Fastenings for saddle silver

duncla · Jan 11, 2011

I have made a few horn caps and some corner plates, but have never had to attach a cap or a cantle concho with anything but a wood screw. What fastenings work well for other saddle makers? I thought I could use silver caps on escutcheon pins or short ring shank nails. Also, what can you use to drive the fastenings down without damaging them?
Thanks in advance,
Duncan Clarke

jr hoot gibson · Jan 11, 2011

Duncan
The saddle maker normally specifies what manner of fastening he/she wants on the saddle silver, and then it is up to him to fasten it to the saddle.
Hoot

Haraga.com · Jan 11, 2011

Would you show us pictures of the saddles you guys are making?

jr hoot gibson · Jan 12, 2011

Haraga;

I haven't made any new saddles for a number of years. I occasionally will do some repair work for friends. I do make some saddle silver on occasion for Bob Klenda.
Hoot

duncla · Jan 12, 2011

Hoot,
I'm asking about fastenings because I've never had to put an asymetrical piece on a saddle before. I have a saddle that Jeremiah Watt made with a cantle plate, it appears to have nails of some kind covered with silver caps holding it on. I just wanted to know what others have used that works for them.

Haraga,
I have attached pics of a few recent saddles made in the prison shop. We have a stamper and a couple of guys who do the custom or high end work. The rest of the crew does the production work.
Duncan

jr hoot gibson · Jan 12, 2011

Duncan:
Thanks for the phone call. I have put a dab of silver solder on a brass nail and made a "silver nail". Or just use them plain brass for a nice contrast.
Hoot

TyG · Jan 12, 2011

Jeremiah also uses bifurcated rivets soldered to the back of horn caps or cantle plates, of course these have to be attached to you leather before you mount them to the saddle. Ty

hsc · Jan 14, 2011

TyG said:
Jeremiah also uses bifurcated rivets soldered to the back of horn caps or cantle plates, of course these have to be attached to you leather before you mount them to the saddle. Ty

Ty,
I looked up bifurcated and saw that it is a split rivet. Question, are these copper so that they can be soldered to back of the silver? How are they set? with or without a bur, is there a special setting tool, or are the splits just folder over?
Thaks Steve

jr hoot gibson · Jan 14, 2011

Boys
Back in the first half of the last century most saddle silver had short pieces of copper wire bent in half and soldered to make fasteners. An awl made a hole, wires inserted and bent over. It was usually soft soldered and did not hold up well in the inevidable horse wreck. In the northwest where I grew up a lot of the saddle silver and conchos were made at the pen in Walla Walla.
Hoot

TyG · Jan 16, 2011

hsc, the split rivets he left here are brass and yes they are silver soldered on. He showed us to put 4 to 6 on a horn cap then they would be mounted to the leather horn cover before handsewing on. Just clinched through the leather.

eastslope · Jan 16, 2011

If your going to use Chicago screws make sure your get yours from these guys. They have the best ones and they are machined from good brass and come in all sorts of sizes and lengths. Well worth it.

http://www.riteonscrew.com/

LonglineCharlie · Jan 16, 2011

Where can you buy a Saddle like the one with the horn cap in your pictures. Fantastic workmanship.
LonglineCharlie

Brian Hochstrat · Jan 17, 2011

Most saddle silver should be attached after the saddle is assembled. If it will be going into the tree(cantle back or wood post horn), wood screws or escuetion (sp?) pins are a good way to go. To go through leather, like a cheyenne roll or skirts, I prefer chicago screws. I would recommend staying away from split rivets or anything that makes the removal of the silver difficult, in case it ever does need to be removed from the saddle, it makes life much easier. Here are some examples from my website that show various attached silver mountings. The saddles and silver are made by me. Hope that helps. Brian

Haraga.com · Jan 17, 2011

Nice pictures Brian.

duncla · Jan 20, 2011

Thanks

Thanks for the input from everybody. I had an opportunity to talk to Jeremiah this weekend at the WESA show in Denver, he made a humorous but, somewhat unquotable remark about using wood screws for horn caps. However, I probably will use them in some instances for the reason Brian gives - removal and repair would be easier. He did give me some good direction for making pins out of stainless nails and said not to drop the nails into the pickle pot while they are hot as that will make the silver heads pop off much easier. Hoot had some concerns about that. I had also had some doubts about using escutcheon pins on a horn cap because I thought they might not have good holding power but, silver on the cantle wouldn't be subject to the same abuse as a horn cap. Charlie, saddles like those pictured can be ordered from the, Correctional Industries Saddle Shop, in Buena Vista, CO. Thanks again for the references and advice, I'll consider it all.
Duncan

Fastenings for saddle silver

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