lilpep

Alan nice to hear your home town is El Paso, its great here i just moved back here after i did my time in the service. its great to be home. when you get the dates set let me know so i can plan to be over there.

i live in El paso !!!! i would be very interested let me know when the seminar is planned for. a weekd end would be great for me i can just drive down.

nice !!!! Bro very Nice !!!!!! not much more to say except you did a great job !!!!!!

fiddlegirl i keep mine at room temperature in a disposable plastic container with a lid. i used a bit cocoa butter lotion once with a bit of beeswax and to tell you the truth i didn't like it too much it seemed to keep the oils from penetrating.

sorry to just jump in, i modified my soap the other day a bit and it works great. for me so i'll share a bit. i use one bar dove moisturizing soap and one bar cocoa butter soap about 1/2 cup olive oil (like aggie) i also bought some beef kidnyes at the market and rendered the fat from those it doesn't render alot but its enough. i melt down the soap with water and simmer till it have the consistency i want. it hardly changes the color so it works great for braiding and other leather goods. hope it helps

great Job Bro !!!! i haven't been online for a couple of days and this was a great surprise awesome !!!

looking really good Megabit !!!! just my two cents on the crowding. when ever i made my first bosal it had an even nose button (no swell in the center) i measured the circumference and figured that eight strings would cover it so i only used four strands becasue they would end up going through the nose button twice 4x2=8 and it gave me eight bits on the ends. this has held up for me. like Brian mentioned i made one with horse rawhide once, but i dont work it too wet to control the stretching. i noticed with other raw hides i had to make the lace a little bit wider because i would case it a bit more and it would stretch a bit their fore reducing in width. but over all a guess trial and error has helped me eyeball more or less the width i need to cover a particular circumference. great job on the bosal it really looks good !!

i can tell you the way i clean my stuff in particular a bracelet i always wear. when it gets really bad i do was it with water and a soft soap in particular moisturizing hand soap has worked well for me but its alot more lather than water i just rinse it off with water. after its dried out i condition it again with a soap and fat mixture i make i some times ad in a little cocoa butter. i dont have a particular recipe i just shave down some unscented moisturizing soap bar (dove works well) add in a heaping spoon full of lard and some cocoa butter add in enough water and simmer on the stove till everything integrates while stirring constantly. when i dont have time to make this i also work up a lot of lather with saddle soap and condition with that. hope this helps, ive never used vaquero rawhide cream but i've heard alot of good things about it.

NICE is the least i can say !!! great job

lookin good Bro !!! lookin really good

thanks JCM !! i guess i should change my location. i'm in El paso

you dont have to cut from stripps it can be cut from rounds but stripps just seems easier for me. the spine should be abit thicker than the sides it just depends what you want the lace for. but over all its pretty thin compared to other hides.

hella ya'll well i have personally made only a few items with goat mostly some bracelets and a handle with some fid work but let me tell you. goat does stretch a bit if you put too much moisture in it. i figured out that for me cutting lace from straps (like it was mentioned before) is a little better especially if you have a consistent one. another thing is that i statrt out with fairly dry lace and working up some soap lather and putting it on the lace as i work with it made it less stretchy because it avoided over soaking. when i made a braid with it i used the same technique and later rolled it out. stay away from bleached goat hide cause it looses a lot of strength. bueno thats it for now take care and happy braiding.

great items KAW which ever way i look at them they are awsome. i particularly like the knife. when ever I see a good temper line like that it just make the knife stand out so much. the shape of the handle reminds me of a heel knot i made once. over all great stuff thanks for sharing.

just my two cents Horse is great to do very fine string. if you want thicker rawhide from horse hide you can use the spine and but these parts are nice and thick not too mention very strong, the sides around the ribs are moderate but still thin to do good stuff. the belly is very thin and great for cutting lace thin enough for covering buttons. it also takes coffee dying well. the only thing is you want to temper with a bit less moisture it is very Strong from any part of the hide you want to use and the different sections are all very relatively uniform in thickness. I have also used great calf leather (veg tanned) it makes great lace it is about 2 ounce thick and you can split it down thinner but it will loose strength the thinner you go, it is not as strong as roo though.

nice job !!! Megabit as usual you keep getting better and better every time. just as a hint when ever i make a PK with more than two passes i just simply look at where the bits are "nesting" if looked at horizontally each bite on the left will run under the last pass and on the right the bites run above the last pass but under the outer bite of the foundation knot. not sure if im very clear but if you have Tom Halls books he explains "nesting" very well. take and congrats again.

nice Bro !!! that should say it all but just in case it doesn't , i think they came out clean and tight, with good color patterns.

Miguel muchisimas gracias por el dato del libro de Faudone. tengo un ejemplar en digital pero seria bueno ver como anda la sexta edicion. translation: Miguel thanks alot for the info about Faudone's book, i got a digital copy but it would be nice to see the sixth edition. thank you Denise for the translation. Faudone was a great Argentine braider that contributed alot to the art of rawhide braiding, sadly he passed away without publishing a book but his niece compiled his notes and published a book in his memory. the down side of that is that the book has some mistakes in the run lists but the contents and drawings make it a great addition to any braiders library.

just my two cents about Enrique's knot, it is what argentines call "bomba carcelera" it is a ring knot foundation and a the outer part is a "wrapping" with one more lace. the outer wrapping is a sort of hitching i myself haven't made one but here is a link to where you can find a few pics of the way it is made http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros/el-taller-de-soguero/19761-ver-si-me-echan-una-mano.html its in spanish but a couple of posts down the thread are the pics from an argentine book that the moderator of that subforum posted.

i agree With roo4u , why does every one think grants books are difficult? well any way fro appliques and edge lacing i would deffeneatly get Grants Encyclopedia and western tack tips from T Hall. they both have the basics clearly especially grant and they both have lacing and appliques. some thing other books don't have. as far as the other author mentioned i have nothing good to say so i wont say anything at all (i'm not reffering to Edwards).

great start !!! nice job, congratulations for making your own rawhide. i still have to try it out. i really look forward to your next projects

well you guys i have to say i finally broke down and drove over to hardtke's and picked out the best and biggest hide they had in brandy. they actually have ALOT !!! of leather and lots of roo. i rolled out all their vegtan roo and picked out the one i wanted, they were really helpful now i just have to figure out what i wanna do with it. take care

thanks alot Rob !!!! its nice to see how others do this. also thanks again for taking the time to do this, i'm sure many will benefit

troy gotta tell you that i dable in knife making abit and the blade is nice as far as the handle its really good i think its practical and decorative the sheath it a little rough but the idea is good nice job over all props !!

nice very nice !!! the knots look good and the design looks great. props on this project cant wait to see what comes next.