Argentine lace cutting

[rgerbitz]

That is pretty slick Alan. Thanks for sharing that with us. What is the braiders round table.

Rob

[CharlieR]

Alan--thnanks for the tutorial. This forum is great for beginners like myself to see how many different things are done. You mewntioned the braiders roundtable--is this a yearly event and would it be possible for beginners to attend or obtain infomration?? Thanks for all you have contributed to theis forum. Charlie

[Alan Bell]

The Braiders Roundtable was a first as far as anyone knows. It was a gathering of braiders from all of North America and we hosted braiders from Argentina and 1 from Australia. We were supposed to host braiders from Mexico but they didn't make it. Hopefully it won't be the last time but I do not know of any immediate plans to repeat the event.

Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

Let's get together and feel alright

Bob Marley - One Love

[JLD]

The Argentines are really advanced in their rawhide work. 60, 70, 80, and even 90 strands will be used to cover a knife handle! I've seen a braiding masterpiece of a one foot wide girth strap that took its braider, Pablo Lozano, one year to braid! They do many intricate patterns and knots far beyond our simple pineapple and herring bone. There really is no comparison yet they use very simple tools to do all this intricate work. One of these tools is their lace cutter. It is simply a 1 1/2" - 2" disc about 1/2" thick. Sometimes these are plastic washers and they make them out of hardwood or cattle horns. They cut a horizontal slit into the side that goes past the half way mark and in the middle they will drill an egg shaped hole. A very sharp knife will be wedged into the hole and the material to be cut will be slid into the slit. The difference between the keen edge of the knife and the wall of the slit is the width of lace that will be cut. Now comes the neat part...after the first little starter cut has been made you get the cut lace piece coming out of the top of the center hole, pulling the material tight (I clamp one end and pull tight with my left hand) you grab the lace with your right hand and pull towards yourself at an away angle. As you pull the knife will be hanging there in mid air wedged inside the egg shaped hole and it will just glide along as if it is cutting the lace by itself! Because of the size of the pics I made I'll have to do several post. The first is my knife inside the plastic circle.

Hi Alan,

Know that it is quite some time since you posted this but I just found it looking for some help. Quick question please.

Does it matter how wide the cut is there the rawhide slides through ? I assume from the width of the rawhide you are cutting from that it hasnt been split so do you need a fairly wide split to allow for the thicker bits of the hide. Also is the rawhide dray when you are cutting it or is the hide cased?

Thanks for you tutorials and help it is much appreciated.

johanne