Saddle Making Cantle Back

alright guys welcome back to our YouTube channel here and in this video we're going to show you how I do my candle backs on our saddles and here I'm just skiving this candle back piece I've already told it and cased it up and I'm just kind of skiving where things are going to fold and and that way it we can get it fit to our to our candle back on our tree and here I'm just going to put a coat of glue on that's the first thing I do know that leather is fairly dry it doesn't have to be completely dry for this step but it needs to be fairly dry if it's still kind of wet it's going to cause the glue to separate from the leather but here we're just going to put a real good coat of glue on we're going to end up going with two coats on all pieces these are our plugs we're into a Cheyenne role in the saddle so this these are our plugs here that we're going to put on on top of that it's okay so here we are putting our glue on the back of our candle on our tree and here I like to put a pretty good coat on there these fiberglass trees I don't really scratch them up a bunch you can if you're worried about it sticking but on these trees in particular I find that that glue sticks that the to the fiberglass is pretty good and then here I'm just going through with my second coat of glue and I just kind of make a round I start with the kennel back and go to my plugs to go to my tree go back by the time I get back to my kennel back it's usually dry enough for a second coat I don't have to wait very long and so just go ahead and put our second coat on all people so here we are I've let the glue dry good it's good and tacky it's completely dry once that happens I'll put it in my case bucket or my water my sink whatever you're using and I'm going to let that soak really good get really wet once it's the water is kind of made it through that glue is going to prevent that side that glue be completely fine as long as it's good and dry that water can't penetrate it so then we put it on top of the bench and just going to kind of dry it off with some paper towels get all the water off and you'll still feel this glue is it's still really tacky so it doesn't have any effect on that but it's a good way to go ahead and and get it prepped and put your glue on first now before I stick it on I go ahead and put one more real light thin wet coat and I'm going to put this coat on the tree mainly so I don't get glue on my hands when I'm dealing with the piece of leather but I'm going to put it on the tree and I'm going to immediately try to get my candle back on there what that's going to do is cause a wet barrier between the two dried sections of glue so that you have a little bit of time there to be able to move that around so you can kind of shift it and slide it if you need to because if you don't put that thin wet layer in there first then you will once you put it on it's stuck and then when you pull it if you have to reposition it and you move it you're going to pull the glue loose from one side of the other either the leather or the tree and so that little wet layer will kind of let you give you a little bit of time there where you can kind of shift things around and move things around and I'm just lining that up I've already made my marks when I initially fit this piece for the tooling so I'm just making sure everything lines up making sure it's centered check in to make sure that my bottom against my tree is level as it comes around there making sure we've got it tucked in place really nice and then I'm taking my wooden stick I've just got a piece of hardwood that's got a kind of a chisel in that's real blunt and this allows me to just kind of make sure that that bottom is tucked up on there in there really nice and it's tuck really good and you want to get this you know nice and tight make sure you rub your hand on to make sure it's glued down everywhere and then I'm cutting at the very base of the candle as it comes to the bars just cutting that straight and trimming that out that's where we're going to start our fold for our Cheyenne row so we're just kind of fold that back it should be glued against the tree really well so you should have to work to kind of get it get it fold around and I'm tapping it with a hammer just to get a good nice crease all along the top edge there and I try to keep that fairly even with the top edge of the candle because our plugs are going to go right on top of that and so I want to make a really good good hard crease or that'll lay down and then as we put our plugs on it'll glue up tight in that crevice there where the plugs are going to go so as you can see there I'm just kind of using my candle top as where my crease is going to be and if you did all your layout marks correctly when you initially fit the candle back your tooling and everything the spacing between the edge your tooling and the top edge of that should be fairly consistent you do get a little bit of stretch during the tooling process but it should fit fairly good so here I'm getting my candle plugs like I said they've already been glue the top edge of the candles glue the candle back is glued and I'm just going to tuck that bottom edge of my the way my pattern works is I put that all the way down as far as I can up against the top of the bar at the base of the candle and I run it ahead of the edge of the candle top a quarter inch or so I just want a little bit of overhang because we're going to come back in and skive that flush with the inside edge of the candle and then that all that glue is going to help to hold that in and as I pull it around the top edge of the candle to the center of the candle I'm kind of pulling it some in that particular pattern works well to get the right pitch and angle of my my Cheyenne role so that's that's the reason I'm kind of pulling that and then I'm just going to cut that on my Center mark I have the center mark on the top of the candle so I know where that is and I'm just going to meet that it's not really crucial but I like center marks I like Center lines so that I can balance other things and use that as a reference point so once your plugs are on if they meet perfectly in the middle then you can still notice where your Center center line in the candle is and that will help you later in the build and then we just pull together and meet that that candle back up to the plug and just kind of make sure all that's glued together then we'll come in here with our second inside and as you can see I'm going all the way down to the bottom and then pulling it around to meet with the center of the top of the kennel and just making sure that it's glued down good to the top edge of the kennel you don't want any gap we're going to come back to and nail this but that glue is going to help to hold it in place and make sure you've got a good fit and I'm just making a mark of where my the other plug is that we just put on now I can draw me a line and then cut on that line and that way they match up perfectly in the middle and if you do this correctly you know it'll be if the seam will match up perfectly you won't have any kind of gap that will show up later when you go to put your binder on or your seat or anything like that you can do this with a one piece plug a lot of guys you know they have a pattern that's a whole one complete piece instead of two pieces I used to use those those as well I prefer the two piece just because I can get a better pitch on my kennel I don't want it coming out straight with a horizon