roo4u

i know huh....hehehe

well im 44 but most people guess im 29...i tell them i look younger cuz fat dont wrinkle baby!

i got my t hall books today...to those who recommended them...your right thats good stuff...not alot of new stuff for me but still chock full of really good info. now just waiting for my roo shipment and ill be in braiding heaven...got a ton of projects planned.

you are welcome....there is no end to the patterns you can do with multiple strings...im sure that more has been forgotten about braiding over the centuries than most know now. i taught myself to do letters and patterns and shapes using graph paper to do the layout and its awesome what you can do.

what kind of halter are you looking to make....i have made the arab style halters that are so popular with the mini folks...braided quite a few out of paracord. i have tied several rope halters for my minis just like what the big guys wear only with much smaller rope...look so cute on a stockhorse type mini....i also made a couple of leather stable halters....use foal sized hardware. mini heads vary so much i recommend you just measure the various parts and make accordingly. although i got a general idea by looking at the measurements on a site that sold the arab style they had noseband measurements just google it and youll find something.

ok my guess....how about it is for roughing leather for applying soles...the holes are for glue to come out????

when you do the 6 you have to do the 2 sides differently...one side is under 1 over 2 and the other side is under 2 over 1 this produces a pattern that matches on 2 sides that is side 1 and 3 will match and 2 and 4 will match. otherwise you have to do the o1u1 pattern. hope this helps.

howdy just wondering if you found a maker yet. sent a pm but didnt add my email, which is monsterfarmspecialties at yahoo dot com. if you send me your specs ill be happy to send you a sample of our work so you can see the high quality work we produce. tracy

the drum stuffed is the easiest to work with. I have used the dry type of hides, they are horrible. i used to buy my roo from weaver leather and then without warning they switched from a drum stuffed to the dry type...it is so much harder to cut and eats cutter blades...i tried to condition the hides prior to use and it didnt really help much. cutting roo isnt as hard as all that. i dont ever use the commercial lace (spools) the quality just isnt there once you try your own youll never go back i havent beveled much cuz of how thin i split my lace for my leashes. entiendo are you talking about the hides with the colored crust on top...the only color i ever buy those in is the white...hardtke calls it italian white....i use that for my white lace and i found out if you dip it in spirit dye the color absolutely pops in certain colors like purple and blue.

well my mom does all the straight braiding(simple plaiting), and i do all the prep lace cutting knots finishing etc. times are for 2 foot leashes with 6.5 inch handle loops so just over 30 in braided length 4 strand-30 minutes 8 strand-simple o2u2 about 1 hour 8 strand gaucho about 2.5 to 3 hours we didnt do many of this pattern and so were still kinda in the learning phase these times may seem fast but she braided several hundred leashes a year when we were wholesaling them out. lace braided tight, lines nice and straight even with the speed i can whip out a pineapple knot on a mandrel or on the item over a foundation knot in 5 minutes these are small knots with fine lace as sliding knots on leashes 6bight with the interweave a 2nd color the larger 8 bight knots take about 10 min with colored interweave. these are just standard nothing fancy. on a bosal the heel knot using a pineapple takes longer. 3 pass gaucho 15 min or less depending on size. i love to do the botons that b.g. shows in his book that big boton takes me about 30 mins with fine lace. foundations for sliding knots i use 2pass ring knots can do those in about 2 mins done around a finger on my left hand instead of a mandrel i braid my knots using a lacing needle my most common thing im doing is cutting and splitting lace as we used to go thru a heck of a lot of it. also i finish my leashes with what b.g. calls rein knots so can do those little devils in my sleep. when i started braiding leashes roo was only $5.50 a sq ft

in one of bruce grants books he says you can easily dye rawhide using easter egg dye...i havent tried it yet but the easter junk is going into the stores now so may give it a shot. yes roo is easy to dye but you really have to get a good finish on the hide after dyeing or it also easily bleeds(i use spirit dye).

welcome...alan is right you dont want to use any type of metal in a bosal. i have a bosal i bought years ago (before i knew better) i has a core made of a heavy cable of some kind like power cable. it is horrible, cant be shaped, rubs the hair off horses jaw, is very heavy so doesnt hang right. i learned how to braid cuz a dog chewed the nose and heel buttons off of it. thats how i found out what was in it. it just hangs on my wall these days. on the use of a rounder---if you take a big enough bite of the shoulders of your strap with your edger and then use the rounder it will be pretty well round when done, rather than 4 sides it will have 8 sides befors being run thru rounder. sure would be easier to buy belting im thinking.

wow that sucks...i would try to use a splice...take a length of lace cut it so that the ends will be under when you get it in. i use a twoprong lacing needle to get it in make sure you work it in for a few o/u so its solid. pull your broken one back out leaving a little overlap but make sure that the overlap is under. i thin the top of the broken and the bottom of the splice to reduce bulk...elmers glue or any other casein(sp?) type glue will work well it penetrates the fibers and remains flexible when dry. good luck.

