broncstompinben

Hi Guys, I haven't braided for a few months and have a few projects to get caught up on, I was wondering if anyone has found a good supplier for nice big clean rawhide hide, I have made my own in the past and bought from bill, but am stretched for time and need to spend more time braiding than fleshing. Thanks, Ben

I have actually had alot more sucess with the wooden strap cutter from tandy than or an aussie cutter. The aussie cutter works really good but it hurts my hand after about 20 minutes. The problem with the strap cutter is the big hole in the middle of the handle opposite from the blade. I just taped a little chunk of leather to the handle inside where that big hole is. I will also free hand the outside of the hide in about the first eight inches or so in diamater so i can cut the string a little wider in the flank and neck if I am making a reata so i can just get one really long string.

Here is a Bosal I just finished today to start my colts in. It is a 12 plait body with a 20 plait swollen nose button, It has a 11 inch inner diamater. This is only the second swollen nose button I have done and i'm pretty happy the way it turned out. Let me know if you see something I can improve upon. Thanks, Ben

Has anyone tried elk?

Thanks, Its in the mail

Thanks all for the replies, I'm just finishing up a 7/16" eight plait with two 1/4" pieces of rawhide twisted together as a core. It has latigo bars and rawhide nose button and soon to be heel knot.... I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow when i finish it up. Thanks, Ben

I have braided a few bosals and one bosalita without a core, and was wondering what some of you use for pencil bosal cores. Thanks, Ben.

I am no expert but the last Reata I braided I was averaging a 19 inches of braid to 24 inches of string and i averaged between 4-6 feet an hour. Although II was able to braid nine feet in an hour once when i convinced my wife to worry about the backbraid. As for the getting it done in one day, it probably is possible, but i only was able to get at most about 30 feet done in a day. The only other thing i would recommend is once you decide to temper the hide keep of tempered until the whole thing is done i tried to dry my string out over a weekend and it took me three days to get everything back tempered

I like to use just a turks head knot with mostly a pinapple interweave depending on the the size of the strands. I usually use what bruce grant calls the heel knot. As for what i put underneath its usually a peice of 6-7 oz leather cut into a 1/2-3/4 inch strip and wrapped around a 5/8" dowel. If i am braiding rawhide i can usually get the leather to stay around the dowell while i braid, but if it keeps mooving all around I will just put a stitch of waxed thread on the two ends of the leather to hold it in place. This seems to work well for me and it keeps a 40"x40" scarf tight all day long.

Thanks all for the comments. Here in Utah everything is cancelled for the time being, the arena where we buck our practice horses is closed, all the trainers are not accepting horses, and i'm kinda nervous what the PRCA is going to due, I've got a couple rodeos in the next couple weeks that i'd really like to go to. I sure hope this blows over soon.

Here are the first three reatas I have braided. The first is one didn't turn out very well, it has one splice and only turned out to be about 33'. My second one had three splices and turned out to be sixty feet long, and my last one is 50' with one splice. I might note that between my first and second reata I watched Four Strands of Rawhide, and i think it made a significant difference in my reata braiding. I have another hide soaking in the trough and as soon as this summer snow clears up I'm going to get it going.

I used the sodium sulfide method on the last three hides I did, the last one i did green but the two before that I had let cure with the hair on, I found if you do use the sodium sulfide after the hide has dried, make sure the hide is super saturated, and not just a little wet.

I would recomend if you are storing them at above freezing temperatures to at least flesh the hides the best you can, the hides are alot less likely to spoil and stink if they don't have any fat or meat left on them. I had a bad experience once with a poorly fleshed hide.

the cow it came from was an old dried up milk cow. there was very little fat on the hide and now that its hanging up it really looks like a great hde... the best out of all the ones I have done so far. I have already knocked my first reata out of the way, but there are several areas that i need to improve on, after watching Four Strands of Rawhide, my first one only ended up being about fourty feet long but this hide is twice as big as the angus calf i used for my last one. I have always heard that jerseys make the best reata, and i also have a jersey hide but it had more fat on it and it has a great big hip brand right in the way, I had intention to make a reata out of it until I got a hold of this holstien hide, and in my opinion the hostein is a better hide, and i don't think the alternating colors will efffect the reata at all, but i'm still fairly new at this reata braiding stuff, and any other advice would be great.

I just aquired a holstien hide and got it fleshed and dehaired, and it is a wonderful hide. It has no brands or major blemishes and it is HUGE!!! My question for you is will an old holstien hide make a reata, or should i use it for something elses less stressful, reins, bosals, hobbles, ect?

I was able to find a 10 pound bag of yellow flake and used it on my first hide today, and other than about a 8 inch circle right in the middle of the back, the hair just wiped right off. Thanks to all of you contributed info on this process it worked out so much better than anything i've ever tried (my wife doesn't care for the smell too much, but it worked great. Thanks Ben

I had alot of trouble with the same knot, mostly on the ends and mostly with multiple strings, Brian Neuberts Intro to rawhide braiding really helped me with the ends and getting a good symetrical knot.

Hi I have made some rawhide doing the hot water method, but I'm interested in using the sodium sulfide method. What I'm wondering is where to find it, I can't seem to find any local companies that carry it, what kind of companies do, or are there any that some of you deal with that are really good for the money. Thanks, Ben

I did a set of Romal Reins out of rawhide with that same braid and it started out awful, but by the time i got to the end of my nine feet it was going fairly quick.. Are you still located in Cedar City, that is where i'm at right now too, i'm no expert, but if you need some help with something or just have any questions stop by and we can talk braiding.

When you braid horsehair do you coat your strands in some kind of cream to get them to stay together and uniform?

This is a roo necklace I just whipped up last minute for my wife. It is just a eight plait o2u2 braid with pinapple knots where the pendant is. Fairly simple but something nice she can wear to my rodeos as a little bit of advertising.

nine times out of ten i like to take the cord out of the middle, and about the only thing i've found that it was good for was making tassles on somethings, although i prefer horse hair. Since i hardly ever use a pattern one of the most helpful things i have found to do was to take some scraps and do a model of the braid and find out how it will work the best; i.e. how many strings, color pattern, over under pattern with or without core. Another thing i have noticed is that without the core, to me, looks like a cleaner finished braid and nicer looking projects.

I built a paracord mecate last winter and used a peice of 3/8 rope like is used for rope halters for the core and it has a really nice feel it is also twelve strand and measures in at just over 1/2 inch.

This is what I have been working on lately. Romal3.bmp

i too have been having quite a bit of luck selling leashes, i have found that this is because dog people (especially ones with tiny dogs) tend to have a lot more money than brains in comparison to horse people, although there is alot more pride in building a set of romals or a bosal than braiding a leash for the taco bell dog, leashes have been really hot for me this last little while. I also make a paracord stock whip that works really good, for the time and money that goes into it, that has been fairly popular this summer.