schemi Report post Posted August 18, 2010 what is used for filling in the dents by caused by the nails in the rawhide like on the back of the cantle and the forks? I only have a few but they show right through the leather. thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bruce johnson Report post Posted August 18, 2010 Ideally there shouldn't be any dents in the rawhide behind the fork, it should just make a nice transition down to the bars. If you use risers, they should take care of any small dents there. As far as the back of the cantle - any dents or puckers there would be harder to deal with. Anything that is pulled up will make it harder to fit the rear jockeys in there tight. Is there a little rawhide lace to help keep the rawhide pulled down in there? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D.A. Kabatoff Report post Posted August 18, 2010 Schemi, who made the tree you are using? I'd suspect it's a factory made tree if you need to fill in dents... one more benefit of handmade trees is that you don't have to waste your time filling in those dents. If you rough up the rawhide with coarse sand paper you can use a wood filler putty on those dents or if they are too deep you can use a 1" whole punch to cut some plugs which can be skived around the edges and then glued into the indents. Darcy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kseidel Report post Posted August 18, 2010 Even using handmade trees you will get the depressions where the nails hold the rawhide to the wood. Your ground seat leather will cover all of them in the seat and front side of the cantle. If they are deep enough to show through your swell cover and cantle back, you will need to glue a piece of leather over the swell and cantle covering the holes and skive the leather to shape the tree smooth over the nails. Keith Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frank Report post Posted August 18, 2010 Another method I have seen used, is to rough up the rawhide with sandpaper and apply Bondo. When it sets, just sand it down flush. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
horsewreck Report post Posted August 20, 2010 Are we talking about a saddle you are building or are we talking about a saddle you own? The only time I have seen tree nails "telegraphing" through leather on the cantle backs or swell covers are on low end mass produced saddles. This is for the most part caused by the use of very the thin leather used to cover these areas in a hurry at the factory. If this is the type of saddle we are talking about I would say there is not much you can do short of replacing the leather, if this is a saddle you are making then use one of the methods described above. Hope this helps..... Jeff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
