Visalia style saddle

[Leather Bum]

The leather is Hermann Oak and dyed with Fiebings Pro_oil dye in a Walnut color. I usually burnish the carving when I dye a saddle, that way the recessed areas stay a little lighter while the raised areas get darker... gives it a little contrast. I probably have about 160 hours in the saddle ... I'm a bit slow compared to some guys... alot of that time is spent drawing carving patterns.

Darc

Well your saddles certainly are some of the nicest-looking saddles of which I've seen pictures. Very cool, indeed. You say you burnish the carving. . . Could you explain how that's done? In fact, I'd like to know what the entire finish process is, from beginning to end, if you don't mind; I really like that look. . .

Thanks for sharing such great work,

L'Bum

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Go2Tex,

When I die large areas of leather like a skirt or seat, I use a piece of sheepskin about 10"s x 10"s. I usually get quite a bit of dye in it so that I can get the entire piece of leather wet without having to pour more dye onto the sheepskin. If I can't get the entire surface wet the first time, I make sure that I get that sheepskin wet again and onto the leather as fast as possible. In addition, I usually get the entire surface soaked with dye. When I am dying a seat or skirt or whatever, when I am finished, there are no areas on the piece of leather that are lightening up (semi-dry). I find that if one side of the seat is drying to quickly or I only got half the seat dyed before having to re-soak my sheepskin, I end up with streaks or lines that show where the dye started and stopped.

As for the cantle binding and horn cap stitching, I use an awl blade that I got from Bob Douglas... it's the larger of the two sizes he sells. I usually sew 6 stitches to the inch and use an 8 cord linen thread that I got from a local shoe repair supply house.

L'Bum,

After I dye a piece of leather like I described above, I let it dry completely. This gives the surface of the leather a light colored, dusty appearance. I start by using a soft old t shirt rolled up into a tight ball and lightly rub the surface of the leather. It's important that your ball of t-shirt is tight so that no wrinkles form on the bottom otherwise you can make "scratches" in the leather. It doesn't really matter if you rub in circles or back and forth as long as the t-shirt doesn't have any wrinkles in it. After the entire surface has a slight shine to it, I take a spray bottle and give the tooled areas a light shot with the bottle... you don't want to wet the surface, just dampen it. I then use a soft piece of canvas to "burnish" the surface of the leather. Start lightly and build up pressure and speed to create friction and heat... this is what will turn the raised areas of the carving or stamping a darker color. A couple things to be carfeful of... if you wet the leather too much or press too hard with your canvas rag, you will flatten your carving and it will look like hell. It sometimes takes two or three times of spraying the leather and rubbing with the canvas to get a good burnish on the surface. If you are burnishing some carving and there are areas of smooth leather around it, try not to rub on the smooth areas or you will wind up scratching the smooth leather with the canvas rag; An example of this would be on a saddle seat that is carved on the cantle or jockeys and not on the area you actually sit on. That is pretty much all I know about burnishing leather... alot of it is just experimenting, just keep in mind that it's the combination of slightly damp leather and the heat and friction of rubbing that leather that actually does the burnishing.

Darc

[Leather Bum]

Wow, thank you for giving that explanation! It's a very interesting process. . . I've always liked that light shine ("satin" shine, maybe?) that you see on leather items like yours. It's an excellently-carved saddle. . .

Thanks again,

L'Bum

[old west]

Howdi

What a great work and craftsmanship...... congratulations

[Don101]

Yes great work, verry impressive

@ old west.... Hi Andy glad you made it

[Spencer G]

Bravo! Masterfully done. Are you planning to sell it, if so, how much would you ask?

[Jim M]

I see I didn't comment when this was first posted - must've been too busy drooling! Appreciate the additional pics.

[llasso]

Your work is outstanding. I really like the saddle and I know a tremendious amout of work went into it's compleation.

Larry Lasso

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Thought I'd post a few photos of a roughout saddle I just finished for anyone who prefers them to carved saddles. This one's built on a Warren Wright tree... really like his horn and fork shape.

