First Saddle

[Lamplog]

I finally got enough gumption to post my first saddle. I cannot thank folks enough for their help both personally and with the help on this site. I went full time this spring and so far I barely have my head above water. I have been busy in the repair business, braiding and some small tack items. This has been a dream of mine for some time to build saddles. This one is on a Sonny Felkins Tree, with an all leather ground seat. I am in the process of starting a second, on one of Denise & Rod Nikkels trees. There is quite a lot on this one that I hope to improve on. Enough said. I would ask for any help and critique that ya all can give me, and it would be greatly appreciated. Living in this part of the country makes it a little difficult to get any help, so I have relied heavily on this site, books, videos and the help of an elder gentlemen (retired saddle repair business) and friend who never built new saddles but greatly supported me and offered as much advise as possible. He comes to my shop almost every day and has been my best advertisement. I have spoke with some of ya all over the phone and cannot thank you enough for taking the time to talk with me.

Thank You,

Tom

[Billy H]

Hi Tom,

If this is your first saddle, I am truley impressed! You must have alot of talent in those hands of yours.

I am not going to offer critique, I just don't have enough experience to throw out there .

I will say that your Ear cuts are very nice, not easy to do and make them fit nice, one of many things that challenge me.

Great Job! Regards Billy

[jwwright]

Very good first saddle Tom..........good job. JW

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

Tom,

Very nice for a first saddle. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Rod

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Very Nice , especially for the first one. Shows that you take the time to pay attention to detail. "That is what separates the chaf from the wheat"! Keep up the good work.

Bob

[steve mason]

Howdy Lamplog;

First off, for your first saddle, wow awesome job!!! Nice balanced lines and pretty clean work overall, but enough atta boys,LOL

I am assuming you posted for some constructive critisism. So here goes,

-make you curved lines curved with no straight sections and nice and even, looking at the rear jockey line there is a bobble in the flow of the line, try keep these curves as smooth as possible.

-the front seat jockey is a little to high, it should balance with the rear jockey line

-try to keep the cantle binding edge an even distance with the leading edge of the cantle, it looks like yours is close to the edge on the corners then a little farther back on the top of the cantle, this just gives a cleaner look to the bind

-from looking at your second photo it appears as if the skirts and not screwed to the front gullet edge, this will help sucure the skirts to the tree.

-OK another atta boy!! you did an awsome job on the ears, IMO this is where many saddle makers fail, your ears are very nice and tight and clean.

-I would like the see the rope strap buckle strap a little shorter, I prefer the buckle as close to the seat edge as possible so there is no chance that your rope can catch the buckle when you are taking your wraps.

-the hobble carry appears to be canted forward a little, and the leather hanger on the hobble ring could be a little wider.

You are definatly on the right track, IMO there are many full time makers whom should take a look at your saddle and pull up their socks. And by using true custom trees from folks like the Nikkels will only make your next saddle better, there is some many little details that go into a custom tree that makes the job of building the saddle easier.

Steve

[Lamplog]

Hi all,

I want to thank you for the kind complements, I suspect that is always something that makes you feel good. Especially when you hear it round about from customers. But when it comes from your constituents, well that always adds some inspiration. I am a firm believer that you are your own best critic, and if not the good lord has a way of showing you, even when you are not looking. I have been working with leather for about 30 yrs. I started out of necessity because my brother and I logged with draft horses and most of the old timers remembered the good ol' days but could not offer much in the way of working or repairing leather. I remember braking a tug on a yankee d-ring harness and wondering how the heck do ya sew through all that leather, fortunately we had spare parts everywhere and the broke tug sat there for quite some time. So I started sewing leather out of necessity. I returned to Oklahoma after some time in college and did not live to far from Billy Cooks shop. At that time it was just him, I use to walk in and visit and could not get enough of the smell of leather. I guess thats what hooked me in the beginning. I spent another 10 years out there and then returned to NH as my family was here. Trouble was there just was not any good gear here to be had. I started braiding some gear, mainly for myself and friends and then I had some folks tell they wanted to buy some headstalls and such. That was the start there. I have had the good fortune to own a couple of good custom saddles, back when I had money. In working in the repair of saddles, I have had some good ones in here to work on and I am always seeing how other saddlers are doing things. Ray Hunt came here back about 15 yrs ago and I had the opportunity to ride with him, a few times and I was hooked on them "Wades". Anyway what all this leads up to is, I did not just think hey I am going to build saddles for a living, it has come about over time. I wish I had the opportunity to work in a custom saddle shop before I ventured into this and earn my keep and get some knowledge before attempting this. But I knew the only way I could get a start was to dive in. Make a ton of mistakes, you bet. I tore two fork covers off this one before I made one stick right, three cantle bindings and I am still not happy with the one thats on there. Maybe someday I'll fess up and show it to ya all, pretty bad. Fortunately I have worked with stamping and carving a little to the point that I felt comfortable working and casing the leather. I have a long way to go in that department and struggle with that side of this saddle makin. I plan on making a bunch more mistakes before I might even come up with an ounce of the talent that a lot of ya all have! Well that is just one part of the show as ya all know. Now comes fittin the saddle to a rider and horse! I have had the good fortune of making a living for a while ridin, and so I know what a saddle should feel like and I think I can get the horse situated fairly well. There sure is a lot to this business.

Without having this site to rely on the post's of ya all, I might never had been able to get the first one finished. So you may get tired of me say thank you.

What I saw as problems:

- Getting my patterns cut out for the first time.

-Front jockey to narrow and did not drop down to meet the line of the back jockey. Not sure how but when I cut the pattern out it seemed like I had it pretty good. Measure twice cut once. Not sure where I heard that.

-Swell cover not even all the way around coming over the gullet. I had a hard time with the cover stretching more than I wanted when I went to glue it down. Got it better the 3rd time and feel a lot better about next time around, had a hard time with the cut around the hand hole.

Cantle binding - Ok Uncle! Just had a hard time getting it to smooth out without wrinkling. Getting my stitches to come out even. Probably going to make some more mistakes here. Thanks for pointing out the cantle binding edge.

My ground seat feels pretty good but may just be a little flat and I feel that I might not have taken enough dish out in the cantle, as that feels just a little flat for my liking. But then I do not have the smallest seat back there.

The skirts are screwed on the corners of the gullet but maybe I did not get them high enough to bring them up/down tight.

Well the list is plenty.

When I look at the overall picture of the saddle, I am fairly happy for my first. When I break it down, thats where I know I have a tremendous amount of things to improve on.

Dear Steve,

I really appreciate you taking the time to point these things out, it really means a lot to me to have that sort of feedback. Some of the things you mentioned I was not totally aware of. I have admired your work for some time and know that you are certainly one of the saddles makers that I know I aspire too.

JW and Bob, I have read many a post of ya all's and appreciate the time and effort that ya all have in contributing to this site.

Billy, I appreciate ya all taking the time and your complements.

Rod & Denise,

Now I have to get to work, I have another saddle to build. I hate to have to cover this tree with leather, ya all's trees are truly a work of art and to nice to cover as they are as pretty as the leather that goes over them. Folks do not get to see that part. I cannot thank ya all enough!!!!

Tom