tying knots for my bolos

[CharlieR]

I still struggle when tying knots for my bolos. I have tried a couple of methods for making a foundation for the sliding knot. I have used a smaller knot, then I have tried a small rawhide knot, then I have tried a pice of leather. My problem is this--whenI tighten the knot around the foundation, too many times my foundation is too large for the knot--orI tighten my knot too much so that part of the foundation is visible. Is this a problem that will diminish with experience, or am I being a real dumby here and just not doing something obvious. If I ever figure out how to post a pic, I will try to show you my mess ups! Charlie

[HorsehairBraider]

Charlie, when I run into this "problem", I simply use a bigger knot!

For example, if you have tied your knot with an O2, U2 sequence, just increase to an O3, U3. If it *really* does not fit, back up to your foundation knot (turk's head, casa, whatever you call it) and increase the foundation and do a different, bigger, knot.

As far as tension, that is experience. I always remind myself as I begin, to tie my foundation loosely. Now, I can't go back and re-tighten - I braid horsehair and that has to be tied right the first time - but still, you might want to remember not to tighten the foundation part of the knot down real tight, so that there is room in there for the interweave part without getting too tight.

If you are using those knots that do not have a foundation (I call them "built knots" because you start at one end and just keep filling in) then your recourse would be to increase the sequence to make the knot cover more.

[CharlieR]

This is where my experience is severely lacking--if I braid a 6 bight button with an interweave, I don't know how to 'add' more to the button. I jsut braid a button, do the interweave, then tighten. I learned my very basic braiding skills form a video--but the video didn't show how to add---guess I need to find another video, huh? There is so much to learn, cheeez!

[HorsehairBraider]

Don't worry pal - the great thing about life is, no matter how much you learn, there is always more to learn! And learning is FUN! I have come nowhere near the end of knowledge - there is always more.

I've got two books now. (I learned to braid by taking apart old braided stuff and writing down all the turns of the knot, but don't do it that way! It is too hard!) My two books are, Bruce Grant's Encyclopedia, and Woolery's Braiding Rawhide. I do believe you could get by with only the Bruce Grant book. Get that book (you can find it on Amazon) and then teach yourself the very simple way of keeping on in the knot and making it bigger. Piece of cake. Heck, if _I_ could learn it, one of my chickens probably could!

There is nothing better (to me) than learning a new knot. I envy you all the fun you have ahead of you.

Also, as an afterthought: I _MUST_ braid to the final tightness the first time - horsehair is too subject to kinks to allow me to go back. Well, I braid leather and rawhide that way too! Try and teach yourself how to do it at the right tightness the first go round, and you will save yourself lots of time and headaches.

[rawhide1]

CharlieR

Horsehairbraider gave good advice. About your only options are use a bigger string (wider string),build a bigger turks head (more bights) or increase it to a o3,u3. The Bruce Grant book she mentioned is great and shows how to increase your knot size. I hope ya can get it because it will serve ya well. I have not read Woolery's book so I cannot commet on it. Keep plugging away at it. Mike

[CharlieR]

You know the old saying about more than one way to skin a cat....................that really applies to braiding I believe. I learned to tie a knot on a mandrel, then transfer to the piece I'm working on then tighten. Others tell me they tie the knot directly on the piece--I tie then tighten, others say tie then add if needed. This truly is a learners forum with so much help and advice--ain't it GREAT! I love this place!!!!! Now, it's hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Amazon I go. thanks guys for the advice, it is appreciated! Charlie

[rawhide1]

CharlieR

Your right with skinning cats and braiding there's lots of ways to do it. You just have to find what works for you. I've always built my knots on the piece I was doing. When I build a knot to cover something I kind of wing it. Meaning I kinda of have a idea on how many bights and I'll have and what sequence (o3,u3 O2,u2ect) I'll use. But sometimes I'll either have to make my turks head bigger (more bights) or increase my sequence what ever it takes to make it work. Ya know I'm sure there's a method out there on how to figure your knot size I'm just not sure what it is. But I think for every bight ya have ya figure thats two string widths ya have to figure in calculating how many bights you need to cover the circumferance of yer piece. Hell I'm cornfusing myself and everyone else I'm sure. So would somebody that knows what their talking about please jump in. Mike

[Sidney Wood]

CharlieR;

I could expound on this knot size business to great length but it would be simpler for you to go to taylortel.net/~stwood or just Google "The Basic Turkshead" .

One thing- increasing the knot as you braid is just a nmenic device that to braid similar knots by. it increases the size in a minimum of two in both bights and parts which is a little much for fine adjustment.

I really perfer knots with a prime number for the bights because you can pick them in one part increments for length.

Any braided knot with a given number of bights can be tightened over a fairly wide -2 to 1 at least with just a small decrease in length as the circumference is increased.

Sidney Wood

[CharlieR]

Sidney--I went to your site--I can tell this will take a little work and concentration. After I study the site for a while, I'll holler with questions. Thanks for the info.

Charlie