braiding4fun

+1 My experience is that if I don't have enough strings or wide enough ones, the front will always look much better than the back. I always have to turn it over and look at the back to know for sure if I'm covering everything right

There are many youtube videos and other resources online to help learn how to crack a whip. Search for Adam Winrich on youtube and you will find a lot of info. I should warn you though, whip making and cracking is very addictive! P.S. Check out the PM I sent you

Ah... I see. Well, that should make a solid foundation all right.

So I get that this is a way to get a two tone knot, but is there any other reason to use more than one strand? And those pics are great megabit, but I'm still wondering what you do to hide the ends when you're done? It seems like a lot of ends left over to hide for such a small knot.

My sole experience with rawhide has been some antelope that I 'rawhided' myself. It is pretty thin, and in my very limited experience needs to be worked very dry. I wouldn't be surprised if it's about like goat. Well I might try some veg tanned goat and see what it's like, not sure yet.

Thanks for the replies, if anyone else has experience using goat skin (for anything), I'd be glad to hear what your impression of it is.

Hi all, I'm fairly new here, and relatively new to leather work, although I've been braiding for awhile. My thing has been bullwhips, and I've been using paracord to make nylon whips. I enjoy that a lot, but my goal has been to steer this hobby into doing leather bull whips, and thus my question. I've found some veg tanned goatskin that seems reasonably priced, and I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with it. I'm wondering mainly how it compares in strength to kangaroo or cowhide, and how it is to work with. I like the price a lot better than kangaroo, and I think I saw someone somewhere who said they like it as a better priced but still comparable leather. Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-ft-550-lb-PARACORD-para-cord-PARACHUTE-ROPE-/320629936098?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item76bfaad5bc#ht_1691wt_952 This is a good supplier for me. Always has quick shipping, and you can combine shipping on up to five 100' lengths of any color they have. It's about the cheapest way to buy 100 foot lengths that I've found.

Dear friend, I use the strings almost dry. I just rub them with a little bit of soap paste. To soften the rawhide, I get the rawhide wet until is tempered. Then I rolled it by the conners with the hair side inside and I hit it with an especial mallet that we call maceta (see picture). I made this maceta with 2 pieces of 2 x 4. After hiting the rawhide I roll it and I save it on a plastic bag overnight. Next day I take it out for another session and I save it back on the plastic bag. It take about 7 days to soften it. Between sessions I also rub some pork fat or some glyceryn soap. First off, I don't know much at all about rawhide, but I want to learn and plan to try braiding with it as soon as I can procure some of my own. When you soften rawhide like this, does it stay soft, or if it gets wet in the future will it harden and go out of shape? Thanks,