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Cantle slots

We occasionally are asked to build a saddle tree with slots in the cantle. Here's some pictures of our latest ones.
We have a couple of trees sitting in the shop at the moment waiting for pick up.  The thing that is different about these two is that they have slots cut as hand holds in the… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/cantle-slots/

Rod's been busy...

The drying surfaces are filling up! Five trees rawhided this week.
filling up the drying stones again!  Five trees drying now.  Sideways on the left is a Wade with an 8" wide fork (hard to see from this angle).  Then, going left to right, a 13 "… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/rod-s-been-busy/

"The cupboard was bare..."

When we go away, even for a day or two, we have to make sure the trees we leave behind are dry enough not to need daily attention. This means that when we get back, the trees are generally dry enough to varnish, leaving our drying surfaces empty. But the…
This is what our drying stones look like at the moment. This is what they normally look like. Why the difference?  Let me explain… Rawhide covered saddle trees need to… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/the-cupboard-was-bare/

This week out of the shop

We did our annual wood buying trip this week. Nothing like going through lifts of lumber, board by board, to choose what we need to make us glad we don't have to do this more often!
We made our annual wood buying trip this week.  For our hardwood, we go to Edmonton (a four hour one way drive) to PJ White Hardwoods to pick out a lot of our wood for the… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/this-week-out-of-the-shop/

Hamley Hangers

Hamley Hangers are metal stirrup bars to go on Western saddles. The Hamley company came up with this design many years ago, but they never became really popular. We finally had a chance to build a tree with them. This is how we did it.
We just shipped out a tree with our first order for Hamley Hangers in 15 ½ years of building trees.  It is fun to be in a profession where you can still be doing different things… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/hamley-hangers/

Crunching the numbers

I figured out the proportion of Wades, metal horn forks and wood post swell forks so I could know how much wood to buy for the coming year. Turns out the numbers aren't a whole pile different than what we were doing 10 years ago.
The cows we have been custom grazing for the summer go home next week, so after that it will be time for our annual trip to Edmonton to buy wood for the saddle trees for the next… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/crunching-the-numbers/

This week in the shop

Building a Wade, a Martha Jose barrel racing saddle tree and a wood post Bowman saddle tree.
Rod putting the finishing touches on a wood post Bowman fork. Still no frost!  The grass is green and the flowers are blooming and it is still warm enough to be working… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/this-week-in-the-shop2/

Duplicating trees Part 2- making the replacement

Describes and shows pictures of what goes into making the replacement saddle tree to fit back into old leather.
This is a different tree than the last post, finished and with a lot of the leather in place.  Should go back together pretty well. Figuring out the specs… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/duplicating-trees-part-2-making-the-replacement/

Duplicating trees Part 1 - taking them apart

Here is a description of the first half of what we do to duplicate a saddle tree so the old leather can be reused on the new tree.
We have had a run on duplicate trees the last few months.  Maybe the economy is such that people are willing to spend the $ to replace a tree in a saddle rather than buy a new… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/duplicating-trees-part-1-taking-them-apart/

This Week in the Shop

Two Wades, two Modified Associations
Two Wades, Two Modified Associations These will both be going into cowboy rigs. This one is an 8" width. This one is a 9" width.   3… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/this-week-in-the-shop1/

What keeps treemakers amused

Double Flips!    When things go wrong... We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/what-keeps-treemakers-amused/

This Week in the Shop

A description of four swell fork saddle trees ready to go. Discussion of number of trees we can build in a week.
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/this-week-in-the-shop/

Saddle Trees - from Shop and Desk

Welcome to our blog! We will be sharing with you what we have learned, both in the shop and from our research and reading.
We always like to share with others what we have been learning and doing, and this blog gives us the opportunity to do that.  We plan to share pictures of what we have been… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/saddle-trees-from-shop-and-desk/

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