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Posted

I have a friend who gave me this well used and well made older wade saddle to repair.

A horse reared up in a trailer on him and the horn caught on one of the ribs of the trailer ceiling - Bust the horn off as you can see.

This saddle is old and well used - However goal here was to get it back to a functional rig that could still be ridden and used for light roping (ie: brandings).

Here is my solution to the repair - I would like the thoughts of others...What would you have done and do you think this repair will be solid?

horn_fix_04.thumb.jpg.e228c548738cd4e082f41f406516c83d.jpghorn_fix_05.jpg.538fe8a9e7b7e024df97fb1483badc0e.jpg

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Posted

I'm sure it'll be fine for looks but I don't know that I'd rope off of it.

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Posted

Fair enough!

Bad break and we didn't just want to garbage such a nice saddle.  Got the epoxy idea from structural engineers who use it to hold heavy loads in concrete.

https://www.westsystem.com/instruction-2/epoxy-basics/bonding-fasteners-hardware/

Here are some pics before I cover with leather again...

horn_fix_01.thumb.jpg.297873aef15afa16e7d8c9c3c7bf484b.jpghorn_fix_02.thumb.jpg.d447615f68bb3f1703e4f34a72776f0b.jpg

Posted

Just a thought from a non saddle maker..epoxy has very good "wont pull apart" strength..But no so good "shear strength"..one bolt wont counteract shearing..two other bolts ( can be smaller diametre than the main one ) placed forward and either side ( like at 10 to 2 position and epoxied along their length ) would give it that anti-shear strength..stop any possibility of "twist" or "pivoting" around the main bolt..Two quarter inch bolts epoxied into holes drilled in at an angle that follows ( approximately ) the front of the horn and down into the base should do the job..

"Don't you know that women are the only works of Art" .. ( Don Henley and "some French painter in a field" )

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Posted

mikesc - I think I will do that - Maybe tonight when I'm done work!  Thanks for the advice! 

R

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Posted

Looks like a good idea. I would personally rope baby calves at most off it. (Tagging) anything bigger than 4 to 6 weeks old might give me some pause though. Should make a good colt saddle though.

Just my opinion 

  • 6 months later...
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Posted

Update:

This saddle was used all summer and I had told client to be pretty careful with it - Ie: rope only calves...

Well long story short, they roped calves out of it, it worked fine, so they roped a few cows, it still was ok and now they tell me the've roped a few bulls out off this thing now.

Scares me to say the least!

Pics just before I dyed and oiled it:

Broken-Horn-Done-02.jpg.f464785dfb4bbdb251565c6cfaf8348a.jpgBroken-Horn-Done-01.jpg.c37140c4747373da1dc2ff0a2cdfe121.jpg

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Posted

It looks great!  Glad it held up for them!

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Posted

I would imagine the tree maker that built the tree in the first place would repair it properly and professionally but it would cost to have it done.  From a liability stand point, according to my insurance agent,  "you are stomping very hard on very thin ice"!  It may holdup but I would call it a cobble Job and I would not ride it from the stand point of a cowboy that did that for nearly 40 years and a guy that has built saddles for over 20 years but it looks like you got away with it for now anyways.   Professional repairs are part of being a professional saddle maker.

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Posted
30 minutes ago, Ken Nelson said:

I would imagine the tree maker that built the tree in the first place would repair it properly and professionally but it would cost to have it done.  From a liability stand point, according to my insurance agent,  "you are stomping very hard on very thin ice"!  It may holdup but I would call it a cobble Job and I would not ride it from the stand point of a cowboy that did that for nearly 40 years and a guy that has built saddles for over 20 years but it looks like you got away with it for now anyways.   Professional repairs are part of being a professional saddle maker.

Hello Ken,

I agree that this is not an ideal repair.  In this situation it was for a friend...I would never offer this for someone I didn't know well and even then, in retrospect, I will not do this type of repair again.  I had a wreck this year with a colt and went through two surgeries and then spent three months in a wheelchair.  It gave me a new perspective on taking risks and is just not worth it.

Biggest issue here is I have no control on how this saddle is used.  If it was used for riding only / roping smaller calves I would be comfortable.  For roping anything larger I do believe that the bolt could put enough pressure on the swell that it will split vertically.  I have warned my friend that roping out of this thing is dangerous.

I did chat to some tree makers and we concluded that the only way to have repaired this saddle 100% was to replace the entire tree.

Appreciate your comments & time!

Regards,

RDL

 

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