roo4u

very lovely work...dont worry about your english...everyone here speaks leather

when i did an internet search on that brand of tool i got lots of sites that talked about what garbage they are...basically like someone else said...throwaway stuff use it a few times and its done...it was all about theirhand tools andsuch..couldnt find anything about the sewing machine.

i was just offering the how to to fix the strand...whether you do that or pull the strand or chuck it and start over is all up to you...i have never had one come apart but when i first started doing splices it was as repairs for leashes that people had damaged or let their dogs chew and had sections that had to be replaced...always we warned them it may not hold...but it always did and it was certainly cheaper for me to fix it than for them to have to buy a new leash. even had to replace a few snaps that broke from other braiders using really poor quality hardware. i have a ton of scrap pieces not long enough for anything im thinking of making myself a patchwork leashe by splicing together a bunch of pieces in all different colors. good luck with whichever route youtake

i agree with jredding it is totally unsafe to use a piece of equipment that does not allow free range of motion on a horse, and by doing so restricts the horses airway. not only when trail riding but in general...even a dead broke plug can freak out on you if it feels trapped by its gear. when i think of a pulling collar style breastcollar i picture the style in the photo that jwwright posted i believe it got the name because of its shape it sorta slightly resembles an actual harness collar.

well of course you would not want a broken string in a very high quality piece such as gail makes...if i could get 1500 for a hackamore i wouldnt splice either. im not sure what your mentor means by roll over...ive never had a splice come loose, but im careful to bury the part when the top strand ends under a braid. i suggest you get the feel of the skiver on a few pieces of scrap before tackling the actual pieces that way you wont end up butchering your working strings. heres a tip...after you apply the glue and put the strands together clamp them a bit while the glue starts to set i use a hemostat the added pressure really helps the pieces bond tight especially make sure you get the end of the top strand so that it wont come loose on you.

hi all....i was looking at the braiding patterns on deadringers forum on his website...been wanting to learn to do those aussie patterns for a while...and it suddenly clicked like a light bulb going on....how to do the patterns, letters, numbers the works...im so excited i can hardly wait to try it...gotta think of something cool to braid in a 16 strand so i can put my initials in it and give the actual braiding a try...but the graphing of the design is so easy...i thought it would be so hard...maybe a key fob...or a short leash or a small quirt...ill post pix when im finished...off now to cut lace....fun fun fun... and thanks deadringer for the great info on your website

j i messaged you for the contact info...if you prefer i can send you my contact info to pass along to your friend. tracy

dont ya hate when that happens.... ok heres what you do....get a bottle of elmers glue... skive the top of one end and the bottom of the other...taper the ends to very thin especially the top one you want it to not be visible...they need to overlap for enough distance that the splice will be under a couple of passes...this insures that it will be protected...try to have the end of the splice fall at a point that it will be under the braid. i use a hand held skiver that i got at tandy uses the same razor blades as my lace cutter...you can do it also with a very sharp knife or an exacto knife...just be careful.

how about using velcro on at least one of the straps so that it can be easily removed in case of whatever....some of the industrial strength stuff is very very strong and if you sandwiched the hooks between two layers of loops it would not be easy to remove my mom says how about spandex instead of straps...then it would pull on snug.

your braiding looks pretty good... i personally like a little swell in my nose button and a little different shape to the heel knot. things done differently? im wondering about the spacing of your noseband at the heel knot...was there a reason you made such a wide spacing? and i would have probably put a ring knot just above the heel knot to keep the noseband from stretching the top of the heel knot braid when its shaped and such. im glad you enjoyed the roo. after working onlywith the roo for so long im finding learning the rawhide a rough road.

alan so let me make sure im getting what your doing....where i start mine about 1/3 the distance from the end of the knot, then wrap the strands on until i reach the end make my bights, braid down thru the wrapped ends of strings then wrap my working ends for the remaining 2/3 of the knot then turn back make my bights braid back to the ends of my strings at the 1/3 point where i start building pairs...you are basically skipping the wrapping process by doing the skeleton braid right from the start? is that correct? if so then that is probably easier to do as it is hard for a rookie like myself to correctly guage the space to leave between strings when doing that initial wrapping on of the strings. COOL! learn something new every day! the interweave doesnt work if you do the gaucho pattern does it? thanks again

alan this is great, thanks for doing this. what knot are you doing for the nose button? i noticed you have strings going in both directions and did not recognize it...i just use a multistring knot from b.g.s book and you only have strings going in one direction. yours looks very interesting. i like the lines drawn on the foundation to keep it straight..excellent idea will have to try that for next time. now i have to build a bosal so i can try the interweave...havent been able to get one done yet.

