Saddle Making Advice Please

[Lula]

Hi all, firstly I am so glad I stumbled across this great forum!!! I have been quietly reading your posts for the last few days, trying to learn as much as I can before posting!

I have wanted to learn the art of saddle making for the last 3 years, with the aim of becoming a saddler but have been going around in circles not knowing which is the best route for me to go down! I live in France (but am British) & have a young son, so going away to do a live in course isn't an option for me. There aren't many Western Saddle Makers in France (or the UK) & the 2 that I have found do not offer lessons / courses. I had thought before finding this forum that my only option was to go across to Canada / USA & go to a saddle school for a 3-4 week course but I have got some concerns in the back of my mind about this!! Plus it is a considerable financial outlay & on my return I would still have all the tools etc to buy!!

From what I have read here, the general advice seems to be not to go to a saddle school in the first instance & to make your own saddle using reference material, the most recommened being Al Stohlmans "Encyclopedia of Saddle Making" volumes 1-3 books & Jeremiah Watt's The Art of Saddle Making" DVD (please correct me if I am wrong!). I understand that they tell you what tools & materials are required, do they also explain the principles of fitting the tree to a horse?

I don't have any tools at the moment, can anyone recommend a manufacturer of good quality tools please & give me an idea as to how much it will cost to kit myself out with the basic tools required to make a saddle? I believe that there is a Tandy Warehouse in the UK, do they supply quality tools? Does anyone know of any other suppliers in Europe for good quality tools & leather, trees etc?

Sorry for the questions but I am completely new to Saddle Making & want to get the best start possible. Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

[Denise]

Lula,

Here is a link to an old topic where some saddle makers put together a list of what they figured was needed. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8468 Under the Tools section here there are threads by European member about where they buy some things. I know it is more difficult than in North America. I don't know of a European place to order trees. I think most come from North America. Don101 and oldtimer are members here who build saddles in Europe. Maybe they will be able to help you source things. There is a fair amount of discussion in the Choosing the Right Saddle for the Horse section on fitting, particularly in the older threads from 07 and earlier 08. And then - ask specific questions!

All the best and have fun!

[$$hobby]

welcome

An English person living in France. whats next? im sure youre having fun over there. LOL

you can try the vids/Dvds and books to make your saddles. i havent tried it, but i learned most of my limited leather skills(?) by book and alot of doing.

you can also try:

> buying/scrounging/begging old/beatup/broke saddles and reverse engineer/dissect/repair them. it would be a great way of looking/seeing how they are constructed and determine what broke/failed in them.

> at one time Tandy? offered western saddle making kits. im not sure if they or anyone else still does, but it would be a possible way of making one. i think the best point for a kit is that the materials would be already cut? and hopefully, you could concentrate on the assembly/relationship/tooling of the parts.

cheers and good luck.

[King's X]

Welcome to the forum. I am currently in your position wanting to learn more about saddles and saddle making. As a newbie to leather (about 2 years), I can tell you that I am glad I learned how to carve and stamp before going any further. This was my thing. Basically, I saw all of the prudy saddles and wanted to make one. I thought I had to learn how to carve and stamp, so I learned. Little did I know that I opened a whole other door to leathercraft. Anways, back to the story. After a getting a purdy ok grip on leather, stamping and carving, I decided to look into saddles and it's history.

I purchased probably two of the best books out there. Saddles by R. Beatie and Man made mobile. I also caught myself ordering Western saddles and Don King's saddle book. Reading reading them twice now, I found the entire volume set of Al & Ann Stohlman's saddle making books on ebay and bought them. I completed volume 1 last week and have started volume two. Now, the following is just my nieve opinion, but I would highly recommend volume #1 to anyone even thinking about saddles. I know that this book is not the tell all about saddle making, but is sure explained how to make saddles and especially for me, why it is put together the way it is. I know that someone on here will object to this series of books, but for someone 'green' like me, I think it is a perfect foundation. I am currently in negotiations to buy a Montana Saddle Making School DVD set. I haven't made up my mine, but I wanted the set to view 'after' I finish all 3 volumes of the Stohlman books.

