BondoBobCustomSaddles

I can't say that I am the best at it ..yet! , but; like you guys I like to see the tooling on the swells deep and prominent, without being stretched to hell and gone. So what I do is case, form, fit and glue the cover in place. Then I do the tooling. I have a tree stand similar to "Old George" in the Stohlman books, except that I have modified mine to use a trailer ball and pipe clamp, so that I can place your tree in almost any position desired, so it makes it a lot easier to position the area that you are tooling on, and get it done . Here are a couple of pics of how it looks when I am done. I am sure others have other ways of doing it, but; this is what works for me. Bob

Nice Job Joel! It's always nice to see old stuff redone and used. Bob

Very nicely done, Tim. I am sure whoever it was made for will be pleased!. Bob

After looking at the pics, I have to say that , I guess most Bob's think alike. It appears to me that Bob's comments are spot on. Bob

Thanks Tom. Yes I was lucky to make contact with Ann. When I first called her, I was really surprised to find out that I was able to get her phone no. from the information line for Cash Creek British Columbia! I called and she answered, the conversation went something like this, " (Ann) Hello, Hi, is this Ann Stohlman? (Ann) Yes, the Ann Stohlman that makes saddles? (Ann) Yes it is. Hi Ann, I appologize if I am bothering you, but; you don't know me, my name is Bob Buono, and I am from Manchester Michigan. I bought your saddle making books, and in the middle of making a saddle for my daughter, and I have a question about rolled rope edges. I know I am a little old to be starting out making saddles, but; well I just thought that I would like to do this so here I am in the middle of it with questions. (Ann) Well, bless your heart doing this for your daughter! How old are you? I am 51. (Ann) Why you're just a youngster!!! We both had a good laugh and went on to correspond for the couple of years before her passing, mostly by me calling her with questions, and she was always gratious and informative. I received help from her and never forgot that she was so nice and friendly to me. I guess that is why I feel, if I can I like to keep "playing it forward". As I am writing this, I am smiling, and wishing that I had gotten out there to meet here in person at the King museum when they opened up the Al Stohlman exhibit before she passed, Any way, she was a great lady, and she is missed. Bob

Harrington, thanks. Actually I did the final fit and let the binding dry fully. Then I took it off and cut the scallops. Then glued and stitched it back on. I like to let the binding come to a complete dry, so that when I hand stitch the binding I don't pull the stitches though the wet leather when pulling them tight. As for the skirt lines, for years I have used a Boss, however; I finally got a new CB4500 and this is the first one I've done with it, still getting used to the "gas pedal" ! The machine is great, user, not so much!!! Yet! LOL Bob

Thanks Aurelie! I'll see if I can answer your questions. 1) The D's are large, however; they were what the customer wanted. They seem to work nicely on this saddle and with this mule. 2) This saddle like most of the saddles I build, has a Bowden tree in it. David Bowden makes all my trees himself. The bars are not specifically just "mule" bars. These folks had a really hard time trying to find an off the shelf saddle with , what was advertised as mule bars, to fit this mule. Since I have made several custom saddles for them in the past for horses they had problems fitting they came to me for another one. What I do, and I believe most custom saddlemakers do, is send templates of the animal's back to the tree maker and let him know what it is that they are building. In a lot of cases, they use the Lane system to show the maker what the animal configured like, and let the tree maker make the saddle to fit. Personally I don't use the Lane system. I take 4 templates from front to back, a) at the top of the whithers, at the lowest point of the animal's back, c) 6" inches back from that , and d) 6" inches farther back from that. I then make a template of the animal from front to back along the spinal column. I put the cross sections onto it at the respective places they were taken and send that to my maker. I have yet (in the last 15 or so years ) had one that didn't fit perfectly when it came back. I also take a couple of pictures of the animal, both profile and from the rear to show the maker visually what he is dealing with. It must be said, that there are lots of makers out there, Rod and Denise, Jon Whatsabaug, and others that will be able to make you a good fitting tree with those templates. I started out shopping around, many years ago, and eventually settled on Bowden, and for the money, ( a major consideration in the market for which I service) they have not let me down. To give you an idea of what the cost of this saddle was it was $3300. If I used some of the others it would have been $300 to $400 more and would have priced me out of the market. 3) This saddle is actually set between full and 7/8's rigging. When I set the tree in the place where it should be on the mule, this is where the cinch wanted to be. Who am I to argue with a cinch? 4)First, it was stained with Fieblings saddle tan pro oil die. twice. Then once dry, I went back with several coats of pure neatsfoot oil, and finally, worked in a couple coats of saddle soap. Normally I would have also used Tan Coat, but; the customer was addamate that she wanted that dull leather look. 5)In this case, I punched a hole in the back cantle leather, after ci formed it to the cantle, and used it for the center of all the stamping. Then, I put a screw though into the concho, if you do it that way be sure to use a liberal amount of red lock-tite on the threads so that it won't come loose later. Hope that covers it for you. Bob

Thanks for the comment H. I started out by just reading books, but; as I got into it, there was more that I wanted to know, so I got hold of Ann Stohlman, and corresponded with her about the things I still had questions and she sort of mentored me before she passed away. Great Lady. Bob

Thanks for the kind comments from all. Shooter, the answer is that I have my trees made custom for me. When I take an order, I make a template of of the animals' back, and send it to my tree maker with the specifications that the owner wants, such as cantle height, horn type and size, style of tree ect. Bob

Really! Only one comment, no critiques from anyone?

