Rawhide Lacing

[SOSHorses]

I have a project that needs to be laced with white lace. The only thing that I can find that is close enough to white is Rawhide. The problem I have is it is SOOOOO Stiff. I am afraid it is going to break where it bends.

So here is my question. Do you wet it to make it easier to use? If you wet it will it ruin it?

[Aggiebraider]

To answer your questions, yes you need to wet it, and not it will not ruin it if done correctly. You need to case rawhide similarly to the way leather is cased for tooling so that proper tightness can be achieved in your lacing or braiding and will allow it to shrink a little as it dries. There are lots of different ways to achieve this, but some more common techniques are reviewed in the braiding section of this forum. Look for "casing" or "tempering" rawhide. One very important thing about using rawhide is that you make sure you bevel the grain or hair side edges as when the edges of rawhide dry, they actually can become sharp enough to cut you. Unbeveled rawhide is very unattractive and looks cheap to the discerning client.

Have you checked on kangaroo? Im pretty sure you can get it in white. You might have to buy a whole hide from someone like Hardtke's and then have someone else cut your lace if you are unable to......I have a lace cutter and may be convinced to sell my services lol.

Hope this helps,

CW

[wvcraftsman]

One very important thing about using rawhide is that you make sure you bevel the grain or hair side edges as when the edges of rawhide dry, they actually can become sharp enough to cut you. Unbeveled rawhide is very unattractive and looks cheap to the discerning client.

Hope this helps,

CW

I'm sure this is a stupid question but, do you bevel the edges before braiding with it?

[Aggiebraider]

Yes you do. Most people bevel the GRAIN side edges with RAWHIDE and the FLESH side edges on leather or kangaroo. Some people do opposite edges for certain applications, but for lacing with rawhide, you should do the GRAIN SIDE

CW

[wvcraftsman]

Thanks CW. Thanks to SOS for starting this thread. My wife is wanting me to make a breast collar for her riding horse and wants a few rows of braided rawhide in the center.

[SOSHorses]

okay so I bought 1/8 inch lace and the thickness is not consistant. There are places that are super thin and others that are as thick as they are wide. Should I try to split it before I soak it to get the thickness more consistant because trying to do it after it is soaked didn't work at all.

[Aggiebraider]

Yeah you can try that, but I wouldnt try splitting it with absolutely no moisture in it as it may be too stiff to pull through your splitter. If you want to try and split it when its wet, you can use a planer blade at a 90 degree angle. I have seen some pretty inexpensive jigs that hold a planer blade at the desired thickness and just scrapes the flesh side off and works well when the lace is pretty wet.

CW

[Johnny B]

I always wet rawhide when lacing with it. I leave about 1" on the end out of the water then I cut it with a razor knife to a point. This creates a lacing needle to push thru the slits I have punched in my leather. I just wish I could find some raw hide lace that isn't bleached white. I would prefer a natural lace in most cases.