Saddle Junkie Needing Help

[paintpony]

Hi,

I just signed up today, and I can't believe that it's taken me so long to find such a neat web site. I have a real weakness for saddles. I just purchased an older Longhorn saddle. It's in great shape other that the sheepskin. I purchased some saddle shearling from Tandys, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any and all help would be appreciated.

[Rancher]

Take the skirts off, cut the stitches and remove the old liner. Pick out all the bits of thread from the needle holes in the skirts. Re-string the skirts and re-glue the skirt plugs if necessary. Lay the skirts out on the new liner. If its real sheepskin, make sure you don't have part of your skirt laying over a bare spot on the lining. Draw a line around the skirts maybe an inch or so larger than the actual skirt. Not critical, but it helps to have some wiggle room. Use either rubber cement or contact cement to glue the new liner to the skirts then sew 'em up and put it all back together. Might wanna oil it while you've got it torn down.

Thats the way I do it, anyway. Your mileage may vary.

[paintpony]

Take the skirts off, cut the stitches and remove the old liner. Pick out all the bits of thread from the needle holes in the skirts. Re-string the skirts and re-glue the skirt plugs if necessary. Lay the skirts out on the new liner. If its real sheepskin, make sure you don't have part of your skirt laying over a bare spot on the lining. Draw a line around the skirts maybe an inch or so larger than the actual skirt. Not critical, but it helps to have some wiggle room. Use either rubber cement or contact cement to glue the new liner to the skirts then sew 'em up and put it all back together. Might wanna oil it while you've got it torn down.

Thats the way I do it, anyway. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks you Rancher. You make this sound so easy. I guess the only thing to do is just start taking it apart and cross my fingers.....

[rwc]

A tip from the Stolhman's book says to put the butt end of the shearling up at the front of the saddle so it won't slip on the saddle pad. It has worked for me.

[Rancher]

A tip from the Stolhman's book says to put the butt end of the shearling up at the front of the saddle so it won't slip on the saddle pad. It has worked for me.

Excellent point! I forgot to put that in there!

But you know....just between you and me, I've done it both ways and I've never had a saddle pad slip. I know some of the purists will reprimand me pretty severly for it, but thats been my experience. That being said, it prolly is better to orient it that way but my point is its not the end of the world if you don't.

[rickybobby]

A tip from the Stolhman's book says to put the butt end of the shearling up at the front of the saddle so it won't slip on the saddle pad. It has worked for me.

Sometimes to get larger skirts to fit on a single shearling I end up with the skirts almost sideways (at a angle instead of frt to back) to keep from spliceing, I have not had any problems/complaints from customers. Have any of you had the same results or have I just been "lucky".

Rick J.

[rickybobby]

Hi,

I just signed up today, and I can't believe that it's taken me so long to find such a neat web site. I have a real weakness for saddles. I just purchased an older Longhorn saddle. It's in great shape other that the sheepskin. I purchased some saddle shearling from Tandys, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Paintpony,

#1 Start by removing the frt. conchos, nails, screws atr the frt of the seat jockey (area under the cinch keeper and latigo keeper) look under the swell (below the horn) for 2 screws maybe some nails.

#2 Remove conchos, screws, and or nails from under the seat ear (next to the rear jockeys) this will also loosen the rear jockeys.

#3 Remove rear conchos, screws and or nails from on top of rear jockeys, they should come off now unless there are nails holding them under the cantle.

#4 Start pulling the skirts away from the saddle tree, there maybe nails on the underside of the tree bars hidden by wool. Use a long srewdriver to locate and pry on these.

#5 Remove the old sheep skin cutting the stitching with a pointed knife. Watch for skirt plugs comming off, you will want to glue those back in place before glueing the shearling on. Use a "Dental pick" kind of tool to remove old cut stitching.

#6 Lay out the sheep skin. Cut out the bald spots in the "arm pits" frt and rear. That way there are no mistakes laying your skits on thinking there is wool in those spots. Try to have the top of the skirts in the middle. Stagger them if you need to get them to fit. You want the "thickest" part of the wool at the top of the skirts (under your seat).

#7 Use a felt marker and trace around the skirts 1/2 inch to 1 inch away. This is so you know where to smear RUBBER CEMENT I prefer it over contact cement , it is more forgiving and you can replace the shearling again at a later date. Put rubber cement on the sheep skins just enough to cover inside your lines. Apply rubber cement to underside of your skirts as well. Let them "tack up" dry for 10 or 15 minutes and press your skirts onto the sheep skin. Press hard all over to push the skin into grooves, and curves of the skirts.

#8 Cut the skirts trimming the sheep skin about 1 inch away. At this point leave the sheep skin larger than the skirts untill after sewing.

#9 Sew the shearling at the sewing line. If you are hand sewing use 2 needles and a awl, be careful not to pull wool with your stitch. I would recommend taking it to a saddle shop of shoe repair shop to have them sewn. Hand stitching fun will run out quick, save your energy for reassembly.

#10 After they are sewn, use a french skiver, or a #1 saddle edger to trim the shearling to the skirting. When excess is removed "fluff" up the wool along the edges. Take a sharp pair of scissors and trim excess wool hanging out from under the skirt. Make 2 or 3 passes to get it all even.

#11 Start reassembly process by locating the frt. holes the frt screws were in and screw them in. This lines up everything behind them. Pull up "lug straps" and tack into place. Skirts should be in proper place now. (If they are laced in the back there is a whole step for this, we will need to address seperatly)(if there are saddle strings there is another step) install the rear jockeys, use gavanized nails 1 inch. 1 shoud do. Check to make sure they did not go through the skirt. I don't put nails back into the bars underside there should be no need if everything else is right. Replace nails under the gullet next to the screws.

#12 Put side conchos and frt conchos on and you should be ready to ride!

If there are saddle strings on this saddle and if the skirts are laced together there are some additional steps. No big deal we will just need to handle those questions when you get to that point. The first saddle I relined took me 2 full days (16 hours +) I now do them in about 4 hours start to finish, on average. I also machine sew them!

Good luck, and don't be afraid to ask additional questions. Everyone here likes to help. This site has helped me a bunch.

Rick Jorgenson