venthompson

Finally got a whip done. 48 strand horse rawhide handle, 12 strand elk rawhide thong.

Depending on how long the bottom headstall straps are. You can make them shorter and have it take weight off or longer to have the full weight of the nose button on them. I try to have it so the nose button is slightly resting but not the whole weight of the bosal.

Here is the way my dad taught me to build hackamores back in the 60's

I saw something similar on youtube but it was a lot smaller for cutting lace, I just sized it up.

Whip handle I just got done. 40 strands of Horse with 1/2 dyed with coffee. Now I need to find time to braid up the rest of the whip.

I'm fairly lazy and have always hated cutting rawhide from rounds so I built this table that I can cut 1/2 inch strips from rounds. It has a center pivot the round will fit on and it moves towards the blade as I cut. There is a spring loaded metal hand that holds the rawhide down so it doesn't curl up as I'm cutting. Seems to work alright, I can cut up a cow hide into long strips in about 20 minutes. 3 elk and 1 cow hide I cut using the new table.

The horn was a over 2 under 2 eight strand and the cantle was O1 U1 eight strand edge braiding.

Ron, I got to thinking about the 'SF', I guess I really don't know if it stands for slick fork but that is what I learned some 30 odd years ago from somewhere and I never gave it a second thought until now. It would be nice to actually learn the history of the SF Bowman tree but I wouldn't know where to look, or the history of the other styles of trees also. Ven

The SF stands for Slim Fork. The horn was just a 3 inch dally with a 2 inch cap, I added about 2 inches to the horn cap with extra leather and did a couple layers of Leather to build the neck of the horn up. Not sure if I'll find time to do another saddle. I have about a 16 various hides waiting to get made into rawhide for braiding projects. Kids and a job cut into my leather/rawhide time.

It rides good so far, haven't done much yet with it except a couple of brandings. It sits on a horse fairly well if they aren't to fat. Drug a bunch of calves without a breast collar and it stayed in place pretty good. The welt idea on the swells came from Jeremiah Watts web page, I think he called it Marshall welt.

Here are a few pictures of the horn and cantle. The cantle is kind of wavy, I didn't get the strings thickness evened out. I was cutting the strings lengthways from a horse hide and the thickness varied quite a bit and I couldn't get the thick spots thinned down to match without losing all of the strength. But because I was building it for myself I didn't bother cutting other strings to match. I did about 6 inches an hour over a few days.

Decided I needed a new saddle so I hacked one out this spring. 16.5 inch Slim Fork Bowman with 4 inch comfort cantle. Rocket hide braid on the horn and cantle. Mother hubbard style full carved. In skirt rigging. Been 25 years since I've done any Saddle work so there are lots of flaws.

Yeh, might be a little ouchy wearing them right now, Hopefully they'll be finished in a week.

My new boots just about done by my Cousin-In-Law Zack Jay of Hulett Wy. I taught him to make boots this spring and talked him into making me this pair this fall.

I taught my cousin in law to make boots this spring and talked him into making me a pair this fall. Not done yet but getting close. Zack Jay from Hulett Wyoming.

I've never had any luck with purchased deer rawhide for the same reasons you mentioned. I will wet my hide and then case it in a large plastic storage bin that has about 1/2 inch of water with the hide above the water on a shelf and I leave it until it for a day or 2 until the moisture evens out in the hide, even then I will have to let it dry a little before cutting. It doesn't take much moisture for deer hides to be too wet to cut. If you are cutting rounds you will have to really watch out for the flanky portions, I waste a lot of hide by just taking the rounds out of the best portions of the back. If I don't need very long strings I will take the strings lengthways down the back. I always cut my strings oversize, stretch them and cut down to size. I've found that the deerhide I make is very strong but very stretchy, the only reason I use it is because I get all the hides I want for free I just have to do the work to make them into rawhide. If I had to buy it I would buy good cowhide or horse.

I just hold the pressure with my foot, it doesn't take much pressure to hold it tight. Just resting my feet on it is enough. I think I'm going to have to put some cushions on the seat though, I'm kind of wimpy anymore.

Wish my first bosal had looked that good!

Yep they still have the Days of 76. It has been voted the top mid sized PRCA rodeo for the last few years. Doesn't seem like we make it up there to see it though. We always take in the Black Hills Roundup rodeo over the 4th in Belle. I never try to get consitant width from the round, I always cut a little oversize then split the string then run it through and get the width even. I never used to bother with all of that but then I was just making usable cowboy gear. I'm trying to refine my braiding in my old age. I just make things to give away to friends.

Braiding bench I made so I can sit comfortably and clamp my work easily. Made like an old spoke shave bench.

I flesh my hides with the pressure washer first, Then soak in the lime until the hairs slips, I just use a junk of plywood about 2 feet long that fits my hands comfortably (about 2 inches wide by 1/2 inch) the hair will puch off fairly easy. I'll rinse in clean water a couple of days changing the water 3 or 4 times a day. Then I'll soak in water and a gallon of vinegar to neutralize the lime for a day. The deer hides I'll stretch and nail to plywood to dry, trying to do most the the stretch lengthways. Cow and elk hides i stretch between a frame until just about dry then I will cut rounds out of them trying to avoid the flanky and belly sections. From the rounds I will cut about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thongs aroung the circles. With the deer and elk i will stretch the thongs trying to get all of the stretch out of them I can then I will split them down and stretch again before cutting my final length. The worst part of the elk and deer is the stretchiness, I waste a lot of hide by stretching and cutting down to the size I need. But I get all of my deer and elk for free and usually have more than I can work. Once the strings are cut I will cut them to length depending on what I am making and bevel the edges. I use a Hansen string cutter that I bought from Frank in the 80's. Once cut and beveled I start braiding. I have a braiding bench that makes it easy to clamp my braid in so I can keep everything fairly straight. It is modeled after a spoke shave bench. I keep the thongs soaped up with Fiebing saddle soap and 'pull tight braid loose'.

For cowhides i use about a gallon of Builders lime with about 30 gallons of water. The brand name of the lime is SnowBrite type N hydrated high calcium lime, I get it at the local builders supply. During the summer the hair will slip in about 3 days. I just fininshed a hide today that had been soaking for 2 weeks, it finally got warm enough to melt the ice in my tub. I have had hides in lime solution for a month or so and never had any problem with them rotting. The hardest part is getting them rinsed good enough to get the calcium deposits out of the hide. Deer and Elk will usually slip the hair sooner but they will float more because of their hair, I usually have to weight them down.

Ron Edwards book 'How to make Whips' has some good info on patterns and doing names in braiding.

It's 2500 psi pressure washer with a special rotating nozzel I picked up at Sears. It takes about 15 minutes to do a deer hide and about an hour for a cowhide to flesh. It makes a mess but I have plenty of room outside. It sure cleans the hide good though.

i know of him but haven't had the pleasure of meeting him.