Hoping To Remove A Pommel

[PIGPIN]

Hi all,

Quite an informative site, saddlery is a very intriguing skill and craft. I'm customizing a motorcycle currently and had the idea of using an old trail riding saddle as the seat. I've found a cheap used western saddle on ebay for about $100 to conduct this experiment on. Due to the tendancy tuck over the tank on a motorcycle, it kinda means my stomach would be resting on the horn and pommel, which I would imagine could be painful if I were to hit a pothole or bump in the road. I wanted to pose a few questions to this site about the feasibility of removing the pommel:

1. Am I crazy for wanting to try this? or has anyone heard of someone else doing this? (removing a pommel)

2. What would be the best way to deconstuct it?

Should I try to remove the leather from it before cutting the tree, or just cut through the bottom side and come through the seam between the pommel and the seat/jockey.

I'm also removing the skirt and stirups, thought those are just leather and I have found instuctions on how to remove them without causing any damage. I know the tree is made of wood, so in essence I should be able to cut it out by hand with a dremmel or coping saw. Though I know it's also rather fundamental to the construction of the saddle. So I worry that if I were to attempt this, I may forfeit the rest of the saddle to be structurally un-usable (as a motorcycle seat, obviously this is never going to be used on a horse again). Now I could keep the pommel and cut the horn off, but I think that would look dumb. The hope is to have the horn and pommel still intact to use stylistically else where on the bike. I'm doing this with the stirups and skirt to better incorperate the saddle leather with the bike design and even the metal portion of the stirups as additional pegs.

Any information or experiance is appreciated! And cool forums, leather working is an awesome art form.

Thanks!

-Marco

Edited February 24, 2010 by PIGPIN

[ridesapaint]

Hi all,

Quite an informative site, saddlery is a very intriguing skill and craft. I'm customizing a motorcycle currently and had the idea of using an old trail riding saddle as the seat. I've found a cheap used western saddle on ebay for about $100 to conduct this experiment on. Due to the tendancy tuck over the tank on a motorcycle, it kinda means my stomach would be resting on the horn and pommel, which I would imagine could be painful if I were to hit a pothole or bump in the road. I wanted to pose a few questions to this site about the feasibility of removing the pommel:

1. Am I crazy for wanting to try this? or has anyone heard of someone else doing this? (removing a pommel)

2. What would be the best way to deconstuct it?

Should I try to remove the leather from it before cutting the tree, or just cut through the bottom side and come through the seam between the pommel and the seat/jockey.

I'm also removing the skirt and stirups, thought those are just leather and I have found instuctions on how to remove them without causing any damage. I know the tree is made of wood, so in essence I should be able to cut it out by hand with a dremmel or coping saw. Though I know it's also rather fundamental to the construction of the saddle. So I worry that if I were to attempt this, I may forfeit the rest of the saddle to be structurally un-usable (as a motorcycle seat, obviously this is never going to be used on a horse again). Now I could keep the pommel and cut the horn off, but I think that would look dumb. The hope is to have the horn and pommel still intact to use stylistically else where on the bike. I'm doing this with the stirups and skirt to better incorperate the saddle leather with the bike design and even the metal portion of the stirups as additional pegs.

Any information or experiance is appreciated! And cool forums, leather working is an awesome art form.

Thanks!

-Marco

Hello Marco,

Yup, you're crazy, but so am I. Funny to read this thread at this time. I had a close friend die last month who let me ride his harley when I asked, something he really never let others do. So, In his honor I decided to build a custom chopper in my kitchen while I am away from home working. I know very little about harley type bikes and am learning a TON in a short period of time

I decided to build a solo seat for the bike and am using a ralide (plastic) saddle tree I bought for $40 or something from the ralide website:

http://www.ralide.co...40&cat=4&page=1

I cut the whole pommel and horn off, and am cutting down the bars significantly while leaving the back of the bars intact so I can have back jockeys to form-fit to the fender. I am also cutting down the cantle a bunch to keep the basic design bobber-style if thats possible. I will have to put a couple strong steel braces under the tree so I can mount the front hinge and rear springs or struts--I haven't really decided how to attach the back of the seat on yet (at what point does a saddle become a seat?).

tree before cutting down

and after:

trimmed down

The issues I can see you having will be using a older tree that might not hold together very well once you get hacking it down. And recycling the leather will be a challenge as well, but I think it can be done. I bought a serious strong shelf bracket from the local hardware store and will use it to reenforce the tree while providing a place to secure the seat to the bike frame. It can be done nicely, but it is not a basic project, thats for sure.

Jerry

Edited February 25, 2010 by ridesapaint