Post by Galxey Sparrow on Mar 3, 2015 3:18:33 GMT
So recently I bought an older Terry New berry western set and whilst lovely it is a bit worn and some of the leather hasn't aged well due to the glue and sealers used.
So my question to you is how do you handle this best?
I can foresee much discussion and debate over this as it is somewhat of a religious topic much like painted models but feel it is an important discussion to have.
As a tack maker I would love to see if restored and cared for to the best of my ability and at this point the bridle, breast plate and saddle bags are pretty much unusable the saddle is however in reasonable condition leather wise however has had a poorly repaired d ring on the girth with the wrong coloured leather at some point in the past.
I would like to try and save both the bridle and breast collar if i can however they have been sealed in clear nail polish which has aged causing it to dis colour, crack and go very very hard.
The bit on the bridle is also broken on one side.
So far I have no yet contacted the tack maker however I do mean to do this and have also done a small test patch on the bridle to see if it can be saved at all as it needed reinforcing at a thin section of leather strapping to stay in one piece at all! I think the leather can be reconditioned once the nail polish has been removed however the nail polish has made the leather's colour darker but once removed the leather becomes much lighter and dry so would likely need to be oiled to restore the surface. This would mean it would end up darker then the saddle (however it didn't match to begin with) so I persnally would prefer to have it rescued in some fashion and be able to be used rather then simply not using it at all.
The bridle also doesn't fit a large range of horses so I would not likely be using it with the saddle it came with anyway and would love to make a new matching saddle for the bridle and breast collar if they can be saved and a new lighter matching bridle and breast collar for the original saddle that would fit the horses I want to use if for
I feel the saddle bags may just have to stay as they are as they are also coated in a thick layer of nail polish and having similar problems to the bridle and breast collar but being such a large solid area of colour I doubt it would be likely to keep any kind of uniformity with the colour throughout the process so I'll just have to make some myself from scratch to use.
I have included a few pics for you to look at
It appears I don't have a picture of the bridle with me but I will take some when I get home it is similar to the breast plate but significantly worse.
I would also love to fix up the stirrup attachment on the saddle but as that is more of an upgrade then a "essential" repair I figure I will wait to worry about that. I would ideally like to add an accurate stirrup keeper with buckle and also the .. section of leather that holds the bar of the stirrup correctly in the fender so it doesn't wiggle around.
By no means am I upset or complaining about anything here btw! I just would love to restore the tack to a nice useable condition so it can continue it's life
So my question to you is how do you handle this best?
I can foresee much discussion and debate over this as it is somewhat of a religious topic much like painted models but feel it is an important discussion to have.
As a tack maker I would love to see if restored and cared for to the best of my ability and at this point the bridle, breast plate and saddle bags are pretty much unusable the saddle is however in reasonable condition leather wise however has had a poorly repaired d ring on the girth with the wrong coloured leather at some point in the past.
I would like to try and save both the bridle and breast collar if i can however they have been sealed in clear nail polish which has aged causing it to dis colour, crack and go very very hard.
The bit on the bridle is also broken on one side.
So far I have no yet contacted the tack maker however I do mean to do this and have also done a small test patch on the bridle to see if it can be saved at all as it needed reinforcing at a thin section of leather strapping to stay in one piece at all! I think the leather can be reconditioned once the nail polish has been removed however the nail polish has made the leather's colour darker but once removed the leather becomes much lighter and dry so would likely need to be oiled to restore the surface. This would mean it would end up darker then the saddle (however it didn't match to begin with) so I persnally would prefer to have it rescued in some fashion and be able to be used rather then simply not using it at all.
The bridle also doesn't fit a large range of horses so I would not likely be using it with the saddle it came with anyway and would love to make a new matching saddle for the bridle and breast collar if they can be saved and a new lighter matching bridle and breast collar for the original saddle that would fit the horses I want to use if for
I feel the saddle bags may just have to stay as they are as they are also coated in a thick layer of nail polish and having similar problems to the bridle and breast collar but being such a large solid area of colour I doubt it would be likely to keep any kind of uniformity with the colour throughout the process so I'll just have to make some myself from scratch to use.
I have included a few pics for you to look at
It appears I don't have a picture of the bridle with me but I will take some when I get home it is similar to the breast plate but significantly worse.
I would also love to fix up the stirrup attachment on the saddle but as that is more of an upgrade then a "essential" repair I figure I will wait to worry about that. I would ideally like to add an accurate stirrup keeper with buckle and also the .. section of leather that holds the bar of the stirrup correctly in the fender so it doesn't wiggle around.
By no means am I upset or complaining about anything here btw! I just would love to restore the tack to a nice useable condition so it can continue it's life
