fid work

[troy]

Only my second attempt at fid work, but this one looks alot more even then the last - but still have a pain of a time laying the first side of lace - sort of found a way to do this one but wondered if any body else does this sort of work and has a particular way to ensure that first row of lace is nice and even?

Paul

[rawhide1]

Paul

Nice looking work on the handle! The knife is pretty cool looking too.

Mike

[Alan Bell]

Paul, Nice! The thing about fid work is that the strings have to be nearly perfect. Yours are not uniform in width so that will affect your work and make it harder to get that first pass perfect. The weakest link in any type of braid work is always the string. The string has to be the best you can get for each project. There are some missed passes too and that should not happen in fid work because you can always back track the string and correct not like when you are braiding and it is harder to correct missed passes. To get the first layer down good i tie the strings down REAL tight with either a few strands of sinew or waxed thread (thinned down) and then place the strings at the correct angle and place two rubber bands tightly around them. I move the first rubber band as I spiral around the project to hold everything in place. As I get farther along I will move the second rubber band up a little to maintain the tension in the strings. Hope this helps.

Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

[troy]

Cheers for all your comments and thanks for the elastic band idea.

Ye I know the lace is uneven which does'nt help, still getting to grips with cutting out of my own rawhide and stretching, one day I'll get there - I'll have to buy rawhide from now on so I may have better rawhide to start with. As for the unuiform braiding, that was intentional not only to signify that it is'nt from a sweat shop somewhere but also to try and create different patterns like below - naturally this is OK with coloured leather but I guess with rawhide, sticking to 3 u 3 o looks better then the alternative 2 o 3 u, 3 o 2 u that you can see. The biggest problem I've had before is keeping it all even and not twisting to one side, I am pleased that atleast it does look even in this example.

I guess there is different kinds of leather work that facinates every one, this sort of fid work is what does it for me. After seeing some work from australian and especially argentian braiders, it is something I would like to eventually do to the degree's they do them sometimes - imagine 100 strings instead of 32, just unbelievable.

cheers

Paul

[troy]

Just finished a PDF tutorial I made around this fid work - again it's more for beginners and included lace prep and diagrams for the two pineapple knots

Fid work PDF

[Alan Bell]

Hey Paul, Great job doing the tutorial!!!! I'm quite sure there was a great deal of time and effort put into making it and it it truly appreciated. I have a couple of critiques. Rawhide is beveled on the grain or smooth side, leather on the flesh or rough side. That is the standard way of doing it. Also, the Gauchos will typically use half as many strings, twice as long and double back for the final interweave. So a 100 strand handle will actually be 50 strands doubled. You will spiral down from the top just like you did and at the bottom make a bite and start your pattern with an over under pattern with each strand and then the design or in your knife handle case over three, under three. On their knives they put a metal cab over the beginning but you could just as easy use a button and at teh bottom the button "butts" up to the end turn back, and again you could cover this but there is no need to with this method. Again, Thanks for a great job on the tutorial, I just wanted to point out this other way.

Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

[troy]

Hi Alan

Once again, thanks for your great advise, my learning of this I guess is from bruce grants encylopedia and then just pictures of the gaucho's work and experimentation. But as always the simpliest method is always the best such as the doubling of the lace - feel like homer simpson 'Doh' - and I always double lace that way for belts and whips.

Thanks for the bevelling method - always thought they were both done on the flesh side for some reason.

As for the metal caps, I have thoughht of them and would like to do that one day but I do feel they will be expensive so stick to lace for now.

Mostly thanks for pointing these things out - learnt something useful today.

Paul

[HorsehairBraider]

Nice tutorial, Troy. I especially enjoyed seeing the diagrams of the pineapple. I always like to learn new stuff, and although I knew of "perfect" pineapples, I had never seen that particular book and therefore these diagrams are new to me.

It makes me want to braid more in leather! You can't tie the knot like that in horsehair, or at least not easily. But it would be a great method in rawhide or leather.

[KnotHead]

Great job on the handle. Also, great job on the tutorial.

[troy]

Made this glossary first for my own use as I increasingly ventured deeper into the world of braided knots. It is amazing just how many mathematical variations and codes there are to knots - I have’nt covered these as I don’t really understand them yet, at the moment I’m like a driver of a car who after years of driving is only just finding out how it works.

Glossary of knots and tapering lace tutorial

I have also included a short piece about tapering lace which complete’s other PDF’s I have done on the subject of lace, plus diagrams for two knots used to help explain some items of the glossary. Hope they help someone.