All leather ground seat

[Steve Brewer]

I will attempt to show my meathod of puttig in a all leather ground seat.We start with the bare tree and I add risers

We then skive the risers to the shape of the bars

Then i add the leather strainer piece and skive it to desired shape

Followed by 3 pieces on top of it

Skive to shape then add cover piece and skive out final shape

Hope this will help some out .I cut the hand hole and stirrup slots after the seat is streched in.

Steve

[Traveller]

Thanks for posting those pictures, Steve! Very interesting.

I wonder if someone who uses tin seat strainers wouldn't mind posting photos of that process, not as a way for any of us to decide which method we prefer (it would be impossible to decide that anyway through photos) but because I, for one, am very interested in what it all looks like underneath the finished product.

Thanks again!

Joanne

[CWR]

Steve,

Do you use any tacks or nails or is it just glued in? I may be missing them in the pictures. Wish I could sit there with a few of those 'stones and watch you put it in.

Thanks,

CW

[Steve Brewer]

CW,It will be nailed in after the stirup slots and the hand hole is cut out

[Denise]

Steve,

Thanks for taking the time to do this! Seeing pictures like this makes all the difference to understanding. I'm curious now to read if others have variations on your method. Seems the groundseat could be something every saddle maker does differently...

[Windom Leather]

Thanks Steve,

That has really opened my eyes and answered alot of my questions.

Thank you for sharing

[jwwright]

Thanks for posting this Steve..........sure is alot more constructive than folks taking pot shots at each other over varying methods. It's always interesting and informative to see how other makers are doing things, especially those of your calliber. JW

[bruce johnson]

Steve,

Great posting, and I have to agree with JW. You have convinced me to go back to cutting my handhole and stirrup slots after fitting in the seat. Thanks.

[mulefool]

I had decided to start cutting the hand hole afterwards, too. Would you mind saying a few words about how you determine the corners and shape? Do you just draw a curve that looks right each time or do you have a template you use to make the curve the way you like? I'm assuming you would maybe come up from the bottom with an awl blade to determine where you want the corners to be. I imagine you could stick the awl through from the bottom to determine the top of the curve behind the fork as well? Or is there a better way? The part that has me worried the most is the curve against the back of the fork. I see lots of possibilities for disaster there.

Thanks for taking the time to show us how you do it.

One other question, I had been thinking about also using plugs so I wouldn't have to cut the stirrups leather slots afterwards. Is there a reason you prefer not to? Thanks, Chris

[hidepounder]

Steve,

I enjoyed visiting with you yesterday. I commented on your photo tutorial and I'm not sure what happened but I apparently didn't get it posted correctly. I just wanted to tell you that the photos you posted are terrific and make installing an all leather ground seat easy for a non-saddlemaker like me to understand. I hope you took photos of the process as you progressed showing cutting the hand hole and stirrup leather slots. This is very informative and I want to thank you for making the effort and for sharing!

Bobby