Mulesaw

The other leather halters I have made were all basically copied from a standard nylon halter, but with a round cheek piece instead of a flat one. During my reading of the old German book on saddlery, I came across a couple of plans for some halters. Naturally they look a lot like regular halters, but there are a few variations on some of them. The measurements fit pretty well with the measurements that I took on the halter of my wife's horse, so I decided to try and make one and then I'll see how it will fit once I get back home. The most notable thing is that there is a headband which is something I have never seen on a halter. Also the shown halter is made without a carabiner to close the cheek piece. So it is intended to be opened and closed solely from the buckle on the neck strap. We remove the halters as soon as the horses are in their boxes, and a carabiner is just a really fast way of unbuckling a halter, so that is one place where I'll stray from the original plans. At the moment I am working on the headband, so that's why it is not yet on the halter. I bought some grease tanned leather on a sale while I was home, and I made some straps that I have brought with me. Actually I was certain that I had brought enough to make two halters, but somehow it takes more than I imagined to sew just a single one. I am fairly sure that my miscalculations are because I forgot to add all the places where the leather needs to be folded for attaching of hardware. The first halter will as mentioned be for my wife's horse, and the idea was that it could also serve as kind of an experimental piece. The next one was going to be for Cajou (Gustav's horse), and since that horse is shown off a lot more I would like that halter to be the nicest one. Notable f... ups so far: Sewing some of the straps a bit too tight to the rings. Forgetting to mount the D-ring, hence needing to incorporate it after stitching holes were made, plus it is mounted in a bit of a weird position now. Forgetting that to make a decent round cheek piece, the strap should be wider than 1" (I managed to make a somewhat decent job with the help of a lot of water). Forgetting to subtract the length of the carabiner from the cheek piece. So this is now technically 3" too long. Not bringing any correct square ring for assembling the lower part of the nose band. (I ended up modifying a conway buckle by means of a hacksaw and some silver soldering). Experimenting with chain stitches for embroidering the name of the horse on the headband. Not really taking into account that the headband should be lined, so the aforementioned letters are a bit too high. But at least the weather out here is nice... Sunday sitting in the afternoon sun. With my little toolbox. The leatherwork might not be the prettiest, but at least there's a fine view from the work station. Hanging on the emergency steering wheel.

@GrampaJoel OK, good luck with the sales :-) @fredk Sounds like a good idea.

@GrampaJoel Hi, is the Encyclopedia of Saddle making still for sale? Also how much do you want for the halter making book? And finally, I am based outside US, so would you be willing to ship them to Denmark? I'll pay the shipping off course. Brgds Jonas

I agree that the oval brass piece with 4 rivets look great! There was an Indian company that advertised on this forum about a week ago that could make just about anything. And they have a store in the US. I can only find one of his posts now. There was a fairly active discussion on the same posting in "saddle tack ressource" (If I remember correctly). I think he removed that post because the discussion turned a bit against his company. Long story short, they manufacture in India and showed pictures of workers with less than acceptable (by western standards) of PPE, drilling, machining, casting etc. just in flip flops and no safety gear whatsoever. Anyway, he can probably make the needed pieces for you. disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the globalmetalco etc. https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/97280-brass-buckles-for-leather-belts-small-buckles-for-watch-straps-saddlery-and-hardware/?tab=comments#comment-660325

@Klara That is a little consolation indeed, but I would still like to learn how to make a Western saddle, just because it seems like an interesting and satisfying project :-) @TomE Thanks, I wrote Tandy yesterday, so unless they revert to me Monday that they are able to get the book, I'll try to contact Springfield Leather. I would prefer to get it from Tandy Europe because the Danish government has enforced some ridiculously strict policies regarding stuff sent from the rest of the world. If I buy a book from USA, there will be a 10% import duty, on top of that 25% VAT, and on top of that a handling fee of 30 US $... So it is not that I prefer Tandy above other suppliers, but I prefer to keep my own hard earned money instead of paying them in weird taxes

