millwright

If it's harder to understand than some of Grant's instructions, I don't want any part of it!

Dang, 48 strands! That's gonna be cool Alan. Keep us posted as you go.

Nice cutter/beveler you've built there Clint. Bet you make a sharp whip too. Are you working on making any splitters?

Nice lookin' hatbands Heather. How do you transition from round to flat?

Nice lookin' work, all the way around.

You might give Tejas industries a call at (806)364-0951, ask for Bill Confer. He might could hook you up. I'm sure you could go to your local slaughter house and have them set aside a bull/steer stick for you. You'd have to let it dry of course and I'm not sure if there's any special method for drying a pizzle that's any different than regular rawhide. The good thing about this is you could stretch it to whatever length you wanted, or stretch it to have whatever twist you wanted to it. There's people here that are better able to answer this question than me, but just my 2 cents worth as to where I'd start looking.

Hey Alan, You've done a heck of a job with this tutorial. You've laid all the steps out well and made it look simple. Problem is, I'm simple minded and can't get a handle on how you've started the braid for the noseband. The u1 o1 until all strings are used from top to bottom? I'm trying to put a noseband on a piece of rope, as my core, to be used for a tiedown headstall. I've gone u1 o1 etc. then what do you do with the last string? There's no more strings to go under or over. Here's more problems I have starting the braid. All my strings are on the top of the rope/core. When do you wrap the strings around the core and cross them to start braiding? Do you get to a point where you can go u2 o2 like a regular pattern or do you continue u1 o1? My main problem is simply getting started though. I tried the twist method, like Grant shows in his book, but can't manage that very well either. Your way looks easier and more practical to me. I probably don't need to tell you this, I'm sure you can tell by my post, but, I can't braid a lick compared to you and the others here. I'm using some latigo string/thong for this noseband, six strings, and still practicing with nylon cord and string just to learn the braids. I have B. Grant's encyclopedia but haven't seen anything like what you've done here in it so I don't have a refrence. Any help's appreciated, Bret.

Does anyone cut a whole side, from the outside in, into 1"-2" strips with a draw gauge, then cut your strings from that? What's the advantage or disadvantage of the circles vs. the strips?

I'm sure there's some kind of formula to figure that out, but I wouldn't know where to look for it, and probably wouldn't know what to look for if I did know where to look. I'm no math man at all.....here's a stab at a guess though, for say..a 31" circle. 167yards.

That's pretty slick man. It's good to see again that it can be done. I'm takin' a butt kickin' on trying to braid 16 plait hobbles with nylon cord! Keep it up and share any tips you picked up with us that are still struggling!

Heather, what exactly do you mean "outside in"?

Just looking at the two, I'd go with the hansen over the lace master. I haven't seen any videos of either one but I've been lookint at string/lace cutters lately. I have a machine shop training class I have to take later this year for my job and can make nearly whatever I want. I'm looking at different cutters/splitters to come up with a design and build one in class. The Hansen looks as practical and well built asn any I've seen. There's a nice practical and well built cutter that rawhider1 has mentioned and uses, Nuebert I think, it looks like it would be a good choice too. I don't think you went wrong with the Hansen though. I'll bet it works out fine for you.

Hey that looks pretty slick megabit. What are you using for your foundation on the pineapple knots? They have a nice shape.

That's cool rawhide1, bet you got a big grin and a kiss from her for that. I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking, if you cover your splice with one of the pineapples, or if you continue each braid into the other one/side for a ways. Also, do you tie your knots on a mandrel then transfer and tighten them, or tie them directly to what you're working on? I'd like to know what the knots are because I just braided a four plait braid on my pocket watch and it looks like it's about the size of your necklace. I'd like to put a button on the end of it but not sure what knot to use or really how to do it. This is my first attempt with rawhide, or any braiding really for that matter, and I'm struggling through Bruce Grant's book and web pages trying to figure/reason out these knots. One idea on the cross connector is make a knot out of the fine copper wire to connect it. You could take some small stainless steel wire and heat it up (ground it out on a welding machine) it will turn kinda black. After you tie your knot with it you can buff/sand the outer part of it and it shines with the dark inner part left. Looks nice on some bracelets I've seen twisted from stainless wire. Appreciate the help and again....that necklace is some nice lookin' work.

That's some nice work. Someone will be proud to get those. I was curious as to what you have in mind to connect the reins to the bit. I don't notice any kind of latch.

Your braids and knots look good to me. I just started trying to learn some knots and braids myself. Still in the paracord and twine stage. Hope to do some nice work like you've done here before long. Nice, practical, and pleasing to the eye.