How do I round cores?

[Corrie]

I am going to be a stay at home mom, and was hoping to supplement the income with making leather dog leashes. I was planning to use kangaroo skin with an eight strand braid using a core. The problem is, I can't even figure out how to round the core. I have a book, "Fine Leather Braiding" by David Morgan, but it is not helping much. I do have until October to perfect this (haha), but am feeling very frustrated. Any pointers, advice?

[Beaverslayer]

I believe I read somewhere's in the "Braiding" section here on the forum, that you can use a nylon cord (rope) from Home Depot.

Check that section of the forum, there is quite a bit on braiding.

Ken

[Elton Joorisity]

Another thing you can use for a core is round leather belting. I strongly suggest looking into Gail Hought's series of books. They are well worth the money and are very in depth. Mr Morgan's book is pretty good but Gail shows different covering knots and many projects.

[Leerwerker]

I am going to be a stay at home mom, and was hoping to supplement the income with making leather dog leashes. I was planning to use kangaroo skin with an eight strand braid using a core. The problem is, I can't even figure out how to round the core. ... Any pointers, advice?

I use nylon rope for the core.

To prevent it from slipping under the braiding, I pull it through a very special beeswax mixture:

Take about two cups of beeswax and melt it with 2oz pure Lanolin (from Walgreen in the breastfeeding section) and one heaped teaspoon of powdered rosin (the stuff gymnasts use on their hands - from sport shops). This mixture is so sticky that you have to pour it in its melted state into a bowl of ice water - pull it together under water until it is solid.

It is also very good to draw stitching thread through so that your stitching pulls snug and stays that way.

I got this from an Internet Leathercrafter many years ago.

Hope this helps!

JOhan

[Gremlin]

To round a core, lay it on a flat surface. Take a piece of lumber (I use a 2 X 4 that is 14 inches long) and roll the core across the flat surface underneath the lumber.

It really is just that simple.

[Hedge]

The way I do it is cut a long string (roughly square) from a hide, give it a good soaking in distilled water so it's pliable and then

draw it through my rounder (a piece of hardwood with various size holes in it). After that, I roll it between 2 pieces of hardwood until

I'm satisfied that it has the shape I want.

If you don't want to go through that trouble, you can get various diameter climber's line from REI. It's not climbing rope, just the various

smaller stuff that's used to tie off gear. It doesn't stretch and makes an excellent core that's firm and will hold shape.

Edited March 31, 2008 by Hedge