Loop Seat

[jwwright]

I started a saddle today that will have a loop seat, which I've not done before. I have taken apart a couple doing repairs. Any advice on this, before a fella gets to the point of cutting into a perfectly good seat? Anything different need to be done on the groundwork? all suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

[Hidemechanic]

Depending on your level of experience, my philo is do some research. I have seen several articles in the LCSJournal most by Dick Shearer(and other sources) which always gives good examples of early saddles. Then I sit back and look at the saddle and visuallize what I would like to do with the seat(in this case).

When you say a loop seat, are you referring to a full covered seat with the stirrup loop exposed?

As opposed to a half seat where the front half of the seat area is exposed.

The whole idea back in the day was to use small amounts of leather (because of lack of supply) And the later it got in the 19thC they went to covering more of the tree. That is, they looked for ways to apply the leather so as to protect the tree from weather.

That being said, I'll reserve my coments about the half seat, but with the loop seat as you can see in the one pic,(after measuring where I want to cut for the stirrup leather opening) I pinked the top and bottom(for looks)line of each slot.[if I don't pink, I like to use a small unch at the end of each slot(punch first) and cut between the punch holes, the rounded part of the puncheched hole gives relief to the leather and heplps keep it from cracking when you stretch the leather later]

The piece between the pinked lines I skive down to where they are moldable. When skiving I may leave the middle heavier and feather out to the edges as they lay on the bars.

I reset the seat on the tree and work the skived piece into the stirrup pocket on the tree, on the dry. When the seat is ready to go on permenantly I will glue down and tack the piece I molded into the stirrup pocket. I may even put stirrup leathers in place and draw them down and leave set till dry. This will also be the time that I stretch the set jockies in place and let them all dry set together. Of course there are steps of seat fitting that were left out but this is the part that applies to the loop seat as I have done them. Hope it makes sense. GH

[jwwright]

Thanks GH. No, I was not talking about a half seat, but rather a full seat with loop as you surmised.I appreciate your time to reply, and would appreciate any others.

[kseidel]

Slot placement: don't cut the top slot too high. You don't want an opening straight down into the top of your stirrup leathers and exposing the bars of the tree. When installed, the seat should cover the fold of the stirrup leathers over the bars. The slots do not need to be as high as possible. Keith

[Don101]

The loop seat was a crossover from half seat to full seat, the early ones still had seperate side jockeys so you only need to make one slot through the seat so that the stirup leathers are resting on the bars and not straining on the seat, here is a pic of an old one that i restored so you can see what i mean, Don

[jwwright]

Thanks fellers.