Getting Started

[ShortBBL]

I'd like to learn to do some braiding and want to know the best learning tools. Is there a book or two that you think is best? Maybe a DVD or YouTube or something?

I want to braid small thin Roo lace to use for Holster Hammer Thongs. I'd also like to make a necklace and bracelt for my wife sometime. I dont have a ton of time to spend braiding, my first thing is holster/sheath making, but I need to dress them up to stand out from the crowd!

Thanks for ideas!

Jon

[KnotHead]

Ron Edwards - Most usable books: Round Braids, Turks Heads. He has all kinds of books on plaiting. The best ones are Plaiting Whip Handles, and Plaiting Whip Handle Designs. These books will teach you the foundations to braiding round braids and flat braids.

Tom Hall - Introduction to Turks Heads: The best book around for learning all about turks heads and the interweaves involved.

More Western Tack Tips: Very good all around braiding book.

Bruce Grant - The Encyclopedia of Leather Braiding. Very good book also.

I recommend all of the above books to have in your library. With just those 3 books, you'll get a great start and be learning for years and you will always be able to go back to them for reference.

Brian...

[Alberta Bound]

I really like Gail Hought's books. The Art of Braiding: The Basics, Revised Edition gives some pretty good bang for your buck. If you decide to get one of her books, you'll want to start with this one because the others build on it. The unrevised original edition isn't as helpful as the newer one.

You can find the revised edition here: http://www.hought.com/brbooks-basics2.html

All of the books Knothead mentioned are pretty nice as well. However, I'd shy away from books by Bruce Grant at first unless you want to spend hours pulling your hair out. They're useful books with lots of great information, but they can be a little confusing to start out with. Tom Hall's books are great, they're very down to earth and have some knots, measurements, etc. that you'll not find in many other books.

A nice cheap little book that's relatively easy to find is Robert Woolery's Braiding Rawhide Horse Tack. It has some good ideas to apply to all projects and the price is great at around $10. It doesn't just apply to rawhide braiding, but it does focus on the techniques used with rawhide.

[Alberta Bound]

Oh, and whichever way you choose to learn - Good luck! Welcome to the braiding addiction... err... hobby.

Jen

Edited November 4, 2010 by Alberta Bound

[Aggiebraider]

I second the Gail Hought books, but unless you want to make horse tack such as bosals and romal reins, the other books arent necessary after the Basics book. I bought Woolery's book last month when I was at the Congress and read it on the plane and in the airport. Its a really good read even for experienced braiders as its full of different ways to do things. I started like most people did with getting the Grant books, and I completely agree they are quite confusing for the beginning braider. Some pics are backwards as apparently Grant was left handed, and there are some steps missing. There are a few good videos on youtube, namely from a guy named bernie (i think) that are mainly geared at making whips, but he is a great teacher and covers quite a few of the braid patterns. Ron Edwards book is also very good, so either his or Gail's book, you cant go wrong.

Welcome to the obsession lol

CW

[ShortBBL]

As if I needed another "thing" to keep me overly busy! Oh man!

Thanks everyone..... here we go!!

[roo4u]

i still cant figure out why everyone says that about grants books....i have done every knot in all 3 of his books and the only ones that are messed up are the ginfer and the side button knot for the bosal(really hard to follow the drawings). grants encyclopedia has lots of applique braid work that would look awesome on holsters.

[lilpep]

i agree With roo4u , why does every one think grants books are difficult?

well any way fro appliques and edge lacing i would deffeneatly get Grants Encyclopedia and western tack tips from T Hall. they both have the basics clearly especially grant and they both have lacing and appliques. some thing other books don't have. as far as the other author mentioned i have nothing good to say so i wont say anything at all (i'm not reffering to Edwards).

[roo4u]

i have heard from other braiders on this forum that there are mistakes in houghts books as well....guess nobody is perfect.

[8thsinner]

Grant's encyclopedia was my first leather braiding book and venture into using flat lace for knots and though some things are hard to see and there are minor mistakes every knot can be made fairly easily with practice. You do have to sort of use your common sense too.

I have Ron edwards making whips too, the new one, and the plaiting handle patterns section is awesome, his detail on round knots however is rather pathetic.

But I think he more than makes up for this in the small details throughout the entire book.

I hope to get some of Gail's books at some point though. But currently cannot comment on them.

[rgerbitz]

All the books listed above are a good I have the Encylcpedia and refer to it the most. Tom Halls are good and contain alot of info on sizes for different projects. I also picked up Bryan Neuberts first video when I was getting started and used it alot in trying to work out turks heads and long buttons. And of course the source that trumps all of these is finding someone to go and learn with is best. I'm in Northern Illinois and have no problem working with somebody. I don't know alot of fancy knots or braiding patterns. Most of what I do is pretty basic stuff.

Good luck with it all,

Rob

[Alberta Bound]

I apologize, I suppose I should have read what you were looking for a little more closely. I got so excited by your wanting to do braiding and knots that I forgot all about the other bits!

For edge braiding and lacing (not that I cay say much about that since the most I do is lace a metal ring or two), Grant's encyclopedia seems like a decent source of information. But I'd imagine some of the braiders above know a lot more about edge lacing than I ever will.

