millwright

My hide's been drying for about 25 days and seems like it's dried out. Does this sound right? If you cut circles from the whole hide, where is the hide typically the same thickness? What areas, what size, and how many rounds do you normally get from a hide? What area is considered the best quality? I read on a post where someone cuts 10" rounds and stores them 'til they need strings for a project. How much string would you get from one round? Would you cut the whole hide into 10" rounds? Has anyone cut soga strings length wise of the hide like Gail Hought does? How does this work for having more consistent width compared to rounds? What are the benefits of this method rather than the rounds? I didn't trim the belly from the hide while it was green. Is there something to look for to know how far up to trim off so I don't get any stretchy hide? How do you tell if it's going to stretch even before you cut the strings? I'm sure most of the answers depend on personal preference and trial and error, but I like hearing the voice of experience. Wish my teenage boys liked to hear it too! Bret

Hedge, go to the Bosal tutorial started by Alan Bell at the top of page 1 in the braiding forum (actually about the 3rd topic from the top). The first post on the second page of that tutorial, Alan shows how to put a single strand of color in a 6 bight casa/turkshead. I haven't done it but it's somewhere for you to start. Good luck, Bret.

Yeah, Buck, lots of good information. I was wondering if I use dry ash and scrape the hair, will it hurt the hair if I leave some unscraped and clip it? I'm not sure if the ash will bother the clipped hair. I read somewhere that some people leave the short clipped hair on the strings and braid with it. I might leave a shoulder or something clipped to try and see how this looks. I would like to hear more about the sodium sulfide too. Thanks for the detailed description Rob and Joe. Rob what size steel square piece do you use to scrape the hair off using the dry scrape method? I thought I might try to scrape with it using the dry ash method too. Joe when do you let the hide dry/cure to become rawhide? When it's pulled and stretched? You take the hair off first or let it dry then scrape the hair off. How much faster do you figure the hide dries/cures being cut in the strip rather than left whole? Thanks, Bret.

Nice looking reins and for a good cause. Well done, both times. Bret

Those are the instructions I used to ruin it. I stretched one Tuesday, hair and all. Maybe by spring it'll be dry and I can scrape the hair off.

Might do that too brycew74. Won't hurt to dry two hides, different methods, at the same time. Twice as much hide too! Bret

Many thanks Brad. Sounds like a good way to skin a downed cow and leave the belly. You were describing how you skin them without a knive and it reminded me of how a friend of mine says he skins his deer. He gets the hide started enough to get a small rock, about 1.5" diameter, under the inside of the hide, then ties a rope around the rock and hide from the outside, and pulls the hide with a truck. If I get the chance I'm going to trim one like you described and will definately use the lime method to slip the hair next time. Thanks for the reply, Bret.

Well, I ruined it. I guess I left it too long in the water, or maybe something to do with leaving it in the freezer over night, but it started to get hard and curl/wrinkle on the edges, had a cooked look to it. I will get another hide and try the lime method. That looks more forgiving to me than the hot water method. I never saw anything about trimming the belly or anything in other posts I've been reading so I was just going to leave it as is. Bret

I am going to flesh, slip hair, and stretch my first hide this weekend. I bought it yesterday from the slaughter house and put it in a freezer. Any tips on fleshing the hide? I planned on hanging it up and fleshing it. Would I be better off with laying it over a post or board (my version of fleshing beam) to flesh it? I plan on heating it in a barrel of hot water like KAW's tutorial to slip the hair. It looks like, from what I can tell, the hides I've seen posted have been trimmed before stretching. What's the rule of thumb on trimming the junk hide (where/what is the junk hide) and when is the best time to trim it? Do you need to flesh it before you can tell where to trim? I'm curious as to how long it would take to cure here in eastern Oklahoma too? I know this isn't the best time of year to do this but I'd rather not wait 'til spring to make rawhide. I've heard/read that you should cut your circles from areas where the hide is even/consistent thickness. Are there general areas where the hide is even? Any other advice tips are welcomed and appreciated.

Nice handles for those rattlers.

Very nice, really looks good. Where did u get the silver piece?

Heard of people using Ritz clothing dye or coffee/grounds. Mix dye, soak strings good let them dry, then when ready to use just get them wet and case for braiding consistency. Try a search in the braiding forum.

You might take some good scissors and cut your strings if all you need is enough for one lanyard. Use some sandpaper to knock the edge off for a bevel. Bret

Here's another pic that may help see it better.

Many thanks HorsehairBraider! I'll look through Grant's book again and try to figure out the flat to round and trying to split the flat off into into two rounds. If you have anymore thoughts or suggestions, they're all appreciated!

Can somebody tell me how many strings you recon they're using and how to transfer between the flat and round braid, or where I could find the information? My son likes it so I thought we might make one. Would paracord work for this? I think the ones I've seen have been made out of an old worn out head or heel rope that's been untwisted.

Nice quirt Mike! What did you use for a core? Did you taper your strings that you used on the body? How long did you make the core? Is the handle a long cowboy knot? How'd you go about putting the wrist loop on? I have a couple of cores twisted and dried and ready for strings, but my string cutting, braiding, and knot tying all are lacking. Thanks for posting the picture, your quirt looks fine!

Sounds like I need to re-do the noseband and go with the herringbone pattern. I'm not sure I understand how you switch back and forth between patterns. If you start your turnback with over 2 then you have a herringbone (right?), then it seems like you'd have to continue the same pattern throughout the braid, o2, u2. How do braiders transition between the two patterns?

I forgot to mention that I used a gaucho braid pattern on the noseband. How would the interweave be different than the herringbone? Anyone?

Hey Alan, I've got the braiding down for the noseband cover and just completed my 3rd one. Thing is I've done better with my string width this time and the braid looks pretty good (for my braiding) but I have holes around the nosebutton and side buttons where the diameter is bigger than the core. Could you elaborate on your method for creating pairs and the interweave on your noseband. Thanks, Bret.

That looks really nice man. I'm sure you'll win it hands down. Good luck!

Well done Jake. You made some good points that should save lots of time and headaches for many of us.

I bought some goat hide from tandy because it was cheap and wanted to experiment with it just like you Rick. The problem I found was that it was way stretchy. You can't ( I couldn't) braid with it very well because you can't get your braid tight at all. It might be fine for cutting some strings to practice using a string cutter but it's not really the same feel as cow hide. I don't have any experience with horse hide so I couldn't help you compare with that, but I'd take horse over goat without ever havin' worked with it. Matter of fact, I still have the goat hide here if you'd like to try it. I just cut a few strings from it and put it down. That's just my 2 cents worth but wait around and see what the real braiders have to say. You can get some good rawhide from Tejas Industries (800-692-4043) to try relativly cheap. Hope this helps you some, Bret.

So you got your buffalo! Yeah, keep us informed how it goes with all of it.

I didn't see that Megabit, very nice indeed. Sure fire all-in-one lace/string maker.