troy

can't think of any body more dedicated to the art, as passionate about sharing it and as damn determined to push that summit just a little higher in order to ascend it then you Brian. So ya why not, they were nobodies at one time and you been a somebody for years already...so your really half way there. go get it man and no regrets.... Paul

Not sure if anybody's interested but these are some recent whip handles I've turned showing the raw inners - first and second layers of braiding are braided onto the steel/copper pin which are cut to make them flush/flat with the wooden handle, inserted back in and the last layer is glued on and sinewed over the narrow wooden end bit. once braided on and rolled the end knot and its foundation are glued, sinewed over this narrow piece. as with shown below, the wood is totally exposed, the knot is positioned directly over the narrow non sanded bit. from left to right - indian rosewood (medium weight wood, easy to carve) Black walnut (american black oak, quite a light wood, easy to carve but does'nt have the unique changes in rings as I like, quite a dull colour), Bubingo (semi dense wood of medium weight, colours or rings are quite unique, smells nice), Cocobolo ( one of the darker african woods like wenge, ebony, blackwood and thus like them is a hard heavy wood, harder to carve and blunts knives quicker but has interesting colors, textures, like this wood). Wood in cat shown below is thuya burr which unlike some burrs is dense enough for handles, carves like cheese, smells good also - will show an image of most favourite wood to turn (and also the most rare and expensive, its very heavey, very dense and very pretty - cost £80.00 for this piece; snakewood) I failed to mention that when the pin is inserted back into the wood (2 .5 inches in, 2.5 inches left showing, 6mm width - using 6mm bit) I drill a small hole throught the narrow wooden piece and pin (say a 2 or 3mm metal bit) and then insert a nail - although the pin fixes in really tight, this nail helps keep it all together for all those indy fans who like swinging - from a tree that is, not the other sort of swinging!

Not sure if this will help or not, but made a pdf of braiding a dog coller - flat, round to flat braid - a few years ago - http://www.mtn-m.co.uk/web%20components/whips/dog%20collar.pdf

its called micro paracord of about 2mm width, five star do it. and cheers for the comment, you must of dug deep to find this thread.

cheers for the comments leatheroo. I have now patched up the hole, so to speak although it looks atad like a false tooth amongst healthy one's. It was neopene that I used but I made the mistake of cutting to much and then having to sand to get rid of the ridges etc, that would have been seen/felt through the thin roo hide - what i should of done is perhaps just taped the padding on, done the cutting and then turned it but there you go hind sight is a great thing..... cheers again Paul

Originally I was gonna do a fancy carving job on this but decided to go with a whole roo hide seat instead using the flesh side of a tan colored hide for the seat as it has a nice pattern........used simple braids for the bottom bit as well as I did'nt have any rivots. The braid around the edge is a simple round braid. Is it just me or does the padding look to thin - I did start with a pad 1 inch thick, then sanded it......... Cheers Paul

swop all the leather as listed/shown below (not seperatly) for two pieces of veg tanned carving leather. both of dimensions 30 x 40cms or roughly to dimensions shown in first photo below, one of 4mm upto whatever thickness, the other about 2 or 3mm. Would be handy if the thicker piece has no marks. will need photo of them first and they are for a chopper pan seat project. supple kip leather measuring 45 x 20 inches (an average width measuremnt taken half way along it) by 2mm thick at the long end to 1.5mm at the narrow end. Has some holes and a branding mark that looks like the word MAP. tan color, would be good for reinactment etc... Veg tanned Kangaroo off cuts of various of 1.5mm thickness in black, tan, and brown Sheepskin clothing nappa of 0.6 - 0.75mm thick in red and navy blue. navy blue is an whole hide of about 2.5 x 2.5ft and the red is slightly smaller but has pen marks on it. please email me at Paul@mtn-m.co.uk with offers/questions...normally I say that we both pay postage for the leather we send. Cheers Paul

cheers for the idea Brian, have looked into it a bit but I think I'll stick with the roo braiding as I know how to do that and this project is'nt really the sort to try out new things, but ye does look good... Cheers Paul

see photo below, it is of a plan for a chopper seat with a high curved back. As can be seen, I plan to do a largish expanse of flat braiding where basically the seat won't be sat on, rather rested against. Evenso with this expance of braiding I forsee the braided rising off of the leather due to the curve. To remedy this I have decided to not braid the letters but rather braid around them using the seat leather as the letters, if you get my meaning thus pressing the braid against the leather. I would of rathered braidied the letters as normal but could'nt think of a way to ensure the braid stays against the leather - any body done something similar and got a better idea? Cheers Paul

Feels like years since starting the upgrade of my bike, but now the new seats are on, new paint job done, just gotta polish all my greasy finder marks off of the chrome....Sooo what do you think, do the seats suit this bike or not, I'm in two minds at the moment but I'm sure a summer of crusing will solve that .

