Ruff Out

[CWR]

I just replaced the swell cover on a ruff out saddle for a guy and where I skived the welts looks different than the rest of the cover. I roughed it up with a sanding block and it helped but I can stil see the transition line. This saddle is used hard and in a few days it won't matter but I would like for it to leave the shop looking asa good as I can get it. What do yall normally do?

Another thing, when I took the old cover off, It had little shims about an inch on either side of the welt that fit around the welts and were skived down to nothing to help the welts lay in smoother. Never heard of that before. Do any of yall do that?

Thanks,

CW

[kseidel]

Use coarser sandpaper to sand the skived areas. Usually have to sand entire swell to get uniform nap. After oiling and finishing you should not see any noticeable skived area.

The welt plugs are fairly common on higher grade saddles. sometimes very necessary to get a smooth welted swell cover.

Keith

[CWR]

Use coarser sandpaper to sand the skived areas. Usually have to sand entire swell to get uniform nap. After oiling and finishing you should not see any noticeable skived area.

The welt plugs are fairly common on higher grade saddles. sometimes very necessary to get a smooth welted swell cover.

Keith

Thanks Keith. I got after it with some 60 grit and then some finer grit and it's really uniform. I'm going to try the welt plugs on the next one I do. I learn something every time I tear one down.

Thanks again.

CW

[wyoming]

Always put shims around my welts. Learned that thirty years ago reairing a Connolly Bros. saddle.

I just replaced the swell cover on a ruff out saddle for a guy and where I skived the welts looks different than the rest of the cover. I roughed it up with a sanding block and it helped but I can stil see the transition line. This saddle is used hard and in a few days it won't matter but I would like for it to leave the shop looking asa good as I can get it. What do yall normally do?

Another thing, when I took the old cover off, It had little shims about an inch on either side of the welt that fit around the welts and were skived down to nothing to help the welts lay in smoother. Never heard of that before. Do any of yall do that?

Thanks,

CW

[aermotor]

CW,

Thanks for posting the information about the shims on the swell covers. For the past ten years, I've tried to read all of the instructions I could find, and I have never ran across that one. I really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Aermotor