Rolling The Cantle Binding

[RidersChoiceSaddleCo]

Mike, I noticed that you are not far from our shop since you are in Rome Ga. which is only about an hour away. If you ever have trouble or need some tips contact me and you can ride up and spend some time with our master saddler. He has been building for 40+ years and he makes it look easy. Jerry

[horsewreck]

In my opinion you're right about cutting a binder in a shape rather than a straight piece, it does add more leather to do something with on the underside. By shaping the straight piece to fit the top side of a cantle it naturally starts you in the right direction on the bottom. And learning to shape a straight piece onto a cantle saves waste during lay out and cutting. A lot of people use the shaped one and it works fine for them, I just like straight, I feel there is some advantage to the straight once you learn to work with it. I'd like to ask where on the hide most of you are choosing to cut a piece for a cantle binder though ?

Jim, I came across this topic and your posts on cutting out a rolled cantle binder straight instead of curved or round which is the method I have a always used. I made a note of your comments and last week used the straight cut piece method you described and I have to tell you that is the single best tip I have ever got on saddle making. I cut it out from a piece of 7-8oz. thinned it on the ends and bottom to around 4oz, cased it up and tacked it down on top starting from the center. Buy the time I got down to the ears I could see it wanted to fold up under up the bottom almost on it's own. I could have only been happier if it had sewn itself. Just goes to show you you can teach a old dog new stuff. Thanks again.... Jeff

[Go2Tex]

I would like to echo the other sentiments and suggestions. I have gotten away from tacking the binding, however. I find that it messes up my stitch line and is really not necessary on the backside. I figured out through trial and error that part of the trouble with shaping the binding was that I was not giving myself enough room underneath in the fold of the back cantle piece. Obviously, the more I layed the cantle back, the more trouble I had shaping the binding in the fold, wrinkles were harder to deal with and my fingers hurt like hell.

The key seems to be in shaping the fold area of the back cantle to allow enough room to work. This requires laying it back off the top of cantle quite a bit, which, of course, causes a wide gap between the cantle top rim and the back cantle piece.

If you use a cantle filler, it will span the gap but not really fill it in and will leave a depression or crease. The gap is still there and that seems to make for a floppy roll, or potentially so. The gap can be filled in with a wedge shaped piece of leather cut from the edge of a thick piece of skirting. Once glued into the gap, it adds a bit of rigidity and also, I believe, makes stitching a bit easier since there is less opportunity for the needles to get off their path between the front and back.

So, first off, I use an arched pattern. I cut the binding from the middle of the side, down low where the grain is not real fleshy but has some stretch to it and try to get the edge that will show on the front into the firmer leather. I want a nice edge, so this is important.

I case it as normal and then try to pull it through my Heritage lap skiver splitter without totally distroying it and my workbench it is attached to and the workshop wall the bench is attached to. Then, if it is still in useable shape, and about 7/8 oz., I start shaping it over my roll and working out the wrinkles underneath as described. Usually, it needs a bit more skiving in the critical areas if it's a firm piece of leather. I use the saddler's hammer flat end to push the leather into the fold and up under the roll at the ear cut area. I shape it as best I can and let it dry. I don't tack it at all. (rawhide is another story). Sometimes I'll tack it on the sides at the ear cut but that's just to keep it from slipping around as I shape it. Once dry, if it needs tooling, I'll mark it, rewet, flatten it out and tool it, then reshape it and let it dry again. Then slick and dye the front edge, and glue it down. I prefer to stitch it dry. I might rewet the back fold area if need, but wet leather will not pull up as tight without tearing through the stitches.

I use Jeremiah Watt's cantle binding trimming tool. It costs an arm and a leg, but that baby is worth every penny.