gary Zimmel
12-28-2008, 2:52 PM
Never say you can do something before you figure out how long it will take!
A while back when we were at a horse show my wife wanted a wooden set of stirrups for one of her saddles.
As I looked at them I figured.... No problem I can make a pair for you.
Famous last words.
As they were steam bent I made a box to bend some oak strips around a form. After I had build up a form with MDF I got to thinking.. All the wooden stirrups are bent and when on a saddle you can't see the layers. So if I build some blanks I can cut a complete one out of a chunk of wood you will see the layers from the side.
After a bunch of proto types they started to come together.
I used different types of wood to see how they would look.
Cherry and maple, walnut and maple, purple heart and ash....
With the blanks made, my band saw was used to cut the rough blanks.
A jig was made to get the front and back curves.
Lots and lots of time sanding and shaping to get the proper form.
105027
For a finish all that I did was a lot of coats of hand wipe poly.
With a little mussing around I found out if the rods were even a little big the wood was under stress and broke very easily. Not good if you are the rider.
Being that my wife was going to use them, they not only had to look good but had to be very strong.
Had to even try different thickness of the layers. i wanted to have the transition on the curves to be one color.
The one one the right didn't work.
105028
These have been used all summer and are now a little beat up but are quite unique.
105029
I had the leather work done by the saddle maker who we have bought a few saddles from.
He asked me if I could made a few pairs for him, but declined.
105030
If I figured out how many hours these took to build..... May of been way easier to of got her a pair at the show.
But then again she is quite happy with them and getting extra points is a bonus.
Can't put a price on that.
Thanks for taking a look.
.
A while back when we were at a horse show my wife wanted a wooden set of stirrups for one of her saddles.
As I looked at them I figured.... No problem I can make a pair for you.
Famous last words.
As they were steam bent I made a box to bend some oak strips around a form. After I had build up a form with MDF I got to thinking.. All the wooden stirrups are bent and when on a saddle you can't see the layers. So if I build some blanks I can cut a complete one out of a chunk of wood you will see the layers from the side.
After a bunch of proto types they started to come together.
I used different types of wood to see how they would look.
Cherry and maple, walnut and maple, purple heart and ash....
With the blanks made, my band saw was used to cut the rough blanks.
A jig was made to get the front and back curves.
Lots and lots of time sanding and shaping to get the proper form.
105027
For a finish all that I did was a lot of coats of hand wipe poly.
With a little mussing around I found out if the rods were even a little big the wood was under stress and broke very easily. Not good if you are the rider.
Being that my wife was going to use them, they not only had to look good but had to be very strong.
Had to even try different thickness of the layers. i wanted to have the transition on the curves to be one color.
The one one the right didn't work.
105028
These have been used all summer and are now a little beat up but are quite unique.
105029
I had the leather work done by the saddle maker who we have bought a few saddles from.
He asked me if I could made a few pairs for him, but declined.
105030
If I figured out how many hours these took to build..... May of been way easier to of got her a pair at the show.
But then again she is quite happy with them and getting extra points is a bonus.
Can't put a price on that.
Thanks for taking a look.
.