blackhammer

Very nice. I used to put buffalo nickels in the butts of whips. You don't happen to have any information yould like to share on paniolo saddles do you? That might interest a lot of braiders.

lookin good

Good job on the team win. Sounds like you had a ball. Cant wait to see the reata when it's done.

Hate to pester you, but how's the reata going?

Very nice

Looking good so far. What's the diameter at this point?

Sweet action! One question though. Do you ever sleep or do you just think up and build the most stylish rigs I have ever seen 24/7? Seriously, every time I log on I start looking for anything you've done recently.

I kept mine in plastic bags. I lifted the whole tamale through after pulling working string tight and putting it in position. I kept about 2 ft between reata and tamales. However, like I said before, I did devlop some gaps from strings that were too wet. Passing the entire tamale with each pull probably added some time to the process, but I never had to untangle any back braid. I hate back braid.

Well, count me in I guess

Prayers sent.

Very very classy.

I dont know if its the "right " way to do it, but I usually soak my strands for at least 4 hrs and let them temper in a damp sheet. It may take a coupla of days (it tends to be a tad humid in the Commonwealth) and when they get right, I make my tamales and stuff em in plastic bags. Seems to work alright.

Nod, I started with 75' strands or thereabout. In Grant's book, he states that Ms. Mary Fields liked 75 ft for a 50 ft reata so 90 ft. for 60 sounds right. Err on the long side! Next time around, I'm gonna try for a 65 footer. I picked up a set of good calipers and I have a local machinest working on a splitter. my strands were a tad on the thick side. i havent measured since I stretched it, but I think I gained about a foot just from rolling and stretching. If you like braiding, you really aught to try one of these. Its humbling, but I think I learned more on this one project than anything else I've made so far. by the way Megabit, I'd really like to see one of your fancy hondas on the end of a reata. Get to it.

Thanks for the kind words all. Megabit, I made all my "measurements" cased. Like I said, it was more eyeball work than anything else.

What'd you use for a core if you dont mind me askin? I made a similar one out of gutted 650 over a rawhide core. Diameter turned out to be too thin and I was afraid to use it on the horse I made it for, so it hangs on the wall. Nice by the way.

i don't know as there's a hard and fast rule on diameters or length in regards to quirts. Most of mine taper any where from 1/2" up to 1" at the butt end depending on what people want. The taper from butt to tip is dependent on the length of the handle. I just like a nice, graceful, and proportionate taper. Also note that diameter at the butt will affect the knots that you may use if (like me) you have difficulty in raising your knots past a certain number of passes. There are however some absolute experts on here in that regard. As a generic example, for a 12" quirt handle, I might go with a 3/4" butt, tapering as necessary. For synthetic quirts ( yep, some people seem to like them) I use a synthetic core. This is usually braided chute cord, sometimes with a stiff fiberglass hand part. For leather and rawhide quirts, I use a braided rawhide core over tapered, cast off strings that would go in the trash can. My primary braiding has been whips and quirts until about a year ago. While taper certainly affects the performance and handling characteristics of a whip, I'm of the opinion that it primarily affects the aesthetics of a quirt or crop. But I could be wrong.

picture after rolling and stretching

purdy. Very clean.

So i threw my reata in the trough and rolled it twice. this closed up most of those nasty gaps (but not all. Cant fix some things I dont guess). I then stretched it between two feence posts using a pulley set up. When I took it down a coupla days later, it was a different animal. The braid was much tighter and it didnt try to go boa constrictor on me when I swung it. Megabit, to be honest, this is the first reata I have ever seen much less handled. I is NOT a 3?8ths moneymaker from your local feed store, but I figure most of you guys knew that before I told you. I had to find out first hand. It does a pretty fair job of snagging my 3 year old son who happens to make for a pretty tough roping dummy. So honestly, while the braid looks pretty good and I like the way it feels, it may not be worth throwing in a ditch to someone who knows what a good reata actually feels like. If nothing else, it'll provide a fair amount of bosal cores! Sorry to here about your wreck by the way. Funny how the ground just wont get out of the damn way in time, aint it. Mr. Bell advised me to go with 6/32x3/32 for a 5/16 reata. Sadly, I went a tad on the large side. Ill try to do better on the next one. I should have 6 hides coming from the old home place in Sept.

Bah! That picture turned out way too big, and I can't resize. I shall endevour to remedy the issue and repost at a later date.

Well, I finished my first reata. I'm not terribly pleased with the outcome, but it has stoked the fire to make another. If you guys don't mind, I'll list some of the things I learned in an effort to help folks avoid my mistakes and try to attach a few pictures. 1) I don't know as much about moisture control as I thought i did. I kept my tamales in plastic bags as I braided, but some sections were too wet to braid. Which brings me to my next point. 2) If it doesn't feel right, don't braid it. There were times when I thought that a strand was too wet or too dry, but I braided anyway. i figured that it wouldn't make a significant difference. As you well know, I was wrong. Even after rolling and pulling through the block, I still have gaps. Lesson learned. 3) i cut and beveled all my strands by hand and eye and knife. Ehh, not too bad, but I can clearly see where a few more sophisticated tools would have made for a more consistent job all around. i split my strands with a joiner plane. That actually proved to be pretty effective. 4) The 2 dollar plastic caliper that I bought at Rural King is not an acceptable substitute for a decent set of calipers. And my eyeball is not calibrated enough to judge differences in the the /32 range. Overall I had a good time building this. My braid turned out pretty straight, so my tension was fairly even. I did have to put in two splices. Alan Bell advised to try to finish the whole thing in one go. Work and family would not allow for that, but I can definitely tell how long I spent braiding a given section. The longest I was able to braid was 20 or so feet. Length turned out to be about 47 feet. thanks to every one for advice. Cant wait to start a new, better one.

5831/5811, June98-June02. MCRD Parris Island to Okinawa to Camp Pendleton. Welcome and Semper Fi. Stay safe over there.

That's what I was referring to. Thanks. did a little trial and error work and they came out fine. Appreciate it.

thank you sir. Much appreciated.

Thanks fellas. Very perceptive Mr. Bell. I dont have any experience with reatas, just want to try my hand at one. I was basing the 3/8ths measurements off of synthetic ropes. Curlyjo, thanks to you as well. I appreciate the information. That's why I love this place.