Does anyone know, what is the tree in a Crosby Lexington T.C. saddle made from? It it polymer? There’s no Plybond stamp on those saddles, so I’m presuming they have some kind of molded synthetic tree. I’m asking because I want to know whether a wracked / twisted one can be straightened, vs. the saddle must be re-treed.
It’s probably some kind of polymer … they used to advertise that their saddles had a ‘spring tree’.
“Spring Tree” refers to steel bands that run on the underside of the tree lengthwise from cantle to near the twist. The term has nothing to do with the main material used for the tree.
I’m betting that it’s a Plybond tree even if it’s not stamped as such, as most, if not all, of the Crosby trees were that type.
If you want, I can look in an old Miller’s catalogue and see what it says.
mvp knows a lot about Crosby “oldies but goodies,” including the Lexington. Try sending a PM. 
OP, I got your PM and I’m not sure I can help too much. But since this ain’t top secret info, I’ll post it here.
I’ll bet the tree in that puppy is the usual layered birch wood, steel and stretched linen that Crosby always used. I can’t remember where Crosby would have put that “Plybond Tree” mark. Did it come embossed in gold on the underside of the sweat flap? The only mark I remember seeing on Crosby trees/about them was an M or a W stamped on the near side stirrup bar. That denotes the width of the tree.
The options for finding out more about your tree are: PROTACKGUY (perhaps). Back in the day when he was more active here, he said that you could send any Crosby saddle’s serial number to Walsall Riding Saddle Company and they’d have its records.
Also (and perhaps better plus easier), you could call up Tad Coffin and ask him about those saddles. He might not know a ton, but IIRC he designed the tree and saddle with Crosby. And to my way of thinking, he did a superb job. The shape of those trees, plus the broad panels (just about unprecedented in the CC world in their day) were very horse friendly. As you know, the balanced, open seat was great for riders, too. Mr. Coffin is a nice guy and pretty accessible. Google his website for a phone number.
But all that might not matter because you have a broken tree. Are you serious about tracking down a tree so that you can do some…uh… taxidermy on your saddle and rebuild it all zombie/cyborg style around a new tree? Yikes! That will be a lotta dough and you’d have to have a helluva saddler do the work. Maybe W.R.S.C. would do that for you. I’d also trust Beval Saddlery to do it… maybe. They do other major surgeries on saddles well.
But I dunno… zombie and a lot of money to get there and all. If you are like me, you will continue the wait for another saddle from days of yore to come out of the Cryo-Freeze. I understand. I have been waiting 25 years for a couple of 'em.
My best to your gray cat.
Does anybody buy old flat Crosby’s - particularly light brown (yellow) ones ?
Would one sell on E-bay?
OP, I got your PM…
O.K., I managed to dig out some old Miller’s catalogues from the 1990’s: '92, '93, '95 and '96.
None of them state specifically that the Lexington has the Plybond tree but they do say that Crosby trees are guaranteed for life with “normal usage”.
But I am still all but completely certain that Crosby did use the Plybond tree in it as there was very limited use of synthetic trees in saddles at that point in time. Wintecs had been out for a while and Kieffer had used a synthetic tree in some of their models since at least the 1970’s, but I can’t think of any other manufacturers that had gone that route yet. And certainly not Crosby/Walsall Riding Saddle Co.
I think your best bet would be to try to contact Walsall Riding Saddle Company
Here’s the saddle. 16.5". I like the way it fits me. I wanted a park saddle for general riding and messing around, but those haven’t been made for probably 50 years. The only park saddles I can find that are not ancient and thrashed or rickety are too narrow to fit any living saddle seat horse. I never liked APs before I tried this one, because they were all forward flaps and very bulky.
This is still a new saddle. The tree is wracked but not broken. Might be my imagination but it looks less wracked now than it did a week ago. I put it on a padded saddle rack and placed my heavy ranch saddle on top of it. (I have nothing to lose at this point, right? :lol:)
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o95/neosho98/DSCN8801_zpsilizkgu2.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o95/neosho98/wrack1_zpswx2vgkmz.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o95/neosho98/wrack_zpszd5oglzs.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o95/neosho98/wrack111516_zpsx8wuxlz0.jpg
Some of the Crosby cutbacks are stamped “Plybond tree” but maybe those are older than dirt and that stamp hasn’t been on Crosby saddles for 20 or 30 years. :lol:
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac95/saddles4sale_2009/sold_Crosby300_21_2/DSCF0198_zps0a3ec1c5.jpg
Why not just take it to a saddler and see what they say WRT the tree being twisted and if anything can be done? I don’t think they’d charge for a quick look-over, at least the ones around here wouldn’t.
There are no saddlers to take it to in my area, unless you count the Amish! I think this is beyond their scope.
I’ll make an email inquiry to one of the major repair people whenever I get around to it. I imagine it’s expensive if not impossible to fix. Re-tree costs around $800, I have read on this board. I just thought someone on here might know whether it might or definitely can’t be straightened, without my having to bother the saddlers.
