Ground seat question

[hcho]

I am working on my first saddle. I am using an SF Bowman tree and Pete Gorell's series from Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal.

When putting the last piece of the ground seat on, I started having trouble with my skiver. The part of the seat over the cantle dish went on pretty thick. The next morning I noticed that a couple places are a little bit soft, meaning that they pulled away from the tree. The spots are very small, but it is still drying. Do I just live and learn or do I start pulling leather off the tree?

[mtsadl]

If it was me I would fix it now while you can. It wont be hard to fix and you will never be satisfied with end project if you dont.

[bruce johnson]

I would pull it and fix it too. Feed as much excess into the dish as you can and then compress it with rubsticks or bouncers. I go for compression rather than stretching and beating into the cantle or gullets whenever I can. They just stay tighter for me and what I use. As it dries and shrinks back, it will stay tight instead of tenting up. If it is pulling away now, the glue is probably gone and you need to reglue if nothing else. Also some weight in the dish as it is drying will help too.

[jwwright]

I would agree with mt and Bruce. I have found for me what works is to let that top ground seat piece dry quite a bit before I glue and put it on final. I will skive and fit that piece, and then compress some leather into the cantle dish by rubbing a few big wrinkles out into the cantle. Then I leave it tacked and in place to dry some for a day or so. Then I glue into place final. I also use some short ring shank nails in the cantle and along the bottom bar edge to make sure that ground seat stays put even if the glue gives out. I learned that one the hard way, as I have most things. JW

[hcho]

Thanks for the suggestions.