ive been buying from weaver for about 12 years and ive seen their quality go significantly down...the bigger they get the more useless their phone people are also...and i was pretty put out when i had been buying from them cod for like 6 years and ordered every week just about and one day i called and they told me i could no longer use cod because they had stopped it. no warning no nothing. also they have a habit of changing products without letting you know. i used to order alot of roo from them and one day the roo i got was not the whip grade i ordered, what i got was a dry leather not suitable for braiding...when i called and asked they couldnt find anybody who knew anything about it. anything they can do cheaper they do...they used to be about service now they are all about profit.

entiendo- yes i do turnbacks...i just call it braiding back the ends, thats whats under the knots, its real easy to do when you use the two prong lacing needles. the harder thing is when using a rope core i cut the ends at an angle and then stitch the end down to the body of the leash you have to be very careful not to damage the lace when pushing the awl needle thru, the stitching is the main reason i use the knot. on the 8 stranders i braid them back cut the ends off and cover with a knot, on the 4 stranders i braid them back cut two off and use the other two to make a rein knot, this is the signature look of my leashes, my makers mark if you will, plus i dont have to worry about ends coming untucked as ive seen with other peoples leashes. we've made literally thousands of leashes in the 10 years weve been doing this. alan-ok duh i should have guessed it was ron edwards, although ive never looked at any of his books, they are on my list. is the trenza in one of his books? the braid i did is a 4 step pattern like the 8 strand gaucho round braid, you go over under over on side 1, under over under on side 2, then under over under on side 1, followed by over under over on side two. gives you a double edge and a nice pattern in the middle. bruce grant calls it the double braid but also says that it is characteristic of the argentine where it is called trenza patria. there are some pictures of cinchas in b.g.s book that are made of horse rawhide-incredible work. yes i saw those reins on the tcaa website, i drool over the work of all of the tcaa braiders. i havent tried braiding rawhide yet, so far ive only worked in roo, so id have to really work on that to catch up to the curve before trying to learn from someone like nate wald. gives me something to aspire to anyway.

yeah i know my digital camera sucks cant take closeups at all...i also took pics with my real camera but have to get the film developed...im hoping the ones of the gaucho braid lead will really turn out well, but i dont know as it was very fine strings. i have used pineapple knots in the past but really like the 2 bight turkshead as it really lays down nice and smooth so adds very little bulk presents a smoother line when someone might be using it in the ring.

walsall hardware has the nylon buckles and slides made by itw nexus, they supply most of the pet industry ive used them a few time and they are excellent quality...they also have them in metal. they do have a website.

thanks for the comments. i got the trenza from bruce grants encyclopedia the 8 strand double braid he calls it and says its from south america, so maybe not a true trenza patria but it came out with the same pattern as the 8 strand gaucho. digital camera didnt do it justice its awesome. i love the gaucho braid but it is a pain to do, this was the first time i braided more than a couple of inches of it. my mom took one look at it and said you do it. took me two days every time i lost my pattern i had to unbraid until i recognized the pattern again. im going to try incorporating the flat braid into a headstall, ive experimented with it and it is easy to go from 12 to 10 to 8strands using it, and the dropped ends are not visible and keeps the same pattern so i think it will make a lovely browband. alan- ron who ? and what flyer ? everything ive learned ive picked up from bruce grants books. though nebraska now offers artists grants to study with master artists, this is the first year they are offering them, so may try to find a braider to help me improve my technique. no braiders in nebraska as far as i know though so will have to go out of state. i really love the knots he calls the botons but what do you use them for your average person doesnt really care how long it took to tie the thing just why does it cost so much.

hi all...thought id post some pix of some of our work...something besides paracord. i cut the lace do all the prep work and setup, my mom does the straight braiding, then i do all the finishing, any knots etc. not a good picture you really cant tell the patterns but this is an 8 strand gaucho braid with the flat handle and throat being 8 strand trenza patria (double braid) 5 different 8 strand leashes all knots are 2 bight turksheads better view of the natural 8 strander 8 strand slip leash with 2pass ring knot for a slider and 2 bight turksheads this is an 8 foot german shepherd lead with braid over snap and 3 bight t.h knot 4 different colors showing a bunch of leashes nearly ready to go out various colors different view same leashes another view trying to show all the colors. i dye all the reds yellows blues purples greens teals etc myself a nice little 6 strand bolo tie done a couple of years ago slider and end knots are pineapple knots frills on the ends flat in the neck.

