Nod4Eight

Just saw this. Leave the grain on, that's what gives rawhide its strength. Flesh it really good, dehair it (there are a few ways to do this, some better that others but it depends on what you intend to do with the rawhide) and then stretch it in a frame to dry it. When its being used/cut is when it is split to a consistant thickness by taking material off the flesh side. Good luck!

It looks like oil tanned leather to me. I use it a lot to make chinks - very durable. It won't take a stamp or mold at all, but should work fine for a belt, although it is difficult to burnish the edges. I'm not sure how you plan to cut it. A draw knife won't work very well, the leather is not stiff enough. I lay it flat, keep it tight and use a long strait edge and a sharp blade. Don't over stretch it unless you want a curvy belt, sometimes I clamp the strait edge to hold it tight and avoid the leather slipping underneath. Get the cleanest cut you can. Good luck and have fun!

I was going to just post the same link rawhide1. I've used that knot fishing and various times to splice 2 ropes together.

That sounds like a good trick to keep in your back pocket. Thanks for testing that out acox!

Leatherpounder - those are some very nice reins! Great work.

Tough news on your rodeos. Everything is shut down here as well. Shows have been canceled. We had several to come in for training we had to postpone, as well as some mares we were gonna send out to breed. I coach some kids riding buckin horses at the local practice pen and that's been canceled as well. Putting a dent in the old pocket book for sure. Might give me some time to prepare a few hides though.

Nice work Ben. Not enough reatas on here if ya ask me. I have a hide set aside for one when I get the time to work on it... You guys impacted much by this horse virus down in Utah?

I would tie the 4 strands together with some string, leaving enough to back braid later. Braid down and do your back braid at the other end. Then come back to your starting end, untie the string, and back braid the starting end for your handle.

Very nice!

Are you braiding around a core? If so - how many strands and how wide are they and how big is the core? This can happen when the core is too big, or too few strands, or the strands are not wide enough - or a combo of these things. Also, make sure tension and angle are equal all the way around. As far as a project, braid what you like. Key fobs, lanyards, dog leashes, hondos, horse gear - whatever suits your fancy. It's supposed to be fun. What kind of braiding do you want to do?

Welcome! The books megabit mentioned are popular. Grants book is a great reference but can be a lil difficult to understand at first. And this site is a great place too, I suggest rading through the old posts - I got a lot out of that. Another site is Knothead's - khww.net I believe. Practice and have fun!

As you're braiding the flat part of the rope, incorporate in your extra strands for several inches - this is your block. Once that has been established continue braiding the flat part and separate out the new pieces toward the top long enough for your hand hold then incorporate back into the flat braid. That's how I did it anyway.

What kind of help are you looking for. Specifics help. I have braided a few ropes for kids riding steers out of baling twine and will answer what I can. Also, look in the 9 strand flat braid tutorial that's pinned. I think its the second page a guy chimes in with info and link about bull ropes.

Here's my 2 cents. A 'full set' will mean different things to different people. A nose button is the long braided button on the top of a bosal. Many good horses never wear a bosal (although I think they are an invaluable training tool). So I would add a bosal to your list along with a nice hanger, but that depends on if your friend uses this. If not I have seen some real nice nose buttons braided on the nose of a rope halter. To fancy it up tie a fiador knot under the chin. There's a pretty good tutorial you can google on this. When you say bridle I imagine you mean headstall. This is what the bridle or bit hangs from that goes over the horses ears. This is not used with a bosal unless their horse is in the 2 rein, but it is used with reins. There are good examples of both headstalls and reins on this site. Another thing to consider is a set of hobbles. Other horse gear I've braided are piggin string (short piece of rope much like a 4-5 foot riata used for a variety of things like lashing together gear, tying legs when doctoring and emergency fence repair) and a nitelatch (loops through the gullet of your saddle as an oh-crap-handle when your pony blows up). These are both things that were pieces made from practice braids that I found a use for. As far as price, that's hard to say - depends on the amount of detail and your title says cheapest. I've made some pretty ugly but functional gear. Maybe this will spark some other answers at least.

Welcome Al. We're dang near neighbors and I'm fairly new to the site as well. I've learned a lot so far and spend most of my time in the braiding forum. I also enjoy fly fishing altough my schedule hasn't allowed me to pick up a rod in a while. We're blessed with some great waters nearby though. Welcome again, maybe we can get together for an afternoon of braiding sometime - I'm sure there's a lot I could learn from you.

So, I thought I ruined the hide. I've been so busy with the horse sale the past 5 days or so I haven't had time to do anything with it. Last I did was get the rest of the hair off and throw it in a plastic bag to get it out of the waster/ash mix but keep it pliable. I may have still lost it. The flesh side needs some work still, but the "hide" part still seems workable. If anyone is still interested I can still post pics of the rest of the process.

Thanks for being so open to sharing, that's what makes this such a valuable site for those of us early in our braiding journey.

Nice! What is the pattern for 12 strand rectangle?

I think you are a bit crazy. Nice work though. I was curious how the roo would hold that form..

I do have a freezer, but after the last hide I put in there I would be in heck if I did. Also, there are more hides than my freezer will hold. I will flesh out the bad ones, these guys actually did a good job. I'm thinking the root cellar will work good, laying them flat. Thanks for the responses!

That was the picture of yesterday. Today the hair was slipping off along with that grey stuff with it, leaving that nice white stuff. So it sounds like I'm on the right path - thanks!

Thanks Denise! That seemed to be more apparent as I worked on it some more today. In the heavy ash areas the hair and this epidermis came off in giant chunks and it is nearly done. The courser hair down the spine is the stuff hanging on the hardest. Attatched is the initial picture showing the difference - dark grey is the epidermis, light grey is the good stuff I'm assuming.

Hi all - Grant talks about "flint hides" as being hides that have dried (a result of not working the hide immediately). Has anyone worked with hides like this? What care is needed to store them? Is it sufficient to keep them in a cool, dry place until I have time and place to work them? I might have bitten off more than I can chew as I just received more than a dozen hides. They are mostly goat, but some are sheep as well. I've never heard of sheep rawhide, anyone work with this before? It seems to me that it would be pretty stretchy. Oh, and there hides are much better quality than that 1st goat hide I got lol. Thanks for all the help!

Nice Brian! Keep us updated on this please. Take lots of pictures

Update: It had been sitting in the wood ashes for a little less than a day, but a small test showed that the hair would come right off with a finger pull. I took it out of the water and found that some spots (the ones more covered with the ash) came off easier than others. I ended up putting it back in to after trying to cover more evenly with ash. The question I have now is this: when pulling the hair off there was a layer of outter skin that would peel off at times. Do I want this outter layer to come off? I thought the strength came from this layer, but this stuff wasn't strong at all, it was almost gooey. Using a draw knife would probably just scrape this off. I can get a picture up later if that helps. THANKS!