@OLESKIVER Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to check out Tandy or one of the other stores you mentioned again. The information about how the saddle should fit the horse is very interesting since that seems to be a topic where there is a lot of confusion and generally not that much real knowledge. I know that I won't be an expert by reading a book, but it should hopefully make me a bit more knowledgeable about what to look for. I can't offer you love for your book, but I would have offered you money in the rare hope that you had decided that you didn't need the book anyway (not gonna happen I suppose ) Just before going back to sea, I had someone asking me if I could change the girth strap on a saddle. I have to admit that I felt a bit nervous when I had to cut open part of the old stitching to get to the steel part of the tree. It was the forward strap that was damaged, and that one is riveted to the steel, so I had to take that saddle apart and then sew it back together. The saddle ended up better than when I got it, and my sewing wasn't in any way worse than what was on it before. Just out of curiosity, what is the special tool that you are mentioning? Brgds Jonas

@OLESKIVER I wanted to buy that book, but it is sold out from Tandy, and I have never tried to buy anything from ebay where it might be possible to find it. (I might be a bit weird in that respect). I would love to get my hands on it, but so far I haven't found a copy for sale. There was one on this forum for sale I thin two years ago, but it seems as those who got the book holds on to it - which I see as a sign of a good book. I would guess that there is a bit of difference between a Western saddle and a European saddle, but how much it is in terms of the actual leather parts I don't know. The design is different of course, but I would guess that a method of draping leather over a curved surface would work equally well regardless if the book was aimed at one or another type of saddle. The German book that I have bought covers saddle making in 48 pages, and I haven't read all of the chapter yet, but it seems pretty thorough. It covers regular saddles, saddles made with pig skin leather, army saddles, side saddles and saddles for circus horses It even specifically mentions the American Army saddle, which is a bit different to the German Army saddle.

@Klara I agree that most of the book is just of historical interest, but still some of the points are still valid but I wouldn't use it as a textbook for someone wanting to build a saddle. (well yes, actually I might ) I would suspect that the book would work really well as sort of a reference book if you had completed a classic saddler education. Last time we had a saddler around I never thought about asking him, I was simply awestruck by watching him work. Not that he did any direct work with his hands, but he just looked at Gustav riding a few rounds on the court, then Gustav was told to stop and he explained what he had seen. I initially thought that "come on, you have only seen the horse and rider trotting a little so you can't possible have an opinion already". I was SO wrong. He said that the width of the saddle was too wide and that could be seen due to this and this. He then showed med exactly what he could see, and then I was able to see it too. The iron in this particular saddle is of a type that you can't alter which he also knew just from looking at the saddle. So his advice was to get a specific lamb skin pad where we should ad some extra padding to make up for the slightly too wide iron. So all in all I was so impressed that I never thought about asking him about any books. etc. The funny thing is that we have had a lot of really good horse trainers looking at the equipage and they haven't been able to see that something was not 100% correct. Not that I am blaming them, since they did the best they could. I'm probably more blaming the general culture where people lure themselves into believing that having a friend looking at your saddle fit is just as good as having a trained saddler doing so. Though a good friend with knowledge can probably see more than you yourself if you are someone who is just starting in horses. But for us, the 100 Euro (I think it was) for a saddle check was all worth the money. without a doubt. sorry for the long answer, but I got a bit carried away On another note, I still think that I'll try to see if I can build a saddle based on the book, but my plan is to completely refurbish a couple of old pony saddles first that I have acquired. That way I hope to recognize the things that I have read in the book. And I can see if I was right or wrong in how I deciphered the text instructions.

@fredk I just checked those. I think they are the paperback versions that Fines Mundi sells. well at least they sell them on amazon. I already got the deluxe book :-) I was just trying to explain my "problems" with electronic books Translating a book like that seems to be a colossal task, but it sure would make for a fine book that could reach a broader audience if it was translated into English, and at the same time was written with normal letters.

@nickbor34 Thanks for the nice comment :-) I could see that fredk managed to find a seller who has it as a pdf file. So that could be a solution. But personally I like a nice bound book where I can smell and feel the paper. But again, the language is German and the letters are of the gothic version, so it isn't the easiest thing to read. Brgds Jonas

Beautiful work!