Here is the latest saddle I just made and delivered for one of my customers. It is for a mule as you can see in the pics. Because this mule is quite stout she couldn't find a saddle that fit him , and she is very particular with what she does and rides. She normally likes a some "bling", however; in this case while she wanted it to look good, she also wanted it to look "old timey" . This one is built on a C S Roper style tree with mule bars , a cruper D, external stirrup leathers and a 5" cantle. She wanted the dark oil look. Delivered it today, the smile on here face says it all. Feel free to critique, your comments are welcome. Bob

Really, really, nice!! That is what we are all trying to achieve, and what you seem to keep achieving. I normally don't like coloring in a piece because it doesn't look natural, however; in this case it just looks like, well like Mother Nature grew it that way. Can't ask for more than that. Glad to see it did so well in raising funds for a good cause. It just shows that not only leather workers can appreciate your art. Great Job! Bob

It looks a lot like many Bona Allens that have come into my shop for repair over the years. That would be my guess, and yes I would also place it in the mid-fifties. Bob

An old horseman friend of mine told me he put his in a clothes dryer and just set it on tumble, and tumbled them for an hour of so. He said that really "took the startch out of them". Bob

The one looks a lot like one I made a saddle for this past summer. Bob

Ah ha!! That's where you screwed up!! Should'a had a couple of beers first!!!! LOL Bob

Just to chime in, Bruce is the guy to go to for used, serviceable tools. I have a Plough gauge from him, that makes me smile each time I reach for it. Bob

Ok, first you are not in real trouble here. Someone said that they saw about 4 stitches, and the reality is that from the pictures you can get probably 6 in on each run. That by it's self should be enough, unless of course like he said you are jerking steers around. Second, I would line this piece, and bring the lining leather all the way up to there the D starts. I would sandwich the tab inbetween the lining with barge cement both sides of the tab where it contacts the front and where the lining touches, and then stitch it in. At that point you have it secured very well. Beside, there's a lot to be said for a nice thick wide, well made Breast collar. Personally, where the piece I am making touches the horse, I have taken to using latigo in all cases, just my personal preference. Bob

Nicely Done Anna! I am sure that whoever Mandy Harris is , she will be way pleased!! Bob

Welcome to the forum You will find a lot of interesting folks on here. Most of them are ready to help any time. Nice work, keep it up, there is a real need for it up here in the Great Lakes Country. Welcome Again, Bob

I have used both Precision and Bowden. Can't say that I have seen much of a difference in them. I personally use Bowden, David Bowden makes all the special order ones and as of yet I have never been unhappy with his work. If you are looking for a step above, then you should try Rod Nickkels, his work is first rate. Bob

Another method and a little trick I use is to take an exacto pointed knife and on he front I push the point down through the stitch that is showing in-between the holes, just enough to cut it. later when you stitch it back the small cut will not show because the new thread will pull it back together. it takes more time than cutting in between the fleece and skirt, but; it takes a lot less time once you have it done to pull the fleece off and it's easier since you cut it the way you did, the bobbin thread comes off from the fleece side in long runs because it is still in tact. Either way it takes a lot of work, and to do the job right, you want to stitch it back in the same holes it was originally stitched in order to do a professional job. Also what Ron says about putting the plugs back where they came from still applies for this method. Good Luck, Bob

Well I am no lawyer, but; it seems to me that at the very least, he had a verbal contract with you to sell it to you, moreover; emails should constitute a written agreement that should be binding, once you left your house to execute your end of the deal, he lost his ability to cancel the contract. Given that it (the sewing machine) is already gone, he should be liable to compensate you for your time and expenses incurred as a result of the deal. I would 1) total up what I felt I was owed, time (roughly 10 hrs X what you get paid as an hourly rate at your full time job) plus, expenses ( 500 miles X the current federal mileage allowance,which used to be .55 /mile, not sure what it is now, but; you can look it up on the internet) and 2) I am not sure what it is like out there in OR , but; I am pretty sure that there is small claims court, you can file for something like $15 to $25 with them, and let them haul his butt into court to deal with it. You should end up with something and he will find out what it is like to have to drive that distance and come up empty handed. Turnabout is fair play!!! Bob

Josh, the note I shared with you was strictly to point out a couple of points that would take your work to the next level. It must be noted that you already do a lot of things exceptionally well. If you were my student, you would get very high marks for balance of design, semetry of components and one of my pet items, edging. Nothing says "professional" like good clean, smooth, rounded and shiny edges of all the components. Horn, skirts, jockeys, rigging plates and so on. It's the perfection in the details that separates the good from the best. Keep up the good work! Bob

To add to Bruce's comments, car seat leather in almost all cases have a coat of urethane on them to aid in abrasion durability. Only the hides used in specialty seating, like the King Ranch or Harley edition (Ford), not sure of the Chrysler or GM editions names, but; they also have some special "top grain" versions. All the others are 2nd and third splits, that have the grain rolled on and then urethane coated. Like Bruce said, it pays to experiment with a small peice first. Bob