Cary Schwarz Custom Saddles

Old School Craftsmanship and Artistry

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Beaver Tail

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I had thought about the possibility of making a saddle with an inlaid seat using beaver tail leather, but didn’t think it would work. The largest tails I’ve used have been five inches wide at their widest, so one tail would hardly be wide enough to get the job done. I had trouble imagining piecing […]

Hermann Oak Leather Company

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The saddlemakers of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association recently visited the tannery that is Hermann Oak Leather Company in St. Louis. What an educational and enlightening trip! I have always been a fan of Hermann Oak leather, but now I’m a true disciple. What Shep Hermann (current CEO) and his staff (75 strong) have done […]

The Saddle Horn

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When we stand next to our saddle on its stand, we have a hand on it. When we pause at a branding, we rest our forearm on its cap. We take our dallies on it and turn off. It often helps us step across the saddle as we climb on. It is there when we […]

Idaho Leather Company

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A first class stamp was fifteen cents, gas had spiked to an astronomical 85 cents a gallon, and I was in Boise, Idaho the fall of 1979. College classes were calling me, but I was trying to steal some time with leather too. All of my classes were arranged so that I could have my […]

Not too many

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“By listing your website with our locator service, you can increase traffic on your site, and drive sales higher.” “I’m a craftsman in a one man shop with a back log of work ahead of me and I don’t want to drive more sales.” “We can offer you a free listing in our directory for […]

Renaissance

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I was asked to write a little ditty for the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada. They’re the folks who are the legs beneath the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The current show that is on display there features cowboy craftsmen who are under the age of 40. (Ok, so I barely missed that one!) This […]

Old Stuff

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Call me crazy, but I think it is important (and interesting) to know whose shoulders I’m standing on here. Several years ago I bought a book that was written in the mid-ninteenth century by a Brit named Owen Jones. Jones was an academic, an architect, and art critic who studied the decoration found in architecture […]

Saddle Trees

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I’ve used Warren Wright’s trees since 1992. I happened to be in the right place at the right time when Dale and Karron Harwood were looking for saddlemakers they knew who would do justice to Warren’s trees. Harwoods made an arrangement with Warren to import his trees from New Zealand for distribution to hand-picked saddlers […]

Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal

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  Here is an article I wrote for the current issue of the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal: On October 12, 2013, soft-spoken Robert Raber made his way methodically through the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association gallery at the National Cowboy Museum. The Cowboy Crossings sale and exhibition in Oklahoma City has become a must see […]

The Horn

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I love to do finish work on a saddle. This is a large wooden horn on a swell fork tree…something you would expect on a Wade rather than a 13″ front. I used some polished American six cord linen thread and sewed it at eight stitches to the inch. The edge is finished with glycerin […]