entiendo, who do you buy your roo from? i currently buy from hardtke but would love to find a lower price. tracy

well iwas paying 6.50 bale for teff(sp?) hay, which i had to load myself, but the idiot that grew it didnt stack it right and used a cheap tarp in a very wet year and his entire stack is now moldy...some gray mold, some black mold...and he doesnt care...so now i cant get small squares because almost nobody in this part of ne puts them up...too much work they say...and they dont do anything by hand here. saw some beautiful alfalfa the other day best ive seen since i left california but the ranch that grew it dont want to part with any of it. i dont like to buy big rounds because you cant tell what your getting...they dont knowhow to put up horse hay here...cut it and leave it inthe field until it is burnt to a crisp or gets rained on and molds. if i could pay 4.50 for brome id be a happy camper

i think that once you get started you will love braiding with roo it is so nice to work with. the hides have been alot smaller because of the drought in australia and the restrictions imposed on the roo harvesting(thats the reason i was given anyway). id say the same measurements that youd use to braid with any other lace or rawhide. thats what i do just like in grants books, circumference divided by # of strings. ive never used lubricant on my lace so cant help you there.

thats just the way people are....i sold a bunch of leashes one time to a customer and then we both set up at the same dog show to sell our stuff...our leashes and her leashes came from the same side of leather, hers were $7 more than ours. someone walking by that had bought one from her looked at ours and said to her friend "oh the one i got is much better" i couldnt believe it and just looked at her and laughed.

i cut all my lace 3/16" and for the 4 strand core i use a hand sewing harness thread, i use it doubled. i use the same lace width when i do a toy dog lead without a core. most show dog people do want the fine leads that is why roo became so popular because it becomes so soft and yet is still strong even in the show lead sizes. you should try to go to a show and look at what the vendors are selling in your area to get an idea of what to offer. yes i love the colors as well. besides the standard colors we do purple, green, yellow, red, blue, teal, orange, and white. i dye all those colors myself except the white, which i buy from hardtke it is called italian white and has a crust applied to it sorts like the metallic chap leathers have...but it stays white the regular white roo i tried did not stay white. some of the most popular combinations are brandy/purple, natural/red/blue, and whiskey/black or saddletan/black. i have only gotten to see gails work on her website but it looks awesome...and yes i think the only color ive seen her use besides one of the traditional colors was turqoise interweaves on a bosal/headstall set which used to be pictured on her website. i am going to do a roo bosal similar to the paracord one i did for my mom...black/purple/teal. seeing your leashes on tv and being able to say i made that is very cool. and the reason we can recognize our leashes is because i came up with a way to finish them that didnt require glue and wouldnt come undone when the leash started to stretch. that is my only secret.

thanks for the replies...yes i too have alot of knots ive cut off, though i usually just chuck them my biggest problem is getting the string size right for the size of the knot and the area i need to cover. entiendo-we have been doing braided leashes for 8 or 9 years and some of the top handlers in the us have our leashes...its kinda cool because when i watch dog shows on tv i can pick out our leashes due to the unique way that i finish my leads and collars. the current retail on my stuff at dog shows is about 1.25/inch for 4 strand...i recently raised my prices due to the ever increasing cost of roo. when i started braiding roo was less than $6.00 a sqft. my braiding is pretty good though im sure its not as good as gail...im going to enter a piece in a show this fall and see how it goes.

hi all i know quite a few of you braid custom orders for clients. my question is how do you decide how much to charge for your work? i sell my dog leashes and collars by the inch but didnt really think that would work for bosals and stuff like that. ive looked online and the only stuff i see is from folks like gail hought who have worked years to build their reputations and so can charge what they like. while my dog stuff is well known and can pull a good price i havent done much horse stuff except for my own use. i want to put up a display of my work at a reining futurity in a couple of months and would like a ballpark estimate of what i should charge. this will be braided in rawhide, roo or a combination of the two. any input will be appreciated. tracy