rgerbitz

I would be interested, but travel would be difficult. Are you going to have some type of internet type seminar? Or a dvd would be cool. Rob

I am not sure about any of this, but that has never stopped me from offering up my opinions before. So here you are. For wrapping the cane in steel I would think you could get some thin rolled steel strips to wind around the core. Nothing wrong with using the casing except that it will need to slip over the braid to hide where all the strings end and to hold them in place. Unless you are going to put some type of knot there to end up everything. As for the braiding I am guessing that it is at least a 16 plait,if not more, done in a u4,o4 pattern. If it's 20 plait then it would be u5,o5. I would look at using a fiberglass rod for the core, for the weight, and so that I could shape the ends to allow for the brass fitting. Be sure and post some pictures as go so we can all see how it goes. Rob

Hey Calvin, I've used Rit for black strings. Just mixed the rit and water and soaked the strings in it for 24 hours. Hung up and let dry. When wanting a red string you can take the skin off of a red onion and boil the #$%^ out them. Let cool then soak the strings for 24 hours. You can also use a vinegaroon to turn the strings black using rusting water and vinegar. This are the only methods I have use so far and they seem to work well. I kinda of fell into the rusty water and vingar deal on accident and turned a whole hide black, I was real pissed at first then and almost threw the whole deal away, thinking I had ruined it. But once I had it all cut up it made some really cool string. Best of luck, Rob

Welcome Calvin, For building up for knots I will use strips of leather, electrical tape, masking tape, or athletic tape. I mostly use athletic tape. As for the belting if you get in touch with some of the sewing machine supply folks around here they would be able to get you fixed up with the belting you are looking for. The steel core that is talked about would be a steel cable most likely galvaized or stainless steel. For folks like myself who are striving to make gear that is functional and attractive as well as hold to "traditional" methods. I will always use some type of leather or rawhide as a core in any gear I make. Particularly in bosals. One reason would be that it would be a difficult to shape a cable core bosal and get it to hold the desired form, which is extremely important to the function of that peice of gear. There are lots of options when looking to make a core from rawhide or leather. The one you mentioned using a rounder, using individual strips or rawhide of leather bundled together and braided over. A strip of twisted rawhide, the list can go on. The difference in cores is to provide a desired feel. Soft and floppy or stiff and rigid. Hope this inspires some more questions, we all get a chance to learn when someone asks. Rob

Looks good so far. You could also put a couple wraps of electrical tape on the ends of the rope, or even some super glue.

Very cool Alan. Do you work those string with the same moisture that you would to braid? I to would like to know where to get some horse rawhide. Rob

Just got Tom Hall's Western Tack Tips yesterday. I haven't really dived into yet. But just from flipping through it, I wish that I would have gotten this one first. Rob

I give $30 for the hides I get from the meat locker. I've had a few get frozen before I could work with them. It's not a big deal. It can take awhile for one to thaw though. Rob

Congratulations Mark. I will be ordering mine soon. Rob

I have cut disk out of hides before and I feel that I end up wasting more of the hide than I'd like. Currently I cut about a 3/4 inch wide strip out and split that down to a consistant thickness than strech it out on the fence. Here is link with some more details. Good luck, Rob

Good lookin gear. I like the second one as well.

Nowing how to make a turks head can get a guy a long ways in braiding. Nowing how to do a lot of diffferent interweaves does a lot to make your projects better. For instance on the first interweave you can have the turn back on the outside of the knot, sort of forming another set of bights. This is handy for closing the ends in a little tighter without expanding the foundation. Putting an inter weave only in the middle or to the top or bottom of a knot will close in gaps on something like a heel knot where the shape is irregular. Experimenting will help you get more intimate with what will and won't work. Rob

Should be enough. Unless you break a string then your up a creek.

Very well done, thanks for sharing.

I have only made one pair of reins so for and the reins were about 4 foot long, and the romal was around 3 feet (4 ft. once the popper was on.) Course it would matter if there would be rein chains attached or not, and like Horse Hair said the dimensions of the horses being rode. As for the core I used 2 stripes of rawhide that when laid together were about 1/8 inch by 3/8 wide. It made for a moderatly stiff romal. Course you could use anything, tradition would say that you use some kind of rawhide core, and old reata, a bunch of small strings, a twisted peice of hide. It all demends on the diameter and "feel" you are going for. Rob

Dang!!!..........That's about all I can say. Thank you for showing us, Rob

It looks like when you go under and change direction back down/up you are not following the right strand. Something that I find helps is to count from the top or bottom to see how many string lay till the interweave. It should be and equal number on both sides.

Very nice looking gear. I now myself and others would be interested in seeing some pictures of your splitter as well. Thanks for sharing, Rob

Thanks all for the input. When I get something worked up I'll put some pictures up. Rob

Here is one that I have already made, and I am looking to do something similar. Thank you Rob

Hello all, I am looking for some bracelet ideas. I made a very simple one for my wife and now my sisters and mother are crawling all over me to make them up something. I don't want to make them all the same thing. Does anyone have any different design ideas. Thank you, Rob

Read through this.

Welcome to the forum. It looks like you are off to a very good start. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Rob

When venturing into unknown territory I tend to have plenty of extra string so if an 8 plait won't cover, I can add 2 or 4 more strings to cover. And not very many people will look to see if the pattern is O2,U2 or O2,U3 or U2,O2,U3. Another thing that can help a little is that when you are short on string to cover is to be sure and grab hold of your core and shove everthing up everytime you bring a string around. And now you have a nice core for a 1/2 to 5/8 rig. The sting thickness looks good to me, but I'm not real fond of the real thin string outfits. Rob

Very nice, looks better than what I do. Must be the way he holds his tongue. Rob