Do you drill trees for strings or not?

[greg gomersall]

Bruce you can take a collar awl and grind the point off or double a coat hanger leaving a loop in the end and twist up the rest to strengthen it. Put a slight curve in either and when you do a reline or when you need to just replace one string you can drill right thru the sheepskin pull your string thru the first hole then use the curved awl to pull the sting between the skirt and sheepskin to the next hole then tread back out the top. You now have your new string back where you want it without much effort. Greg

[RyanCope]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. So, I'm a little late to the discussion. However, I have a few thoughts on the subject. First off, I was tought to drill. Very traditional, and it's worked for a long time. How ever as I grow in experience, I've come across a lot of good cowboys, that are very SPECIFIC in how they want certain things built, including strings. Some want them all drilled, others want them screwed in, and many want the front drilled only with the rawhide cut out to relieve pressure. Most of these guys rope (a lot) or show stock horses at the county fair/ Ranch Rodeo. As I have traditionally spent more time around cowboys/ buckaroos than saddlemakers (except for a couple of great saddlemakers, that I was blessed to have as mentors), I have a tendancy to comply with these requests as long as they are within reason. I figure it as an experiment. I explain to them what I think, told them what might happen when their get down rope hooks the gate, and let them decide. I can definately see both sides of the issue. Most of the guys I'm talking about aren't going to bring the saddle back for me to fix anyway. They are well versed in how to strip a saddle down and put it back together the way it was. These are the guys that ride hard a push the limits of my work. And, to be honest I've learned a lot from them. They've been my best customers, as far as my education goes. So my question to you all is this...When you talk about being a driller/ non-driller when fabricating a new saddle for someone, is that your prefence or is that your Law? Would you let an order walk away because you did/didn't want to screw the strings in?

Ryan Cope

[Randy Cornelius]

I drill

[AndyKnight]

I use screws more than I drill . ( not set in stone) Partly becuase I make my own trees.... I hate to drill big holes in that wood!! However I agree with Greg that cutting the lacing if you do drill shouldn't hurt the tree provided it is laced with rawhide lace.

A wreck is possible, however it can go both ways. A customer can repair a screwed in string easier than fishing a string through the tree under the sheep. I am very particular how and where they are attached especilly if I am using screws. I pre drill any screws that I put in a tree. I use at least 5 bleeder strings for attaching the skirts. 2 at the front and 3 at the back.

Edited November 7, 2007 by AndyKnight

[Hidemechanic]

I drill for working saddles but if I think there will be an issue of degrading wod I will use epoxy or resin to coat the holes before stringing. An old muleskinner taught me that when modifying sawbucks(to run latteral straps under crossbucks), he got the sawbuck maker to either make the relief cuts and paint them or to send him a small can of paint with the tree so he could paint the relief cuts. Things went from there as I did mor repairs using resins for reenforcments.Made sense to coat string holes too.G.Hackett