rawhider

I have a couple hides that I didn't have time to soak and slip the hair, so I fleshed them and let them dry with the hair on. Now I'm getting ready to use them and I need to get the hair off. I'm thinking of getting a sharp blade (like a planer blade) and laying the hide over a fleshing beam and just start scraping hair off. Anyone got other ideas?

That is very cool. I like the neck on that.

Ben, one of Bruce Grant's books has a rope knot that I think you are refering to. It is basically a loose pineapple knot that the tail end of the rope can be looped thru, allowing you to "tie" your rope to the horn, but it also lets you get it off without having to cut your rope.

Not too bad! I would try and interweave maybe another string into the noseband on the bosal. That looks nice ans strait, but it looks a little rough. You don't want to rub any hair off the bridge of their nose. That can make the hackamore stage pretty uncomfortable. Other then that, looks real good.

Thanks. I am making my own rawhide. This hide turned out really nice, I really like the feel and it cuts like butter. Really waxy. I've got two or three coming this weekend I hope, so that should get me through the winter. All of them have been given to me, so that's a blessing.

Title pretty much says it all. Dang. Don't click on the picture, it gets huge! don't know what I did.

Mike, my most profitable braided things are like you said: Hondas and slides. Little things that look hard, but they really don't take alot of time. I do make good money with my bosals, but I have a pretty good system down that enables me to be very efficient and since I do a lot of them, I will build a bunch at a time. Stopping and starting eats up time and that is loosing money. That's why those little projects are so profitable. You can do them in one sitting and you don't really have to bounce around too much prepping string and what not. I shoe horses on the side and my most profitable customers are the trims. I can do up to 6 trims in an hour if the horses are standing good and well organized. I can shoe a horse (building new shoes) in an hour. At $110 for shoes and $40 for a trim, do the math.

I haven't been on here in a long time. Long story (had a baby, computer crashed, changed jobs, ect.) My wife, who has ridden mostly english her whole life, has expressed interest in putting her gelding in the hackamore. So I built her one. He has a huge head, so I had to modify my standard measurement a little. It's the biggest bosal I've ever made. The nosebutton is one continuous strand. A little hard at first, but I really like the results.

I'm getting ready to put my gelding up in the two rein and I'd like to make him a nice bridle headstall. Anybody have any suggestions on were to get silver dots and ferruls?

Perfect, Thanks!

Looking for some good elk hide for a nice pair of chaps. I need large hides and they need to be quality. Does anyone have any dealer recommendations? Thanks in advance!

I'm looking for 1/4", 5/16" and 3/8" round leather cores for bosals, reins, quirts, ect. I need them to be as long as 48". Anyone know where I can get these? up till now I've been making my own, but if I can get them for a decent price, it's worth it to buy them. Thanks!

Those are pretty cool. I'm not a big fan of batwing style chaps, but it I was, those would be the ones!

Try being a little more specific. What exactly are you having trouble with? Don't get discouraged. All I had to start was Grants book and some cows, and if I can learn from a book, anyone can!

That's a pretty ingenious little tool there Alan! I like it. Can you bevel with it?

I used Alans idea and drew grid marks on the foundation, then used them to keep my knot straight. It worked really well, I actually braided two knots on that bosal, but the first looked twisted and was a little too packed, so I took it apart and cut a little narrower string, drew grid lines, and that helped keep all the spots where the strings cross straight. Yuo can also count out the crosses from the middle to the ends to make sure you have it even. Thanks Alan!

Ha! I wish I was blessed enough to cowboy and braid on the side! I live in upstate NY right now, so riding jobs are a little scarce... I shoe horses and braid. Make enough money shoeing that I can support my braiding habit! I grew up in MT around this kind of stuff, and as a teen I kind of latched onto it and ran with it. Been braiding since I was about 17 (I'm 24 now). I would love to have my own place someday where I can start some horses and raise some cows and braid... Mabe one day. Rawhide1, I used nearly 60' of string. It was quite a job keeping it all moist enough to braid, but it came out good.

Finished up another one. I'm pretty proud of this one as it's the first one I've done with a single string noseband. I cheated a little bit and drew grid lines on the foundation, but it's all one continuous string.

If I had a video camera I would do a video. I've got a hide soaking in a barrel right now, tomorrow going to slick the hair and get it stretched out. I think Megabit hit it on the head. It takes alot of string to really get a feel for the right moisture content. I soak my hides till they are very pliable and soft, then let them air dry a little till they are getting stiff again. Not dry, but stiff. seems to work good for me. I'll take lots of pics tomorrow and as I cut my strings and hopefully take a little more guesswork out of this process.

Pretty self explainitory. Just make sure you have sharp blades. But don't leave them sticking up too high.

Thanks for the pics, Slickfork! I'll have to make me one of those!!

Don't know about the lacemaster, but before I bought a string cutter, I had them send me a video on how it worked and it's features. I have to say that I think the design of the Hansen is much simpler and more user freindly then the lacemaster. That being said, it will take a little getting used to, but once you do yuo'll wonder what you ever did without it! I love mine I think it is one of the best investments I've made so far in my braiding. Slickfork, I'd love to see that attachment for cutting off a disk. I cut all my string down with a draw gauge, then run it through the Hansen, but I'd love to find a better way to cut disks.

That alamar knot brow band is really cool!

Entiendo, don't use the spools of Tandy rawhide. It's crappy bleached rawhide and you'll get discouraged because almost no one can make that look good. Bill Confer sells precut strings. His phone # is on one of the other threads, I don't know it off teh top of my head. Or you can get some pretty good precuts from ubrait-it. Cybele usually has good strings. Ash, thanks for the tip. I'll try and clean that up before I send it away.

Thank you. Yeah, braiding with roo is deffinately a little different. The rawhide I got from Bill Confer is great stuff, and that's half the battle right there.