blackfly

I've never bought any but have a friend who has sold raw tails to these folks before. http://www.chichesterinc.com/BeaverTails.htm Hope it helps. blackfly

You might try to right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" and point it towards wherever you'd like to save it. Just worked well for me. Thanks much for the heads up folks. blackfly

Ha, ha, this place is amazing. Somebody better tell those cows that they need to be looking over their shoulders. I knew how it is done only because I sat and watched an older gentleman make two for a shaft packing on an old wooden fishboat. Took him maybe 15 to 20 minutes each as he was pretty particular about it and he used what I think you folks would call latigo that was dark brown and greasy to the touch. He had a handmade mandrel and a two piece wooden rounder type rig for final sizing/smoothing. Both the mandrel and the wooden block both had a polish and patina that showed it wasn't his first big one. Since then I've seen forms of the same idea used on smaller sailboats. Apparently it's what you do where you can to the rigging to help keep it quiet.... I also spent 2 days with a man in Mexico who did it but in reverse with the hide side in and he was using them to cover 3 and 4 inch brass rings used in leads for show bulls. From memory it was maybe 7/8 oz cowhide, hand stiched, trimmed, edged, and burnished. His mandrels were ironwood and cowhorn. Cow tails. I love it. blackfly