braided scarf slides

[flatlander]

Newbie here. I have been braiding a few turkshead scarf slides. I have been a little disappointed in my outcomes. The problem is my foundations giving a "bumpy" look to my finished knot. I have been using rawhide and tying a 5 X 7 turkshead over a mandrel to make my foundation. What do you folks use for foundations for these slides?

Flatlander

[Opagon]

I use a leather collar so I can shave it to the shape I want.

Keep Braiding,

Heather

[rawhider]

Same here. Take your mandrel and a piece of leather strap. Cut one end of the leather strap at a steap bevel, wrap around the mandrel, and cut the other end so that the bevels fight tight together without leaving a bump where they meet.

Take some tape (I use floral tape) and take a couple wraps around the collar. Shave with a razor to make sure you have a consistant foundation, and braid away!

[Hedge]

Same here. Take your mandrel and a piece of leather strap. Cut one end of the leather strap at a steap bevel, wrap around the mandrel, and cut the other end so that the bevels fight tight together without leaving a bump where they meet.

Take some tape (I use floral tape) and take a couple wraps around the collar. Shave with a razor to make sure you have a consistant foundation, and braid away!

I use a leather core and then mouse it up with waxed thread to give it the shape I want. Then I braid over that.

Hedge

[entiendo]

I use a piece of copper pipe, braid, tighten, roll and then slide it off the pipe and glue the inside. I think I rawhiders idea better though.

[flatlander]

Thanks folks. I'll give your way a go in the near future.

[rawhider]

Waiting for some rawhide to case, so I whipped up a slide. and I took pics of how I build it.

Cut a bevel, wrap and match. Tape, shape and braid.

Edited February 19, 2009 by rawhider

[entiendo]

Do you think that would would with roo? I'm thinking the roo wouldn't hold the shape and I'd still have to use glue. What do you think.

[rawhider]

Yeah, I've built several roo slides like that. They hold up fine. You shouldn't have to glue anything, just make sure you hide your ends right, and you'll be fine.

[flathat4life]

Waiting for some rawhide to case, so I whipped up a slide. and I took pics of how I build it.

Cut a bevel, wrap and match. Tape, shape and braid.

Rawhider,

First of all, exalent job on the rag slide!

now i have a question...

- after cuting a bevle on the leather, wraping it to match, taping, shapeing and braiding.. do you take the knot off the mandrel to dry then take out the leather collar?? im gessing that you dont leave it on because then in would shrink and you couldn't get it off.... dose the leather collar come out before or after letting the knotsit and dry..

Sorry for th stupid questions.. i'm just getting started and dont have eny type of sorce i can pull from to learn... I realy appreciate you guys getting on here every day and helping others no matter what their exsperiance level is...

again Thanks!

Jed

[rawhider]

Hey, no problem Jed. I started out with a book and endless supplies of rawhide. Several cows gave their lives, only to end up as chew toys for the dog!!

As for your question, I leave the leather collar in the kot. It is the foundation, and without the foudation the knot will work loose.

I braid with my strings just wet enough to work, so there isn't really alot of shrinkage. I braid my knot, roll is or pound it, I usually just slide them off and hange them with the others, but you can wait till it drys if you want too. It won't shrink so much that you won't be able to get it off.

Don't feel bad about asking questions. There are a lot of awesome braiders on here, I've learned form everyone, so if you don't understand something, just ask. Hopefully one of us can explain it.

~Luke

[flathat4life]

Hey, no problem Jed. I started out with a book and endless supplies of rawhide. Several cows gave their lives, only to end up as chew toys for the dog!!

As for your question, I leave the leather collar in the kot. It is the foundation, and without the foudation the knot will work loose.

I braid with my strings just wet enough to work, so there isn't really alot of shrinkage. I braid my knot, roll is or pound it, I usually just slide them off and hange them with the others, but you can wait till it drys if you want too. It won't shrink so much that you won't be able to get it off.

Don't feel bad about asking questions. There are a lot of awesome braiders on here, I've learned form everyone, so if you don't understand something, just ask. Hopefully one of us can explain it.

~Luke

Thanks!... I appreciate it!

Jed

[CharlieR]

Hey guys---what diameter mandrel do you use for your slides??

Charlie

[entiendo]

I've run into a bit of a problem, the piece of leather underneath is to big and shows on the sides. Fixing that problem probably comes down to practice. Now I can see how important it is to hide the ends right because your knot seems to hang over the edge just a bit to hide the leather underneath.

[rawhider]

I've run into a bit of a problem, the piece of leather underneath is to big and shows on the sides. Fixing that problem probably comes down to practice. Now I can see how important it is to hide the ends right because your knot seems to hang over the edge just a bit to hide the leather underneath.

Yeah, you'll have to do a couple to figure out exactly how to cover it. you'll get good at interweaving in order to fill up the knot a little bit.

Charlie- I use about a 9/16" mandrel. It works well.

[CharlieR]

Rawhider--thanks for the info--Charlie

[entiendo]

I'm bringing this back up..hopefully rawhider or someone else that does these slides will see it. I finally got one done that I like, an all whiskey gaucho. Anywho my question is, have you ever wrapped it with a little wax string when doing the herringbone to give the slide a more rounded look?

[rawhider]

I've never done that. I just bevel my egdes on the foundation really extreme, and it seems to work for what I like. But there is no reason why it wouldn't work for you. You can really do anything you like to underneath the knot, just so long as it doesn't come apart after you start useing the slide.

[entiendo]

Well I'm running into a bit of a problem because I don't have cowhide so I'm working with very thin kangaroo for the foundation. What I did is wrap the tape a few times and that seemed to do the trick and give it a nice shape...But sadly I still have to use glue because the braiding just doesn't wrap around the foundation like it would if it was a thicker piece of leather. I still like it much better than the way I used to do it, so thank you very very much!

[jerryrwm]

Well I'm running into a bit of a problem because I don't have cowhide so I'm working with very thin kangaroo for the foundation. What I did is wrap the tape a few times and that seemed to do the trick and give it a nice shape...But sadly I still have to use glue because the braiding just doesn't wrap around the foundation like it would if it was a thicker piece of leather. I still like it much better than the way I used to do it, so thank you very very much!

You could build up the foundation with several layers of your 'roo. Using the cement, glue one on top of the other. You can make the top pieces progressively narrower and end up with an ovoid shape rather than a straight collar.

[rawhider]

If you don't have any cowhide for a foundation, go down to tractor supply and get some weaver saddle strings for $15. They are the right width and a good thickness. Then you don't have to use up your valuable roo hide.

[entiendo]

I know of no tractor supply, but can I get this at Tandy? I'm only using scraps so it's no big deal.

[rawhider]

yeah, tandy would have something, or even if you have a cobbler near you, I bet they have all sorts of scraps you could use for foundations, they'd probably just give it to you.

[entiendo]

thanks