megabit

It mostly takes practice to learn how tight to make the foundation knot, as they tighten up as you add interweaves. You don't really tie it as tight as you can, but as tight as needed, so it ends up tight when done.

OCD... well then you have the makings of a braider

If you are using leather or rawhide most of the knots are rather hard to tighten after they are tied. You can generally put some more tension on a Spanish ring knot and a small gaucho knot but most of the pineapples don't tighten up very well. You can generally tighten any of them up if you use parachord instead of lace. You can also untie them and start over with parachord, which is why I like it for practice and prototyping. (I am cheap )

Not sure I follow your point. The only problem I have is that I would like to see more post. I have a handful of books (Grant, Hought and Woolery) and use them along with this site and Knotheads site. The big ahh haa came when it clicked on how to increase a knot.

No it is the revised one I have. I like the book just didn't end up finding it to be as helpful in the long run as I expected. The adding more interweaves is something I could certainly use some help with, that sure sounds helpful. Thanks, Mike

I would like very much to move up the braiding food chain and making bosals is certainly a goal. So my question is are these worth getting? I have her "Art of Braiding: The Basics" and didn't find it to be quite as helpful as I had hoped. Is it worth getting her bosal books or should I just re-read Alan's tutorial (again)? Mike

Very nice looking work. Don't think I have seen a set of slobbers like those before. I am more used to the ones that just fold over vs having a buckle. The hole is a little on the large side. Nice work.

Sweet reata! Did you make it? Oh the belts are excellent too.

Yea, I pretty much just jumped from paracord to rawhide. Oh and by the way unless I am mistaken that is a 6 bight pineapple (herringbone interweave) on your project, so you are already doing them. ;D Mike

Looks like you are off to a good start to me. Very nice first project. I know what you mean about a)gear is expensive b)learning the turkshead/pineapple being hard. I know it took me a long time and I almost tossed in the towel a few times. I have found working with paracord is good for learning the knots and prototyping things you want try. Can't see anything to pick at on your bracelet. Lines are straight, shape of the knots look good. Very good job. Mike

Great looking work. Man as far as I have come in the last year, I think I am still miles away from being able to do something anywhere close to as nice. You did good cuz. Mike

Depends on how handy you are and what you want to spend. I know of at least one person who can do so free hand with a sharp knife. You can improvise a beveler with a hard board a nail and a knife. Or you could buy one. I like the one I got from WhiteBuf on here let me go find the link to the threads. Here is a link: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15534

So you want something like this?

Not sure I follow what you are asking. If I wanted 3 colors in a 4 plait braid I would use 2 strings of the same color and 2 strings of different colors like 2 white, 1 red and 1 blue. This of course means you can't attach your clip by doubling over 2 strings and would need to back braid at both ends. I guess you could splice in the 3rd color though if you didn't want to back braid for a loop.

Nope didn't taper the strings. I think the core was about 15". I made that core out of scraps of rawhide that I wrapped in twine and hung to dry with a weight tied to the bottom. It dried way longer than needed like a month or two. I took the twine off and wrapped it in floral tape before I started to braid. The handle is a long pineapple, can't recall if it was 2 or 3 X. I think it was 2 off hand. The core was formed around a dowel to make a hole for the wrist loop. I tied a pinapple right over the end and the whole for the lanyard. After the knot was done a forced the dowel back into the hole to move the knot away from it. That seemed to work better than tying around the dowel (I tried both).

Thank you and I think your analysis is spot on. I tried a longer (3X) pineapple at the bottom and it got way to cramped on one side and spaced out on the other. I think part of the problem was that the diameter was way different at each end and I don't yet have the skills to deal with that. So I retied the single X pineapple and put the gauchos around it as a compromise. This is my largest project to date and I am happy with it overall. I still see lots of room for improvement though. Mike

Here is the quirt I have been working on. I think I may add another long pineapple in the handle area still though. What do you guys think?

Yes, you want to build your knot with enough of a standing end that you can tuck it under 2 or 3 when you get done.

I worked on the quirt last night, got the knot about 3/4 done and cut it off. I built up some ground work with a piece of latigo and tape at the end where the loop for the popper is. I was trying to put a 3 X pineapple there, but I let one side get to crowded. One end is fairly large and the other is maybe half the size, so getting a nice button might take me a few times. These knots are sure easier on a dowel. On a plus note I am getting good at cutting things off without causing any collateral damage.

Very cool video KH. I enjoyed it.

is this thing on? Boy it sure has be quit on here of late. I've been working on a rawhide quirt and nearly have it done. I've already cut two buttons off and redid them, but I am thinking of cutting another one off too. The knot turned out ok, it is just a little to small for what I used it for and I think I will redo it as a 2 or 3 X pineapple vs a 1. I'll see about getting some pics up after I get it done. Mike

I am working on a quirt and need to get some leather to make the popper. What would be best tooling, harness, latigo, other?

I love what you did with the fid. Now how did you do it? Did you braid over it and then inlay the braid or is it a big pineapple knot? If it is braid how do you do the ends? Thanks, Mike Oh and that bosal is SWEET too.

Have you tried adding bleach to the water? Or you could just let them dry out until you are ready for them.

Just cut the strands real thin then you could do the 36. This from the guy that gets lost after 8 strands.