Building the Charro Wade
by R.J.Sagely
Sometimes when building a custom order for a patron of Sage Saddlery I will build another saddle to have on hand for immediate sale if someone takes a shine to it. I have had a saddle design in mind for a good while now and decided to see if I could bring it to reality. I special ordered this tree (well, the horn anyhow) and will provide ongoing and updated pages to chronicle the building of this rig. This tree came out just like I had in my mind so I will be building it for my personal use. When it is done I will have a used Wade for sale (my current rig) at a good price. It will be a well broke in saddle with some fairly deep dally grooves in the mulehide... Hope you enjoy this story of a saddle being built. If you like what you see when I get done with it you can try and buy it out from under me or just have me make one custom to your taste.
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Cheyenne roll formed from the cantle back or cover and a filler piece laid in the face of the cantle. The finish seat will make a third layer for this cantle and will be covered with and thin leather binding and then hand sewn with an awl and needle at about 5-6 stitches per inch. You can see some of the latigo lugs that hold the skirt to the bars, three pair each side in the rear and two pair up front. The skirt will also be screwed in at the ears up in the hand-hole and also into the face of the gullet. |
| Not the greatest photo but here is the finish seat on the stand with a draw down strap putting the seat shape to the leather. This has pulled the tree down and makes the rigging plates look out of kilter but they are not. The leather is pretty wet here and needs a day or two, depending on humidity, to dry and set this shape. It will be glued down and screwed down very soon. |
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| Again, flash versus no flash. The one on the right is more accurate for leather color. The back jockey will will be border stamped with the carlos meander and basket stamped as are the rigging plates and the fenders. With the un-basket stamped seat I guess you could say this is a "half-breed" style stamping. | The drive awls are where the seat screws go. They are positioned to hold down a pair of bucking rolls, though I do not generally use them on my saddles. That is what the Cheyenne roll is for and if I am going to be riding colts I would run a nightlatch through the gullet and hand-hole to grab in a storm. |
The Charro Wade by Sage Saddlery (see the finished product)