Randy Cornelius Report post Posted February 18, 2008 I recieved an email from someone who is requesting information about the possibliity of making a saddle for a Camel! I have not asswered the inquiry yet. Thought I would throw this out and see what you all think about it. Will that card system work for fitting a tree to a Camel? LOL If I call up a tree maker will the laugh and hang up on me. I always like a challenge and something different but not sure about this one. Anyone out there with experiance? Randy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leatheroo Report post Posted February 18, 2008 one hump or two? lol i recently rode a camel with one hump and the saddle was for two people...one sat on either side of the hump..good luck with this project!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Randy. I have made camel saddles in the past as there are lot's of camels in Australia. This job should be relatively easy. The tree can be made by anyone with metalwork/welding experience. Get all thoughts of a horse like saddle and tree out of you mind. Leave it with me for a bit and I will drag out my resources. I guess the question also has to be asked is the camel in question a dromedary or bactrian?????????????? Barra Edited February 18, 2008 by barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Randy. bare with me, I'm playing. Barra. http://camelphotos.com Ok on the camelphotos.com link go to equipment and then making a saddle. This link shows a fairly typical Saddle used in the Australian camel trecking industry. I think I doubled up on the link just above the other photo examples that I have attached. Australia has more camels than many of the regions of the world we normally associate with camels. VAST areas of our interior were opened up by Afghan cameleers and when not needed the camels were simply set free. The tree in this example is made out of welded pipe tubing but the saddles I made had the trees made of flat steel about 2" wide that was rivetted and welded. The padding for the camel is made sort of like a pack saddle so if you are familiar with those it will stand you in good stead. They can be stuffed with all sorts of materials from horse hair (like an Australian stock saddle) wool or can be stuffed with rye straw (the site mentions pea straw) like a horses carriage pulling collar is made. The seat/s for the human is leather that is attached to a suspended webbing foundation from the hoops much like a UP saddle (the British Commonwealth version of the Mclennan and sometimes called a Trooper saddle) .http://www.militaryhorse.org/upsaddle/ Looking back at the padding for the camel. The base (lets look at this part like a western saddle skirt would be made out of similar leather like skirting. It would then have some sort of gusset attached all around to give depth and the material at the bottom is a woolen material. You could use serge like an australian saddle. We commonly used collar check. You could just as easlily use Kersey or find a woolen blanket and cut it up. The funny U shaped pad at the camels Bum end is a bit different so leave that with me for a bit. http://www.ozsaddle.com/products.php?grp=23&sc=2308 The stuffing is in between the two layers and inserted into the largeish slit in the base panel (skirt) and when finished it is closed up with leather thonging just like a surgeon would close a patient. More to follow if needed. Barra http://camelphotos.com/camel_saddles.html Edited February 18, 2008 by barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomSwede Report post Posted February 18, 2008 If you have skill, how can you resist taking on this task? Just imagine your new title: RANDY CORNELIUS Americas No.1 Camel saddlemaker How many can there be in US? Cool stuff! Hope you share some pics if you step up to it. Best of luck Tom (a bit jealous and not skilled for such a task) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leatheroo Report post Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) barra....you're a camel saddle maker...thats the wildest thing i have heard in ages... Edited February 18, 2008 by leatheroo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 Ok. The padding at the bum end. The best analogy I can give is that it is like a tightly stuffed version of one of those U shaped pillows people use to prop themselves up and read etc in bed. Both the U shaped pad and the main panel (saddle skirtish) pads are either lashed to the frame/tree with either stout straps that are threaded thru slot/bag/crew punched holes of the required width into the base panel and around the frame/tree, OR by using leather rectangular shaped strips of stout leather, stitched and/or rivetted to the base panel you can lash the panel to the frame/tree with thonging. Would you beleive that within about 2 miles of me right now, there are heaps of camels. You know how on country roads, how cars are sometimes stopped to allow cattle to cross. Well here we have to stop to let the camels cross. Barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Randy Cornelius Report post Posted February 18, 2008 You know I was a welder in my past life and could make these If I had a set of plans. Is there anything available that would give a drawing and measurments? Randy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 Let me see if I can get the network back home to check on this. Failing that I will see what I can dig up from where I am. While it has been years since I made one. I think I can still draw on some contacts in the camel world. This job is so do-able. Barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skipknives Report post Posted February 18, 2008 gives new meaning to "Hump-Day",,,Wednesday's will never be the same,,lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jordan Report post Posted February 18, 2008 PBS had a show years ago about the US Cavalry experimenting with the use of camels in the western states, I think it was sometime after the civil war, pehaps some military museum would have plans available? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 Jordan. This is true. The short lived US camel corp was raised by Edward Beale (Beale AFB and had a hand in Tejon ranch which is one of the largest land tracts in California). He also had a cutting made funnily enough called Beale cut which was superceded by Newhall pass near the Grapevine on I5 just north of LA. lets see what Fort Tejon has on offer. Newhall Ca is my US base camp so to speak. Barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
barra Report post Posted February 18, 2008 Darn. Fort Tejon says the US camel corps was a myth and as Jordan stated merely an experiment. Barra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
