Custom Old West Saddle Tree

[will ghormley]

Hey Folks,

Sorry to be so long absent, too many irons in the fire.  Some of 'em wont even singe hair when I get back to 'em.

Anyway, I know many of you are interested in buildin' saddles of your own, but you don't know where to get an authentic saddle tree to start with.

I recently spent a day in my buddy Jon Watsabaugh's saddle shop as he worked on a tree for a saddle I'm goin' to be buildin'.  If you've never seen a tree come together, this link will give you at least a little taste of what it's like.  It is a very interesting and involved process...if you're doin' it right, and Jon does it right.

Take a look if you love saddles like I do:  http://www.willghormley-maker.com/Custom-Old-West-Saddle-Tree.html

Will

[Biscuit Joe]

Thanks!
I always wondered how they did it.
Will it be covered in hide or left plane?
What size seat did you get?
How long is his wait'en line?
How much would a tree like this run?

That's a lots of what's huh...

[will ghormley]

Hey Biscuit Joe,

(By the way, I like your name...had a horse named Biscuit once).  Tree makin' is so much more complicated than the photos show.  I wish I had a video of it.  Then you'd see just exactly how much figurin' goes into one of them trees.

Jon is goin' to rawhide it for me.  I'll have to learn the secrets of that too one day.

It's a 16" seat.  It's got an inch dish to it, and is thirteen inches wide, real similar to the original in the photo.  It ought to ride deep and easy.  Even though the cantle isn't real high, it should sit pretty secure with the wide seat. 

I'm not sure what his waitin' period is right now.  A phone call to him would answer that question pretty quick.

Jon's custom trees are goin' for $550 right now, and that's very reasonable for a custom tree.  Off the rack cheap trees are half the price, but you get less than what ya' pay for.  Jon's trees are all laminated wood stock.  The joints are re-enforced with fiberglass.  When it comes to rawhidin', Jon is the only fella' I've seen who can duplicate the 1800s style of cuttin', wrappin' and lacin' rawhide.  He had to teach himself the old time way of doin' it so he could make my saddle trees.  It's like the T.V. commercials, "New horse, one thousand dollars.  New saddle, three thousand dollars.  New silver inlaid gal' leg spurs, six hundred dollars...Jon's custom saddle tree under the whole shee-bang - priceless!"

If a fella' is goin' to spend the time and effort makin' a fine, authentic, custom saddle, it just doesn't make any sense to start with anything less than a quality tree like Jon's.

Will

[GunClick Rick]

Happy New Year Mr. G. How's the Kanew

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

    Howdy Will

       It's good to hear from you again, sounds like you have been busy, this new link will definitely help a lot of pards here in the  Leather Shop, that are planning on making a saddle, very informative, Thanks for sharing, and don't stay away so long.

           Regards

         tEN wOLVES 

[Gun Butcher]

  Outstanding info Will. That is an amazing process.

[Slowhand Bob]

Will, you can help him out by putting his contact info in with those period saddle plans/patterns.      Though saddles are not in my plansed projects I figure the extra wisdoms obtained from your packets are always worth the price of admission.   

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks for the link, Will. What a fascinating project to make a tree just so we can start on a saddle. That guy's good. Great stuff.

[outrider]

Glad to see ya back Will.....

[Skeeter Lewis]

I'm surprised and impressed that they used laminated wood way back.

[will ghormley]

Hey Skeeter,

I've never seen antique bars that were laminated.  I've seen laminated forks.  While lamination has been around for centuries, and could have been used in the bars, it is one of those engineering-overkill things guys like to do to make a superior product.  It makes the bars darn-near indestructible, (without killin' the horse and ride)r.

Will

[Dr. Bob]

Wow!  I'm looking forward to seeing the progress on this project.  The bare tree looks great!!

[David Carrico]

The 1861 ordnance manual states "Saddle-Tree.-Wood (beech)-1 pommel, made of two pieces framed together at top and glued; 1 cantle, formed of two pieces, like the pommel; 2 side bars (poplar) each made of three pieces glues together: they are glued to the pommel and cantle..."

So I would say some trees, at least the McClellan tress were laminated.
Thanks for sharing the pics!