Roo Reins Started, What Ya Think So Far?

[acox4t4]

Howdy all !!! I'm back from my vaccation and thought that I would show ya what I worked on while off work, hanging out at the lake inbetween catching fish. I'm going to try and make a pair of roo reins but whow I'm not sure even with the three hides that I cut into lace that I will have enough. LOL I must really have wasted alot of roo. The brown hide I got 117 foot of 1/8 inch lace, Black hide got 108 foot 1/8 lace and red hide got 93 foot of lace. So the brown hide was the only one that I had enough of to make the reins with, will put black buttons on and then will hopefully have enough black to make the romal and use the red for buttons on it. Do ya think with the color combo that it will look ok?? Or should I just try and save up and try and get in another hide of brown and do it all in the one color?? I've not done enough projects to know what colors look good, and if you all see how I dress myself LOL then you would understand that I'm not much into matching colors.

I took a few pictures of the start of the project. On the cowboy buttons covering the turnback I have not rolled the buttons yet since I don't want to cut the lace just incase someone sees that I've done it all wrong and need to re-do it. Or if from advice given I get more hides and don't use the black buttons on it at all didn't want to waste the lace. Anyway I hope that from the pictures you can see if I'm heading in the right direction or not.

Please offer any advice you might have, DIFFENTLY point out errors made so that I can learn from mistakes.

If I'm on the right track and people think the brown/black buttons then black/red buttons will work then I will continue on the project. I'm having a blast, enjoyed the time off to be able to actually sit down and spend some time all in one sitting on a project.

I'm also adding a picture that I hope all will enjoy. Its my redneck camper.. Yep thats what me and the dogs weathered out two storms, one with 65 mile hour winds in. My window air made it comfortable at night, my swing to relax on while looking out upon the lake that was right in front of my camp site and you can't go away for a week with the meat smoker. HEMMMMMM chicken, ribs, pork roast and brisket.

Thanks for whatever help you can give me on the new project.

[Nod4Eight]

Nice work so far! I think the color combo of brown/black black/red will look just fine. My thoughts are - they're your reins, do what you want. My first pair of chinks turned out 'unique' but they are my favorite pair now.

I like the redneck camping trailer, looks an awful lot like my moving trailer I just used. . Nice to see some new work on here, its been a little slow being almost summer.

[rawhide1]

Looking good!! Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

Mike

[Leatherpownder]

Looks like ya' got a good start. Keep posting pics.

[roo4u]

they look real good...lace looks good nothing needs changing far as i can tell....and like nod4eight said already if they are for you then make them any color combo you like...

[acox4t4]

Thanks all I will keep plugging away at it then and see what I end up with. Hoping that I have enough lace to have a Finished product. I think I will go ahead and braid up the romal before doing all the buttons that way if I don't have enough lace its probably easier to try and match lace for buttons then it is to match it for braiding something longer. Thanks again, glad I'm on the right track.

[Bevan]

Gday Annette

Look-n good mate , keep posting the pics and it looks like you have that beveller sorted now

Good job mate

[lilpep]

love the reins they look good with the brown and black. and the CAMPER is awesome !!!

[acox4t4]

Well here is what stage the rein project is in now. I'm now at a stand still, I'm going to order a black hide and whisky hide. I decided to braid the romal before doing the buttons on the reins which I'm very glad that I did, since after getting the romal done I have found myself very short on black lace and have not even close to enough whisky I would have to now do all the buttons in red. Looking at the red on black with the knot that I did on the rein connectors I just didn't think that I could bring myself to put all red buttons on the reins and romal. I might even take apart the turnback knots and redo them with a bit of red in them. Its putting me to a stop at the molment but hopefully in the long run the extra time and effort will pay off with something that I will be more proud of.

Well sending ya the new pictures so that you can see where I'm at and to see if anyone can offer any advice that would help me.

Thanks.

[skyout]

I like the red, too. Looks great.

[entiendo]

They do look very nice, but I'm wondering if you tightened the knots at the turn back. They look a little loose yet.

[acox4t4]

Howdy, Thanks for looking and asking me questions so that I can get better results. No I didn't do any tighting on the turnback knot. Darn it I thought that this was one of the kind of buttons that they got tight on their own and didn't require tighting and since it was getting hard to pull the lace through expecially where it tapers down I thought it was tight,,,,,shoot shoot shoot !!!! When I get my new hides in, I will probably just redo the end knots and try and add some red to it where the knot is wider, I've been trying to read up on how to do that while in limbo waiting for roo to show up. I was thinking about trying to add the red in now on what I have and with you seeing that they look loose I might just give that a try since it would give me something to do and if it doesn't work and comes apart no loss. Thanks you gave me the motivation to try something new. Thanks for taking notice and giving feedback your greatly appriciated. My plan was to make these and other gear matching set then trade it for a filly that I want from a cowboy I ride with some. He already has the hobbles that will match but with me being a rookie at cutting, beveling ect....LOL this set of reins is going to end up costing me about 500.00 in roo plus all my time. So I just might need to keep these for myself since I will be the only one that will appriciate the time, effort and money put into it. In hopes of in the future being able to make items that are worth more then what I put into them. LOL Thanks again for your feedback.

