Handsewn saddles

[T Moore Medicine Hat Saddlery]

How many saddlemakers today are producing totally hand-sewn

saddles and gear 

[kseidel]

Very few.  Most makers who hand stitch saddles in their entirety do so to exhibit their skills in hand stitching.  The rest can't afford or justify a stitcher. 

[oltoot]

In my many years of experience, I have found that it is impossible to hand stitch flat work, skirt linings, etc as good as a well adjusted, properly sized needle and awl stitcher can do. Conversely, modifying construction approaches in order to machine sew things that should be handsewn is a quality compromise that is sad if not shameful. 

[Ken Nelson]

Well said sir.

[cowboycolonel]

I do all of my saddle stitching by hand,  For chaps, belts, etc I use a machine.  Still, I use the machine to pre-punch the holes in the skirts and rigging, and then do the actual sewing by hand. Takes time, but yields a nicer product, I believe.

[kseidel]

On 9/17/2016 at 11:35 AM, cowboycolonel said:

I do all of my saddle stitching by hand,  For chaps, belts, etc I use a machine.  Still, I use the machine to pre-punch the holes in the skirts and rigging, and then do the actual sewing by hand. Takes time, but yields a nicer product, I believe.

Sounds like you are a prime candidate for a good hook and awl stitcher!

[cowboycolonel]

Sometimes hook and awl, sometimes double needle - just depends.

[TrooperChuck]

Up until recently, all my saddles were totally hand-stitched.   Horn, cantle, billets, skirts, everything was stitched with double needles.  Stitching the skirts was often a challenge because I didn't have a stitching horse with deep enough jaws to hold the skirts in a good position.

The old cowboy who taught me to make saddles never used a jerk needle, so I didn't either.

Last year I bought a Cobra 4 stitcher at the Southwest Leather Trade Show.  Since then, I've used the Cobra 4 for stitching skirts and straps.  I still hand-stitch horns and cantles, but I doubt I'll go back to hand-stitching skirts.  It used to take me about 2 hours to hand-stitch a pair of skirts.  I can now do just as good a job with the Cobra 4 in about 15 minutes.  When leatherwork was just a hobby for me I didn't mind spending a lot of time on hand-stitching, but now that I'm running a business with customer orders constantly coming in I am really happy to save time (without sacrificing quality) with my stitching machine.