HorsehairBraider

Yep! :D I do an 8-strand one that's the same way, if you double up it means 4 times!

I don't want to speak for the chemist... but I think I get what he means. Leather "likes" an acid environment. It will perform its best in a slightly acid environment, but putting excess amounts of a base on it will caust it not to perform well and perhaps even disintegrate a little bit. Natural fibers are like this too. Sheep wool likes a slightly acid environment; adding a capful of vinegar to the rinse water when you wash it helps it. It does *NOT* like a base environment, and that is why you must handle it so carefully when you use soap on it! If you do use soap on it you must be very careful it is not agitated or swished around in any way or it will turn to felt. Maybe some of you have felted and shrunk a sweater this way? Plant fibers such as cotton are the exact opposite. They do *NOT* like an acid environment. Do you have a cotton T-shirt you are sick and tired of, and wish it would wear out so you could at last get rid of it? Just throw a little vinegar in your wash water. Soon it will look like someone threw battery acid on it and you can at long last consign it to the scrap pile.

Gosh, it depends on the splitter you are using. Some of them work better than others, and of course if you are using a dull blade you won't be happy with the results. I keep a finger on top of the lace as it goes through the blade, have the dress side down (I'm splitting leather, usually) and pull through downwards. Sometimes this goes fast and sometimes it doesn't; I have a hide here that does not like being split, and I've split kangaroo that just glides through. So your leather can make a difference too. Just go slow at first. It could also be your splitter is not working quite right for some reason. Smilin'Jim of this forum makes a really dandy splitter.

That can depend on what type of lacing you are doing; there's one that looks like 8-strand braiding that can take a while to crawl around a corner. But anyway this is what I do. I punch a hole right in the very center of the corner and even out my other holes so that I always have one in the very center. I think it looks nicer that way. Then as I approach the corner, in that hole before the center one, I usually go through that one twice. The center one I go through twice, or three times if I need to, then the first one out of the corner I go through twice. Now, you might have to modify that for the lacing you are doing. Also, not all corners are 90 degree angles, so you would have to modify that too. I guess there are no real hard and fast rules because it depends on what you are making. I think you just practice, and remember to try and make it look as even as possible. That's what works for me anyhow.

I'm about to knock an older goat in the head and put her in the freezer... does anyone want to speak up for the hide? You'll have to ship it of course.... You can PM me if you are interested.

Hmmm. That does make sense, but when you use the tool you always end up wanting to put pressure on the blade (for a more consistent width). I wonder if your system would work? Is there any way to test it?

I'm wondering when someone will start tanning prairie dog hides.... wretched things get hit by cars along the highway all year long. It seems such a waste of good hide!

If you want to learn to braid, then you must braid - and use whatever is there to use. Gosh, I started braiding with baling twine! YUCK! But it was all that I could afford at the time. Eventually I looked back and realized I had been getting up every morning and braiding SOMETHING for over 30 years. And guess what? I can now afford a little roo hide here and there. You never know what the future will hold. Just braid. Quit worrying about the future, just braid right now. If it makes you happy, keep doing it, and someday you will be really awesome at it.

Wow - that's really nice. Good work! No way am I showing that picture to my husband - he'd be out in the barn taking my saddle apart for a pair of those, and mine are nice old wooden stirrups. I have to say though, since I hate plastic stirrups - that's the best use I've ever seen for them.

I'd go with one continuous strap around and around. That way you will have length if you should need it! Cutting it in straight straps won't give you much length.

Hey... sorry I missed this, I've been, well, braiding horsehair night and day. Use a rubber band. Band it about 1/2", or less if you can manage it, from the cut end. Bind it very tightly. You want it in as small of a circle as it will go. Mix up some 5-minute expoxy. Turn your bundle of hair cut side down and rub it VERY thoroughly in the epoxy. Then use a toothpick and poke epoxy down into the bundle from the top, striving to get all the hairs epoxied. Once it sets you are going to have to shape it to make it more spherical. I use scrap pieces of leather. I would crown a piece like this with gradually smaller circles of leather until the top is nice and domed, glueing each circle down carefully. Don't start to tie a braided knot until the foundation is right, of course. Bet you already know that. You can also sometimes shape the foundation with a little judicious use of a razor blade. You're brave. I worked human hair a few times, found I did NOT like it, and now refuse all jobs that deal with it. I always made people who wanted this, pay 100% up front! I told them I could never re-sell it if they disappeared... to them it might be a precious memento, but others might find it a little disgusting, however I never got "skunked" on a job like this.

Hey, that's great! The lesson kids are going to love that. And that's a lucky mare to get to wear that, although my guess is she won't appreciate it.

Oooh - I love that last one, it's my favorite... I like it just the way it is. I think you have a tasteful amount of spikes on the first, but you know, a real spikey-type person might want more, I don't know. They're all three very fun.

Wow, that's awesome! Nice job! And just look at the smile on that kid's face...

Thanks Art - I'll start saving up my egg money! @ DLL - thanks for answering my question. The edgers made from cutlery sound really cool - I'm sorry to hear they won't work for my application, but most everybody else could use them just fine I bet.

Duke's question is a great one... also, do you make a very fine one? I only use leather that is about 1 oz or sometimes less, but still have a need for an edger. Do you make special edgers like this for people?

Nice work. You have a good transition from the claw to the leather strap. I like it!

Usually when I dye stuff that has the hair on, I am not only trying to dye the leather, I am trying to dye the hair as well, so I don't know if this will work for you or not. I use fiber dyes - I approach it the same way I would approach dying wool or mohair or silk etc. If you can get acid dyes I would suggest those. (I know it sounds bad, but the acid is either acetic acid or vinegar.) The union dyes that you can commonly get in the supermarket - such as Ritt - are a bit of a waste of money, in that you can't exhaust the dyepot. That's because there is more than one class of dye in them so that they'll dye nearly anything (which is why it's called a "union dye"). A good source for dye is Pro-Chemical Dyes. There are also some good instruction sheets here on how to use various dyes, as well as explanations of how to dye safely.

Oh man - that is really nice, and mine looks really crappy coming right after yours, but I'm going to cowboy up and post it anyway, you poor people: It's just amazing how many different looks everybody got with the same pattern. It's been instructive looking through them all.

Very nice - you used horsehair! Cool!

Ooooh - nice! The bottom one is my favorite. Also like the hobbles! I'm making some too but they are *much* smaller. Your customers must be very happy indeed.

Barra - it seems that one of the things you have access to is the internet. I don't know your situation - are you not able to order rawhide on the internet for some reason? Or if you are just making this for fun, what would you normally use, and could you order whatever that is? I know full well there are many reasons that would not work. One of the reasons I always have is "I can't afford it" but I thought it might be worth mentioning. After that, rope would be the first thing I would suggest, since it won't be used.

I just painted mine with a brush and acrylics just like I would paint a canvas - except that I allowed the leather color to show through quite a lot and I would not do that on canvas.

JPNet - do you mean splicing a braided length? Do you mean splicing a 3-strand rope (side splice)? I'm not sure what you mean - do you have a picture of what you are trying to do?

Bwahahahaha! I have to show my husband this. I swear this guy worked on our house too. :D