Melanie Wilfong

Beautiful! I'd like to build a quirt with a knife as the core. I saw one before I started braiding. Does anyone have a quirt like this? I'd like to take a look at one.

Thank you. I want a finer braid and will use 3/32". How many strand plait do you think for the headstall at beg. of this tread? Sorry, but split string to under .1mm? When/where do I do this?

This is a huge help. Thank you all for your suggestions. My practice braids were done on a core that was too mushy, so I don't want to make that mistake again. My favorite hackamore (that I've worn out, and the old man who built it has passed) has a bosal made of stiff rope with 1/4" braided leather noseband. If anyone has any suggestions about the bosal, I'd greatly appreciate it. We have old lariats, I hate to cut up a good one, but was going to use one not really good for roping anymore.

Oh great. Grant's book said to braid over a braided leather cord and that sounded like a huge pain. So braided over rope is ok for headstall? Thank you! I've been practicing 6 strand over rope and it looks good. After several tries got it nice and tight. I was thinking of going to 8 strand for the head stall. I've been tying woven knots over it for practice.

Hello, I'm going to build this same headstall. What kind of braided core did you use for 8-plait 1/8" string? Size/type string, or is it leather cord? Thank you.