Bosal Repair

[avturk]

Hello -

I have a couple of bosals that need repair work on the heel knot. One is quite old and I believe mice chewed away some of the rawhide strands, the other is brand new and my puppy chewed off the heel knot. I am thinking about trying to replace the heel knot on both of them. The newer one is a bosalita (very thin bosal) and after the puppy chewed away the rawhide braids it looks like there is something underneath that gives the knot "body", looks like paper and glue or something similar, definitely not leather or rawhide. I was wondering if this is something common, the heel knots are always so big and apple shaped I was curious what was beneath the braids. I have leather lacing that I may work with to start (since I already have it) and get the hang of things. I have Bruce Grant's books (Leather Braiding, How To Make Cowboy Horse Tack, The Encyclopedia of Leather Braiding), any recommendations on what kind of knot to use? I was looking at the ones that he suggests for covering the end of a quirt or whip handle (crossing strands at the base of the knot) but I don't know if that's the best choice. Also, once I convince myself I can do a nice job on the braid where is a good place to get rawhide strings to do a nice braid?

Thank you ...

[Aggiebraider]

I have had the exact same dog problem with a bosal of mine, but I havent started fixing it yet. It is common practice to build up the foundation of the heel knot with lots of different things; bookbinding tape, waxed thread, tarp tape, masking tape, just about anything that you can control the amount you put down and then carve to get the final shape you are looking for. Grant's book should have the actual heel knot, but I dont have mine handy so I dont know what page its on. If you find it and have trouble with Grant's instructions, I would suggest getting Gail Hought's book or books on making a bosal (she has 2). She provides much better instruction on the whole process of building a heel knot and has great color pictures on making the actual knot. I have trouble with alot of Grant's instructions partly due to the fact that I believe he was left handed and some of the pictures are backwards, but he also has whole steps missing from some of the knots. I struggled alot with some of the knots that I can currently make until I got Gail's books.

Another thing to think about is unless you have pretty good experience with rawhide and feel comfortable in understanding how to properly case it, I would suggest you just get some kangaroo lace and cover them with that. Yes it would not match the original knot, but many times people combine rawhide and kangaroo on everything from bosals to reins. So, dont feel that you arent being "traditional" by doing so.

Hope this helps,

CW

[avturk]

Thank you very much for the tips. I will look into the books by Gail Hought. You are correct about Bruce Grant's books sometimes seeming to leave out a step or something where you look at figure 5 and figure 6 and think that they must have forgotten figure 5.5.