troy

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.