In my humble opinion, Ron's volume 2 is about the round braids is the bee's knee's;. I make loads of knots, have do for years of all P's and B's - if it ain't in the book (which is very unlikely), it gives you enough to figure out others yourself. If like me and you haven't grown out of the beano then your find the pictures easy peasy to follow, but the full U's and O's for each knot are their as well for the grown up's. His whip making book is also a dandy of a read for long braids and such, fid work etc etc braiding letters, plus his leather lacing book is great for edge braids. - all good books that have in the 4 plus years I've had them, have never needed dusting - and I shed like a snake.......

thanks for the comments. When you say double bevel, I'm presuming if memory serves that that means bevel the hoof and the ground where they meet?

Been awhile since I've carved a horse as part of a landscape and can't for the life of me remember if to imitate its hooves being on the ground you should either bevel the ground beaneth it or of the hoof where it meets the ground. cheers Paul

Finally after years waiting, it seems their is a horse rawhide supplier. Correct me if I'm wrong but I have thought that horse rawhide is better ( as in just as thin but denser then deer rawhide) for fine braiding or any braiding, then deer rawhide. This is the supplier - http://www.barrheadleather.co.uk/raw-hide-c46.html - I have used their seconds hides and found them to be great for braiding, yet to try out the horse which will depend if fellow braiders here know if horse is indeed better then deer, i.e won't stretch as much when damp and is still thin enough for narrow strings. cheers Paul

It was the old texas naval flag that attracted the wife, but ye she loves it either way - as for construction I thought alittle more detail might help those who are thinking of doing something similar. As stated I used nappa which is quite thin and does stretch, so the muslin really helped prevent that and also make the sewing easier, as I did use the normal two legged foot. Each stripe is 2 inches wide plus 1 inch overlaps either side to help create a smooth surface to sit on, rather then ridges. Each overlap was glued together using white pva glue (which alloud some movement to match the two opposing sides up before sewing and was easy to part onced sewn and then ironed). I used a number 14 leather needle with stitch width of 3.5mm, tension I'm told was automatic on the machine I used. Before starting this project, I made a template of the seat from a spare piece of leather, transfered these measurements to illustrator and drew in the flag. These measurements were then used to cut out each stripe etc - for the star I just cut the shape out of the blue, placed the white piece underneath and hand sewn it on. I hand sewn this part because the muslin with the stripes helped prevent any drag, but without it, the machine did'nt seem to like it. thats about it I think, but please ask if theirs anything else... Paul

I was going by the one shown on this page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Texas - but cheers..

finished the seat. I used nappa clothing leather in the end as it was the only type which offfered the colours I needed. Backed the pieces I was using with muslin to avoid over stretch, cut to pattern and sewn together. Went with one star as 1, is was easier and looked alot cleaner then applying loads of little one's, plus 2, she grew up in texas, so fitted in with her idea's.

I know that this may not be an ideal solution to skiving lace for a beginner, but this is how I've done it since cutting my own lace with the tandy cutter (as shown and used in the photo for cutting and skiving). In the photo, I am using veg tan as the example but have used it on roo as well. I guess it does take practise to get used to it and it cannot be adjusted for different thicknesses, but at £12.00 a throw these cutters arn't expensive. As seen in the photo, you just cut off the plastic bit between two of the gaps, file down slightly - you could leave it as that but I glued on an old blade to give a firm base - you will also need to skive the end of the lace to first feet it through, then just place in a vice or something and pull whil feeding the lace into it. Oh ye, should add that this is fine for narrow lace to 5mm and lace that is thin to start with, but these blades are not to strong and may bend - if that happens I have filed the gap that the blade goes into to fit in a slightly thicker one, like a shaving blade or other such small blades.

well thats both seats done, just still waiting for the bits from the painter guy - really really wanting to see it all together now.

My wife would like her old style bandit 600 seat done in the style of the stars and stripes - I'm wondering if their is possibly some suitable leather out their that has it printed on already, if not, which I suspect is the case, whats the best type of leather to use and which I can get in red, white and blue? construction wise (sorry have only used veg tan prodominetly) I was thinking the leather would be thin, so was thinking of sewing each flag element onto another base thin piece underneath. Does that sound OK. Cheers for any help. Paul

cheers everybody for the advise, have finally finished the wrapping shadowryder. Not as easy as it seems but alls done now. Below is the carving I have decided upon for the pillion seat, not too sure if a passanger would apprepiate it, but hell if they trust my riding then probably they would.

cheers for the advice - yo shadowryder, good the see theirs others in the UK doing this stuff. Noticed on your facebook the most recent photo of a green honda. On it you've (or whosever it is) has wrapped the exhaust. I'm currently re-vamping my marauder which needs this replaced - do you know where I can get it from or what its called. cheers Paul

Just finished this for a marauder, and once the kip dries I was thinking of coating it with aussie condioner (as its all I've got right now) but was wondering if their is something else that would proof it better. cheers Paul

tree's are gone

jesus, feel like billy crystal amindst a stampede. Books are gone now, apologise to all those who did try, just glad they are going to be of use to someone.