megabit

I think it was 2"

Hobbles by ss1442, on Flickr Hobbles by ss1442, on Flickr Hobbles by ss1442, on Flickr

I've seen a leash out of rawhide, in fact I see it every time my wife walks our dog. My leash thread

I can't recall what mine measured out at. I know I mostly followed Grant's measurements in his Encyclopedia. I don't have the book in front of me so I can't tell you the page. I would think you might want to adjust to larger if you are making them for a big horse like a dumbblood... er warmblood or something with draft in it. I'll try to remember to measure tonight when I ride.

Well I bought the hide back in January. I started cutting it up in May I think, then took a hard fall off my caballo and had to set it aside till I healed up. Now I have maybe 500' or more of 1/4" string ready to go. Unfortunately I have 3 100' strings a 85'-90' one and a handfull of shorter ones. I guess I'll end up with a splice, unless it seems I have over 60' braided when I get there. How many feet should I expenct to get done per hour? Any chance I can get the whole thing done in a day if I set the whole day aside to work on it? CurlyJo thanks for reminding me about humidifers. I built a couple out of plastic boxes and they worked great for getting a good temper. I had a bucket one in the past but had trouble with mold, I think mostly because I left my string in it too long. This time a put a good shot of bleach in the water to help with mold. I sure would like to get this done before I hit the road for the Vaquero Fiesta in Alturas. Getting it broke in enough to rope with by then might be a challenge but we will see. I'll try to remember to get some pictures as I build it up and once done. Sure would like a picture of it hooked to a bovine in Alturas.

Thanks for having my back buckaroo.

Paracord is a great place to start, if you look at what I quoted you would understand I was mostly teasing Roo as apposed to giving advice. I think rawhide may very well be hard to work with but I'd say it is cheaper than roo and I personally like the end result. ;D

Actually skip the tanned hides and use rawhide.

Well the answer to your question about cores is pretty much the same as so many answers... it depends. Typically anything over 6 strands should have a core unless you want it to be square or flat. If you want flat you will need to pound it flat. What you use for a core is another wide open topic. Personally I like leather or rawhide for my cores. I mostly only braid rawhide.

Looks like you did a good job to me.

Makes sense to me. And that edge is what I remember from the Nate workshop.

Ok, so is this one better. Trenza Patria 2 by ss1442, on Flickr

That's what I was missing. I just played with a little paracord and that made it look much more like what Nate showed in Febuary.

I was thinking about this overnight and recalled you saying you had some trouble with parts being to wet: Also that you ended up with gaps when you were done. Well if you braid to wet you get gaps as the string dries out and shrinks (I learned that one the hard way ) I want my string to have just enough moisture to be good and pliable and almost seems too dry before you soap it up.

Yes I alternated the over under. I had 5 strings on the left and went over 2 under 2. From the right I went under 2 over 1. Seems like it would make a pretty good hatband, bracelet or hobbles.

Four hours, really? They don't get all water logged and skunky?

Ok, I gave this a try as a 8 plait. Does this look right? Trenza Patria by ss1442, on Flickr

Well I took yesterday off so I could continue my string prep for my reata. Only problem was Friday night I put my string in water to case it. Plan was to leave it in the water for 30 - 45 minutes and stick it in plastic bags for a few days. Only I forgot about it and it was in the water 2 or 3 hours. Now it is sitting out while I wait for it to dry all the way out so I can start again.

For the most part I find it is best to tie them tight. If you have a rawhide button of much size tightening them after that fact isn't usually very easy. What I've seen happen is they get to tight before you get all the way done and you end up with a big chunk of slack that you can't get pulled through somewhere. The ones that I will tie loose and then tighten would be lone stars on the end of something. I'll tie them on something bigger transfer and tighten.

At his workshop in Feb Nate showed us a version with 12 strings. I recall you set it up with 5 on one side and 7 on the other but can't quite recall how to do it. Maybe AggieBraider can remember and chime in?

I am healing up pretty good, been like six weeks now. Where I am having trouble is getting my confidence back on my horse. I wasn't too bad and a couple of weeks ago I went roping and she took to bucking when I faced up on one I had headed that didn't want to move. That kinda put a bit of a fright in me.

Just thought of another question for you. You say it is 6/32 X 3/32, is that dry or cased?

Seems Grant gives some dimensions for a quirt and a number of core types.

Looks like it should work to me. Have you pulled it through a post? Drill some holes in a post thread it through them hop on your pony and dally up and pull it from each end.

So how does it work? Have you roped anything with it yet? How long were your strings you started with? I am thinking I can get 4 strands about 90' from what I have cut so far if I don't screw up. I have been working on my first one for months. In Jan I got the hide from Bill C. About 2 months ago I finally cut it into a round and made my rough cut. I streched that between some post and was about ready to start prepping the string when I came off my horse and broke 3 ribs and 2 spinal processes about a month ago. That sure slowed things down. The last week or so I have started working on it again and have the string cut down to a fairly even 3/8" and ran through the splitter. Mike