Goat Skin

[braiding4fun]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new here, and relatively new to leather work, although I've been braiding for awhile. My thing has been bullwhips, and I've been using paracord to make nylon whips. I enjoy that a lot, but my goal has been to steer this hobby into doing leather bull whips, and thus my question.

I've found some veg tanned goatskin that seems reasonably priced, and I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with it. I'm wondering mainly how it compares in strength to kangaroo or cowhide, and how it is to work with. I like the price a lot better than kangaroo, and I think I saw someone somewhere who said they like it as a better priced but still comparable leather. Any help would be appreciated.

[Aggiebraider]

While I dont have any experience braiding veg tan goat, I have cut some goat rawhide and it wouldnt work well for whips. It is entirely too thin and stretches a lot, so it doesnt really work well for actual braiding but it does work for buttons. If you are careful in how you cut your lace, you can get a couple hundred feet out of one kangaroo hide. So, depending on how many bellies and bolsters you do, you should be able to make a bull whip from 2-3 kangaroo hides. Personally, if you are going to go through the steps to make a good leather whip, why not use the best materials. Clients will appreciate the better quality, and you will make much better whips. Now, take all of this advice with a grain of salt, because like I said I have never worked with veg tan goat specifically, and I have yet to make a whip but I plan to.

Hope that helps,

CW

[bullwhips]

Veg tanned goat skin works for making a bullwhip. Here's one that I've got in the works right now: http://bullwhips.org/?p=4836

The thing to consider is that it's got a lot of stretch, so cut wide! In my opinion is it as good as kangaroo...nope. However it is cheaper.

Louie

http://bullwhips.org

[braiding4fun]

Thanks for the replies, if anyone else has experience using goat skin (for anything), I'd be glad to hear what your impression of it is.

[roo4u]

howdy fellow nebraskan.....i havent used vegtan goat, but i can tell you that rawhide goat is very stretchy and must be used nearly dry....i would imagine that tanned goat would be quite stretchy as well, like bullwhips said "cut wide".

[braiding4fun]

howdy fellow nebraskan.....i havent used vegtan goat, but i can tell you that rawhide goat is very stretchy and must be used nearly dry....i would imagine that tanned goat would be quite stretchy as well, like bullwhips said "cut wide".

My sole experience with rawhide has been some antelope that I 'rawhided' myself. It is pretty thin, and in my very limited experience needs to be worked very dry. I wouldn't be surprised if it's about like goat. Well I might try some veg tanned goat and see what it's like, not sure yet.

Edited October 30, 2011 by braiding4fun

[bullwhips]

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but here's a veg tanned goat skin bullwhip I made a while ago:

Like I posted earlier in my opinion it's not as nice as kangaroo and very stretchy, so cut wide! However the whip that I made with it is a solid whip.

This was made with the veg tanned goat from Tandy which is dry, so I had to had stuff it with dressing before I plaited with it.

Louie

http://bullwhips.org

Edited November 26, 2011 by bullwhips

[Sovran81]

I saw a webpage somewhere that I cannot find now. It compared the cell structure of various leathers for strength. Roo was by far the strongest, while goat was stronger than cow. That being said, I bought a few veg tanned goat hides to try with. I agree 100% with Louie. It is very stretchy and needs to be prestretched quite a bit before doing anything else but roughing the strands out. I also noticed that the parts of the strand that stretched the most also got thicker (like the suede bunched up a little bit.) It seems to be plenty strong but now I am waiting on the arrival of a new splitter before I can braid with it. Hmmm maybe buying that goat was a blessing in disguise. :D

[bullwhips]

Joe,

I found it a bit challenging to split because of the stretch. Some if it almost has a sponge like density, where it would stretch and thin out going through the splitter so virtually nothing would get removed, then relax going back to it's pre-trip through the splitter thickness.

Louie

[Sovran81]

Interesting Louie. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, having learned it all on my own without any sort of m Ientor. I roughed out the strand then greased and stretched through a hook. Most of the stretch remained in the strand. My strand was 15 feet longer after the stretch. Then I oversize the strand and grease and stretch again. I get about another foot or two of strand here. Then final sizing, tapering and beveling. I plan on splitting after the first stretch. I really didnt get much relaxing, possibly because I saturated the strand with grease before and during stretching. By grease I am referring to dressing made from tallow, soap, beeswax and a touch of glycerin. Do you see an issue with my maddness? BTW love the new site.

Sorry OP hijacking not intended.

[bullwhips]

I should have clarified a bit, my strands for plaiting were greased and didn't have a relaxation problem. However my bolsters which I don't normally grease until it's fitted had the stretch and relax problem.

One way to try to "stabilize" a stretchy skin is to grease it. Filling the pores usually does the trick.

[Ecapone]

In Argentina we use goat rawhide a lot. It is very good for very fine and delicate works. I have made several knife handles with it. Now I use deer rawhide just because it is available to me for free. I would use goat if I can choose. Horse is also use a lot in my country. I have prepared myself some goat and lamb hides in the past with lime. We don't temper the rawhide the way you do with caw rawhide. We give it just enough humidity to make them pliable but that is all. For that reason, is not streachy for us. I want to clarify that I have never made a whip so I don't now if it will work for that application. I have never used any tanned goat either. Only rwahide.

Cheers,

Enrique