I wanted to kind of pitch downward towards the back end of the saddle and I want the sides to curve backwards as well and in order for me to get that this little pattern here is has worked best for me and so that's what I use so these are the nails that I use I use a little panel now you can get these at any hardware store they're just they come in all kinds of colors their little ring shank panel nails I think they're one-inch one and a quarter just kind of figure out what size you like but those are the ones I get unfortunately they only come in little bitty boxes but they're like couple bucks a box but I just usually buy a dozen boxes or so every so often and they work really well for this as they're small nails that's a lot of times the top edge of that candle is very thin and not very thick or wide and so you need a nice sharp nail that you can go and get it in there without it coming out the front of your candle or coming out through the back side through your candle back so and I just nail those in i spaced them probably three-quarters of an inch or so apart and I think it's very important that you nail this down a lot of guys will run that forward into the dish of the candle and then nail it down from the front of the candle edge I just don't personally like to do it that way so this is how the best way that works for me but there's certainly other ways you can do it but these little nails are pretty handy I will say if you get one in there that you don't want there or it comes out through the front of your candle or through your cattle back and you've got to pull it you will cusp cause they are pretty tough to get out of the little ring shank nails now I'll leave the very bottom ones out because I'm going to trim here now just put my finger down flat where I'm on the up of the bar and then basically make a little mark that finger thickness is the same thing I'll do on the other side and that's to ensure that my candle comes around and it's even from one side to the other and that way when you cut your seat ears that's your point of reference so if those aren't even then your seat ears will be off when you look at it from the horn looking back at the seat and then I just cut that line and what we're trying to do when we're cutting here is trying to leave space for the housing to fit up underneath there but also not to have the candle so high off of the the rig inner that there that you get a gap between your ear and the base you want that out as tight and close as possible but you have to leave some room for the housing to fit up underneath there and you've got to take into consideration the binder now when using a head knife if you're going to cut this with a head knife just be careful because this is usually where somebody will cut themselves with a head knife or round knife just to keep your hands out of the way I get a little close sometimes with my hand but that's just how I how I do it don't necessarily follow what I'm doing there and I'm just trimming down trimming kind of where it's where it's level with the horizon where I've got good clearance underneath there and I'm kind of looking I usually try to keep that spacing from the bottom of my shine rolled to my regen where I can get the tip of my index finger underneath it that's usually enough to fit my housing after the binders on so that's what I kind of use as a point of reference but like I said where my hand placement was right there cutting that that piece don't do it that way keep your hands out of the way but then I'll come back through and just kind of skive this down I want that to float in I don't necessarily want to go to nothing but I want it to flow down don't want it quite as thick right there because that's where my seats going to fold and that's where my ear is going to come around and so I want a nice flow to that and a nice taper there then I'll come back and put my final nail just to clinch that tip of my shine and roll down and as you can see right there that that end of that can of that plug is is a nice even taper going up to the thickness now this here I'm just taking my skiver and just skiving flush with the inside edge of the kennel and taking off that little bit of excess you can sure meet that up it with the with the inside edge of the kennel if you want when you're putting the plugs on the problem I find with that is when you go to nailing and end those nails sometimes they'll pull that back as they seat they'll pull that plug back off of the kennel and if you don't over set it a little bit then you end up with a gap and then you have to glue a piece of leather in there and fill that in or you'll get a bump on the inside of your kennel when your seat goes in so I always overhang and then just come back through after it's nailed in and clinch now it can't move now I'll go through and just skive it to meet flush and that way it makes a nice crisp smooth transition from kennel as it goes over the top of the Cheyenne room and now when your seat goes and everything will be smooth and even and and in you if you get those nails a little close sometimes you'll hit them with your blade and they're kind of aggravating but you'll it's better I find it better to deal with that than it is to deal with having a having a plug that's come back some or that go to sort of thing but as you see there we're just we're just cleaning this whole inside up this is kind of where everything comes together as far as what your seats how well your seats going to look and how even your seating your ears and your binder and all that it's going to look here now going back through and then I take my skiver and I just skived that leather area around the nails sometimes those nails when you when you really clench them down they cause a little bit of a bump in between each nail and so I just go through and just kind of touch that area up a little bit it's all I'm doing right there am I taking a lot of leather off I'm just making sure it's smooth so that when you stand up the horn and look towards the back you're not seeing any bumps in your final binder and so I'm just making sure that's smooth and then I'm just trimming the excess of my candle that anything that's sticking out from my plugs so that's it that's pretty much now we're ready with that saddle there I'm ready to block in my seat and skirts I hope y'all found this interesting like said it everybody does candle backs and binders and and plugs a little bit different but that's the easiest way that I found the works for me I appreciate your watching the video subscribe to our channel if you would like to see more videos like this or need more information there's a lot of information and instruction on our website at DG saddlery com and as always you can send me an email and if you've got any more questions or if you have any ideas for another show thanks

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Views: 55,406

Rating: 4.9203415 out of 5

Keywords: saddle making, custom saddles, leathercraft, leatherwork, leather, saddle trees, how to make, how to skive leather, how to stamp leather, leather (visual art medium), leather build a long, leather carving, leather craft, leather craft tips, leather goods, leather tooling and carving, leather tooling basics, leather tooling basics tutorial for beginners, leather tooling for beginners, leather tooling techniques, leather work tutorial, leather working, tooling and carving leather

Id: cXpxeUXVtRs

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 19 2016