bucksnort

I stumbled on something I think is worth sharing. A while back in an attempt to mix up a good waterproofing treatment I mixed ivory soap, lard (I didn't have any tallow) & water. Kind of standard braiding soap. I melted beeswax into it in about the same amount as other ingredients. It doesn't water proof & if it gets kind of thick you can stir in more water to thin it. It works well as a braiding soap & you can re-dampen strings after they are treated. But the main thing I found with it is that I can braid an entire set of reins or a bosal without ever having to re-wet my strings. I will qualify that by saying that I very seldom braid for more than about a half hour at a time, then I'll put my piece back in my humidor for a while & work on other things (This is because my old friend Arthur Itis stops by to visit). I've never been able do this with anything else I've used, so thought I'd share it Buck

Very cool Pete.

I may have this wrong, but it sounds like you have completed a long pineapple & want to add color to it. Typically interweaves are done one of two ways. Either to fill areas that are larger ( over buttons, swelled areas of nosebands, ect.) or as the last pass of your button. If you have complete coverage you can either pull your final pass & replace it with color or do another full pass, for instance if you finished with an over two under two, go to over three under three ( this will make it larger). If your trying to go between something with full coverage it will probably crowd it too much, ther are ways to put in thin strands or some use horse hair, but I can't give a good explanation of the steps. Hope this helps, I'll be interested to see what others think on this as well. Buck

Not a bad thought, that is the area that seems to get the most wear. Of course that doesn't help answer you question. I'll check back & see what you come up with & how it works. Good luck, Buck

I have a pair of step in chinks that have nothing stiffening the leg opening. Those areas tend to stiffen a little with use because they are compressed between the leg & the saddle. I guess it might depend on how light weight your leather is. Buck

Thanks Brad, that's a good site. I'm going to sign up & order Bryan's videos when thing slow down this winter. I've had quite a few people tell me they're really good, but haven't wanted to spend the money. Buck

Thanks Brad

You can usually find them in the paint section of hardware stores. Used in paint scrapers. Buck

Thank You Guys, Yeah it takes twice as many buttons for a set of 54 in. reins as a set of 42 in. They're 30-30 shells, I wet both the inside of the shell & the first inch of rein, apply gorilla glue then slip the rein inside the shell about an inch, this step probably isn't necessary, but the gorilla glue swells & hardens & makes things more secure. Then I pin it thru rein & shell with a of brass nail each direction. Thanks again for the nice comments. Buck

8 strand square 54 in, 1/4 diameter reins, romal is 12 strand square, 3/8 diameter x 36 long. First time I ever tried putting popper on over a button as opposed to the standard loopback. I like the weight it gives to it, but don't like that it would make it hard to change out the popper later as it is slipped over from the top before the buttons are put on.

Personally I coil mine in a USPS medium flat rate box with padding. 10 bucks to anywhere in the US & the reins will straighten back out when they get there. Buck

I think I know what the problem your having with the parallel strands is. I hope I can explain it so it makes sense. When you expand a 5x4 turkshead to a 7x6 you create parallels. This is the only case I can think of where you don't split pairs. Your next pass will go in between these & go opposite the strands on each side of it (under when they are over ect.). The same occurs if you expand the length of a TH. In both of these cases when you come to a parallel you go over or under 2(the parallels) just like the strand you are following. Once your base knot is the size you want, then you start the guacho & split your pairs. Hope that makes some sort of sense, if so you may want to consider therapy. Buck

Looks good. Braiding is pretty nice. With the terminal knots take each strand over the one next to it & down, snug that up then take each strand around the one next to it & up thru the center of the knot. You'll end up with all the strings together in the center. you can cut them off even as a tassel or flush with the knot. The problem you have now is your hooked & there's no going back. Buck

Nice. Good straight coverage on an uneven surface, not easy to do. Good work. Buck

Got it. Thanks much.

I ran across a site called "Bullwhip making with a box cutter" you might want to check out as well as a topic I posted here on how I bevel rawhide (same system works for leather). It is possible to do nice work with out expensive tools (it is harder & requires more practice, but is kind of rewarding). PeterT does super work & cuts his strings with a notched stick (check out somef his entries on this site). Splitting is probably the hardest & you can make a certain amount of adjustment by beveling to remove some of the bulk. Buck

Do you use a ring knot under the slide buttons on the reins? If I try any kind of a larger button there without a ring knot under, they flatten out. Thanks, Buck

Beautiful as always. I admire the quality of your work, but am amazed at the quantity. Buck

TXAG has been working thru the same thing. The Grant book is the old standard & is a wonderful, horrible thing that everybody has to have. A lot of the newer material is good. I think one thing that makes some material work better for different people is the methods of showing the patterns, grids only confuse me but work great for others. The Knot heads worldwide (KHWW.net) site has some super good stuff on it & is worth checking out. Good Luck, hang in there. Buck

I usually am working with larger stuff & in the braid, a little difference in the string size isn't a big deal. For buttons, even a slight difference will throw the size off which makes it hard to match from button to button. Megabit has the best suggestion & this is another of those areas where it will get easier with experience. I still find myself going back & redoing buttons that don't match up. I think in the beginning, I would try a button pattern that doesn't require matching button to button as well. Your doing a good job of hanging in there, which is the key.

There is a pretty good thread on pg 3 called knot/button foundations with a lot of info. Your knots are looking good.

TXAG, I haven't seen it, but a couple of different people have told me that Bryan Neubert's basic braiding video is super good on the basic button knots. Bryan is a great teacher, so it is probably worth checking out. Buck

Cancel that, I thought this was a new post. I'm sure you've worked it out after 2 years.

Jack, If you don't find anything else & don't need it before then, I'll be in K Falls the first part of next week & you can borrow my BG book. Buck

Biker55, PM sent. Thanks for the generous offer. Buck