jsmith Report post Posted April 5, 2011 This is my first post I hope it is in the right spot. I had a fellow that my son worked with bring a saddle to me asking if I could fix it up for his kids. It was an old 12" swell fork that had been left to the calves and weather for a long time. When I told him what my cost would be to make it even safe he told me only paid 50$ at an auction and didnt want spend " that kind of $". In a weak moment I gave him his 50 and have started a rebuild. After stripping it down I found the tree to be raw wood just some dextrin and cotton mesh covering but the wood's all very sound..So I reshaped the swells a bit and relaced nails with screws then fiberglassed the whole thing(nasty job). I'm no as far as the ground seat its actually going better than I thought it might.The small gullet gave me some new scars and plenty to cuss about but I got it done ok I'm taking photos of the project and will post them soon if anyone would care to see what a damn fool does with his spare time. Jeff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Denise Report post Posted April 5, 2011 Post pictures! We all like pictures! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tkleather1 Report post Posted April 5, 2011 haha that is kind of a funny coincidence. I just found an old saddle that is in about the same shape. Tore it all down and found that the tree was never covered except in some sort of mesh. ( I am not a saddle builder) my plan was to attempt to build a saddle for my daughter and learn how to at least get started in the process. My problem is when I tore it all down the wood is cracked like crazy and full of "dry rot" and one of the bars is broken off way down low. so now I wont be doing anything with it anyway except hang the tree up in the shop. Post up some pictures so I can see how it is going. Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jsmith Report post Posted April 7, 2011 I'm still waiting for one of my sons to help me post pics,their busy workin ,rodeoin and livin the single life. That gives me lots of time to get this saddle done before grandkids. Im working on skirt and rigging patterns, Ive been basicly scaleing down larger patterns. Does anyone feel that is the wrong way to go?For instance 11/2" above top front of bar is too high at least it looks it to me,likewise the back of the bars are only 2" behind the cantle so 4" back for skirt or so looks about right to me. Anybody thats worked on kids saddles please give me your experiaced opinion. Jeff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
