1St Reata

[blackhammer]

Well, I finished my first reata. I'm not terribly pleased with the outcome, but it has stoked the fire to make another. If you guys don't mind, I'll list some of the things I learned in an effort to help folks avoid my mistakes and try to attach a few pictures.

1) I don't know as much about moisture control as I thought i did. I kept my tamales in plastic bags as I braided, but some sections were too wet to braid. Which brings me to my next point.

2) If it doesn't feel right, don't braid it. There were times when I thought that a strand was too wet or too dry, but I braided anyway. i figured that it wouldn't make a significant difference. As you well know, I was wrong. Even after rolling and pulling through the block, I still have gaps. Lesson learned.

3) i cut and beveled all my strands by hand and eye and knife. Ehh, not too bad, but I can clearly see where a few more sophisticated tools would have made for a more consistent job all around. i split my strands with a joiner plane. That actually proved to be pretty effective.

4) The 2 dollar plastic caliper that I bought at Rural King is not an acceptable substitute for a decent set of calipers. And my eyeball is not calibrated enough to judge differences in the the /32 range.

Overall I had a good time building this. My braid turned out pretty straight, so my tension was fairly even. I did have to put in two splices. Alan Bell advised to try to finish the whole thing in one go. Work and family would not allow for that, but I can definitely tell how long I spent braiding a given section. The longest I was able to braid was 20 or so feet. Length turned out to be about 47 feet. thanks to every one for advice. Cant wait to start a new, better one.

Edited June 23, 2011 by blackhammer

[blackhammer]

Bah! That picture turned out way too big, and I can't resize. I shall endevour to remedy the issue and repost at a later date.

[megabit]

So how does it work? Have you roped anything with it yet? How long were your strings you started with? I am thinking I can get 4 strands about 90' from what I have cut so far if I don't screw up.

I have been working on my first one for months. In Jan I got the hide from Bill C. About 2 months ago I finally cut it into a round and made my rough cut. I streched that between some post and was about ready to start prepping the string when I came off my horse and broke 3 ribs and 2 spinal processes about a month ago. That sure slowed things down. The last week or so I have started working on it again and have the string cut down to a fairly even 3/8" and ran through the splitter.

Mike

[blackhammer]

So i threw my reata in the trough and rolled it twice. this closed up most of those nasty gaps (but not all. Cant fix some things I dont guess). I then stretched it between two feence posts using a pulley set up. When I took it down a coupla days later, it was a different animal. The braid was much tighter and it didnt try to go boa constrictor on me when I swung it. Megabit, to be honest, this is the first reata I have ever seen much less handled. I is NOT a 3?8ths moneymaker from your local feed store, but I figure most of you guys knew that before I told you. I had to find out first hand. It does a pretty fair job of snagging my 3 year old son who happens to make for a pretty tough roping dummy. So honestly, while the braid looks pretty good and I like the way it feels, it may not be worth throwing in a ditch to someone who knows what a good reata actually feels like. If nothing else, it'll provide a fair amount of bosal cores! Sorry to here about your wreck by the way. Funny how the ground just wont get out of the damn way in time, aint it. Mr. Bell advised me to go with 6/32x3/32 for a 5/16 reata. Sadly, I went a tad on the large side. Ill try to do better on the next one. I should have 6 hides coming from the old home place in Sept.

[blackhammer]

picture after rolling and stretching

[rawhide1]

I think it looks pretty dang good. You just need to find someone to try it out for ya.

Thanks for sharing it, Mike

[megabit]

Looks like it should work to me. Have you pulled it through a post? Drill some holes in a post thread it through them hop on your pony and dally up and pull it from each end.

[Nod4Eight]

I think it looks pretty good too. Tossing a reata is a lot different feel than your standard rope for sure. Sounds like you've done the right things with it so far: roll, pound, stretch. Be careful pulling it through a fence post if you have splices. It might pull just fine til you hit a splice - then you suddenly have two reatas. Nice work, I like seeing the reatas.

[megabit]

Just thought of another question for you. You say it is 6/32 X 3/32, is that dry or cased?

[blackhammer]

Thanks for the kind words all. Megabit, I made all my "measurements" cased. Like I said, it was more eyeball work than anything else.