Inskirt Rigging Again

[mworthan]

Good Morning,

This is my first post and I wanted to first thank all of your for your gracious contributions to all of us to help further our knowledge, personally I have gained quite a bit.

I am getting ready to build two inskirt rigged saddles and wanted to make sure that I understand the construction.

I have created a quick sketch of how I think the process is generally accomplished with the style chosen using a back dee. Please excuse how rough it looks.

Two areas that I am unclear about...

1. I generally think that the stitching would be accomplished to create a pocket for the front of the bars between the two layers that form the rigging and skirt. Is this correct?

I also assume that my stitching would go around the front tip of the bars to form a shallow pocket, or do you just stich the circumference of the skirt to catch the rigging and skirt where the rigging ends in front of the bar tip at the gullet?

2. Also I believe that the rigging is skived to lay on top of the skirt then the skirt formed/blocked to allow for a rear plug. Then stiched where the two meet. Most of this stitch (including the top of the rear dee) is covered with the rear housing, fender and drop on the seat cover. Sound right?

I am sorry to beat this to death, just wanted to make sure it is done right.

Thanks,

Mike Worthan

Rome, GA

[Ben]

Mike,

Your picture is how I made the inskirt rig for a trail saddle I built. It worked very well. Jon Watsabaugh was my inspiration.

He has posted on inskirt rigging here on the forum. Here are some links.

http://leatherworker...?showtopic=1235

http://leatherworker...showtopic=18136

Ben

[mworthan]

Very good. Thanks very much. I'll give it a shot.

Mike

[seveneves]

Thanks so much for posting that diagram. It explains it really well. I just had one question. How does it connect as it goes around the front bar pad around under the gullet? I'm talking about the top piece of the rigging.

[Ben]

Seveneves,

Here is a picture of how I did it. I skived the rigging extension coming around under the gullet down to zero, glued, and sewed. The inside stitch is the rigging to the skirt. The outside stitch is the sheep skin and the rigging sewn to the skirt.

Ben

Edited February 11, 2011 by Ben

[mworthan]

Just saw this pop back up with a question and it reminded me that Troy West had sent some additional info so I want to post it here. these are excerpts from the emails sent...

"You do stitch the outer edge of the skirts of course which locks top and bottom together and holds the woolskins on. You do not stitch around the bar in front. You do block in the skirts around the bars in front and rear, but not in the stirrup leather area. Do this before glueing on the top rigging.

Your sketch of the plugs coming up and ending just under the rigging is correct as well but most guys do not skive the rigging on top much at all, just enough to where your machine can sew neatly over the transition."

Me asking...

"Troy,

Thanks for the reply. More help than I could ask for.

Does it look like I am handling the rear dee properly by keeping it part of the rigging?"

"Mike,

The answer is yes. Keeping the rear dee part of the rigging is the best way to do it. What you have drawn is very good."

So there is a few more tidbits added to the topic. I am actually getting ready to start those saddles the end of the week on a pair of wood post Will James from Thom Stevenson at Precision.

I'll post how it goes.

Thanks, Mike

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Mike, there are a lot of people that do it many different ways and they work just fine, and really to each his own. Personally, I like to plug the skirts front and back on all my saddles. In the case of inskirt rigged saddles, at the front I modify the plug by skiving the leading edge of the plug that goes out to the front edge of the skirt, down to almost nothing so it won't create too thick a front edge when combined with the skirt and rigging. I hope that's not too confusing, it's just that I like the pocket that is formed and the fact that the plug helps keep that pocket in tact and the skirt firmly located to the tree. Again, just my preference, and there are many ways that work well. Plugging all around is a little more work, but; so what. Attached is a pic of one I did that way.

Bob

[seveneves]

I forgot to tell you Ben, thanks for taking the time to post that. It makes more sense now. That was the only part I didn't understand.