Mecate

[Amanda Powell]

I know it's not technically leatherwork, but I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me. I'm hoping to try out making mohair mecates....I can get the strands no problem, but twisting them together will prove to be a problem. I'm trying to figure out how to make a simple rig to twist the strands to make the rope. Any suggestions? Or does anyone have another way of twisting the strands together? Thanks!!

[Aggiebraider]

I have made a few mecates, but never twisted ones. I mainly have worked with paracord and have just within the last year started braiding with leather. I looked into getting a rope making machine to do exactly like you are asking, but they are expensive and it takes more than one person to run, unless you have some way of powering it. If you have any experience braiding, I know people have had really good success with braiding it for mecates. Only down side to this is that it takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer to braid 20+ feet rather than just twist it. I am currently working on a 12 strand mecate that has taken me about 2 weeks to braid off and on in the evenings because I decided I wanted to braid the core for it as well, so I have really braided 44 feet for one set of reins lol. But I think that you will get more material into the same length by braiding it, giving you more weight and because it is braided it will have more life. You also wont have the problem of having a twist built into the rope, that will dictate how you coil it up. If a person with no experience with using ropes or riatas picks up a twisted mecate and doesnt coil it correctly, you can get a horrible kink built in that will probably never go away. If you are set on twisting them or dont have any experience braiding, I know I saw somewhere a guy was selling plans for making a rope machine, but it involved making a planetary gear drive out of wood and if you arent an experienced wood worker (like myself) i think it would be almost impossible. So my suggestion would be to save your pennies and try to buy one of the antiques off ebay or get lucky and find one at an estate sale.

Hope this helps,

CW

[Amanda Powell]

Thanks for the response!! I hadn't thought about braiding the mohair.....Personally I like twisted mecates, but I've never really played around with braided ones. I actually found the website where the guy sells plans for the rope twister, and after watching his videos I've figured out a way to make a more simplified (and cheaper!) version. Hopefully I can get it up and running soon

[Aggiebraider]

Well let me know if you do, because I am still somewhat in the market for one, especially if you figured out how to make a one person operation thats not too expensive

[Amanda Powell]

I'm still working on designing a simple (and cheap) machine. I don't know that I'll be able to make it a one person thing.....Unless I add a motor, which shouldn't be too hard. That's a bit out of my budget right now I'll keep you posted!!

[WTT]

Finally something i can contribute to on here! Well this is really late, but i hope it still helps. I have never messed with mohair, only horsehair, but the process is the same. I use a drill in a vice with the trigger tied so it rotates the speed I want it to. You twist the first strings CLOCKWISE, then put 3-4 of them together and twist them COUNTER-CLOCKWISE I'll call this a strand.( I don't like to use one of those separator things for this step, just let them twist on their own. ) Depending on how many hooks your mult-twister has (mine has 4) you make that many strands of 3-4 strings each. Now the fun part! you hook all of the strands on the drill at one end, and each strand on an individual hook on the multi-twister. The drill spins CLOCKWISE again, and the person running the multi-twister spins those hooks COUNTER-CLOCKWISE (this keeps the strands twisted up nice and tight) the other person uses a separator of some kind to control how fast the rope twists up. That's it!

So now that that is as clear as mud, check out "doug krause horsehair worker" on youtube, it will make more sense.

one really important thing is to have the tension the same on all the strings/strands as you twist them or you will end up with a crappy looking mecate!

my rope twister is an old sprocket off a baler, the small sprockets are the chain that i cut and welded together. it has a 6:1 ratio, so you don't have to crank so much! you can make some really simple multi-twisters that are only a 1:1 ratio, but they work really well.