A handmade saddle takes 80-100 hours. Every stitch is done by hand. Every edge is finished manually. Robert makes ten saddles a year, and his hands feel every one.
"Saddle leather is thick and tough. Your hands have to be tougher. But not so tough that you lose the feel for what you're making."
The Saddle Maker's Hands
Robert's hands are a map of his trade: needle calluses, awl marks, the distinctive wear pattern of someone who works heavy leather daily.
"I tape my stitching fingers. Pulling waxed thread through heavy leather, stitch after stitch for days — that will destroy unprotected hands."
Tradition Continues
Forty years in, Robert still makes saddles the old way. His hands, protected and maintained, can work another twenty years if he chooses. The craft continues because the craftsman can.