First Saddle - 1/2 tooled Cliff Wade

[MLGilbert]

Hi all! I just finished up my first saddle build, built on a 15 1/2" Cliff Wade tree. I had a ton of fun with it, and hope I'll be making many more. I roped in it last night after a few rides and it felt great!

I used HO 13-15 skirting leather, and hardware from Jeremiah Watt. Everything was hand stitched (I really need to buy a machine!). I know I need to work on my cantle binding stitching, so any tips on keeping that clean and consistent would be welcome.

I want to keep improving and I'd be glad to hear any critiques and advice all of you saddle makers might have!

Edited December 4, 2020 by MLGilbert

[MLGilbert]

[Codybill]

Dang man looks pretty good for your first saddle!! Your lines are clean and the tooling flows and looks sharp.  I'm almost done building my first saddle as well.  If you don't mind me asking... did someone help you or did you use other resources for like books, video's to build it? 

[MLGilbert]

2 hours ago, Codybill said:

Dang man looks pretty good for your first saddle!! Your lines are clean and the tooling flows and looks sharp.  I'm almost done building my first saddle as well.  If you don't mind me asking... did someone help you or did you use other resources for like books, video's to build it? 

Thank you! I used the Stohlman encyclopedias, and referenced a few saddlemaking showcase videos. The forum was lots of help as well.

[chuck123wapati]

You should be darn proud of that, its a beautiful piece of work!

[Dwight]

I guess I never really paid any attention to other saddle styles . . . 

The only saddle styles we ever had around here were English . . . military (old left over stuff from back WW1 ways) . . . and "cowboy" . . . 

But all the cowboy saddles I saw or rode growing up . . . had pretty good swells coming out on each side of the horn.

Is this a new "style" that has done away with that?

Just nosey I guess.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Hasbeencowboy]

In reply to your question Dwight.  I don't know how long the Wade tree has been around but around the turn of the 20th century a lot of the saddle were slick fork or "A" fork and riders tied their coats or bedrolls on to give them some swells.  With Wade trees, after the saddle is built it seems like most people add bucking rolls to them which to me would defeat the slick fork but saves tying your coat on for swells I guess.  I am for sure no expert but just information I picked up over my 82 years from old cowboys

[Dwight]

Thanks, Hasbeencowboy . . . what you said makes a lot of sense . . . 

As a younster  . . .  I watched Rin Tin Tin and other such shows . . . thought being a soldier back then would have been great.

About 14 yrs old . . . maybe 16 . . .  got to ride one of them old "soldier" saddles.  Cured me of ever wanting to get in a time machine and go back.

May God bless,

Dwight

[MLGilbert]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:24 PM, chuck123wapati said:

You should be darn proud of that, its a beautiful piece of work!

Thank you Chuck!

6 hours ago, Dwight said:

But all the cowboy saddles I saw or rode growing up . . . had pretty good swells coming out on each side of the horn.

Is this a new "style" that has done away with that?

These wades are much more popular in the Great Basin area, and California - Oregon. I never heard of cowboys riding wades as far east as Ohio.. I believe the first wades were built in the 1940's in northeast Oregon. Thanks for looking!

[YinTx]

Not a saddle guy at all here, but I do recognize nice work when I see it!  Impressive!

YinTx