Starting First Saddle

[Chaed]

Hello leatherworkers!

I'm pretty new to the hobby and I'm starting big. I've been in search for a new saddle for almost a year now, but it figures that nobody in my country has one that fits. I found LW and stalked the forums for a few months, now I finally decided to make my own.

I owe a bunch of thanks to Rod&Denise Nikkel who made me a perfect wade tree.

After I received that it still took a while to get together the rest of stuff, but I was lucky to combine it with a trip to the States and get three sides of 12-14oz. Hermann Oak, a shearling and Jeremiah Watt hardware. You don't want to know how the airport staff looked at me at customs when I arrived in Austria with one and a half cows and the bling-bling to decorate it...

Now I finally found the time to start this huge project. It's going to be a slow process, because I can only work on it on the weekends, but my plan is to have it under the christmas tree.

Today I did the gullet:

Cut, skived and ready to apply I was a little shocked at how good this contact cement held when I first placed the gullet a little off the side. It was a pain to get it back off and replace it. Next week I'm going to fix my car with this.

I borrowed the design after I saw the Saddle Slide Show video on Youtube by Keith Valley. Sadly, I only did a mediocre job at it because I think the leather was still too wet when I started stamping, but I'll get better in time. My biggest problem is that my ceramic beader blade drags in the leather (even after half an hour of stropping on each side!) and that once I stamp, the double line has those little bumps in it and isn't straight anymore. Any advice?

Now, I have one more problem that I don't know how to solve:

See those little blue/black dots on the leather? They weren't there when the leather was dry, but as soon as I wet it, they showed up. This happened to some of my scrap leather too and first I was thinking mold, but I'm keeping the HO sides in another part of the house just because of that so I was dismayed when they appeared again. It can't be dirty hands, because I've been wearing gloves just so I wouldn't get the leather dirty. Then I thought perhaps it's something in the water, so I cased a piece of scrap in distilled water. Same again. What am I doing wrong? Is there any way to get rid of those spots again or to prevent them altogether?

Thanks a lot for your time,

Anne

[Northmount]

The dots look like contamination with iron filings. The tannin (tannic acid) in the leather plus iron make these dots. Check out the vinegaroon process used to dye leather black. Need to keep all metal filings away from your leather working area.

You can use lemon juice or oxalic acid to bleach the dots out. Some people use a q-tip or paint brush to treat just the spot. You can bleach the whole surface if necessary. Do a search for oxalic acid here and you will find lots of posts.

Good luck with your big project. In about 1961 I got into leatherwork because my grandfather gave me an old saddle that needed a lot of repair. The saddle got left behind in one of our moves, so never ever got fixed and I haven't ventured into saddle making or repair. I envy you and compliment you on being brave enough to try on your own.

CTG

[Chaed]

Northmount,

thanks for your quick reply. Here's the curious thing about it: I cut and cased this piece of leather in a different room, and put it in a brand new plastic bag. The only thing from my workspace was my round knife. Could that be contaminated from sharpening/stropping? I will wash all my tools, just in case.

[Northmount]

It's possible. Maybe a few filings stuck to it past your stroping, or maybe even on your fingers. So yes, wipe down your knife carefully and wash your hands before handling the leather. I was just wondering if some hand creams would do this, but not likely as dots, more likely as finger prints.

What about your water source for casing? If you have iron pipes in your area, it could be from some rusty water. Does your tap run muddy red first thing in the morning sometimes when the first flow of water stirs the sediment in the pipes up? I was in an old city (Belfort France) one day when they had done some work on the street water main. After the water was turned back on, it ran muddy red for a couple hours before it got flushed through. Didn't feel like showering in it!

Some people will only used distiller water or demineralized water for casing due to there water possibly being contaminated with minerals. Lots of water wells in rural locations have high iron content.

CTG

[RWB]

A lot of times Hermann Oak skirting will do that the first time you get it wet. It just happens, and it's really not a big deal. I have a bigger problem with it than other people since I use city water in my shop. I have other saddle maker friends that use use the well water that they have outside of city limits and it doesn't seem to be as bad for them. There are a lot of things that can affect it, I have a terrible time with fingerprints. I can wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water, grab a wet piece of leather and fingerprint it to the point the I have to oxalic acid it. The only thing that I can attribute it to is that maybe the oils in my skin are different than other people's. Not sure.

The point being, it's no big deal, just fit your piece, stamp it, put it in, and don't acid it until you are ready to put a finish on it. Its best not to acid it more than once. Hope that helps.

Ross

P.S. I have never used lemon juice, there is something about that, that makes me kinda run backward. Oxalic acid is what I prefer.

[Northmount]

P.S. I have never used lemon juice, there is something about that, that makes me kinda run backward. Oxalic acid is what I prefer.

I agree with you about lemon juice. There are others here that use it rather than track down oxalic acid, or that seem to be uncomfortable using something with acid in the name. Oxalic acid has always done a nice job for me.

If you can't get it in a good paint supply store, then order it through a local pharmacy. Cost less than $20 for about a pound.

CTG

[Chaed]

I tried fixing a piece of scrap leather with lemon juice, since that was what I had on hand. Worked wonders! I will deffo get oxalic acid for my saddle though! I am just completely relieved that this is something fixable. Phew.

Time for some updates too! Last weekend's work:

Risers.

Glueing the strainer to its cover.

Little hidden code on the backside!

Strainer installed, and some horse armors in the background (my other big hobby).

I then failed to take a picture of the shield phase.

After long sittting/skiving sessions the result my butt is happy with.

This weekend: Horn cover!

Looking forward to your guys' opinions!

Cheers,

Anne

[Northmount]

Great work. Since I have never built a saddle, I'm following this closely and really looking forward to the next post. Keep it up.

Tom

[NoName]

I gotta say, it doesn't look like rookie work to me. I like the pictures you are posting of the progress. The picture in my avatar was my first. Much of the credit goes to the Stohlman books on saddlemaking. I hope it turns out good for you and I will be following your thread as you post more pictures.

[Chaed]

Northmount and NoName, thanks so much for your comments, guys, you don't know how motivating they are!

This weekend I did the fork cover after all. I decided for that cap&wrap horn style, so the fork had to go on first. You'd think that with a slick fork that'd be easy, but I had a heck of a time fitting it good and I'm still not 100% happy with it. But let the pictures speak for themselves...

The rough cut.

The horn was just a *little* too big to fit thru that hole so I had to make a small cut and start the whole dilemma of covering it up again.

I tried about four different lacings on scrap leather and after realizing that they were all too difficult and more or less impossible (for me) to pull off on the fork cover I went back to the good old easy and basic method. After a little hammering (this is before) it looks presentable enough!

This is just before the headache starts. It all went good apart from some hammer marks which I'll erase with my new friend oxalic acid later. That was until I had to do that gullet/fork connection with the scallops. It was horrible. It didn't fit, it made wrinkles and in my desperation I cut into places I probably shouldn't have. There are no immediate pictures of this progress. I was frustrated.

This is it after drying. The front is not perfect (I would have prefered the fork to cover a bit more of the gullet) but it's symmetrical and I can happily live with it.

This is the downside, quite literally. I somehow ended up with too little leather underneath although I followed the instructions from Harry Adams' saddlemaking book + some extra cm for safety. I would have liked this scalloped cover to be a bit bigger. The scallops themselves are smaller than usual because I lack the larger tool I'll rather invest into something else. The real messup is at the fork/groundseat/handhole triangle, but I'll show you that sometime later... like when it's covered by the seat!.... hopefully.

Here is a last sneak peak of some future planning:

Looking forward to your comments!

Cheers from Austria,

Anne