Aggiebraider

I can say from having gone to the workshop with Mehl Lawson and Nate Wald that want2braid also went to, it REALLY sped up my learning curve. They are great teachers and really want to take the time with anyone at any braiding level to improve on the things they are struggling with. I will say this, if you ever get to go work with any of these great braiders, have an idea on what you want to work on. There is so much that we do or are interested in doing that a lot of times I think people arent focused enough when they are starting out and have specific things they want to work on. If you are having trouble getting consistent tension in your braiding, focus directly on that. If you are having trouble tying certain knots, work on that. Work on these things until you have them down cold and you dont have to look in a book any more except maybe for a little refresher. There is a braiding workshop this February in Oklahoma City at the Cowboy Hall of Fame that I think Nate and Leland Hensley will be teaching at and I have worked with both and both are extremely nice guys and great teachers. The spring workshop (i think) will be over the beginnings of making a bosal, and then the fall workshop during the TCAA show will be over some more advanced techniques. I think the idea is to start a bosal in February and then bring it back in October and have them critique it and work on harder stuff. The workshops are like 4 or 5 days long, not sure on the price, but I will say that it is an investment that any braider should be happy to pay, even if you arent wanting to do this as a business. There is just too much "feel" that goes into braiding rawhide that you cant get from a book and really need to learn from someone else first hand. I myself am planning on going to this workshop and hope to see EVERYONE that frequents these forums also attend, because they are a lot of fun. CW P.S. Sorry if I highjacked the thread, just wanted to let you know about the workshops coming up

Dang it brian you beat me to it. I've been talking to some friends about doing the same thing. I think I'm going to use key stock amr put some twists in then to dress them up. I also found a guy along deer sheds so I got a few to make handles with. Nice job on these! Cw

Howdy everyone, So a student of mine brought me a hide off a steer that was slaughtered by her dad this weekend and I completely forgot she was bringing it lol. I wasnt prepared with a fleshing beam or a barrel for the hot water hair slip technique, so Im kinda stuck. My question is, how long can the hide be left alone before its ruined? The hide isnt too bad, but it will need some fleshing. I tried to get some off by just laying it on the drive way, but that wore my back and legs out too fast being crouched down over it. I should be able to get the beam made tomorrow, but not 100% sure. I dont think that it would sit for more than 24 hours, but it might, so I thought Id post here and make sure it would still work. I hung it on the back yard fence to hopefully keep the critters from getting to it, so hopefully that wont hurt it too much as well. Thanks for any advice you can give, CW

PJ does really good work Bryan, I hadnt seen that one before. I use the fid he made me on EVERY piece I make. As far as lace cutters go, there are a few different makers all with roughly the same idea and they are all about the same price (3-400). I have a Jeuske (sp?) and I like it but there are some things I would change about it. If you are cutting a lot of rawhide, the one I would go with is a Lace Master http://lacemaster.com/ due to the fact that the blade is actually angled into the leather at about a 10 degree angle, preventing the lace from distorting or bending the blade. It can be a little more difficult to use if you are cutting off a round though because the blade and guide are up much higher than the table top. That is one thing I really like about mine and PJs design is that the blade is roughly the same level as the table. That being said, you can make one yourself fairly easily the only hard part would be the splitter. CW

How many buckles of each size do you have? If its just the two Ill take both

Hey Cheryl, Ill take the Dremel, and I am interested in all of the reins and shorter pieces, so just let me know what you want for it all. Ill also take the bridle buckles and slide ear adapters. Thanks, Calvin

Howdy Cheryl, I am interested in the harness leather as well so if CWR doesnt take it let me know how much you want for it. I would also be interested in the smaller stuff (2-6 ft) as well. I am also interested in the Dremmel. If you could please let me know the model number and what attachments come with it and how much you want for it. If a pic is easier thats fine. Thanks, Calvin

Howdy Nick, Welcome to a completely addicting hobby. I can honestly tell you, I lose more sleep thinking about braiding than I do about anything else. I have been braiding for about 6 years now and have done quite a bit with kangaroo, and am starting to use more rawhide. I live in College Station, and would be happy to help you with anything your having trouble with, so if you ever get up this way, let me know. I completely agree with you that learning by watching someone can really help. So, come on down to Aggieland and I'll teach you as much as I can. Have a good one, CW

No.....once you get the handle done, you have a loop with a long piece with an end. You basically just repeat the process but instead of putting a longer handle in, you make a small loop that you then pass the snap through. Hope thats clear, CW

you have to be pretty precise in your cuts for this type of blood knot. Which the handle is just the same technique, you would just end it by pulling the long end through a cut in the short end. You have to start the correct distance away from the end of the short end and start your blood knot cuts. A good rule of thumb I found on blood knots was to make the slit as long as the piece of leather is wide. Then, its all about spacing the cuts the same distance from each other so the blood knots all look symmetrical. I would start by measuring your cut that will go in the short end, then skip the same distance and make another cut the same length, then skip the same distance then make another cut. The number of cuts will depend on the number of braids you want it to do. Then, you would measure how large you wanted the handle to be, and the space between the last cut, or furthest cut from the short end, to the first cut in the long end would be your handle size. Then make cuts and skip spaces the same way to get the desired number of braids, and then start pulling it through. You dont have to really worry about staggering the cuts between the long and short end, because when you pull it through if you were accurate in your measurements, they will just sort of work out. You make experiment with it a bit to make sure skipping the same distance as your cuts are long will make the most appealing blood knot. It usually works out pretty well for me. Hope this makes sense, CW

