Nod4Eight

Looks like it will be a great time megabit! Have fun and take some pictures of the gear they braid.

blackhammer had some good advice. Find an old one at a feed store or pawn shop. Tear it apart step by step. I've braided one steer riding rope by that method, so again I'm far from an expert.

Hey all, I've not been here in quite a while. Just curious if anyone has any opinions on calf rawhide. I have several hides in the freezer from 2-3 week olds and will probably have a 3 month old hide in the morning. I've worked with kid hide and it stretches a lot, was wondering about young calf hide. Thanks in advance.

Above advice is all good. If you're going to use veg tan tho, I would condition the heck out of it. I have used Lexol and sponge on bleed knots with veg tan and seriously soak the crud out of it. I never made a lease, it was more for ornate on my saddle so I don't know how much it would hold up.

Thanks Steve, appreciated. There is nothing on the makers mark but VALE SADDLERY CO on the top and VALE, OR on the bottom. It's all I can do to make it out and the pix didn't show anything - maybe once I oil it up... From what I've seen with the 8 button the years you supplied sounds about right, I've seen leathers out the fenders in different years, but I'm thinking around 100 years old. Thanks again Steve. Any other thoughts?

I don't have a lot to add to what everyone has said, but I do have one little thing that has helped me. I was having a tough time getting the right temper and actually ruined a couple of rounds as I was trying to string them out. What I do now is temper some scrap from the same hide along with my rounds or rough-cut string. That way I can test out on the scrap and not risk my good stuff. I felt kinda dumb for not doing that before as it just makes too much sense - but it may help someone out there. Rob

Update - I did talk with U2 saddle shop in Vale OR, in hopes that they might have knowledge of any older saddle makers in the area and they had no info other than to give me a name of an older gentleman who made saddles in the area, but I can not find him listed in online directories. It looks very similar in construction to several other older saddles listed on this site for information as well. Many of those threads end with no update. I can supply other pictures of gullet and makers mark (I'll try to clean it up to see if I can make more out on it) etc. I'm mostly curious as to the age of the saddle.

I picked up this old saddle off Craigslist - it was listed as a "buckaroo saddle". I picked it up to rebuild it a bit to use on colts. The tree is solid but the leather needs a little repair. The jockey seat has been torn and repaired, both stirrup leathers have been repaired in the past, it's def been used and seen a wreck or two in it's time. The skirting is newer than the rest of the saddle. I planned to re-wrap the horn. The makers mark is hard to make out other than Vale, OR. My question is this. I can find very little history online about it. Any help out there?

I haven't tried deer or elk, but have tried hog. It is very stretchy and is difficult to get string cut evenly. If its free tho, I say go ahead and practice with it. If nothing else its good practice on making rawhide. Rob

Welcome Enrique. Beautiful work, I like the "sampler" of beads - quite a variety.

I have not found any pre-made lace that is beveled. Most is split to a fairly consistent thicknes. Making your own lace can be as frustrating to learn as the braiding itself, but when you get it down it is worth it. -Rob

If you are asking how "I" bevel - don't listen to the advice. I've tried it free hand and then made a small jig to do it. It's tough to do unless you have the proper tools. As far as buying beveled lace - I think you can, at least from people on here. I've never seen it in stores, but I usually buy leather at Tandy which is not the best source (but it's local). Also, on some very thin roo I have has decent luck with not beveling and rolling the heck out of it. Prestretch the string if you do that though.

Bridle horses, drop shank spurs, flat hats and rawhide - gotta love it all! I can't help you with paracord as I've never used it. As far as lace - most of us do cut it ourselves. It can be done without the expensive cutters but takes a lot of practice and wastes a lot of material during the learning curve. I started practicing with the plastic lace you can get at craft stores. It works to learn the braids, but the memory it retains is a pain! Learn to bevel your edges as well, it makes the finished product look so much better and helps build confidence - a good thing in a craft that can be frustrating at times. As far as the rawhide - I don't think I've seen anyone make leashes out of it so stick with roo or some form of cheaper tanned leather. I have actually had success braiding and edging with chrome tanned hides I cut down to lace.

Nice megabit, keep us posted. I got a hide picked out for one, but it's gonna have to wait till closer to fall, just too busy right now. Got pics of the lace? It would be nice to see progress pics along the way.

Welcome. You came to a great place to get advice. 'Roo and other leathers are much easier and forgiving in my experience, but I agree with megabit and prefer rawhide. As far as cores, use what you have and practice practice practice. And have fun with it. There are some great braiders here, learn what you can from them.

Funny that you mentioned those two particular ingredients - goat hides and sumac. I have plenty of both and have been thinking of trying it. Have you found a process detailing how to tan with sumac? From what I have found it makes a nice leather but I have not found a process to follow yet.

Thanks Blackhammer for the info, pretty close to what I thought. I agree - skimping on the tools just don't cut it. I need to find a way to get or make a better splitter too. Mike - sounds like BH is putting you to work haha! Yes, the confidence thing is probably the most important and the hardest to overcome. Any amount of fear or hesitation can be sensed by the horse which will throw him off his game in one way or another, Wet saddle blankets is the only way I know how to get past it. Best of luck to ya.

Blackhammer - you say you went a tad big? What size strands would you go with on your next one? And how long were they? To get 47 I would guess about 70-75 each? I have a hide ready to prep when I get the time and am looking to have dimensions in mind when I start on it. Wanting about a 60 footer so I'm thinking around 90-100 ft strands? Mike - sorry to hear about your wreck. How's the recovery?

Wow, very nice. Your work always looks so clean and tight. Nice work!

I think it looks pretty good too. Tossing a reata is a lot different feel than your standard rope for sure. Sounds like you've done the right things with it so far: roll, pound, stretch. Be careful pulling it through a fence post if you have splices. It might pull just fine til you hit a splice - then you suddenly have two reatas. Nice work, I like seeing the reatas.

Thanks! I'll give that a try.

Good to know it will last that long. I have a question about the smell. Is the leather supposed to smell like a horrid pickled fish smell after drying from the roon dip? If not, any ideas what I did wrong? If that's normal, how do you get rid of that smell?

Nice job Mike! I like the design with the double loop/terminal knot. And the horse hair looks great. I've tried working with hair before and it always turns out a fuzzy mess. Is it all in the prep? Looks good and gave me a few ideas since I need to make my gal a new one.

Nice Brian. Very clean looking, I'm sure you will get it set up soon, put some pics up when its done. In fact, it would be interesting to see others shop areas as well. I just moved and will be setting mine up in the next week but the spare room on the barn is not nearly that clean lol.

Nice work so far! I think the color combo of brown/black black/red will look just fine. My thoughts are - they're your reins, do what you want. My first pair of chinks turned out 'unique' but they are my favorite pair now. I like the redneck camping trailer, looks an awful lot like my moving trailer I just used. . Nice to see some new work on here, its been a little slow being almost summer.