Gail Hought goes over it, but the instructions aren't that detailed and she doesn't show many styles. And yes she makes mistakes, she's only human. The romal rein book has a frustrating one on a long button interweave that gets me every time!

Now if only Nate Wald would write a book so I could figure out how he makes things look so darn good....

[roo4u]

i know....nate, leland or any of the tcaa braiders....the braiders from argentina...wholly cow, that country has forgotten more about braiding than most will ever know.

[8KCAB]

Hello. I believe this is my first post here, though I've been lurking for some time.

I started about two years ago using "How to Braid Quality Tack" from ubraidit.com. I figured it would be good to start with something cheap. I have braided about 15 projects out of it with paracord, along with many mohair cinches and breast collars, which I guess isn't really braiding. I recently ordered a "Braiding Basics Kit" from Hought, which includes the Basics book as well as material to get started. It was expensive ($325).

I'm not sure if any of the techniques I learned from braiding paracord will positively transfer to roohide. Some things may transfer negatively. In either case, I am looking forward to recieving my kit. I plan on practicing a lot using this kit, and then making several small projects like key fobs. This is all in an effort to reach my goal of braiding the classy bosals (and perhaps, some day, reins) that I see on this website.

Good luck on your projects. You are not alone!

[megabit]

Others have already made the standard book recommendations. You will get something from most all of them. Hought's books are step by step cook books, that works good when you have no idea what to do. The downside is that if you miss a step you can get real lost and they don't do a very good job of teaching you how to figure out the knots. Grant's books are very good at teaching you how to figure out things, but they can sure be a bear to follow until the light goes on then they maybe the best of the lot.

One thing I haven't seen anyone recommend yet is go buy a bunch of paracord and practice practice practice. The paracord is great because you can use it over and over and use it to prototype things quickly. On the downside it is way more forgiving if you twist a string so it will teach you the braids and knots but doesn't help you keep your string rightside up. After you have some of the braids down start cutting up some hide, plan on lots of it going in the trash.

Mike

[roo4u]

yes i agree with megabit. get some paracord or even some readymade suede lace....some of my first projects were with the suede lace you can do alot with it and it gives you the feel of braiding a material that is flat and allows you to control the twist of the lace. it is also quite inexpensive and available at tandy or various hobby shops.

[acox4t4]

Howdy there, I'm a rookie also and I'm loving trying to learn how to braid. I've not yet got a finished product to show, use or even throw away other then the 2 cowhides I tried to make rawhide out of that have been disposed of. Like you I've been searching for that special book or video or tools that would make it easy to learn but what I have found for myself is that there is no such ONE. I have 3 of Grants and 1 woolery. If I were to pick the one that seems to make more since to me at this time it would be Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant since it has not only the pictures showing how to make the knots but also a pattern that you can photo copy or draw to make a mandrel. Instead of using a stick to make my knots on I'm using tube. I went and bought some thick tube, its kinda like a water hose on steroids, I'm not sure what its actually for but found it at the farm and ranch store and it comes in several sizes. I was able to cut it to whatever I wanted so cut a foot of each size. It was cheep and what I like about it is that when I want to put nails into the tube to help me keep my knot spread apart so that I can see where my next step is, its easy. I don't have to drill holes and when I pull the nails out the tubing kinds repairs itself so I can change the size ect over and over again. What this rookie is also finding out is that I can't learn without trying. I can read, read and read so more, look at video's, the how to's and not learn a Darn thing. You got to grab ahold of the sting and start, so when these old timers (not talking age so please don't ban me from here, hehe) tell you to buy the cheepest stuff to start out with by god listen to them. HEHE you can use the cheep plastic lace from hobby lobby over and over again for alittle over $1.00 where as I was trying to start out with rawhide right off the get go and bought a few $20.00 spools, the saddle soap a couple $30.00 hides (first two rawhide making flops) so out atleast $100.00 or more then I took these wise braiding gooroo's advice and visited Hobby Lobby. I'm grabbing ahold of the string and making mistakes, yes mistakes but by actually doing it I'm learning. I actually had a Turks Head knot come out RIGHT yesterday, I was so amazed and you know I think I actually remember how I did it right and could do it again. LOL This hobby is so fun. Well I put in WAY more then my 2 cents worth and now probably owe each of you atleast .15 cents for actually reading my 2 cents.

[CharlieR]

I think that what a lot of folks forget to consider when giving advice about what book, etc. is the best to learn by is this.....being different, each of us learn best by different methods. I struggled with diagrams about braiding-they just made no sense to me. Then, the pictures like in Grant and Hought were a little better, but still confusing. Over, under, OO1,Uou2--that really blew my feeble mind. But when braiding really started to make sense to me and I was able to actually make decent braided objects, was when I saw some braiding videos/CD's. As mentioned, Bryan Neubert has a couple of good ones. So does a feller named Robert Black. After watching these a couple of times, things began to click. THEN the books made more sense to me. It was just a matter of a different learning style. Just my two cents worth. Charlie

[8KCAB]

Hello. Someone reuested via PM that I post some pictures of the "Braiding Basics" kit from Gail Hought when I recieved it. So, here they are. They said 4-6 weeks for delivery, and they meant it! Six weeks to the day! Can't wait to get started.

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