An important process I added a number of years ago came with a piece of equipment I bought from Don King. It is a splitter that has a twenty-eight inch blade in it and weighs a half ton. I purchased it to level (split) skirts and other saddle parts, but I use it more as a roller. When adjusted properly, I’ve found that it will compress dampened leather by about twenty percent. My saddle skirts, skirt fillers, and stirrup leathers finish thinner and firmer as a result. Skirts will keep their shape longer and stirrup leathers will last longer when the fibers are compressed in this way.