Vaquero1

Jake and Alan- thanks for your support... your answers helps me a lot and you are with me doing my cores ;-) Michael

Thanks Jake- your support is very helpful to me!!!

Thanks Brad, to hang it for a while seems to be a good solution to let the twist out and become a better "setting" i think- i will try it that way. isn´t there nobody else something to say about it????? ;-)

roo4u- that is exactely what i mean. (sorry for my very basic english... )

ive read about old reatas too, but i see no difference between them and my braided cores... it doesn´t work for me- please help ;-)

Hi Nod, boiling water destroys totally the flex, the hide is getting stiffer but on my last honda the burner strip cracked because it takes out the glue...

Thanks megabit for uploading- great foundation for my nosebutton knots...

How do you make your Core? i´ve heard about the problem, a twisted rawhide core gets out of shape and twists back after a while... so i only do 4 strand braided cores. i pull them very tight but my finnished hackamores has no life and they are much to soft. i don´t want to use tape and perhaps you can help me doing it better ;-) is there a trick to hold the twisted core without rewinding? have you ever made a (clockwise) twisted core with a counterclockwise twisted core over it? do you braid the core and the cheeks wet and soapy or dry? I braid the second core more wet than the others and even if i pulled a lot, you can see some space between the strands after drying... ;-(

after trying a lot i found a way it works good for me. i braid about 8 inches, wrapping the honda over a broom handle and making my knot. by putting the burner on it will be tighten. the ropehole is the last i do and finally i cook for 1-1,5 min.

Rick, your mini knot is awesome!!! i braid for half a year and i learned so much from some very special people in this forum and the bruce grant book is allways with me ;-) thank you for your support and sharing your knowledge- greetings from Germany Michael

Skyout, i´m without words... thank you for your great support, it takes so much time to answer me such long and helpful- i printed out everything and hope i understand it -) many many thanks for your description and links Michael

Great- thanks skyout, the pics from ron edwards helps me a lot... is it possible to Calculate how big and broad to be taken by foundation and how wide a strip has to be to cover the foundation? in my knots there is often space or it is to tight to complete the knot... Michael

ok, i practice the other way ;-)

I´m not able to get a smart straight double or long 4 Bight 2 pass Gaucho Knot of 2 wraps with the method bruce grant describes it in his book... the method is easy but my knots allways look awfull. so i wanna do it with a turks head foundation like a pineapple. the normal 4 bight 5 part turks head with gaucho interweave works good for me so i wanna do it with the long version as well. i can´t find out a pattern so please help me ;-) Michael

Rob, thanks for your answer- i will do the next hobbles with smaller button strings and a better rounded foundation. And i´ll make a gaucho knot instead of the spanish ring knots...

here is some of my new practice... please critic my work Michael

1) i take the hole dried out hide and cut off the egdes so it looks like one big egg. than i cut the whole hide into a long 3/4 inch string, splitt it to an uniform thickness and strech/ dry it out. 2) next i cut this string in 1/4 inch strands. 3) this strands i split, cut and bevel in the differend sizes i finally want... i wanna know the way you work it, do you cut 1/8" or 1/16" strands from your first big strand? how often and when do you splitt it? Michael

Your bosals look heavy and are fine braided- i like your style very much Rob. i found, that it´s better not to make the nosebutton bigger on top- so it fits better the horses nose and you got a better contact and the bosal does not dance - do you agree? Michael

I like your Hondas very much! the braiding from 4strand braid u1,o1 to 8 braid u2,02 looks very equal, how did you do this? when i make my hondas, i ever have an over3 or an very unequal braiding in the transition... Michael

Hi Brad, i can´t reading but i still try it- 90sec will work better- thanks ;-)

Brad, thanks for your fast and helpful answer and for making the fotos. now i can build some bolts and a shaping stick from an old axe handle... i boild a test honda and now it is very stiff but i can break the whole with my hands... what was wrong? do i have to use lots of saddle soap? how do you boil the honda 11min and the burner only 30 sec? i have a nice san juan honda braided from the great braider ALBERT FRUNZ from germany. his material looks and feels more like leather than rawhide- does anyone know how i can become this consistence?

Brad,, thats a good idea with the bolt- can you please make a picture from your shaping stick? it would help me to make one ;-)

Thanks, your tipps and comments helps me a lot. i made me some wedges but now i can not put a pencil in the rope hole anymore- perhaps i must build a kind of a big wood nail with a bigger flat tail to put them inside and do the wedges over it. i ordered the bill dorrance dvd too and hope i will get them soon... i wish all of you a happy new year- your helpfulness is awsome

Hi all, can anybody tell me how i can make the burner rounded inside? I think the rope does not run trough it lightly...