VanHornSaddlery

Hello everybody. I decided to join the technology age and built a website. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I am not good with computers and this was quite an undertaking for me (headbanging, cussing, bottles of whiskey gone through, the whole nine yards) All comments, critiques, criticisms, appreciated so I can make it better. Here is the addresse. www.vanhornsaddlery.com. Thanks Jake

Here is the inside of the planner. Kinda plain but that is what they wanted. Thanks for the input and advice. Jake

Thanks for all the input and the replies. I learn alot off of this site and appreciate all the advice you all are willing to share. Jake

Hello, This is my first and second attempts with the hair on inlay and spots. Please let me know what you all think. Thanks. Jake

This is my first pair of cutting chaps. Have mosty been doing chinks and shotguns so this was a new one for me. The customer pointed out a few things I should have done different, but they took them home anyway and seemed pleased. Let me know what you all think. Thanks. Jake

Hello, Thought I would post a pic or two of what I use for burnishing when I do it mechanically. I got one of Ivan's burnishers off of ebay and it works real good. The other one I built out of a wooden rolling pin cut off with a hole drilled all the way through and a nut installed to screw on to the el cheapo bench grinder. Had trouble getting all the wobble out of it but took one of my old shoeing rasps to it with grinder turned on and that pretty well trued it up. Then took some different sized files and made the grooves, ran some sand paper over them and then glued some wet canvas to the whole shebang. Doped the whole thing up with saddle soap and she was ready to roll. On the other side of the grinder is an arbor with a 3" sanding roll on it. Works good for evening up edges on skirts or anything glued together. You do have to be careful with it though or you can burn the leather. A lot of times if I need to even up some edges I will use a little file like contraption, I think the drywallers call a cheesegrater. They use it for evening up edges of drywall but works good on skirts also. I like Ivans burnisher for some things and my homemade one for some things. Sorry I rambled on so long. Here are a couple pics. Have a good one. Jake

Nice job on the belt. Really like the inaid name, it looks sharp. Jake

Looks very nice. I really like your oak leaves. I am still trying to get my oak leaves to turn out. Jake

Hello, Thanks for the insight Troy. You were right on the money about the stohlmans being to high in the front. I took a tree out and did as you suggested on a couple of different horses. I ended up adding 2 1/2" to the back of the top of the stand to get it to hold the tree at the measurements that I took. Thanks again, for the tip. Jake

Hello, Thanks for the comments and the tips, I sure appreciate them. They took me just short of two days to do Bob. The yokes go on top of the chaps, the legs go all the way to the top and the yokes go on top of them, Ian. As for patterns I started out with the Tandy patterns and then started copying patterns from friends of mine chaps that I liked. Thanks for the fitting suggestions Bondo Bob, I never thought about using pants for a pattern. I am going to try that. Thanks again. Jake

Hello, Finally got tired of the weaver stand and went and took the time to build one. Would have liked to have gotten one of Ron's but don't have the means at the moment. Maybe if the wife would get a fourth job, HHHMMMMM, probabley not. In the meantime the one I built seems to be working all right. I made the top to the specifications in the stohlman books and so far it is working good. I put carpet pad under the canvas and tried to build it up a little more like a set of withers. The canvas is a little slick but I use a chap leather on top of it and it works fine. It does adjust up and down by undoing a tension bolt, but mostly I use it where it is set. Have a good one. Jake

Hello, This is my latest pair of shotguns. Had a different request on this pair. The customer wanted the look of laced in zippers, but wanted them sewn in. Brass spots, conchos, scalloped edges, wickett and craig tooling leather. Let me know what you think. Thanks Jake

I have a base price of $50.00 for my suspenders and kinda go from there. The pair in the pictures ended up being around a 100.00 after I put the conchos on them. Thats why there is a big blank space between my makers stamp and the oakleaves, was waithing on the conchos. Jake

Here is my little hole in the wall. Jake

Thanks for the reply and the pictures. I think I am going to reengineer my drawdown strap with more of the belly and the contour back into the seat that yours has. I have a seat to put in here shortly and I think I'll try your gluing process too. Thanks again for the info, I really appreciate it. Jake

I have made several pair of suspenders too. I bought some elastic from weaver and a pair of elastic suspenders to kind of use as a reference to get the angles right. Heres a couple of pictures of mine for reference. Hope that helps. Jake

Hello, I really enjoy this forum and have learned a lot. I have another question. What does everybody use to hold the seat into the cantle when you are installing the seat? I use shot bags to hold the seat down while the glue is setting up. Is there a better way to do it? Like a clamp or something that could be used in the seat dish to hold the seat back? In the Stohlman books they use a fairly wide drawdown strap. I tried that but still have to throw the shot bags in there to hold everything down. Any other ideas? Thanks. Jake

Thanks for the help and the tips. I really appreciate it. I will post some pictures when I get it done. Thanks again. Jake

I use patterns that I have taken from different chaps and modified, then remodified trying to get the best fit. I haven't ever made any of the time period style chaps you are talking about. Have seen a few at the King museum in Sheridan though and a few pair the different members here have built. Jake

Thanks for the information. With the back skirt and riggings all one piece is it very hard to get the tree into the skirts and rigging or do you end up hand sewing around the front of the skirts after they are on the tree? All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jake

Kinda new around here and thought I would post my latest pair of chinks that just got done. Burgundy whith white trim and spots. Not my choice in colors but the customer liked them. Let me know what you think. All comments welcomed I have lots to learn and am learning a great deal on LW from all you knowledgable folks. Thanks Jake

Hello, I'm kinda new here but how I do it is scribe my border line, basket stamp up to it, take my modeling spoon and gently wipe out any places that I have went over the border with the BW tool, cut the border line, bevel, then run my border tool of choice around it. By doing it this way it kind of seems to set the basket weave in a little. I thought I would post a pic kind of the way I do it. Hope that helps. Jake

Really nice pair of chaps. I would be lost without my leatherman too. Usually pack it in a vest pocket though. Doesn't get in the way of a rope. Learned that the hard way on the first pair of chinks I built and put the pocket on the wrong leg without thinking. Jake

Very nice saddle. Quick question. Are the angled welts harder to put in than the welts coming straitht down the side of the fork? I haven't put any angled welts in yet and am just curious. I am certainlly learning a lot on this great site. Thanks. Jake

Very nice saddle! I like the shape of the inlaid seat. I have learned a lot from all the saddlemakers on here. Thanks for posting all the excellent work. Jake