Wade Half Breed

[jwwright]

Here are a few photos of a Wade I just finished. I wish I would have had another day of sunshine and oil to get color the way I wanted it.......but the customer needed this saddle pronto.

The tree was made by Jon Watsabaugh, the leather Herman Oak, and the hardware J Watt Horseshoe Brand.

Constructive critique is most welcome. I appreciate the wisdom and opinions of those who have many more saddles to their credit than I. Many Thanks, JW

[Timbo]

That looks really great!! Is the diamond stamp a Watt tool?? I recently got some of the Horseshoe brand buckles and conchos and they are impressive to say the least and they look great on the saddle. The rough out looks good and I for one, like the color it is right now.

Good job.

Tim

[steve mason]

Howdy JW;

nice clean looking saddle, not much to get picky on. the one thing that my eye picks out is the line on the front seat jockey, this is a round skirt saddle so there should be no straight lines, I think that the line of your front seat jockey would fit very well with a square skirt saddle, when doing a round skirt rig try make the curves of the seat jockey a little more gradual, I use the same size of a circle over the string buttons as I do on the curve going up to the handhole, this gives a smooth S curve going up to the hand hole. I did up a little sketch since a picture is worth a thousand words. Hope this helps. And one more thing, this is just the line that I personally like, always build your rigs with the line you like not what someonew else thinks they should be.

Steve

[jwwright]

Timbo...........Thank You. Yes, that diamond pattern is made with a Watt navajo diamond stamp, a swivel knife and a seeder. I did that pattern on a saddle last Spring, and several other customers liked it and ordered it. 3 of the last 4 saddles I have made have been that pattern. I like it, but.........let's say that I am happy to have different stamp patterns coming up on the next couple of orders.

Steve..........Thank You for your suggestions on the seat cut. I agree. I am having just a bit of difficulty with the consistency of my lines around the fork on Wades. I appreciate your input.

JW

[bruce johnson]

JW,

Another good one, and the use of that stamp. You run that stamp about as well as anyone I have seen, and I'm glad you are doing it, not me. It was always a tough one in my hands.

Steve,

Thanks for the drawing. I have a large bruise on my head form hitting it when I saw how simple that was. Great tip, got my money's worth today.

[gtwister09]

JW,

Many years ago Bob Dellis shared with me exactly the same thing that Steve shared concerning round versus square skirt saddles. I used to have a bunch of sketches that Bob made of all types of saddles from various angles. I have misplaced them. It was his portfolio sketch pad as a saddle maker. He also had some from Pohja and others that he kept at the time. Aesthetics and basics in designs are timeless. Thanks for the reminder Steve.

I forgot the name of the shop foreman's name at Porters that he attributed that tidbit of information to. Of course it was a different time and as he said it took him years of working there to gain some pieces of information. One of the reasons why he was always so willing to share information.

Regards,

Ben

[TroyWest]

Here are a few photos of a Wade I just finished. I wish I would have had another day of sunshine and oil to get color the way I wanted it.......but the customer needed this saddle pronto.

The tree was made by Jon Watsabaugh, the leather Herman Oak, and the hardware J Watt Horseshoe Brand.

Constructive critique is most welcome. I appreciate the wisdom and opinions of those who have many more saddles to their credit than I. Many Thanks, JW

J.W., Your saddles have continued to improve over time and I appreciate your desire for excellence. The overall look of this saddle is very nice. I know your customer will be happy.

Since you asked for critique and opinions, here are my thoughts.

The first thing I see when I look at this saddle is a ranch cutter fender on a wade. It doesn't hurt anything and of course it will work fine. I know you have cutters in your background and that influence is strong. I have a good friend who also makes a lot of cutters and he puts the same fender on his wades. I always think he should modify his fender to have more of a classic wade look. So much of what we do in saddlemaking is for looks, purely visual. I mean once we get the function, and you have the function, everything becomes about looks.Yes, that is nit-picky, but if you weren't nit-picky yourself you wouldn't be using such good leather, hardware, and trees.

Your flat plate looks good, however I dont like to see the inside or top stitch line of my flat plate showing. It's another aspect that doesnt hurt anything but just another visual aspect to think about when fitting everything.

The outer edge of your mulehide is skived and put on with the skived edge showing. If you need to skive it you should put the skived edge to the inside. It looks more professional.

I have been nit-picky but again I want to say the overall appearance of your saddle is good. There is so much to learn in this buisness it seems a never ending study. Keep up the good work J.W.

Troy West

[jwwright]

Bruce and Ben, Thank You.

Troy, I certainly appreciate your comments and input. Thank You as well.

Regarding the fender shape, I agree. This was the customer's choice of style. I have a couple other fender shapes that I prefer and try to use on wades, and round skirted saddles. Although this fender shape would not have been my first choice, it is what the customer specified and I do think it gives it a different look.

Regarding the stitch line showing on the plate rig,,,,,,,you are absolutely correct, and this is the one primary nit pick I myself had with this saddle. I generally have been successful at cutting my seat jockey lines in such a manner as to not show that stitch line. This time, I didn't quite get the line.

I sure appreciate the suggestion to put the skived side inward on the horn wrap. Makes perfect sense to me.

I appreciate every one's time, Thanks again, JW

[AndyKnight]

I would make my frog leather and crupper 'D' all one piece. It will look cleaner and lay flatter.

Also if when you do your ground seat and hand hole you can leave some ground seat leather on the back of the fork to get a nicer look. These are my preferences, not what is right or wrong. over all looks good.

I will try an attach a pic to show what I mean.

The other point I may look at is . cutting the front of the skirt a little higher at the front where it meets the gullet. Maybe 1/2".

That is also personal preference. But look at other wades and you may see that.

Andy

Edited October 26, 2008 by AndyKnight

[jwwright]

Andy.........Many Thanks for your input. I actually do carry my ground seat leather up on the fork quite a bit. However, in the case of this particular saddle, I don't think I extended the fork cover cuts back far enough to be as smooth in appearance looking into the handhole as I could have. There is no bare ground seat or bar showing, but I agree with you, it could be smoother in appearance.

This is the first crupper ring I have done on the rear jocks / frog. Thank You for the suggestion.........next time I will make myself a frog that will allow integral attachement of the crupper D.

I appreciate your time. JW