megabit

I don't have any 1st hand experience making them but I have heard that the cored ones have more of a tendency to break. So without hearing something to the contrary I would go without a core. Grant talks about making them a little in his book, I think the standard is 4 strands of 1/4" string IIRC.

Do you shop at the Fountain Valley Tandy? I stop in there every now and then, mostly when a friend in Huntington Beach has a poker game.

For deer rawhide you could try Moscow Fur http://www.hideandfur.com/

If LA Pat is from LA then Oregon is considerably closer to either than LA is (they are both Northern Cal). Pat, Stick with it and keep trying. Are you using leather, rawhide or string of some type to practice? Leather or rawhide can get very expensive if you still don't even know the knots you are trying to tie. I used mostly para cord for almost a year. Yes the Turk's Head takes some time to get the hang of. Just wait it gets more complicated once you start on pineapples and other interweaves, but you will get there. You might start with this turk's head as it is the simplest if you ask me http://www.troop54.com/knots/TurksHeadKnot/TurksHeadKnot.htm. (3part x 5 bight) From that one you are half way to a Spanish ring and you will start to get the hang of things. I wouldn't even try anything else until you can tie that one without looking at the instructions about as quick as you can move your hands. In other words just keep practicing that knot until you can tie it without really thinking about it.

Ok that sound cool I must have missed that in Grant's book, but I generally only read passages of interest while trying to figure out something. Do you still turn at the last X or do you keep moving the turn to the center? I will have to play with this some tonight with paracord. (sure comes in handy for prototyping and learning the knots/plaits) Ok, that makes sense to me and I have been working on keeping the base turk's head straight. Still need much more work, it sure is easier to say than do.

Compared to paracord rawhide is hard, compared to hair not so much. The foundation for these is leather bands and floral tape so they are even. Not sure I follow what you mean by increase the sequence. I did on the one knot take a second pass at the interweave. Is there a way to do it besides just following the interweave a second time? Thanks, Mike

Here are some scarf slides I tied for practice. Not real happy with any of them yet. The latest one is the one on the left. That knot came out ok, other than I made the ground work to big and it doesn't cover. The two after that one the string was too big for the ground work and I couldn't get them to shape up nice. The small one after those has smaller sting and covers well and is almost shaped good, but I still don't think it is good enough to try to sell yet. The last two are both 4 bight vs 6. The larger of the two is what I think is overall the best of the bunch. It covers the ground work good, no twist, good shape. I doubled the interweave so it looks a little funny but that helped me cover the ground work. These things are hard to get to look good that is for sure. Hardest seems to be estimating how wide of string for a given knot and ground work. The thinner string seems to be a little easier to work with as it is more supple. Well critique away, I don't think I missed any pair splits or runs this time around. Mike

Search is your friend http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...memade+splitter

http://www.khww.net Has some very good tutorials on the knotts, I know they helped me. Once you start to get the hang of it Grant's book starts to make more sense. Good Luck and don't be afraid to ask specific questions here as everyone is willing to help. Mike

Thanks Alan, So do you have the hide stretched between 2 clamps or are you holding the other end out of frame? Do you use the same jig to bevel your string? Speaking of beveling wouldn't it easiest to just cut and bevel at the same time? Oh, and I ordered a fixed blade knife to use the other day. Mine is cumming from Argentina though not Japan. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...bayphotohosting Thanks for putting up with this pest. Mike

Alan, Could you post a few pics of your plastic guide you showed me? Maybe some of it being used and how you use it to bevel your string? By the way where did you get the plastic disk to make it from? I did manage to get a fairly small string with my cheap lace maker last night by cutting down a larger string (about 3/16 down to say 1/8 or 3/32). Mike

Yes, It certainly surprise me. I talked to my mom last night and she didn't recognize the name Anna but she did recognize the last name Gerbitz. She said they were related to us somehow or another. Oh and she reminded me that my cousin Don Wallace is or was a teacher / coach at Tampico HS. Wow, this still sort of trips me out. Who would have thunk?

Wow now that is a small world. My Mom is Mary Lou Odel her parents were Mike and Fern. So if you know any Odel's or Wallaces from Walnut I am likely related to them.

Thread hijack, Rob, I just clicked on you website link. Tampico IL, I grew up in East Moline and my Mom is from Walnut. Small world isn't it? I've been in SoCal for the last 30 years though. Mike

He is talking about the end by the popper vs the end by the ring. The long pineapple the Vs are not in perfect alignment, I wouldn't have notice if Hedge hadn't pointed it out and I looked close. If you just want you ego stroked, looks great man! If you are looking to move to perfection the one knot is a tad uneven.

Alan, that's why I love it when you comment on my stuff, no ohh that looks great regardless of how it looks, you tell it like it is. Ohh and even better you give me a little shove to get better, guess I better cut some more string and cut off screwed up knotts. Mike

The bottom one wasn't covering and I made another interweave (first time I've tried that). I need to play with that concept some more to figure it out. I thought I had the top one ok though, now looking closer I see where I went o3 instead of 02 in at least one place. That is a long 2 bight turks head. Plate 154 Grant's Encyclopedia Thanks for the feedback, everyone here has been a great deal of help to me over the last year trying to learn this stuff. It is starting to come together finally. Mike

I took the romal from a busted set of harness leather reins and made a quirt with some rawhide buttons. I am semi happy with how it turned out but wish the big button at the bottom turned out better. What do you guys think?

That looks sweet, I am sure my mare will love it.

I sure want to hear what the veterans have to say on this, because my results are also a bit inconsistent. What I have been doing lately is putting it in water for say 1/2 hour and then sticking it in a trash bag overnight. I think the key to consistent results is having enough experience to know by feel if a piece is ready for the knife vs making a pile of scraps. Sure would be less cussin around my place if I was better at that.

To bevel the edge.

And watch your thumb blade alignment closely.

search is your friend http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...de+sting+cutter

Thanks, that knot does seem much better than what I did.

Not sure which knot you mean by terminal. Do you have any online references? I do have Gail H's revised basic book on order should be here any day know.