• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

My First Yellow Jacket (tm) Saddle Build *** Complete 1 lb 7 oz

bj139

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
5,377
Location
SE PA
Edit: People have asked me what I was going to name it and then I thought of a name.
It is "The Yellow Jacket(tm) Saddle". Good enough.
:D

Today was the first time I took something that wasn't a saddle and made it into a saddle. I have been practicing with my sewing machines to good effect for the past several months. I received my V-92 polyester and V-92 Kevlar thread a few days ago. I wanted to build a sling seat, something like a playground seat for a swingset, similar if not exactly the same as a sitdrag. I found this heavy duty trucker's strap which breaks at 16,000 lbs. I figured this should be strong enough and more importantly it should support my butt in comfort. I took out my Necchi, made in Taiwan sometime in the 90's, sewed a bit on the strap with V-92 polyester and it seemed good but then jammed. I figured trying to unjam the V-92 by force might break smething on the Necchi so I cut the thread and pulled out my Morse home machine which outweighs the Necchi by 13 lbs. This machine, in testing, had previously pierced three layers of sewn webbing from a Trophyline saddle without stopping. I was impressed. It did not disappoint today. It sewed through 4 layers of the truckers strap easily. I plan to add a safety waist belt and some molle webbing to hang a pouch and to keep the saddle positioned just right. I didn't use the V-92 Kevlar thread. I think I will use it to strengthen some strategic spots after the saddle is done. Here are some in development pictures.



 
Last edited:
Next step, sew more stitches on the joined end to strengthen, then cover with lightweight camo fabric.
The seam joining the two edges is a plain seam with a single topstitch. It is probably plenty strong as is but I will experiment with the V-92 Kevlar thread.
 
Last edited:
Cool. Its like the double sitdrag mod. What type of stitch did you use to join the strap to itself at the ends? Are you planning on dying it a more neutral color?
 
Cool. Its like the double sitdrag mod. What type of stitch did you use to join the strap to itself at the ends? Are you planning on dying it a more neutral color?
I wanted a deep seat and this 4 inch strap looked to be suitable. It is deeper than a sitdrag by a couple inches. I may add a third sit strap in my next build.
I just used straight lines of stitches. I was planning more lines using Kevlar for testing. I was planning on covering with lightweight camo. See my previous post. Our posts crossed. It weighs 14.1 ounces as shown with bridge and carabiner.
 
Last edited:
I added a lightweight nylon camo covering. I found out how to use the hemmer foot and it worked well with V-69 thread. Once hemmed, I folded the camo over the edges of the saddle and top stitched with V-69 thread and then ran two full length seams to keep the fabric anchored..


 
I over stitched the strap ends with V-92 Kevlar to strengthen them and had trouble with the top tension being maxed out so I reduced the bottom tension and got it almost OK. I was using a different machine than when I started sewing this with the V-92 polyester. I calculated if the Kevlar and polyester stitches were tight it should break around 12,000 lbs so this should be a bit less, if it came to that. I don't see how it possibly could with me weighing less than 200 lbs. I may get out my other machine and add a few Kevlar lines to see if that has enough top tension adjustment.
Top side

Bottom side
 
Whats up with the bottum side of the stitches. Is your tension messed up somewhere? Whats with the exposed loops? Im new to sewing so I don't know, it just looks off.
 
Whats up with the bottum side of the stitches. Is your tension messed up somewhere? Whats with the exposed loops? Im new to sewing so I don't know, it just looks off.
If the top tension is too light, loops will form in the bottom. If bottom tension is too light loops will form in the top. I think I am maxing out thread size with this home machine. Let me try it now. I am just waiting out the Corona epidemic. I will report back shortly.
 
Last edited:
Now thats pretty cool
Thanks. I thought so too. This thread had 253 views and only 2 replies. I guess most people are scared of yellow. :D If I could have bought camo trucker's straps I would have bought them instead. Apparently, they only come in yellow.
 
I thought I would hand crank a few lines of V-92 Kevlar thread so I got out my Singer 15 handcrank clone. I had to loosen the bobbin screw a quarter turn from where it was with V-69 polyester and tighten the top thread tension to max (the spring is fully compressed at number 9, no more tension). I think I have found the limit of home machines for thread size unless I can add another tension device. No wonder many industrial machines have two sets of tension discs. This was with a size 19 needle which was already in the machine. I don't know if that affects tension. Total lines of stitching count is at 21 four inch lines at 6 SPI with V-92 polyester thread or V-92 Kevlar for a total stitch count of more than 500 holding the two ends of the strap together..

Tension dial maxed out. Last stitches on right side.

The bottom stitches are the maxed out ones.
 
Last edited:
Heck that looks like a killer machine..are you adding waist and leg straps?
Waist strap, yes. Leg straps, no. I want to be able to put it on @Nutterbuster style meaning no stepping through straps necessary. That is why the bridge is detachable. I want the waist belt to be able to withstand a fall, so I need a metal buckle. I have a rock climbing book from the 60's where they show a climbing belt was the standard for safety. The harness with leg loops came later so the fall could be more comfortable. I figure the sling seat saddle should provide that function.
 
I realize the stitches I show with the Kevlar are not good. I could have showed the top side only and avoided criticism but this would have no education value for others wishing to sew their own saddle. If you are sewing please DO NOT make stitches as I have with the Kevlar thread. Make only good stitches when sewing. :D
 
Anyone know of a good, lightweight metal, climb rated buckle for seatbelt webbing?
 
So....I was just thinking. Wouldn't a motor vehicle seatbelt buckle be acceptable? Next time I go to the junkyard I'm gonna look in different makes and models to see the smallest/lightest ones.

View attachment 26223
I was going to use a metal, I think they call them triglides, and just back buckle it but I thought something faster would be nice. The seatbelt buckle seems like a good idea but might be heavy. If you find anything light, please let me know. Thanks.
 
I broke out my Singer 15-91, put a size 20 needle in, felt the bobbin tension to be about right, cranked the upper tension to max and sewed two more 4 inch rows at 6 SPI up and back with Kevlar V-92. The stitches were good front and back. The Sailrite formula says I just added another 4,320 lbs of strength plus backtacks. I might try to lift one end of my car with the saddle for fun. :D

Bobbin side, left 2 rows of stitches

Needle side, right 2 rows of stitches

When I bought the 15-91 the lamp shade was missing and a replacement cost more than I paid for the whole machine. Aluminum foil functions the same.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top