Ditto to what the others have said. My comment is mainly on the stitch length. The way the stitch length is adjusted in the moment form the pictures, it should do very fine stitches. maybe like 20 stitches per inch. And it looks more like 4 stitches per inch to me. I think that either the needle is not the correct length, or there could be some issues with the timing gears for the bobbin. From what I have read on this forum, the gears for those patchers aren't replaceable with the gears for the newer 29K71 series. And the original gears are very hard to find (I could be wrong here though). Also the absence of the cast iron table and the foot operation would stop me from buying it. A little bit of practice, and the foot operation seems natural - and makes for both hands to be free to help steer stuff around. Depending on what you want to make, I think that those small patchers are great machines. I have found a niche market in replacing zippers in riding boots using one like this machine. Not too difficult to do, and it provides a bit of money to pay for the hobby. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Welcome to the forum :-)

That is one fine looking stallion! We didn't breed Cajou ourselves, I would like to but I have to accept the fact that there are people out there who has got more idea about breeding than I have :-) At the moment we have two gildings, Cajou (nicknamed Caj) and my wifes Danish warmblood Bernie (shortened to Bent). We used to have an old Dansih Warmblood mare a couple of years ago, but we had to have her put down due to old age. Gustav goes to our local stallion station Katrinelund once a week for lessons in jumping. They sure have some good looking horses out there. After the owner of the stallion station found out that I do a bit of leatherwork I have gotten a bunch of work from their side. Mending horse blankets, changing zippers in the boots of all the riders out there etc. When I get back home he has asked me to do a repair job on the "phantom". One of the stallions got a bit carried away after doing his thing, and bit the side of the phantom and tore the side up on it. Personally I have always liked Trakehners and I would love to get one. But being a seaman and away for half the time doesn't correspond well with having a horse with a bit of temper. So I am happy to just have a ride in the forest once in a while on my wife's horse.

@TomE Thanks for the nice words on the stitching. I think that Caj is pretty big too, but he needs to be to fit Gustav. Having a harmonic looking equipage is fairly important I think. Caj is a thoroughbred Holsteiner horse, and his line was bred for jumping, which is what Gustav competes in. They are doing pretty well considering that Gustav is not a pro rider, (he's training to become a carpenter). They mostly compete in regional classes and once in a while in some national classes as well. Bergen is a really nice place - but... there is a bit too much rain if I have to be completely honest :-) I hope that you had the chance to see the city in fine weather, cause that makes for a much better experience.

@fredk You do a MUCH better job than I do at finding stuff like that on the Internet That offer from the last link of yours looks like a great deal. There's a couple of extra books in that deal as well. My only problem is that if I order something electronic, I'll probably forget to look at it. I need a book in hard copy :-)

And sorry that half my replies seem to be late, but we are at sea now with a crappy Internet connection, so when I post and the net is refreshed, I see that there has already been links to the Amazon site.

I doubt that the book is made available as an electronic book, but I could be wrong. Here are two links, one for the book on Amazon and one from the printing house itself. I can inly find the paperback version on Amazon, it is sort of half the price of the de luxe version. https://www.amazon.de/Das-Sattler-Riemer-Täschner-Handwerk/dp/374189883X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 https://fines-mundi.de/vollmer-das-sattler-riemer-und-taeschner-handwerk

I would guess that it is the nostalgia factor. I have a treadle powered patcher and an electric powered patcher. For those I actually prefer the treadle powered one. It enables me to sew a bit slower which I find advantageous at times. But for a normal fabric type sewing machine I'd go with something electric.

In Denmark it used to be that each small town would have its own "gilde" for each profession. Pronounced very similar to the English "guild" (I guess it is actually the same word) Later on another word called "laug" was used. But the basic operating principles were the same. You had to prove that you were capable of doing work that would live up to the standards of the guild, and (probably more important) the guild would set its own rules for how many masters of there could be within the local area of the guild. The latter was so that you had a way of making sure that there was enough work for those who were already established, so they would be able to make a living. Traditionally they would also work as a social security system for e.g widows of diseased members of the guild. So you would pay a fee (monthly or yearly) to the guild, and some of those funds would be used to provide for those in need who were connected in some way with the local guild. I would love to take some pictures of some of the illustrations of the book to back up my endorsement of it, but I couldn't find any descriptions of the policy regarding that on the homepage of the printing house. So I don't want to get in trouble with any copyright here, so you just have to take my word for it. I got the deluxe version of the book, but there's also a paperback version. I just happen to like a nice looking book, and I like to support a business that try to keep small crafts like bookbinding alive in Europe. But I am pretty sure that the content of the books is the same. So far I have started making a halter using a plan from the book. It is a bit different those that I have made before in that there is also a band for the forehead of the horse. Which I have never seen on halters, but only on a headstall. There's also plans for a side saddle which could be fun to make at some point :-)

