roo4u

for 8/10 oz leather i recommend a #2 edger. for dog collars i use a common edger i use the kind with the bent up ends cuz i got tired of the pointy ends jamming into my fingers. a sharp edger is a must for a good clean edge. each size edger is for a different oz leather, it looks to me you are just using too big an edger.

HOLY S*** THAT IS SO COOL...AND I DONT EVEN LIKE MOTORCYCLES.

i got one for you...we were vending leashes at a dog show one time and a lady that bought her leashes from us was selling at the same show like 4 booths down from us. we kept our prices low cuz we made the stuff ourselves and therefore didnt think we had to mark up too high. some folks bought a leash from the other booth at twice the price of ours. then they came by our booth and looked around, looked at our leashes and said well the one we got is better. all came from the same dang hide. now if i was going to vend at shows id price my stuff slightly higher than others cuz im a trained professional(lol)

im not a fan of wades but i sure like that one! the tooling work is fabulous but even if the saddle was plain i would still think it was gorgeous. it is just so pleasing to look at. the lines, the overall balance of it. wow.

yep, not real far away. i just didnt get anything done to enter but that wont be the case for next year as i have almost a whole year to plan and work on perfection. i havent entered a piece in a show before, the thought of going against the likes of nate, ray and ed is kinda scary, but the chance to have my work seen and maybe build some business is hopefully gonna outway the nerves. waiting for the apps.

i really wanted to enter the braiding, but circumstances prevented me from completing a project in time. now i see that i would have been going up against three of the top braiders in the country...yikes...i cant wait to start a project that will hopefully be worthy of being in competition with the likes of those guys. oh man off to plan...

ive looked and looked and cant find them anywhere....looking for brass or stainless steel flush counters for my lanyards. ive only been able to get plastic ones. i will consider having them made if i can find a metalworker who can do it reasonable.

lilpep... thanks for the info...its really cheap but maybe not the easiest for a rookie rawhider guess ill have to think about that.

hey all i was noticing the friday special had goat rawhide and wondered if its good for braiding. any body out there use it?

bullwhips....i guess i was lucky when i started braiding roo. i had to learn to cut the lace at the same time and didnt have any problems with bad leather. now ive been braiding for about 10 years and have used probably hundreds of hides and havent had a problem with poor quality from anybody but weaver and thats just cuz they changed tannage without telling anybody and ended up getting a bunch of very dry roo that was hard to cut and felt pretty nasty and no matter how much conditioner i put on it it didnt feel any better. and it wasnt just dry cuz i got dry from davidmorgan...i cant explain it but yuck. bevan...i prefer crown royal....and they have red species on their price list...course that doesnt mean i could actually get it. jeez 6 weeks...i can order from hardtke and have it before the end of the week. entiendo...bummer...i know how rotten people can be when they cant have it instantly...hopefully yours is not one of those folks.

yes i currently buy all my roo from hardtke. looked at the price on midwest whips and it was way higher than what im paying now. i have in the past bought from davidmorgan, when i first started braiding. then i bought from weaver for a long time but the idiots changed to some nasty roo so quit them. yes the 60 dollar fee is a factor i will have to way that in when i decide how much roo i can afford to order. also i can order directly from packer so have to compare the numbers between the two and see which comes up cheaper. the plus side of packer is you can still get red species i believe.

i think the white i buy is meant to be shoe leather. does stretch a bit more than regular stuffed roo but i tried a dry white and it was sorta yellowy...and got dirty real easy. i dont really care for this coated white but it stays white white and that was the important thing for show leads. im getting ready to try my luck with rawhide and its very scary...if i cant get the hang of tempering right away then i lose valuable braiding time (and money) on it

that is very cute...i did a bunch of halters for our minis out of paracord only i did flat braid noses...thats a nice purple looks about the same as the purple i get when i dye my own. and i see that the white you used is the same kinda white that i buy from hardkte. if i dip that white in the purple dye the color absolutely pops out at you. oh rats i can see a new purple project in my future...

oh yes! icelandic....i knew it was one of those frozen kinda places...very cute. oh dear not purple oh man ill have to look at that

entiendo those look awesome. i wouldnt pick pink for me but its stunning. i like the green as well. i better not let my mom see that or she will make me do that in bright purple for her mare. yikes. is that a fjord horse thats modeling?

i like the overall look of the piece. goes well with the bosal. however i agree with megabit...braid could be tighter in a couple of spots...not too noticeable until you bend the pieces. and on a couple of the knots. did you use precut lace? i have found with most pieces were braiders have trouble with gapping it is because they used commercial lace that is prefinished and therefore harder than cut it yourself. this makes it alot harder to get tightness.

holy smokes dude thats freakin awesome

thanks folks for all your replies. y'all have given me lots of good information. thanks to those who pm'd me as well. wow i cant believe the prices are going up again. when i first bought roo it was about 6 bucks a sq ft.

tony what does roo taste like? i didnt realize until a couple of days ago that people eat roo. duh.

entiendo....well ok i guess they do all come from aust. but i currently buy from a leather house, charles hardtke inc. and of course when you buy from them they are adding a significant markup. i paid 11.15/sq ft on the last ones i bought. with the exchange rate i figured that they are selling for about 8/sq ft from murphywhips. i really dont like the dry...i bought some real quality dry hides from davidmorgan a few years ago...but didnt like the feel.. the hides from weaver leather were not of the same quality and they were horrible. i tried everything to soften and nothing worked. who are you buying from? murphywhips sells only drumstuffed whole hides as they are mostly a whip supply house and thats all they use for whips. drumstuffing reduces stretch and increases flexibility of the leather. it feels like butter as it ages.

pepelimoco---i used to buy from weaver...i started braiding show leashes about 10 years ago. at that time i bought all my roo from weaver. they sold drum stuffed roo from packer tannery. after a few years they suddently switched to a dry type hide which after using ds hides really felt like garbage. i called them and they didnt even know that the hides were different. i hate the dry hides you cant condition them and make them feel decent, and even after some use they still dont feel nice, they dont get that soft as butter feel. i would never buy chrome tanned. i buy only drum stuffed whip quality hides and if i need colors i dye my one...the only exception i make is i buy a white from hardtke that is called italian white it is a crusted roo hide and unlike other whites ive tried it doesnt discolor and is a bright white. i did figure out you can dye it and when used for purple or blue the colors just jump right out at you. kings x ---thanks for the info ill pm him and see what he says

hey all.... anybody ever buy roo from an australian supplier? specifically i was looking at the website from murphywhips and it looks like the roo would be alot cheaper than what im getting right now, even with shipping. what were your experiences and what should i know before i try it. thanks tracy

i just did a search for belting and google gave me www.universalsewing.com they have belting on spools in three sizes

thats a nice looking holster. your stitching doesnt look bad...i dont make holsters but i do a bit of hand stitching and i use a 4 prong stitch punch to mark out the stitches so that i get perfect even stitches and then the other hard part is consistent tension on the thread so our stitches are all the same size. that just takes practice. great hand stitching is an art...thats why most folks use a sewing machine. keep at it though.

the aussies are the best....i learned to do it by looking at braiding patterns on www.deadringer.com.au in the forum there are a couple of 16 strand patterns...but if you want to see something amazing go to this page http://www.deadringer.com.au/album/album/72%20x%2036%20Plait/72plait.html UNBELIEVABLE that is all i can say about the whip in the pictures...omg i can only hope ill be 1/10 that good someday.