Lastly, I have contacted a saddle maker/collector of old saddles in hopes of getting them to bascially allow me to interview them about saddles and all of those pesty 'how come' questions. This maker has written for the first 3 magazines on leather and found his stories interesting. I believe someone here suggested that you contact some of our brothers abroad to make saddles to get their help or at least be able to ask them the 'how come' questions. I am sure that they will be helpful.

You also have some good American brothers on here that do excellent saddle work that may be able to help you. This is just what I have planned to help me understand saddle making, sorry, I am anal about some things. I am also in your position where I cannot travel to a school right now, so I am just developing my own cirrculum by circumventing some avenues without sacraficing the quality of knowledge. We will have to wait and see if I build a saddle or not. Maybe I will get going on another 'kick' or project that will divert my attention. Either way, stay in contact and maybe I can loan you some of my books to help you.

Side note: I also bought two English Saddle Making books, but I haven't opened them. I don't want to spoil the fun of my plan. Best of luck!!

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Lulu,

if you are in France, you might try and contact Alain Eon in Paris. He has a good reputation as a western saddlemaker and restorer of antique saddles. He recently released a book about restoring old saddles. I'm sorry but I don't have a contact number for him but I'm sure if you google his name you should be able to find it.

If you are looking at dvds and videos, Jeremiah Watt's are very detailed and he does a good job of explaining what he is doing and why.

Darc

[barra]

http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk/

tools and saddlers supplies in UK

http://www.ranch2arena.com/home.html

This is Jeremiah's home page. On the top right of the screen you should see "cattle-log"and a drop down menu for tools etc. I live in Australia and have ordered items from him online and shipping has never been an issue.

Where abouts are you at with general leatherwork. If just starting out you need to hone skills in hand stitching, cutting out leather, edging/burnishing, skiving, head knife use etc. If you are just starting out I would concentrate on making items that need these skills first. I will concur on Jeremiah's DVD series.

Barra

[Saddlebag]

I don't like Tandy's leather and don't recommend it. It's imported and I doubt by that they means the US (I'm in Canada) The straps will develope hairline cracks when bent, even a little. Dusty Johnson of Loveland Colorado also has a good little book on saddlemaking and not pricey.

[rickybobby]

Hi all, firstly I am so glad I stumbled across this great forum!!! I have been quietly reading your posts for the last few days, trying to learn as much as I can before posting!

Sorry for the questions but I am completely new to Saddle Making & want to get the best start possible. Any replies will be greatly appreciated.

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I started 10 years ago with the Stohlman books and Bill Gomers Tapes (which you can now get on DVD) and started building saddles. I had been doing leather work (belts, tack repair, wallets) for 20 years before doing saddles. I bought a complete saddle (very cheap) from a lady that had sold her horse and took it apart! The tree was sound and I used that to build my first saddle. Don't get real hung up on needing "patterns" for parts, The Bill Gomer DVD's show you how to make your own. The Stohlmans books have patterns in them, I used those to but modified them to suit me using Bill Gomers DVD's.

The Stohlmans are very "wordy" and take pages to explain steps (sometimes needed) so if you get stuck it helps. Getting other references also gives you other views and methods of building. I did saddles on my own with only those books & tapes, they gave me the expierence to start working at a saddle shop doing repairs and building tack. I was able to watch their building techniques which really helped me at home. When I started there were no forums like this to ask questions so add this to your learning abilities too.

Rick J.

[Lula]

Hi all, thanks for your advice, I will look into the links / names given straight away! I have a very small amount of leatherworking experience, I went to a saddlery taster week course over here & made a belt & a rolled bridle by hand, just to give me an idea in what's involved & to see whether I was capable & if I enjoyed it, which I thoroughly did! The instructors comments were very encouaging as well, which was great. I would have prefered to go & be taught by a good saddle maker, as you have the option of asking questions, plus they can put you right if they see you are doing something wrong! But if the Jeremiah Watt dvd is very explanitory, hopefully I'll be ok (fingers crossed!), plus I have you guys if I really get stuck which is great!!

My Husband is also very interested in saddlery but more towards the Tree Making, (he does allot of Carpentry) which would be great if he could learn somewhere as I can't seem to locate any traditional Western Tree Makers in Europe (does anyone know of any?)!

Thanks Again!