Saddle Restoration

[ohmystars]

Hello!
I am looking into the possibility of restoring this western saddle I have. I’ve been trying to sell it for months and with no luck, thought I might just take the opportunity to spend time restoring it.

Does anyone know if you can replace the decorative silver buttons all along the skirt? Many of them are dented or have patina. Is there a technical term for those pieces?

Any thoughts/suggestions welcome. My initial plan is to replace the buttons, replace the rosettes and leather ribbons attached to the rosettes, replace the stirrups, and possibly do a bit of hand-painting on the leather to really make it unique.

Image of its current state:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ZDQ0QD6-MFeEtzaURIVUI5QW8/view?usp=sharing

Thanks!

[Bluey]

Those are rivets, you can get them at leather working stores.

Best put on with a little riveting tool, that is a kind of metal double rectangle with a metal pin you hit, with an indentation, that will set the rivet, “riveting” the pieces together.

Those rivets are decorative ones, others are used to hold pieces of leather together, like fenders to stirrup leathers, metal cinch pieces to skirts and such,those generally brass or copper ones and flat headed.

We use little brass rivets on headstalls, in browbands, etc.

I googled “riveting tool for leather” and all these came up:

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=google&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl#q=riveting+tool+for+leather&tbm=shop

We have in our leather working stuff some of those, the punch style, the one with the handle I was trying do describe above and the one for the little brass rivets that looks like a leather punch with two opposite pins.

You ought to go to a saddle maker and ask them to show you how to rivet and where to get what you need.

[ohmystars]

I was thinking they could be rivets as well. However, there are a few areas where they’ve fallen off. There is an indention in the saddle where they were but not any holes. Very confusing. It would be better quality if they were rivets, I would think. These seem to have just been adhered to the leather somehow.

A closeup of the missing pieces:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ZDQ0QD6-MFUm9QY2U5bWROMTg/view?usp=sharing

[ohmystars]

Maybe its this? http://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/round-spots

[Bluey]

Looks like those are called “round spots”, you are right, not standard rivets.

These round spots have two pins that stick into the leather.

Here is a video with how that works and you can see they seem to just stick them in there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xitd44QuMmc

I am not familiar with any of those.
These round spots are used for other leather products than saddles, because they can fall off easily.

I have seen those in parade saddles, assumed they were regular rivets, but not on regular saddles you use every day.

At least you now know where to get more of those to replace the ones that fell off.

[TheMountainsAreCalli]

Those are definitely called “spots” by leather workers, and you can buy replacements from Tandy Leather easily. You just need to know the diameter. They are just like “brads” only tougher for leather. I’m no leatherworker, but I’ve replaced some spots. They sell a special tool to help you “set” them, but what I do is press the spots down onto the saddle so they leave a mark where the two pins need to go, then use a razor knife to slice into the leather carefully where the marks are. Then push the spot through, and close the two pincers on the bottom with a screwdriver or hammer. It’s time consuming, but it’s very simple. Does that saddle have a brand name? It definitely looks like a 1950s-60s Simco-style, good using trail saddles in my experience. Hope that helps, and best of luck!