Beveling Rawhide and Leather

[zanspistol391]

Rawhide is beveled on the grain or smooth side, leather on the flesh or rough side. That is the standard way of doing it.

Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

Hello all! I am new to the art of braiding and knotting. This form is a very valuable resource for me and I would like to extend a great big thank you to all that contribute. I need to ask for your help with beveling rawhide and leather. I have as of current been unable to locate detailed instructions/information on the subject. I would very much appreciate direction to that information should it exist within this forum and/or any information as to the correct way to prepare rawhide and leather strings for various projects.

This is what I have done to prepare myself:

Purchased Clint Sims splitter/cutter/beveller

Purchased 200’ of rawhide string 1/8” as well a several uncut pieces to practice cutting and beveling on from Bill Confer

Gathered as much information as I can locate

This is what I think I understand:

The quality of the leather or rawhide will greatly influence the quality of the finished project

The quality of the string preparation will greatly influence the quality of the leather or rawhide

This is what I would like to understand:

The importance of beveling and/or not beveling the lace

The process of accessing a particular project for the correct lace bevel and/or no bevel

The process of beveling both rawhide and leather lace

It seems to me that the bevel on the lace is a very important part of producing quality work. Yet, outside of this forum, I have been able to locate only brief references to beveling or "knocking the edge off". Am I making too big of a deal out of it?

Any instruction and/or information offered to me will be greatly appreciated and accompanied by many thanks. Sarah

P.S. One of those really awesome picture filled tutorials would (in my opinion) be a valuable contribution to this forum. Hint! Hint! Hint!

[Spence]

You can bevel (skive) lace in a couple or three different ways, depending on the project. As stated before, the most common way is done on the flesh side. You can also bevel on one grain edge and the other edge could be done on the flesh side. Also, beveling both edges on the grain side is done infrequently. Another really tough method is skiving both edges on the grain side and then doing the same on the flesh side. Laying up an inch or two of braid should give you a pretty good idea which method would work best on a particular project.

Skiving is essential for a clean, smooth round braid.

There are 3 very good books on braiding:

Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant

How to make Whips by Ron Edwards

Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant

I believe all of these books are available from Amazon.com

Good luck, have fun and let the callouses grow slowly

[CWR]

Welcome to the forum.

You will find all kinds of help here. I'm not familiar with your string cutter so I can't help you there. If you are making rawhide tack for horses you need to bevel both sides on the grain side at least. After the rawhide dries it will have sharp corners if not beveled. As you cut string you will learn rawhide will cut you like a razor. I use a hansen cutter and the bevel is set at 45. I don't take the full 45 off though. I set my width so that it doesnt go all the way to the flesh side. Thats the "taking off the corners" part.

I also bevel all four sides, flesh and grain. After doing this I think it lays in a little smoother. The main reason I do it is that Kevin Willey (user name KAW) does it and I admire his work and aspire to get close to it one day.

I hope this answered some of your questions. The best teacher is just cut lots of string and you will find what works for you.

A book with some detailed work on string cutting is Robert Woolery's Braided Rawhide Horse Tack. It's only about $9.00

Good luck,

CW

[TexasLady]

9/2/09

Dear zanspistol391,

I'm so glad that you've brought this up. I thought that it was 'just me'. I've got some good books on whipmaking. Great books. Ron Edwards How to Make Whips, among others. And, just like yourself, I'd read about beveling (skiving) the edges of the leather strands. There are even drawings of the different ways to shape the strands. And there are admonitions that, if you don't do this, your work will not look as good as the enviously good workmanship of the 'masters'. But since there are so many 'different' ways to do the skiving, and presumably it can also be done 'wrong', it almost seems like my first whip will just be a 'stab in the dark'. (Yes, that was a 'pun') And 'thank you' to everyone who is sending us your wisdom in answer to zanspistol391's question. -TexasLady

[rawhide1]

If I'm using rawhide I just bevel the hair side. If I'm using leather like say roo I'll bevel the flesh side. But If I'm using real small strings I wont bevel at all because the strings are going to be pretty dang thin to start with. You will wind up with a nicer looking work if you bevel your strings when you can. Like anything else there are a lot of ways to skin a cat ya just have to figure out what works best for you. Have fun braiding.

Mike

[lilpep]

Hello all! I am new to the art of braiding and knotting. This form is a very valuable resource for me and I would like to extend a great big thank you to all that contribute. I need to ask for your help with beveling rawhide and leather. I have as of current been unable to locate detailed instructions/information on the subject. I would very much appreciate direction to that information should it exist within this forum and/or any information as to the correct way to prepare rawhide and leather strings for various projects.

This is what I have done to prepare myself:

Purchased Clint Sims splitter/cutter/beveller

Purchased 200' of rawhide string 1/8" as well a several uncut pieces to practice cutting and beveling on from Bill Confer

Gathered as much information as I can locate

This is what I think I understand:

The quality of the leather or rawhide will greatly influence the quality of the finished project

The quality of the string preparation will greatly influence the quality of the leather or rawhide

This is what I would like to understand:

The importance of beveling and/or not beveling the lace

The process of accessing a particular project for the correct lace bevel and/or no bevel

The process of beveling both rawhide and leather lace

It seems to me that the bevel on the lace is a very important part of producing quality work. Yet, outside of this forum, I have been able to locate only brief references to beveling or "knocking the edge off". Am I making too big of a deal out of it?

Any instruction and/or information offered to me will be greatly appreciated and accompanied by many thanks. Sarah

P.S. One of those really awesome picture filled tutorials would (in my opinion) be a valuable contribution to this forum. Hint! Hint! Hint!

ZANS hello my name is Jorge

i am not a big time braider but when i first started all this braiding and knotting i had your same question and it took a lot of time to get this question answered. i will try to save you some time and share what i learned.

first. in rawhide the strength of the sting is in the flesh side and and this is true for leater. the dermis wich is the outermost part of the leather and RH is always the strong side. in the argentine braiders down ther often say the reason to bevel is to make the strings more flexible but then they braid with really fine strings also and also they soften or brake in the rawhide before they use it.

second. i found out that when you braid leather the when you bevel the flesh side which is the norm, it will make a much nicer braid as the strands will lay up against each other alot better and you wont be able to see the flesh side along the edges where the strings come into contact with each other. beveling in leather and NOT beveling is the differece between knight and day. in raw hide it serves the multiple purposes but it is also the same principal. beveling will make it alot smother (the braid) since alot of the baids in horse tack made with rawhide are round. should you not bevel the rawhide it will be rough when finished. although you bevel the "skin side" on raw hide it helps to make a better "lay' or in other word the strings will lay against each other alot better and it will be smooth.

third you made quite an investment in all the stuff you baught and thats great !!! i had to make most of my stuff. i emaild Clint a couple of times about his cutter and got some pics it looks great although he said he made it for kangaroo leather because he makes whips he mantioned it will work with some thin raw hide. use it and if you dont like it email me and i might buy it from you but i dint see that likely Ja Ja.

notes. when you bevel the raw hide dont take it down to the flesh side just take the corner off because like i said the strenght is in the grain side. and thats what you want to preserve. and if you buy any of the Bruce Grant books, BUY the ENCYCLOPEDIA it has all his books incorporated in it. the R woolery book is good but read the BG books first they will help alot and if you want i have some e-books i can share but you will have to email me jorge.a.rodriguezespino@us.army.mil

if im wrong please any one correct me !! cause i dont want to stear anyone wrong. and if you buy any of the Bruce Grant books