Alex aka Whiteflower's B17 narrow 'swallow' tie, with trims of the nose & tail too. (Good luck in your new life in Amsterdam, feller.)

Mooks' B17 standard.

Here's one I polished off last week, in time for Kam to get it on a birthday-build for his girlfriend. What a nice build it is too, good work Kam. Nice to meet a new forum person through doing their saddle.

It's the first time I'm trimmed the back skirts off one with saddle loops, it actually looks better than I anticipated. This one was my quickest so far, I must be improving ...

Here's Richard's B17N

I used two chain-links on this one as he's a pretty well-built feller. I got to try out my new embossing lettering on this, with his nickname (initials?) BRM. I'm very pleased with the results, although I made the mistake of using too-hot water to soak that area with and this has discoloured the leather a little. Lesson learned.

Grow Up James' B17S, in a fine split leather. Yummy.

This time it's Horatio's team pro, it was once grey (special ed colour that wore off after one ride).

I used two chain links this time.

SkullyChops first customer: Jonny 'English''s Team Pro

Well this was the 'EUREKA!' moment, the night I choppped this saddle. I went to bed wondering how to bind the tabs together (which I had cut short, unlike the overlapping first attempt). Insomnia ruled that evening, until the chain-link as binder idea hit me! I bought some suitable hardware the following morning, and finished it that night.

SkullyChops is now up and running, as of 31 October 08, an auspicious date.

Here's my foray into marketing, this morning on http://www.londonfgss.com/:

SKULLYCHOPS

A chopped and tied ''swallow'' job on a Brooks Team Professional in green, this one pictured is Jonny's summer polo tournamant pressie from Brooks.


If anyone wants to get their saddle swallow-chopped, tied, or just the ends trimmed, please feel free to get in touch, with your requests. I can do a bit of restoration work to saddles that need a bit of TLC, too. They look lovely without the Brooks badges.

cheers
Skullhead Wilderness.

Testing testing

Hi World.

Here's my first chop. It's a second hand BrooksTeam Pro, was honey but has gone very dark (from the previous owner's jeans, no doubt).

I chopped it one balmy evening this summer using Mr Stanley's finest blades.

It's tied underneath with a simple overlap and bolt that goes through the layers of leather, in a sort of tube shape. Closeup pictures of this saddle to follow ...

Today I am testing out some ideas for my first "customer" and, really, the first Skully Chop. It's a green brooks Team Pro belonging to Jonny 'English', he got it at a polo tournament. Seems a bit wonky like it might actually be a second, which I think is a bit lame, but hey they were free from Brooks. The rails are uneven height and the tension bolt looks really skew-wiff. Ah well no problems if it goes a bit pear-shaped. I have an idea for a way of binding the tension straps and I'm excited! Unfortunately Jonny 'paid' me with a bottle of wine which has already been drunk and the job's not done...