stirrup slots

[Cowboy Crafts Online]

I started two more saddles this week and have been working on ground seats. I was wanting to know what everyone thought about stirrup slots. How many use the tunnel with removable plug or how many cut out their slots after the ground seat is done?

Ashley

[bruce johnson]

Ashley,

Count one vote for the tunnel with removable plugs now, especially on strainer seats. I first learned however to cut them afterward, but learned on all leather ground seats. I was taught to use a string bleeder turned up so the backside rode on the bars to start the cut, and the connecting cut was made with a french edger. It really makes you say bad words to run a good french edger into a strainer. It also makes you say bad words to use a crappy french edger to even try to cut at all. No winners for me using a french edger with a strainer in the layers.

Bruce Johnson

[steve mason]

I also use a tunnel style seat. I have been trained a couple of methods to make the cut out plug style seat, but for me the tunnel style has always worked best, I don't have to worry about cutting out the plugs and nicking the rawhide or damaging an edger by hitting the tin on a tin seat. For me it is kind of "solving the problem before it is created", if I don't have to cut the plugs, I don't have to worry about those problems. I also find for me that with a tunnel seat I am assured that I have the proper relief or room for my stirrup leathers, when i used one of the cut plug style seats it was easy to shave a little to much then you would not have room for your leathers which would create a lump in the seat. Once again ''solve the problem before it is created".

In regards to seats in general, To quote Watt in is video "no matter how the seat is made, a good seat is a good seat and a bad seat is a terrible seat" I think seats can cause a lot of controversy between saddle makers, tin or all leather, tunnel or plug, and whether the seat is made dead flat or has a slight pole to it, etc. Each maker is going have some very valid pros and cons to each method. I guess what I am trying to say is I don't think it matters what style of a seat you put in, as long as the method works for you and when you are done you have a seat that a guy can sit in and make his "bum smile"

[barra]

Can someone please explain the difference between tunnel with removable plugs and cut out afterwards style ground seats. Please pardon the ignorance but the western saddle is a new to me. The whole concept of a ground seat made of all leather and/or using a metal strainer is a bit foreign to me and I'm not getting it.

Barra

[Go2Tex]

Add another check mark in the "plug method" column for me. I started out using the cutting the tunnel out afterwards method, and it works ok, but was always a pain in the (BLEEP).

Barra, your question requires a rather lengthy answer to really explain it properly and a bunch of pictures, which you could find in various books on saddlemaking. But, for sake of discussion, I'll try a short answer and then let others add to it.... or, tear it apart, start an argument, whatever.

With the plug method, you tack pieces of leather the size of your stirrup leathers and risers, (to form a smooth transition), onto the top of the tree bars where the leathers will pass over them when installed. Then you layer in your ground seat over the plugs and risers. After the seat dries and you have carved it down, you remove the plugs, leaving a nice slot or tunnel for your leathers to pass through and over the bars.

With the cutting method, you just layer in your groundseat and then cut out a slot on either side for your leathers. I know of a couple different ways to do it and there may be others.

The difference between the all-leather seat and tin seat is just as the name implies. The tin or strainer method has a piece of tin nailed to the bars that covers the space between the bars where the rider sits. It can be a one piece tin or a 2 piece tin, or half seat tin. The groundseat is then layered on top of the tin. The all-leather seat is exactly that, all leather, no tin.

The cut-out method works best with the all leather seat because there's no problem with nicking the tin with your knife.

So, you thoroughly confused now?

[Tosch]

Well, my response is a little late...

I believe along with other great info and explanations on the groundseat the "stirrup leather slot" question along with clear pictures has been addressed here .

Tosch

Edited December 1, 2007 by Tosch