Rawhide sides and a new endeavor!

[Maeve]

Well after lurking for a year, I have decided to come out of the closet with a question! I am really impressed with the amount of knowledge that is here! Let me give a little bit of background. I began braiding roo about 5 years ago AFTER I had been horsehair hitching for a couple of years. I had an idea for a bridle and needed to learn to braid in order to do it. Well .... after I learned to braid, the horsehair hitching went to the wayside! LOL! I am self taught by books (I have a BUNCH but Gail's were the greatest help!) and had NO ONE to bounce anything off of in the process. And, no, I didn't do time to learn the hitching! LOL! I'll try to attach the picture here. Since I've not posted, I don't know if this will work! LOL!

Anyway ... after all of my years of braiding roo, I have SUDDENLY been having these strong inclinations to braid rawhide! I know nothing about purchasing sides. And, no, I don't want to make my own! :D I've found a few sites that sell them but don't know what weight or who has good quality. Normally I fight through these things alone ... doing research. But this time I've reached a dead end! None of my books say anything about weight, etc.! Here's a few sites that I have found:

http://www.appalachianleather.com/rawhide.htm

http://www.buckskinleather.com/rawhide.htm

http://www.crazycrow.com/Merchant2/merchan...ode=545-400-000

http://www.hermannoakleather.com/3900.html

What I would LIKE to do (and I don't know if it is feasible) is to make a few bosal cores first, then cut the rest into strings and learn how to braid with rawhide. So would that all work out of a side? Would I have enough? Also, I have seen some instruction as to cutting strings that differs from each other. Some say to cut strings from a circle as with roo and others suggest cutting strings from strips. Is there a preferred way of doing this and what is the reasoning? What about dyeing? I have professional grade acid dyes here. I know (from my research) that dyeing rawhide is tough to do. Would these acid dyes make the job any easier? Is this too many questions for a first post?? LOL! I'll post this before I get thrown off of the board for asking too much at once! Thanks in advance!

Love and Light,

Maeve

[Elton Joorisity]

Hereford Bi-Products is a good place to get rawhide. They should be listed in Gail's books, if not, they are on her site

[rawhide1]

Maeve

Mr. Joorisity is right on. You need to contact Bill Confer at Tejas Industries formley Hereford Bi-Products. His # is (806) 363-7232 call and tell him what ya ned. You can buy whole hides, sides. circles or pre cut strings. They have cow, calf, and slunk(unborn calf) The thickness will depend on what ya are building. And yes you could use a side for all your wanting to do. Although ya may have to split some down. As far as cutting strings to get long strings for reins and such ya will have to cut them from a circle. The strips would work great for shorter stuff such as bosals and what not. Bye the way nice looking work. It's on my list to learn. Hoped this helped some.

Mike

[rawhider]

I don't know much about hithcing, but that is awesome work!!

And what the other guys have sidis right, you need to get ahold of Bill Confer. I just ordered 31" circles from him, and I've been able to get a whole set of reins out of one circle, so you should have enough to do a couple bosals! Bills hides are really good quality, and he will get it to you fast if you need (he even thru in some extras for me!)

Good luck, and post lots of pics of your work! Rawhide braiding is addicting, so say goodbye to your other hobbies!

[Maeve]

Thank you very much for your kind words and help here. I remember seeing Bill Confer in Gail's book. However ... I didn't know if I needed to know MORE about what I was ordering. As good as Gail is with her explanations, she does leave out some important information as to materials. When I first started braiding roo, I learned that there was chrome tanned, veg tanned and drum stuffed as well as thicknesses in ounces! I didn't have a CLUE as to which one was meant for braiding! Fortunately I had a patient supplier who helped me through the growing pains. So am I to assume here that Bill will know what I need if I call him and plead total ignorance??!? :D

Here is another close up of the hitching on that bridle as well as a glimpse of the romal reins that I made to go with it. I did dye the horsehair with the acid dyes which is why I am asking if it will work for the rawhide. I have some cheap scraps here that I should just test. That's how I've always gotten along ..... trial and error! Why stop now! LOL!

Thanks again and any other help is much appreciated!

Love and Light,

Maeve

[Rawhide]

Thank you very much for your kind words and help here. I remember seeing Bill Confer in Gail's book. However ... I didn't know if I needed to know MORE about what I was ordering. As good as Gail is with her explanations, she does leave out some important information as to materials. When I first started braiding roo, I learned that there was chrome tanned, veg tanned and drum stuffed as well as thicknesses in ounces! I didn't have a CLUE as to which one was meant for braiding! Fortunately I had a patient supplier who helped me through the growing pains. So am I to assume here that Bill will know what I need if I call him and plead total ignorance??!? :D

Here is another close up of the hitching on that bridle as well as a glimpse of the romal reins that I made to go with it. I did dye the horsehair with the acid dyes which is why I am asking if it will work for the rawhide. I have some cheap scraps here that I should just test. That's how I've always gotten along ..... trial and error! Why stop now! LOL!

Thanks again and any other help is much appreciated!

Love and Light,

Maeve

That's fabulous work!! I'd love to be able to do that...I have Gail's book, but haven't caught on yet...

[Maeve]

Thank you very much, Marlon, for your kind words. That bridle was a LOT of work and now I see where I could have done things a bit differently. Maybe some day I'll go back to hitching and do it again!

I did some experimental dyeing this afternoon with some rawhide scraps that I had here. It turned out fairly nice but I'll have to wait till I get the good stuff to see how that takes. Since I have 5 new roo hides coming, it will probably be another week or so before I order the rawhide. Then I just have to make up my mind what I want to do with it! :D Should be fun though! I like a new challenge!

