KAW

pcox do you have a burner for your #1 ,I'm looking for the burn for the wax pot mine is bout on its last leg, if you know of you will you let me know thanks

I use the 200 for bout up to a 1/2 with a #4 cord linen and 160 with a 3 cord linen on fine poppers for my quirts, thickness on them is bout 3/16 to a 1/4 I use the wax pot and it takes alittle more time but it is worth it I think, as both of you fellas I also have a very strong love for mechanical hammers I have rebuilt a lot of various brands the Beaudry Champion being my favorite as I run 3 of them.

What breed of cattle did you use, how old was it and what type ot feed was the animal on?

Hey fellas here are the last two rawhide sheaths I made, both are cow rawhide I made, one is studded with copper and the other is nickel silver, the one with the copper is lined with brain tanned buckskin and the other is buckskin. Both are hand sewn with a rawhide welt and copper riveted at stress points.

Megabit and FlatWaterCowboy You can use about anything for a core if you want a softer feel use leather a stiffer core use rawhide, braided or a single strand with the corners knocked off and rounded. I personally don't use a core on 8 strand reins and alot of 12 strand reins but use a core on all 16 strand round or flat , for a using rein I like 8 strand no core you need to leave some beef to your strings then round or pound them square,after you have it braided it all depend on the feel you wan't just remember to leave some beef to the string so it has some body to it they will shrink alot more than you think after you pound or round them that away they won't curl on you and you have alot of strenth in the string to braid it tightly bout 2/3 the width thick some times alittle more. Streach your braids tightly and let them dry good before you add your buttons 40 to 42 is fine with chains as far as button length and how many its up to You for feel and the balance you wan't and theres no way to tell exactly til you put a bridle together so my suggestion to you if you are building them for yourself put about 3/4 0f the buttons on then put your bridle together and ride it afew times and see if you like the feel if not add a few buttons or cut some off that way you get what YOU are looking for, Every person and every horse is different Cut you string about 10 feet and you will have enough it's always better to cut them a little long you can use the ends for buttons. Make you Romals to your liking it is nice if the button pattern matched the rein , but it doesn't have too. If they don't come out like you like make another til they do. hope this can help you guys, on second thought just chunk that braid shit and get some harness leather.

Here is a knife and sheath I finished recently the steel was Forged W2 and the handle is 1/16 of an inch natural and coffee dyed calf rawhide and the sheath is cow rawhide lined with buckskin studded with solid nickel spots and nickel silver conchos I made.

Happy Birthday and have a few for me

Looking good.

E, could really ride some nasty ones with that one, nice rig.

nice looking rig

Rob, looking good, I can see the influence of your trip in your work,your nose buttons are looking alot better with each piece I see. good job.

You can make the knot following the standing end on either side, just one turns back differently, it can be difficult to expain or comprehend on the computer or phone some times when people see things differently, its a hell of alot easier to learn or explain some thing face to face, the main thing with making most knots is to create the doubles and then split them, as long as you do that the knots will turn out, the more of them you do the easier they will get. I used to have that book but it fell apart so I don't know if the diagrams are in that book and I dont have Gail Houghts books so I can't help you there. Hope you get it figured out, KAW

There are 2 possiby 3 ways to fix what you have shown in your pictures. When you turn it back at the top as you have, you need to be on the other side of your standing end when coming up when working a guacho interweave on a foundation as you have there. or you need to turn it back at the top differently by coming out at the top under 1, if you do it following the standing end as you have shown in your pics, if you have a Bruce Grant Encyclopedia of braiding look on page 403, fig 1 and you will see what I'm talking about in th first option, if you look on page 437 in just fig 1 and 2 you will see what I'm talking about in the 2nd option. As long as you make and split parallels correctly the knot will come out correct. The parallels in a long guacho interweave are the same as a herringbone, because you are making and splitting parallels with each pass if you see what I'm saying, there are always new parallels with each pass to split until the knot is complete. Hopefully this will help you. KAW If that does'nt work for you there is another opition, let me know if it doesn't work and I with try to explain it

rgerbitz, Most of the time I cut the thickness 1/3 the width , my bevel is under 45 degrees and I bevel all 4 corners most of the time, I like heavier main braids so they stand up. Laters Willey

Thanks for the comments all. Pepelimoco this year is 20 years, and you learn alot more by doing it yourself (at least I do).

You messesed up on one complete pass cause your double repeats itself throughout the knot to fix it you will have to back it up and do it over or cut it off and start over , sometimes its easier just to start over cause if your mistake was is in the foundation you will likely cut it off anyway, some times it helps to leave it for awhile then start it over another day. hope you get it worked out.

Heres a fancy 24 strand Quirt with fancy interweaves of coffee dyed strings.

Heres a 20 strand 5/8 with fancy nose and heel buttons.

Here is a headstall and set of reins I made for Gary Wiggins for a bit he made for a show in Elko. They were 16 strand with a 24 strand romal.

thanks for the comments fellas rgerbitz, I like to use rendered tallow then skidmores beeswax waterproofing or vaquero rawhider creme.

Here is a Quirt and knife I finished recently The quirt is 24 strand round into 2 flat 12s with fine natural and coffee dyed calf button strings 1/32 of The knife is W1 high carbon steel with natural and coffee dyed calf strings 1/32 with sterling and nickel silver fittings and a nickel silver studded fossil walrus ivory spacer

I like to make the gaps in my foundations(turksheads) about how many passes I want to go through it with and then stop making bights and interweave it till it is tight and always do it right on the project, hope this makes sense to you. increasig the length is hard to explain without showing you so if you have books coming with pics look at them when you get them and it should be easy.

Rgerbitz, what I meant is you can use different combinations of rings of interweaves to fill in different size and shapes of cores by knowing how many rings will work on certain bight knots.

rgerbitz, you can but it wil come back to your standing end every 2 rounds and you would have to use 3 strings to finish it if you follow your over 2 under 2 interweave you will use just the one sometimes it can get alittle tight depending on your core size, that is why it is nice to know alot of different interweaves so you can combine them on certain knots and core sizes, it can be aful frustrating at times, for me it just took making a hell of alot of knots. KAW