[acox4t4]

Has anyone beside me found there to be a corrilation (spelling might be off) between Kangaroo hide arriving and the common cold that keeps you home from work??

Hehehe sure glad my sore throat doesn't effect my being able to cut and bevel hide.

Now I can get started working on my project again.

And Bevan, I'm getting better with your tool. It worked really good on the two hides I got, no problems at all and with me getting better I was able to get alot more lace out of each hide. Got about 160 foot of black lace and about 145 out of the whisky. Thats atleast 50 foot more then what I got out of a hide on the second time cutting lace, so shouldn't be any reason to not have enought lace to finish up the project now.

[entiendo]

Yes you have to tighten all your knots, at least most of them. That's why it's suggested you use the most center part of the hide for the larger buttons and smaller strings. It's not to late to tighten your knot though.

[rawhide1]

acoxt4t

The goal should be not to have to go back and tighten a knot. It takes some practice but you'll get it. Just start building a little tighter from the get go. Once you get it you'll save yourself a ton of time on not having to go back and re-tighten

Best of luck, Mike.

[entiendo]

Well I still tighten most all my knots, not sure there is a right way or a wrong way but it's only my very large 6 bight or more buttons that sometimes don't need to be tightened. My knots are very hard when I'm done. I find they roll smoother that away. In fact just the other day I had to tighten a long 4 bight button twice because it just wasn't rolling smooth. Course that could be the difference between working rawhide and kangaroo.

[rawhide1]

entiendo

Each to their own I reckon. I find if I have to re tighten a knot whether roo or rawhide the strings look kind of beat up. I build the base of my knots pretty snug so I don't have to re tighten them. It saves a tremendous amount of time and produces a better looking knot IMO. I haven't had any problems with my knots being soft ether.

Mike

[entiendo]

Hmmm, hard for me to imagine. Even when I have a tight foundation I tighten my knots. It would be wonderful if I didn't have to tighten them but I'm not sure I could keep myself from checking and ultimately tightening them, if just a little. LOL

Keeping the string slick will keep them from being beat up.

[acox4t4]

Howdy All,,, Hope everyone still has all their fingers and toes after the 4th of July I am a fireworks junkie, few burn marks and missing some hair but I made it through another year. hehehe

Well here is the start of the buttons on the reins and with the post on to tighten or not to tighten I figured I would post a few pictures to see if these buttons look ok. I'm having troubles with one lace covering up another and it being so tight that I can't seem to get it out. I figured what you all think but wondering it I don't need to make the buttons bigger??? put more tape under them ??? I tried to have the ruler there to give ya some idea on how big the buttons are. On one of the buttons it looks like I made a mistake but if ya look close you can see the black lace being covered up. I'm doing the buttons directly onto the project, and so far by the time I'm done I can hardly get the lacing needle and lace through the holes that I make with my fid. I still have been going back and tightened the buttons alittle since in some places there has been alittle slack but not much.

If they look like trash and should pull them apart I did not cut the lace yet just in case thats what everyone thinks I need to do.

Please help me out and let me know what ya think. Thanks Annette

[Aggiebraider]

Hey Annette,

What size is your lace? From the pic it looks bigger than 1/8", and for those knots thats too big. I dont think you should change the size of the knots or the number of bights or anything, but if you cut your lace narrower, it will fit together better and you wont get any overlap.

Hope that helps,

CW

[rawhide1]

I agree I think I would cut my strands smaller. This is just my personal preference but I like to cut my button strings smaller(narrower) than the strands I use for the body. I usually try to go half as wide. Sometimes their a little bigger and sometimes smaller. What ever works and looks good. Keep after it.

Mike

[Bevan]

Gday mate

I agree with Chris , if you just take a beez dick off your lace and leave the foundation the same I am sure you will get it spot on

Also were your black string is covered have a good look , from what I think I can see you have gone over 2 ,under 2, over 1 under 3 ??? over 2 that is in your first picture of your long button from the left hand side !! then i think it looks like you have gone over three with your black string on the right hand side

Not sure because I do need glasses

Please let me know , I will get some tomorrow

Bevan

Edited July 6, 2011 by Bevan

[entiendo]

With reins I cut 1/8" and with buttons never larger than 3/32, 1/16 is very pretty! 3/32 makes a lovely 4 plait for jewelry. Most people I find don't like 1/8 for jewelry.

Just thought I would share.

You have a parallel that isn't split on the left pineapple button that is whiskey and black.

[acox4t4]

Ha days off work, they are wonderful things. With a few days off I've been able to get back to my project. Took your advise and narrowed the lace down a bit. Took out the knots I had and restarted and I think its made a Great difference. What do you all think??? At the end of the knots I do have to tighten them a bit now but atleast there is room for the lace to fit rather then laying over other strands and hideing them. So Bevan put on those glasses and take a lookie and tell me what ya think?? LOL if its still not good I'm having so much fun with it now that I think I'm getting better it actually wouldn't hurt me to take them apart again if needed.

[entiendo]

Good job!