Welcome Enrique! Glad to see someone bring a bit more gaucho work to the site. On the edge lacing on the straps, how many strands did you use? Ive been trying to figure out a way to do something that has an over 2 under 2 pattern for edge lacing that would look like what you did. By the way, you did an excellent job on this, looks really clean. Have a good one, CW

Howdy everyone, Im in the process of finishing the buttons on a set of romal reins, and I cant figure out how many I should put on them. I am doing a full set with each button touching the next, and I was hoping someone had a good rule of thumb on how long the buttons should go up the reins and the romal. They are 8 ft reins. Id appreciate any info on this, CW

Paracord is still extremely strong even with the core removed. If you were making a paracord mecate, and wanted to attach it to say a ring snaffle, you would have to use something similar to slobber straps to attach it properly. Usually they are made with pretty sturdy leather, but mecates arent intended to be taken off the horses neck unless the entire bridle is taken off. So, what that means is that you should never be leading a horse with the rein portion of a mecate, but rather the get down portion that is typically tucked in your belt. So, as long as you keep good hold of your get down, they should never have a chance to step on the rein portion or any part of the mecate. Romal reins should also never be taken off, taken over the horses head, or used to lead the horse in any fashion. So, if you arent taking them over the horses head to lead them, they can never step on them as they should be around the horses neck. Because of that, most people dont usually worry about how thick their connectors are since the horse will also never be tied with a set of romal reins. If you can pull hard enough on a set of reins to break even a latigo keeper, you are pulling WAY too hard lol. Hope that helps, CW

Hey, I am originally from Ohio, but came to Texas a few years ago for grad school. I have been braiding for about 6 years, but only 2 of those have been with rawhide and kangaroo. I dont really have a specialty other than braiding horse gear and small personal stuff like bracelets and what not. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask any time. There is a pretty good search function here but if you cant find what you are looking for we are more than happy to help. The braiding section is a small community on here, but a few of us check it pretty often. Shelly, do you have any more information about the Cowboy Gathering in Denton? I didnt know about it and am free that weekend so I might have to drive up. Thanks and Welcome! CW

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=33393 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=33233 Hope that helps, CW

Thanks a bunch! CW

Where do you get the tubular findings for the clips? I have been looking for a while and I cant find any other than ones you crimp around the ends. They arent actually a tube until you crimp them around. A close up pic of yours would be great too if you have a chance. Thanks, CW

The reason your stitches arent coming out evenly on the backside may be due to the fact that you arent running your awl through in the precisely straight horizontal position. You may also be forward or back of the parallel position to the hole you stabbed previously. You have to work very hard at first to get every one of your awl stabs to be perfectly parallel to the previous holes since you are really working in a 360 degree plane. This is something I still struggle with and is probably the most common problem of people that are starting to hand sew. If you get the Stohlman book about hand sewing, they did a really good job of how to hand sew correctly. I wouldnt recommend laying your awl on the jaws of your horse (no offense Kevin), but I wouldnt want ANYTHING to dull my awl blades other than running it through leather. It also makes you rely on using the jaws as your only guide, and some pieces may have to be sewn higher up from the jaws than can be held closely to the top of the jaws. Hope that makes sense, CW

The core of the paracord was taken out for the cheeks, but I left it in for the nose button and the heel knot for the added weight and I ended up liking the shape it gave to the nose button almost like little channels where there Vs were somewhat flat. Yes, I used tape for the foundation because I made this when I was home on vacation and I didnt have my belt sander to shape it if I had used leather. I use leather for all of my foundations now, just take a strip of kangaroo as wide as you want the knot to be tall, glue it with contact cement as you wrap it around your piece, then keep wrapping until its oversized for the diameter of you finished foundation. Then run it on a belt sander for a while until you get the shape you want. MUCH EASIER and faster. You can do as many shapes for foundations as your mind can imagine, and you dont have to try to shape the tape with a knife and end up cutting yourself like I have lol. Thanks for the compliments, CW

i dont pull up on any of my strands, as long as you keep everything where it needs to be as far as strand order, I wouldnt think you would have any issues with it not pulling it tight to the core. At least I havent had any troubles with it. I guess it may be one more thing thats kinda hard to explain about braiding without actually seeing someone do it. CW

You can make a shaping block, similar to a hat stretcher used in felt cowboy hats. If you have no woodworking skills like myself, it can be kind of difficult. My father in law actually made me a hat stretcher, so at some point Im going to try to get him to make me a bosal shaper, and if he does, I will let yall know. CW

Thats a cool idea for covering the bottom, never thought to use a coin. Now i need to start looking through my change and save old coins!

The angle of your braid really depends on how you pull your strands. If you pull each strand out to the side too much, the braid will end up much flatter. Try to pull them at a 45 degree angle from the core and the Vs will end up nicer. Hope that makes sense, CW

That is a trenza patria....I think someone is conspiring against us because we have had 3 different people ask about them in the past month and I hadnt seen anything about them all the time prior to me following the forum lol. If you want to learn this, search for trenza patria in the little search box at the top and you should find about 10 pages worth of posts to read through. If you cant find it, let us know and someone may be able to find the link for you. Hope that helps CW

I think that as Gail still charges for her books and makes money off the hard work that went in to making them, no offense, but you should pay for them like the rest of us. I think it completely defeats the purpose of others trying to teach and pass on the information they have spent an entire lifetime learning to just have it wasted when there is a lot of expense that goes into producing and publishing a small series of books such as this. If the problem is maybe in shipping, email Gail and she may have them in a downloadable form that you can pay her for. CW