Love and Light,

Maeve

[wantmorelandandcattle]

Nice work, really looks great!! Bill is a really nice guy, easy to talk to and he'll really help you get what your looking for. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[Maeve]

Nice work, really looks great!! Bill is a really nice guy, easy to talk to and he'll really help you get what your looking for. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thank you very much for your kind compliments. I will be talking with Bill in a couple of weeks, I'm sure! I'm just a bit behind in orders at the moment and need to do some catch up before I start obsessing with something new! LOL! As for pictures, I have a billion of them! I didn't want to bore everyone with all of them! My avatar is a bosal that I made for my sister to match her saddle. She shows POAs and wanted one made for that specifically. I was pleased with the match.

Here's another hitched bridle that I made. I love dyeing ... so it is a lot of fun to dye the pulls:

And I am particularly proud of this one! It took me the better part of 2 weeks to figure out how to get the Alamar knot in the brow band and yet have it stabilized so it didn't pull out when being used! I'm going to do another one like this in a week or so. I just love the design!

Okay ... don't want to wear out the welcome here! :D Thanks again! I will give Bill a call. I've always wanted to try my hand at rawhide but just got involved in kangaroo so heavily that I haven't put forth the effort to move on!

Love and Light,

Maeve

[rawhider]

That alamar knot brow band is really cool!

[druidity]

absolutely awesome stuff. I've been digging into Bruce Grant's Encyclopedia for a few years now. Mostly in the flat braid sections and easier turk's head knots. I remember seeing the Alamar knot as a line drawing illustrated on a horse... though i guess i'm not sure it's in that Grant book. A very cool looking knot anyways.

I've been thinking of doing some more braiding lately and have never really tried Roo. Do you have a good source for Roo hide?

Cheers,

Adam

[Maeve]

absolutely awesome stuff. I've been digging into Bruce Grant's Encyclopedia for a few years now. Mostly in the flat braid sections and easier turk's head knots. I remember seeing the Alamar knot as a line drawing illustrated on a horse... though i guess i'm not sure it's in that Grant book. A very cool looking knot anyways.

I've been thinking of doing some more braiding lately and have never really tried Roo. Do you have a good source for Roo hide?

Cheers,

Adam

Yes! I have a good source for roo! I get mine from Amazing Oz in Australia. Col sells a LOT on eBay. But if you e-mail him directly and tell him what you want specifically, he will come through every time! I've been dealing with him for going on 6 years now and have never been disappointed with his hides. I find that they are comparably priced and he has great colors (see above picture! LOL!). He also sells cut strings in various sizes although they are not beveled. But if you only want a small bit of something for an accent without wanting the whole hide, that is a great option. Here's his web site: http://kangaroolace.com/ If you want a whole hide, tell him that you want his "top shelf" hides 1mm thick. He is more than accommodating! The more you order, the more he discounts. And even coming from Australia, I usually get mine in a week! I can't even get USPS service that quick! Tell him Maeve sent you! LOL! Not sure what THAT will do but it might help! :D

Thank you, Rawhider! I really worked hard (mentally) on that knot! I HOPE I wrote down what I worked out so I don't have to do it again! LOL! I usually keep a notebook on EVERYTHING that I braid so if I like it, I can go back and see what I did. I hope this is the case on the Alamar browband! I'm going to do this next one in "tamer" colors. That one was order specific. While I LOVE the colors, I know that it is not something everyone will love! :D

Love and Light,

Maeve

[HorsehairBraider]

Great to see some horsehair work here - I was feeling a little lonely!

I have not done a lot of rawhide braiding but I know you can dye it with coffee. Also, U-Braid-It has cut rawhide strings for sale. I have not tried their rawhide but they are good for everything else, so I personally would not hesitate to buy their rawhide.

It can be tricky to cut, but if you are patient and don't mind experimenting, you can easily do it yourself. If you have worked with horsehair you KNOW how frustrating it is to run out of length... so cutting in a circle is the only way to go, IMHO.

[Maeve]

Great to see some horsehair work here - I was feeling a little lonely!

I have not done a lot of rawhide braiding but I know you can dye it with coffee. Also, U-Braid-It has cut rawhide strings for sale. I have not tried their rawhide but they are good for everything else, so I personally would not hesitate to buy their rawhide.

It can be tricky to cut, but if you are patient and don't mind experimenting, you can easily do it yourself. If you have worked with horsehair you KNOW how frustrating it is to run out of length... so cutting in a circle is the only way to go, IMHO.

Yes .... the life of a horsehair worker IS a lonely life! LOL! When I show people how to hitch, they quickly glaze over and walk away. Sheesh! Your work is beautiful! I'm glad to know you as I get a few requests for braided things. I don't braid so it will be nice to have someone to refer people to in those instances!

Thank you for the link. I see it is quite pricey! I'm sure it is worth it but I have been spoiled by cutting my own roo strings! Maybe I should start slow, order up some strings for a small project and see if I even WANT to do this! I tend to be a bit obsessive/compulsive on these things! I was looking at my cutting set up today when I was making strings and wondering what I could do to make rawhide cutting easier. I think I've scared myself with rawhide so it is going to be all I can do to muster the courage to try it! LOL! And I think I am going to try my acid dyes on the rawhide. It is meant for protein fibers .... and rawhide IS protein so I don't see why it wouldn't work. As you can see by some of my things that I've posted, subtle browns and black are not on my list of favs! Thanks again for the link and advice.

Love and Light,

Maeve