Members ladyhawkjm Posted May 16, 2022 Members Report Posted May 16, 2022 I have not used these leather tools in over 30 years. My dad used them frequently and made quite a few items for me as he taught me... Because I was the only one who knew anything about them, they were left to me when he passed away some time ago... I have kept them stored in their toolbox in my tack room.. I have a "Hereford Brand Yokum saddle" that I primarily use when working young/green horses that's in pretty rough shape. When I went to replace the saddle strings, It appears they are run through the tree... I would love to replace the saddle strings, rework the current leather, tooling and reshading, cleaning up the edges where there is tooling. I know I can do some of this after having removed the back jockey... Because I am not a saddlemaker and consider myself a greenie , I am a bit nervous about taking this down any further. I know I have two more screws to pull on each side of the pommel.... I'm just worried about tearing the seat more.. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do the replacement I know is needed to the seat where it has been repaired on both sides and where it is still torn up... I believe I really I need to find a saddlemaker for this portion of the restoration process, especially considering I plan to continue using the saddle... To those of you that have done restoration work or are saddlemakers, I'd like to know, if I walked into your shop with a partial, would you be offended? That would be the very last thing I want to do to someone with this skill set so would love some HONEST advice! Below are photos of the saddle I would like to restore and am still looking for more information regarding it's history prior to 1990 which was when it was given to me... Thanks in advance! Quote
Northmount Posted May 18, 2022 Report Posted May 18, 2022 @ladyhawkjm Moved your post to Saddle Identification, Restoration & Repair Should be more help available here. Quote
Members ladyhawkjm Posted May 18, 2022 Author Members Report Posted May 18, 2022 Thank you! I have a second saddle, kept strictly in the house when not being used, and decided that I'm going to give this restoration a go... The tree is in pretty good shape but it does have a strainer plate (metal insert) which I have read is somewhat controversial... I was actually more worried about redoing the seat and getting it back on the tree properly (The glueing process). After having watched a couple of the videos on youtube, I'm pretty sure I can do this, just might take me longer.... The one important thing for me is that it's my saddle and not someone elses.... ~ Hoping I don't screw this up ~ Quote
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