Ecapone

Try using a smaller core or wider straps or go for a 12 thongs braid instead of 8. Cheers, Enrique

Horse and goat are the two more used in Argentina. I have a friend that is a hunter and I asked him to save the deer skins for me. I process them myself with lime and some of them work good. So I use deer because is available for free and is not bad. I have hear that people says is strechy but remember we don't use it tempered or tanned and probably that is the diference. I would use more goat or horse if have more available. I don't use any particular material for specific projects. I select it based on the lenght and the thickness that I need among my stock of rawhides. Cheers, Enrique

They are all beautiful. Congratulations. Enrique

Close to 75% is good coverage because when you wrap the thongs around the handle you want them to cover it completely while your thongs adquire an angle of around 45 degrees. Normally I use multiples of 6 so I can do O2 U2 or O3 U3 patterns on the same piece. Some patterns requiere multiples of 11 (for example). If 48 would have not been enough, I should have used 54 (48 +6) to keep my pattern. 99% of the times we cut the thongs form a piece about 20cm wide and about 1.3 meters long. We seldon cut thongs from a circle. For that reason, we use the thongs of that length (1.3 meters) or have of that and is always enough so I don't need to measure the length of them. The terminations consume more thong so it also depend on the braiding you do. The fid work doesn't. I would say 4X is a good safety measure. Cheers, Enrique

I saw it. I dind't know who that was but I saw it related to leather braiding. I found a picture of a pair of pliers for glass. Is the one the guys that work with glass use to cut glass after it is marked. Cheers, Enrique

I made it myself. You can get any kind of flat pliers and file the notches yourself. There is one plier that is used by the people that work with glass that is great for this. If you can get one of those, then it is really easy to make. I will try to get a picture of one of those. Cheers, Enrique Please look at this post where I made one out of wood. The one in the book is better but this one is free http://www.armasblancas.com.ar/foros/el-taller-de-soguero/19394-pinza-para-tientos.html Enrique

Very nice job. Congrats. Enrique

Those 2 bosal are beautiful. Congratulations. Enrique

Did you de-hair it with lime? Enrique

Nice Work Cheers, Enrique

Absolutely beautiful. Congratulations you have done a piece of art. Enrique

I have done it with 6 but I think the minimum is 4 or 5 actually. I will try them. Cheers, Enrique

Ok. Here they are. The thong comes from behind the long arm of the cross. It goes from the bottom to the left arm. Then from the left to the top Then it goes from the top to the right and when it comes back to the bottom, it goes over one under one. That is the base of it. Now you just repeat the same sequence from bottom, to the the left, top and right but every time you find thongs, you cross them unver or over so they lock. This picture shows 1 complete turn through all the 4 arms. When it goes up, first it will go UNder 1 and Over 1. Then for the following, it will be Over 1, Under 1 and Over 1 untill the first complete turn is done. One more complete turn. And this is how it looks from behind.; You can put something before hand in that space so it doesn't look empty. I have seen for example a piece of rawhide cut as a cross. I hope this help. Cheers, Enrique

I know how to make this center for the cross. It is quite simple actually but I don't know to explain it with words. I would have to take some pics and upload them. I have to warn you that the back is open. The center of the cross doesn't look covered in the back as it looked in the front. Seen from the back you just see a couple of turns around the arms of the cross. If you still want the steps I can upload them when I have some time. Cheers, Enrique

Russell, CW is right. The softenning I was talking about is the equivalent to tanning but instead of using chemicals, it is using mechanical ways. It is hard but after you soften it, it stays soft. When you temper the rawhide to cut it, it gets hard again when it loses the humidity. I hope this helps. Enrique

I am glad you like it. Enrique

Nice work. Enrique

Russell, I am glad you received the book and you liked it. Before even trying this braid, try the other patria braids in the book. This is way more difficult. After you have try the others, you will notice that the sequence is similar for all of them. Also you can modify the sequence and create some diferent patterns. For this particular one you have 11 thongs on each side and you have 4 steps 1) the most external thong the left goes under 3, over 3, under 4 2)the most external thong on the right goes over 3, under 3, over 5 3) the most external thong on the left goes over 3, under 3, over 4 4) the most external thong on the rigth goes under 3, over 3, under 5 1) 2) 3) 4) Cheers, Enrique www.leather-braiding.com

Very nice work. Congratulations. Those take a lot of time. Cheers, Enrique

7 inches took me 3 hours braiding last night. It is not quick to do. Cheers, Enrique Thanks Brian.

I am trying this new Patria Braid. A few days ago Pablo Lozano visited me and he showed me one like this. I like so much that I had to try it. I hope you like it. Seen from the front Seen from the back Cheers, Enrique

Nice tools Brian. They sure look good. Enrique

I guess cow or bull are the best. Enrique

Nice Brian

When you soften rawhide, it stay soft. Enrique