Darc

[mudman]

Darc;

On the latest roughout. Just a really nice clean rig, again your work is simply that of a master. Thanks for sharing.

[Don]

That roughout is absolutely fantastic! I am not a huge roughout fan but a roughout that catches a person eye(as this one definitely does) is an example of master craftsmenship. Great job...I can't say enough. Do you sand your roughout at all? I sometimes do to get a smoother look when my roughout is a bit shaggy. I ask because your roughout looks smooth without any shaggy spots.

What kind of leather do you use when you make a roughout like this one?

Very nice.

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Don,

I use Hermann Oak leather in all my saddles. When I order it from the tannery, I always specify that the flesh side be "buffed"; it costs a little extra, but saves me having to sand the fuzz, a job I really hate. On areas that are skived, like the lip of the fork cover, I take a piece of sandpaper and try to blend it in with the unskived areas. After you oil the saddle you can hardly notice it was ever skived.

Darc

[Hidemechanic]

D.A., I don't know any other excalamations other than expletives without sounding repetetive.

I like that you were able to capture the feel of the early toolers while using a somewhat contemporary design. That's something I have been looking for as in recent years, I have come to feel that many designs have become alomst redundant to me,that's just me. It's been a source of frustration for me while attempting to come up with a fresh twist on things. You pulled it off!!

If you are still answering questions about this saddle, did you do a hidden stitch on the back of the cantle binding or a stitch and roll over?

Way to go good man. G.Hackett

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hidemechanic,

I usually don't do any kind of hidden stitch on the back of my bindings but thought I'd give it a try on that saddle. The leather was split in the thickness and the edge rolled up for sewing. Not really sure what people call that method, but that's how I did it.

Darc

[AndyKnight]

hi Darc,

I finally figured out DA Kabatoff is!!

Your saddles are sure looking good.! If your travelling through drop by for a visit.

Andy

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Andy,

thanks for the words.... hopefully they are looking a little better than the first few I brought by for you to look at a few years back.

I'm sure you've probably heard already, but if not, they are adding a juried saddle show to the Kamloops Cowboy Festival for next year with Chuck Stormes as the judge... think you might try and submit something for it? I still remember the fully carved saddle you had at the show in Edmonton a number of years back... quite stunning. Hopefully they can turn this show into something like they had going in Edmonton.

I ran into Scott in Chilliwack at the Mane Event... he had a few saddles there on display and it looks like he's doing really nice work (not a big suprise really). He was saying he might try and get something together for the show as well.

We probably aren't going to get out your way until the show so we'll either see you up there or we'll stop in on the way if you aren't planning on going.

Darc

ps. your website has been quite helpful for a saddle I'm finishing up. It's a wade style tree for a fellow who will be using it primarily for reining. I haven't used big D type rigging up front for quite a number of years, so seeing how you cut your seats has been quite helpful. I've been trying to set the rigging back a bit from full position without interfering with the stirrup leather/fender movement... been a bit of a challenge but Greg Gomersall gave me a few good ideas to try.

[oldgringo]

Absolutely incredible. Very nice indeed. Where might one find a pattern for those taps?

[gtwister09]

Darc,

Both saddles are great. The brown....what can you say. The tree and whole package came out great. I really like the seat design. Lots of detail with the "O", the double border, the open background (I like the open background) and last but not least is the swept yoke in the center. Did you use a creaser or a beading blade on the border? I like how the "O" was carried over to the cantle and the horn. Nice design touch.

The rough-out is really nice.

Nice detail on the dye job. Thanks for the tutorial!

Regards,

Ben

[leonardostudent]

Where did you get the tree from Darc? I've been trying to find a supplier that makes Visalia 3B trees, no luck so far.

[oltoot]

Gullet measurements on the Visalia? Second all the compliments for your work.

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Hi Darc, all the superlatives have been already used. I'll just say it's been a while since you have posted some work. More work!!!

Love your stuff.

Bob