Ground seat technique, determined by tree maker?

[DirtyDusty]

I rented a video on ground seat installation off of Giddyup flix.  I can’t remember the guys name that was doing it, but he stated that the way the tree maker built the bars, determined how the ground seat is built up. He was putting in plugs and risers, then the tin strainer, one layer of skirting on the front section and one over the whole seat area. When I watched the Dusty Johnson video, he had no risers, but more layers of leather.

the Stohlman books deal with an all leather ground seat, so their technique is different. 

I ordered my tree from Dusty Smith, if anyone is familiar with his trees, would you share your technique for doing a ground seat with tin strainer?

[rdl123]

Dirty Dusty,

I am not an experienced maker but my 2 cents are:  Either technique you mentioned above will work.  The biggest factor is that there must be a clear 'tunnel' for your stirrup leather to slide through when the seat is complete and the shape must reflect what you want in a ground seat.

I personally use plugs and risers.  It is straightforward and eliminates having to cut tunnels after the fact (eliminates  chance of scoring the rawhide).  I then build up over that to get a seat shape I like. 

Do you have a photo of the Dusty Smith tree?  That may help others chime in - Once we can see how he has shaped the bars near the handhole.

Here are two pics on my last build for reference:

Ron L