are there any books on how to make a sadddletree?

[bugsy]

are there any books on how to make a sadddletree....thanks bugsy

[Timbo]

Don't you just start with a big piece of wood and cut away everything that doesn't look like a saddle tree????

Ok, that's my Dads philosophy on his wood carving.

Sorry just had to throw that in.

I haven't seen one in all my book searches, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

This is the place to ask though.

Good luck!!

Tim

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

Not that we know about either.

[bruce johnson]

Bugsy,

Treemaking is probably even now, way more individual and varied than saddlemaking. One of those skills that a guy really has to continually learn, relearn, and change with the times. There are so many factors with building a tree that I don't think a book could ever do it justice. It is not one of those I'll make my own for the experience or to save money projects in my view. The selection of what type of wood(s) to use is first. Then the bars have to be evenly shaped, and contoured to fit a particular build of horse, The cantle has to be symetrically shaped. The fork style has to be selected and shaped symmetrically. The horn is chosen and fastened onto the fork. The cantle and fork are attached to bars allowing for the proper angles for the horse, the proper spread, and the proper angles on each side. The cantle and fork need to be squarely put on the bars also, and that they have the proper slope for funtion and comfort. The wood working part is over. The nuances of getting all this right is paramount. It has to fit the horse, the rider, and be functional for the intended use. No secrets here. You could get anyone's tree you admire, strip the rawhide and take all the measurements and contours right off it. The issue would be shaping another one exactly the same.

Next we have to buy or make rawhide. Then we have to cut drippy. sopping rawhide to cover the tree with the pattern layout and the seams placed correctly. Then we get to make holes along these seams and lace these pieces together to encase the tree. Not done yet, we have to dry the trees at the right rate to make sure the rawhide shrinks evenly to prevent big gaps in the seams, or twists our woodworking project out of square, size, and certainly usefulness. Then we get to cover it with our varnish of choice. If we are making them for someone else, then we get to send it out, and have them complain that a certain measurement is 1/4" off from what they ordered because they measure it differently than the rest of the planet. I have never built a tree and have no serious plans to. Those guys work too hard to make the good ones for what they get. The UPS driver that hauls it makes more, and dang sure has better benefits.

I am not trying to sound facetious here. There are so many variables and places that it can go wrong, along with the specialized equipment and knowledge that it is just safer to buy a tree from someone who knows what they are doing. When you look at what goes into a tree, and what you are getting for your money buying a tree, it is a bargain no matter what you pay. Trees are either mass produced in a factory setting, or handmade one at a time in a single man shop. Either way, a heck of a lot of work and experience went into it. I'd rather spend my time covering it.

Legend has it that one of the big makers (Taylor? Visalia?) had a particular axe in their shop. If one of their trees ever sored your horse, they used that axe on it and you got to watch it done. Any tree I made would not pass the axe on the way out the door before it got to the horse I am sure.

[daviD A Morris]

Bugsy,

Sory to sound like I'm just trying to put-you-off, but I agree totaly with Bruce. To give you an indication, here are a couple of photos of someone's homemade "I'll save myself some money and it'll be fun anyway" attempt at making a tree. Don't bother starting with trees unless you intend to do lots of them and if you are serious about it, find someone to learn from. Why spend hundreds of hours figureing out some specific details that someone else can teach you in a matter of hours. And I'm not exagerating when I say hundreds of hours - the 3D geometry of saddle trees is very complicated. One very famous saddle/saddle tree maker in the USA told me that he had an architect freind try to calculate out the mortise angles for where the cantle fits the bars (and the fork fits to the bars). The architect could not do it. Another very well known tree maker paid several thousand dollars to a mechanical engineer for the same thing and got nothing usefull for his money.

On the other hand - if you seriously do want to be treemaker - then I wish you luck and will happy to give you any tips that I can. However it is frustrating for me if I spend a lot of my time helping someone who then only makes one tree.

Maybe one day I will do that book!!!

dam

[Luke Hatley]

IT IS KINDA LIKE "i want to build a saddle".........

hum...... now find a horse it will fit !

[Timbo]

Man, that homemade tree is the scariest looking thing I have ever seen. Looks like the only tools used to make it were a hacksaw and a rock.

Is that bondo on it???

Timbo

[daviD A Morris]

There are some positive things that we could say about that rough tree. It does have nice "bucket" shape to the seat. Which makes me think that it was made by somebody who realy had a definite (and good) idea of what they wanted in the shape of the seat of their saddle. As for the bondo??? when joinery techniques fail - use bondo!! Notice how the back of the cantle undercuts so far- makes the cantle very weak. And there is no excuse for the selection of timber, those knots are scary. Lets not be too critical, the person who made it, might have been working from photos only and limited tools. I just posted it here as an example of how far " behind the eight ball" you are starting, if you do not have help. who knows - it might be first tree made by someone who went on to be a great tree-maker. The people who showed me this tree told me who they thought made it, however I can't beleive it, because I spent a few days at that person's workshop when in the USA in '87, and the workmanship that I saw was excellent. So lets not be too hasty. It does well to remember the words of Shakespear's Orthello: "....he who robs me of my good name, takes that which not enriches him, but makes me poor indeed".

dam

Edited December 20, 2007 by daviD A Morris