Fresh Off The Bench

[Denise]

Brent,

Some pictures are here and sounds like there will be more to come.

http://leatherworker...=0entry126244

PS. Nice saddle!

[bruce johnson]

Brent,

I hate to just say "Another great job" with nothing else to qualify it, so here goes. Another great job on everything you have done similar to before, and I like that little deal you did with the slotted conchos on the back billets of this one.

[bran7347]

Well, thanks for saying so. I actually thought about it for a couple of seconds....just long enough to remind myself of the caliber of work that has been entered up there in recent years..... Guys like Troy West, Don Butler, VanDyke, Pedro Pedrini, to name but a few that consistently bring their jaw dropping, eye popping best work.

I do have one I was planning on entering, but I ran out of time and I'm still not done with it. The way the show works, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have any floral carving you must enter in the open floral and that catagory puts you smack dab up next to the likes of the aforementioned talent that take the term "full carve" to a whole new dimension. And if it ain't carved it's covered with silver.

So yeah, I'm still workin' on it.... But thanks again for the encouragement. I'd like to see some pics of the entries, though. Anybody got some?

I went up there Friday and saw most of the work, Those guys are amazing. I still think you would have been right in there with the best of them though. Troy told me that Don Butler won that class.

Brandon

[Go2Tex]

Well that shouldn't surprise anyone. Don Butler is usually in the money. He never seems to fail to come up with a new twist on it. Yeah, I should have at least gone up there to see it but 6.5 hours is a long drive..... Of course, down here, everything's a long drive.

Bruce, about those rear billet conchos..... that came about because the customer changed her mind after I'd already punched the holes for ties, so I had 3 holes and she wanted the new Jerimiah Watt billet loops. So, I did the best I could with the conchos. I just ran the 2 ties from the backside through the top hole and down under the concho in front.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Go2Tex

[jwwright]

Howdy Brent...................I somehow missed this when you first posted it.....................really nice work as usual. JW

[Go2Tex]

Howdy Brent...................I somehow missed this when you first posted it.....................really nice work as usual. JW

Thank you, sir. Appreciate the feedback.

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Brent,

I'm not sure how I missed this the first time around but really nice work! It can be difficult making a short saddle look balanced but with the shape of your skirts and fenders and seat jockeys, you don't even notice the difference in length. Looks like you did some nice stitching on the horn cap and cantle binding and your floral carving just gets smoother every saddle.

Darc

[Go2Tex]

Hi Brent,

I'm not sure how I missed this the first time around but really nice work! It can be difficult making a short saddle look balanced but with the shape of your skirts and fenders and seat jockeys, you don't even notice the difference in length. Looks like you did some nice stitching on the horn cap and cantle binding and your floral carving just gets smoother every saddle.

Darc

Well, thank you Darc, for saying so. Yeah, the stitching is coming along, much thanks to guys like you with your tips on thread and such. Your work has been a real inspiration to me and I strive for that kind of perfection with every poke of the awl. It just don't always work out that way! This cantle was a royal pain due to the very steep angle. And the carving is something that I always strive to improve with each attempt. Our weather down here in South Texas can be a factor that I'm still struggling with. It seems to swing wildly from very humid to very dry and that keeps you always at the mercy of something unpredictable from one day to the next. I'm either sitting there waiting for it to dry or trying to keep it wet enough to tool. Lot's o' fun.

Anyhow, very nice to hear from ya. How's biz up thar in the frozen North?

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Brent,

seems my little corner of the frozen north isn't so frozen. Had the longest summer I can remember and the rains are just starting to come (about a month and a half late). I have the same casing problems as you; Being in a coastal rainforest plays havoc with my leather casing. It takes about two full days to air-dry leather here and three or four if I leave it under the sheepskin before it's ready to carve... when it's finally ready for carving it suddenly has an extraordinary ability to dry out. Good thing I'm in a run of plain roughouts right now, gives me a chance to get some of my sanity back.

Darc

[jbird]

Wow I don't know how I missed this but it's amazing works thanks for sharing.

Josh