roo4u

some of the problem is your choice of leather...i would not use vegtan...latigo, english bridle or harness are good....use a good conditioner on the area of the slits prior to the final assembly and that will help the top grain to stretch rather than break like that one did.

when i look at the pictures of the 3 color pink leash it looks like those are simple crown knots...

well the rein knots dont really end up all that large....if you look at the picture you can see a couple of rein knots on the right side...

well i will add my two bits, what i have learned from braiding literally thousands of show leads. though i never did much beading i found that the ones i did were the bead was too small to go over the braid and had to be put over an unbraided section stretched more in that area than i liked. i used what bruce grant calls a rein knot to secure my beads and also to secure my ends instead of just backbraiding, as i found that backbraiding comes undone too easily. i made the rein knot with one piece of lace and it threads through the middle of the braid so never ever slips or comes undone. i always tied my cores first, if you braid tight you must adjust the length of the core for how much gets taken up by braiding. the reason for this was so that the length always came out consistent and the knots were tight and covered and no worry of anything coming loose. i always used a double strand of harness thread or artificial sinew, also doubled. just loop it thru itself to attach to a snap. my mom did all the straight braiding and was very consistent so i just wrote down the required measurements for each size, this way i could set up many leashes for my mom to work on while i cut lace or finished leashes. The little rein knots became our signature on all our leads and how folks knew they were getting one of our quality leads.

the two ends should match....can you invert that first picture? im having a hard time figuring out what is the problem with it so that i can tell you how to fix it. what i have had to do in the past is adjust the starting end of the braid until it is a match. what i mean is you sometimes have to undo a strand or work one more strand to end up with the match so you can braid them together. hope that makes sense.

howdy fellow nebraskan.....i havent used vegtan goat, but i can tell you that rawhide goat is very stretchy and must be used nearly dry....i would imagine that tanned goat would be quite stretchy as well, like bullwhips said "cut wide".

when you make this type of leash all the slits are the same size...i always do the snap end first just because i measure out the final length for the leash after the snap is on....if the snap is properly sized for the width of the strap it is usually no problem getting it thru the slit....of course that depends on the weight of the leather...big heavy harness leather or real stiff bridle leather you may have to work at it a bit to get it thru....but for me having the snap to pull thru first helps....

bruce grant mentions the salt method in his book making cowboy horse gear....its for if you cant process your hide right away you spread fine stock salt on the flesh side and roll it up tight, i think your supposed to air it out a bit every day...i think the salt keeps the hide from starting to rot until you can get it processed.

i would not use suede lace for leashes if you are only doing 4 strand....because it is made from split hides is is not all that strong....i did a few when i first started making leashes for dog shows and i didnt like the strength or the texture of the leads...show leads must be strong.....you cant really split it down or bevel it or you lose what little strength it has... kangaroo is a bit pricey now....when i started it was 5.25/sq ft in full skins and now its over 12.00....but it is well worth the cost....if it was me i would spend the cash on hand cut lace....the machine cut stuff still has to be stretched and beveled and sometimes split...plus it has to be conditioned during braiding or it will not braid tight on smaller braids like 4 strand leads. of course you could learn to cut it yourself...

oh rats....im sorry....i totally forgot about it....i will get it done and up today. i think i have c.r.s. disease...cant remember s**t....now, where did i put that paracord.....hmmmmm

buy a hide and cut your own! far superior lace that way!

i am by no means an expert but that looks like an equitation saddle to me...

dont go back to lurking....your post just read rather bad. it seemed like you only wanted advice from those 3 guys....when i read it i thought that and obviously the others did as well. go ahead and ask your questions just be aware that there are several other rawhide braiders on here that are willing and able to answer your questions. shelly is a top braider and rawhide1 is very good as well....also be aware that who will be online to answer questions will vary depending on peoples jobs etc.

uhm....well if i was you i would not restrict myself to only wanting responses from certain people like that...there are many fine braiders on here and i think you just offended a couple of them...both of them could have easily answered your question, the guys you are looking to have answer your question visit here rarely these days.....good luck getting an answer.

question...are the pictures you posted of the actual item you unbraided? what is it? and did you buy that cuz it doesnt look braided very well. i hope to get that tutorial up later today.

well as far as the patterns go yes of course....i dont know about braiding leather strands without a core....it would kinda depend on what type of leather, how thick the strands are and stuff like that. you can definitely braid rawhide like that and maybe latigo lace, and i have braided suede lace without a core like that for leashes but it didnt hold up very well. of course once you can do the actual braid then you can do it with any material you like. just with any type of lace you must keep the finished side up whereas with paracord it really doesnt matter. i will try to get that posted tomorrow.

any round braid done without a core will end up square. is the pattern in the picture the one you want to end up with cuz how you set up your strings will determine what pattern you end up with. braiding with 16 is really no harder than 8 same basic skills just more strands to deal with. if you let me know what pattern you want to end up with i will do a short tutorial for you on how to start the 16 strand.

very nice!

nice!!!

that turned out great!

uhm....hello....wheres the pictures of the finished product? we been waiting

wow....that gorgeous! lucky wife!

i think if it was me i would just braid a roo hatband and then use the hair from your sisters horse to make tassels...that wont take too much hair and you can use shorter hair. i did a keychain thing for my mom with hair from her horse and i was able to use just the hair from his bridle path that i trimmed after it hadnt been done for a long while.

his stuff is ok but prices are terrible, i saw only 2 different headstalls on his site....you should be able to find someone to make them for you....

oooh...looks like somebody hit an auction. thats a serious haul!