.

Julia: Regardless of which rigging you chose, I hope you'll post a picture of your saddle when it's done. I love those old time saddles. As for center fire rigs, probably the most used center fire saddles in history were the army's McClellan saddles. I had a Model 1928 McClellan for a long time, and I loved it. Although many folks will tell you they are terribly uncomfortable, I found mine to be the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden. No exceptions. I must be built different from other people, because that saddle was AWESOME! One of the things I learned with that saddle was that I needed a thin saddle pad. A thick pad would cause that saddle to slide all over the place, but a thin one kept it in place. Of course, as others have already mentioned, the saddle only worked on horses with a narrow build. I eventually sold that saddle because of that. I didn't want to damage my horses' backs and I believe my horse's comfort is more important than mine. Some day I'm going to build myself a McClellan saddle with a tree that will fit modern horses. But, first, I'm making a half-seat Santa Fe style saddle and I'm really looking forward to riding it.

I think I need to take okiwen's advice, and lighten up. The more I think about it, the more I'm believing that pic was probably just meant to be humorous. Yeah, I know there MIGHT be some folks who will think those are great saddle bags, but those people are always going to be around, and they'll do what they want regardless of what others think. I spent 22 years as a state trooper in Alaska, so sometimes I can get a bit crazy about safety issues. It was an occupational habit that kept me alive, but it's also easy to get on my high horse about it, too. So, Hidemechanic, thanks for sharing the pic, even if it raised a ruckus! Heck, sometimes a good ruckus is actually kind of fun.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the info. Chuck

I'm building a half-seat oldtimer style saddle with Sam Stagg rigging and square skirts. The question I have is about plugging the skirts. Were saddle skirts from the 1860's and 1870's blocked and plugged? It seems to me that I read or heard somewhere that plugging the skirts didn't come along until later. But, as my wife constantly reminds me, I've been hearing strange things for years!

Thanks! I'll check it out.

I'm just brainstorming here, and I won't be surprised if this idea proves to be impractical, but here's my idea... I do lots of repair work on saddles. When I get a saddle that looks "older" I often try do a bit of research for the owner so I can tell them something about who made it. Would it be possible to start a thread in this forum where we can post information about old saddlemakers? This might help people like me, who like to learn something about the guys who built saddles before us. Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about how forums are operated, so I don't know if my idea is easily done or not.

I have a copy of "Leather Secrets" and I use it often for pattern ideas and inspiration. It was given to me by the wife of the old cowboy who taught me saddlemaking. At the time, I greatly appreciated the gift but didn't realize just how special it was. Now, after reading these posts, I'm super-impressed with the the generosity of the folks who gave me the book.

When I first started leatherworking my little fingers would get really sore and cut from tightening the thread. I tried taping them a couple times, but I didn't like it, so I just tried to ignore the pain, and kept stitching (and wincing). This discussion has made me realize that it's probably been over a year since I last experienced any pain from stitching. It's true, eventually your skin will toughen up. I'm kind of surprised that I never even noticed it until reading these posts.

Thanks Kevin and Bree. I'll check those things and hope for the best.

I agree with Grumpyguy... the generic-one-size-fits-all type saddle bags have never worked well for me. When I make a set of saddlebags I like to make them for a specific saddle. That way, the center connecting piece fits the curve of the saddle's cantle, and I can cut holes exactly where the rear saddle strings are located. I can also place the leading edge straps in the best position for attaching to the rear cinch rings (or a small d-ring, if the saddle is equipped for that). When you make saddle bags for a specific saddle, they stay in place. I've bought several patterns and books on saddlebags from Tandy, and modify them to fit which ever saddle the bags will be used on. The trend nowadays seems to be for HUGE saddle bags. I don't like these because it's easy to put tons of stuff in them, which then gets hung on top of a horse's kidneys. Then, you add to that a rolled up jacket, or bedroll, and you've now put lots of weight in a sensitive spot on your horse. In my opinion, 10"x10"x3" is about right.

I recently bought a Singer 29K60 patch machine from an old saddlemaker, with the idea of using it for smaller projects. It seems to work well, except that the stitch length seems to be really small. I have it set for 5 spi, but it produces about 9 spi. Anyone got any ideas?

Timbo, thanks for posting this subject. And Hidemechanic, thanks for posting your thoughts and pics. I'm about to start a Santa Fe-type saddle, so this subject was really interesting.

Good luck with that mochila. I hope you post a pic of it when it's done. I've always liked the looks of those saddles.