German book on leatherwork

[Mulesaw]

And sorry that half my replies seem to be late, but we are at sea now with a crappy Internet connection, so when I post and the net is refreshed, I see that there has already been links to the Amazon site.

 

[fredk]

This seller has it as a PDF ebook on a CD

http://survivalpress.org/Verlagsneue-Buecher/Handwerk-Technik/Alte-Berufe/Das-Sattler-Riemer-und-Taeschner-Handwerk-eBook-CD::89.html

or here

https://pw-media24.de/produkt/das-sattler-riemer-taeschner-handwerk-ebook/

[Mulesaw]

@fredk You do a MUCH better job than I do at finding stuff like that on the Internet  
 

That offer from the last link of yours looks like a great deal. There's a couple of extra books in that deal as well. 
My only problem is that if I order something electronic, I'll probably forget to look at it. I need a book in hard copy :-)

[Mulesaw]

@nickbor34 Thanks for the nice comment :-)

I could see that fredk managed to find a seller who has it as a pdf file. 
So that could be a solution. But personally I like a nice bound book where I can smell and feel the paper.

But again, the language is German and the letters are of the gothic version, so it isn't the easiest thing to read. 

Brgds

Jonas

[fredk]

3 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

. . . .But personally I like a nice bound book where I can smell and feel the paper.

Abebooks has some paper copies available See if any of these are suitable

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9783741898839/Sattler--Riemer--Täschner--Handwerk-374189883X/plp

[Mulesaw]

@fredk I just checked those. I think they are the paperback versions that Fines Mundi sells. well at least they sell them on amazon.

I already got the deluxe book :-) I was just trying to explain my "problems" with electronic books 

Translating a book like that seems to be a colossal task, but it sure would make for a fine book that could reach a broader audience if it was translated into English, and at the same time was written with normal letters. 

[Klara]

But surely there must be English books about saddle and tack making? From what I have seen, many parts of the book are only of historical interest. And I am pretty sure that the reasonable price is because there was very little work involved. The publisher either scanned an old book or got hold of the printing plates and just did a reprint. Which many Germans are not happy about either (I don't like Gothic letters...)

Normally, a comprehensive textbook for a highly specialized market is a lot more expensive. Btw, I wonder whether the saddlery apprentices of today have textbooks... @Mulesaw Do you ever meet saddlers (when they come to improve the fit of your son's horse's saddle)? Could you ask whether there are textbooks?

Edited October 2, 2021 by Klara

[Mulesaw]

@Klara I agree that most of the book is just of historical interest, but still some of the points are still valid but I wouldn't use it as a textbook for someone wanting to build a saddle. (well yes, actually I might  )

I would suspect that the book would work really well as sort of a reference book if you had completed a classic saddler education.

Last time we had a saddler around I never thought about asking him, I was simply awestruck by watching him work.
Not that he did any direct work with his hands, but he just looked at Gustav riding a few rounds on the court, then Gustav was told to stop and he explained what he had seen. I initially thought that "come on, you have only seen the horse and rider trotting a little  so you can't possible have an opinion already".

I was SO wrong.

He said that the width of the saddle was too wide and that could be seen due to this and this. He then showed med exactly what he could see, and then I was able to see it too. The iron in this particular saddle is of a type that you can't alter which he also knew just from looking at the saddle. So his advice was to get a specific lamb skin pad where we should ad some extra padding to make up for the slightly too wide iron. 

So all in all I was so impressed that I never thought about asking him about any books.  etc. 
The funny thing is that we have had a lot of really good horse trainers looking at the equipage and they haven't been able to see that something was not 100% correct. Not that I am blaming them, since they did the best they could. 
I'm probably more blaming the general culture where people lure themselves into believing that having a friend looking at your saddle fit is just as good as having a trained saddler doing so. Though a good friend with knowledge can probably see more than you yourself if you are someone who is just starting in horses. But for us, the 100 Euro (I think it was) for a saddle check was all worth the money. without a doubt.

sorry for the long answer, but I got a bit carried away 

On another note, I still think that I'll try to see if I can build a saddle based on the book, but my plan is to completely refurbish a couple of old pony saddles first that I have acquired. That way I hope to recognize the things that I have read in the book. And I can see if I was right or wrong in how I deciphered the text instructions.

 

[OLESKIVER]

just to offer a suggestion? have you looked at the book " Al Stohlman Encyclopedia of saddle making"? it was originally 3 vol. but they made it into one, and it is hardback. 708 pgs. plus it shows you how to make a few " tools" a pull-down horse, a saddle rack and something else. awesome book. Tandy still carries it. you might be interested. hope this helps.

[Mulesaw]

@OLESKIVER I wanted to buy that book, but it is sold out from Tandy, and I have never tried to buy anything from ebay where it might be possible to find it. (I might be a bit weird in that respect). 

I would love to get my hands on it, but so far I haven't found a copy for sale.  There was one on this forum for sale I thin two years ago, but it seems as those who got the book holds on to it - which I see as a sign of a good book.

I would guess that there is a bit of difference between a Western saddle and a European saddle, but how much it is in terms of the actual leather parts I don't know. The design is different of course, but I would guess that a method of draping leather over a curved surface would work equally well regardless if the book was aimed at one or another type of saddle.

The German book that I have bought covers saddle making in 48 pages, and I haven't read all of the chapter yet, but it seems pretty thorough. It covers regular saddles, saddles made with pig skin leather, army saddles, side saddles and saddles for circus horses It even specifically mentions the American Army saddle, which is a bit different to the German Army saddle.