i use a lacemaker and no the lace doesnt come out curly you might have to stretch it a bit depending on what leather you use. do you have any braiding experience? can you do a simple 4 strand round braid? if not i suggest a book...i started with bruce grants how to make cowboy horse tack. i agree that most of the splices i see look bulky. i will try to post some pix of leashes i have done. on my show leads i didnt do the standard splice like you usually see. the way i do it comes out nice and small and neat looking and does not require additional knots to be tied over the spliced back area. for small dogs i suggest a 4 strand round braid around a core. for mine i used either harness thread or artificial sinew. the best leather for leashes is kangaroo but its expensive, though you can buy it precut lace in many colors a couple of the suppliers that advertise on this site carry it. i have braided thousands of leashes feel free to ask any questions you may have.

i would melt the ends of the rope before i covered it up that way it cant come apart inside the bosal from use. i used my cord sealer i use for paracord but a HOT knife or similar works also...just be careful to not melt more than you wanted to....been there dont that it way not cool. after that maybe bind the ends with a rawhide ring knot that can shrink up real good and tight to keep end together.

hey knothead...i didnt mean to say that using a mandrel was a bad habit...just one of those things that bg mentions in his books that i found i didnt really use...i also dont use a fid...im sure that purists would be horrified but to me its easier when braiding a knot tight from the start to use a lacing needle. i have a shoebox with cut off knots in it...when im doing something that doesnt work or i think i missed a step but cant find it i cut them off on one side so i can open them up and look at the inside to see what i did wrong. havent done any detective work on any knots yet.. dont see alot of braidwork or knots round here and what i do see are the commercially produced stuff with just the basic knots on it...easily recognized stuff ya know. and the stuff your talking about with the formulas and what you can and cant do with what foundation knots- thats the part i really want to learn so that i can go beyond just reading the instructions in some book but to really know, to have a really sound foundation of braiding and knotting knowledge. the thing about the fiador knot is very interesting...but when you really think about it you have to realize that all knots are just variations on certain basic knots...i saw a fellas website recently where he claimed to have a copyright on his braiding...and that he could braid something unique and original that know one else would ever have one like it...he just braids standard standard basic braids and knots...his statements raised my hackles...people have been braiding for probably as long as there have been people...im sure more has been forgot about braiding than we currently know.

well i wish i was lucky enough to have a braiding mentor to learn from...i am in god forsaken nebraska where the folks have mostly forgotten anything to do with their western heritage. no other braiders in my half of the state that i know of....i am not able to travel at all right now. but i learn very well from written instruction and so i will continue my education through the th books. I can already do as many bights as i need on foundation knots but run into trouble trying to do multiple interweaves or interweaves that vary from the standard recipes. have stumbled upon doing interesting things with my knots but then cant duplicate. its funny i hardly use mandrels either i either do them on the project or around my finger depending on the size. ive made dozens of little pineapple knots around my index finger. im sure i have lots of bad braiding habits from not having a mentor...oh well. yes lilpep i visit various websites regularly to dig for info... taught myself to do aussie style braiding patterns and how to graph them out by visiting an aussie braiders website last year.

well thanks all for the continued input. i am looking to increase my knowledge beyond just being able to braid the basic knots so i believe i well give the hall books the first try, thanks lilpep for your critique. i really like the look of ghs braiding but am looking to go past beginner so her books may not be the best for me anyway. wow many mistakes in her books...i guess she didnt proofread them...though ive found a mistake or two in grants

thanks for the replies folks. i was looking at the books by hall the other day. i was also considering the hought books...any opinions on those? worth the price?

hey all i have been looking at braiding books on line and without being able to see the content am having a difficult time deciding on my next purchase. i have all three of bruce grants books and can do all the knots and braids in his encyclopedia. would like opinions on what would be a good purchase to further my skills. i would love to be able to just take some instruction from a master braider but that is not an option right now. so if anybody has suggestions or critiques of the available books id love to hear them. thanks

i usually dont bevel my roo but that is cuz the thickness i split down to doesnt require beveling plus roo is so soft that usually if you just roll it when your done it will get really nice and smooth. this is for the lace i cut myself that is not the commercial stuff that is kind of hard. that stuff i would not use without beveling. also we never use any kind of soap on our thongs when braiding but again they are split to a very nice weight and they lay nicely in the braid.

i have made a couple of bosals using used lariat rope for cored the final feel is like a nice soft breaking hackamore. not as soft as a grass rope hack but alot softer than rawhide cored hacks

what kind of leather are you dyeing? leather that has a finish will not dye even or penetrate very well. you would have to use a deglazing product first. spirit dyes can be tuff to get nice even color due to the alcohol in the dye if it evaporates differently in different density areas of the leather it leaves the uneven color. oil dyes penetrate the leather differently and so can produce a more uniform look.

bitterroot valley.....oh you lucky duck! my mom is from hamilton, lived in both hamilton and stevensville when i was a kid...id kill to be able to move back there now. nebraska is so ugly my comparison

with a spirit dye the color obtained depends alot on the type of finish on the leather you are applying it to and somewhat on application techniques. the nice thing about spirit dyes is you can thin them down with denatured alcohol mix small quantities and test dye until you acheive the color desired. i always mix in ratios so that i can duplicate the color with the formula written on the container holding finished dye mix.