Good idea, and thanks :-)

After searching for books about saddle making, I tried to do a similar search in German. And I found an impressive book called "Das Sattler Riemer und Täschner Handwerk" The book is from a small printing house called Fines Mundi from Germany. And it is a 100% copy of the original book which was published in Berlin in 1908. The author is Karl Vollmer, who was an old master saddle maker from Mannheim. There are 691 pages from the first edition, and an additional 40 pages that were included in the second edition of the book. Coupled with 1046 illustrations it is an impressive piece of work. It seems as the original book was supplied with some full size plans for a couple of the things, but sadly these are not part of the book anymore, I guess that the printing house haven't found anyone who has actually kept these full size plans. Not surprisingly, a large part of the book is about horse related work, but it is not limited to saddles and headstalls. There are theoretic chapters about the horse and the physiology of the animal, a chapter on making fancy work for parade draft horses, a chapter on everyday working gear for horse. Various plans for specific military gear depending if your were to make a breastplate or a headstall for a Hussar officer or a regular infantry officer. And the list goes on and on. Wagon building is covered too, though it is is noted that it should happen in collaboration with the blacksmith and the regular coach builder. But the upholstery is described in detail, as is the choice and method of painting the wagon. The modern invention automobile is also mentioned as something that can provide a bit of work both on items like leather goggle and again upholstery. It seems as the author really wanted to convey all his years of wisdom to someone who wanted to start out on their own, so the economics of a saddle making business is discussed in a separate chapter, and then an entire chapter is devoted to examples of letters that you might have to write as a business owner. Letters of announcing that you are opening shop, letters to offer your services to prospective buyers. Letters to people who owe you money etc. The only drawback to the book in my opinion is that it is printed in gothic style letters. that makes it a bit hard to read until you become accustomed to them which takes a little while. The book is also written in German which might be a deal breaker to some. When I bought it, the shipping was much slower than anticipated, but I might not be the most patient guy when it comes to waiting on books and stuff that I have ordered. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Fines Mundi or the author, and I did not receive any discount or special treatment for writing this post. I just figure that in this forum there might be one or two people who could appreciate to learn about the existence of an interesting book from a master saddler.

You make it sound easy :-) I will try to see if I can improve my pictures But after looking at the pictures I think I understand what you mean. Cheers Jonas

@Klara Thanks for the nice comment :-) I also think that the time in quarantine was very well spent making the outfit for the horse, and especially since it now fits the horse like a glove. Thanks for the tip on the photo, though I am pretty sure that I will have forgotten the advice next time I need to take a picture. I have come to the conclusion and understanding that taking pictures is not my strongest suit. :-) Brgds Jonas

Here's a bit of update on the Covid quarantine breastplate: After getting the breastplate home, Gustav tested it on the horse, only to discover that my measurements had been a bit off.. So a few of the individual pieces were too long, so the breastplate sat sluggishly on the horse. Also Gustav said that he had expected me to make a martingale that would match the colour of the leather. Apparently you can't use a black martingale if the breastplate is brown.. This time at home I pulled myself together and shortened up the needed pieces, which included the small padded piece that goes over the neck of the horse. I also made a martingale that was accepted using the same leather as the breastplate. I forgot to take some pictures of the process of making the martingale, but I discovered that it was much more difficult than what I had expected to make one. I simply copied the same basic design as the regular black martingale that was used with the old breastplate. Caj (horse) and Gustav (son) I suck at taking pictures, so Caj look smaller than he is. He measures 172 cm (17 hands)

That was also my first thought, but since they had a bunch of nice looking buckles, rivets karabiners etc. on the picture, I thought that they already had that in their portfolio, but I guess that I am easily fooled I might be a tad negative here, but if you first show a picture of stuff that you boast about selling, and then your own homepage which they supply a link for doesn't show half of what the picture does - well then I have a hard time thinking it is a serious company. Too bad actually, since much of the stuff on the picture looks nice and well made. But I just wonder if they have taken a picture of someone else's products? Brgds Jonas (who is not negative - just a bit puzzled )