Full floral carved saddle on Rick Reed tree- Estes Saddlery

[greg gomersall]

Thanks for the suggestions, Greg. Steve Mecum told me he had never made a saddle he was totally satisfied with altogether. He's made near 500 saddles, too. With that in mind, I personally feel my saddles are better than so-so for the number under my belt, and so do all my customers. They speak on my website much louder than I do. I'm all with you on the design challenge. It seems now like carving it is almost easy compared to designing a great pattern. Tooling is a matter of preference, and everybody has to develop their own "style." Speaking of greats, some of Dale Harwood's older saddles hardly have any stems at all. It just appears like mostly leaves and flowers. On the other hand, Cary Schwarz's patterns appear to be mostly stems and circles, with the leaves, flowers, etc. in the background. It's all matter of opinion and preference. You can rest assured, though, I will continue to seek improvement. THANKS AGAIN!

Ted

Some of Dale's recent saddles also have few stems and are mostly leaves and flowers BUT they flow together now as they did then. Good Luck. Greg

[tnestes]

Some of Dale's recent saddles also have few stems and are mostly leaves and flowers BUT they flow together now as they did then. Good Luck. Greg

Greg,

You are exactly right on the layout-design. I certainly hope to remedy that some, if not a lot, on my next saddle I put a full carve job on. I've got a long way to go, but hope to get there! THANK YOU sincerely for your input!

Ted N. Estes