Argentinean Style Knife Handle And Sheath

[Ecapone]

This is knife handle and a sheath that I did recently. The handle has 96 thongs. 48 in the bed and 48 interweaving. All the rawhide is deer. The material for the sheath is soften deer rawhide (Not leather). By the way, is it OK to call them "Thongs" when they are made of rawhide? In Agentina we have only one word to call tem independent of the material. We call them "tientos". I have read in some books that in the US for rawhide they are called "strings" and only for leather they are called "thongs". Is that correct?

Greetings,

Enrique

[KnotHead]

Hi Enrique.

Well since you're part of a public forum, I don't see the difference between a thong and a string. To me, it is the same thing. For me and this is just my thought behind it, if I cut a string, it's still a string and if I cut a thong, it's still a thong. The only thing that separates, or distinguishes one from another is the material used. So for me, no matter the material, I call them strings, lace, or thong.

Very nice knife and excellent work.

B...

[KAYAK45]

Here you only need one word also. Magnificent! I don't care for strings and thong, they are from now on TIENTOS.

KEEP POSTING MORE AND MORE

Kevin

[entiendo]

I can't even imagine how much of you went into that knife! So beautiful. It should be in a museum.

I call them all strings unless someone else I'm working with or talking to calls them something else, then I go with it. Thong is a great word. Old and seems more traditional. But I'm always thinking "string" so I call them strings, right or wrong.

[megabit]

:clapping:

That is very cool, great work.

[rcsaddles]

Beautiful work. String or thong is makes no difference to me either.

I'm still getting used to the idea the shoes are now flip flops and no longer thongs. Tells ya my age and how things change.

Enrique, please keep posting here. I feel you are going to be a wealth of information. I have always admired the Argentinian way of rawhide braiding. I would give my left arm to spend 6 months there working with some of the older people that braid but then I could not braid. Your work is very beautiful.

[rawhide1]

Excellent work. I to hope ya keep posting on this site. I enjoy your work and I bet your a wealth of knowledge.

Mike

[CLH]

Email meEnrique, Where can one get your books? I would like to buy them if it's possible Thanks Clint Haverty

Edited September 23, 2011 by CLH

[Handwerker]

Hi my Friend Enrique,

i make also a Knife in Argentina Style

- Blade is Damasteel

-2 Caps are in Silver

- Handle 1,2mm Rawhide String`s

nom i make Softened RAwhide from the Sheath !

Arno

[Ecapone]

Thanks everybody for your words. I really apreciate them. I hope I can be useful for you and I am also sure I have to learn from this forum too.

Thanks,

Enrique

Hi my Friend Enrique,

i make also a Knife in Argentina Style

- Blade is Damasteel

-2 Caps are in Silver

- Handle 1,2mm Rawhide String`s

nom i make Softened RAwhide from the Sheath !

Arno

My friend Arno,

That knife looks beautiful. I wish I knew how to work with silver to make caps like those. Are you working in softening some rawhide?

Cheers,

Enrique

[Ecapone]

Beautiful work. String or thong is makes no difference to me either.

I'm still getting used to the idea the shoes are now flip flops and no longer thongs. Tells ya my age and how things change.

Enrique, please keep posting here. I feel you are going to be a wealth of information. I have always admired the Argentinian way of rawhide braiding. I would give my left arm to spend 6 months there working with some of the older people that braid but then I could not braid. Your work is very beautiful.

Thank you for taking the time to explain me about the use of the word Thongs. I am glad you like the Argentinian way of working with rawhide. I fell in love with it some 28 years ago when I saw some work done in a set of reins in Argentina. I saw that 2 turns braided knot over the reins and I just had to know how they were made. I guy there tought me the basic three thongs ring but that is all he knew. Then he sent me to a gaucho that show me how to do it. I didn't understand, but at least I knew that it was done with one thong. I grab a shoe lace and I starting trying until I got it at 2 AM. I never stop since then.

Cheers,

Enrique

[blackhammer]

Beautiful. Did you post that knife on armas blancas? It Sure looks familiar. To the rest of the group, If you havant been to armasblancas.ar, you are missing out on some incredible S. American work. If I might ask, is the blade on your knife Arbolito? If so, do you know how I might be able to order some from the U.S./ Ive heard that they are very well made and it looks like a lot of folks down there use them. Again, wonderfully done.

[Ecapone]

Beautiful. Did you post that knife on armas blancas? It Sure looks familiar. To the rest of the group, If you havant been to armasblancas.ar, you are missing out on some incredible S. American work. If I might ask, is the blade on your knife Arbolito? If so, do you know how I might be able to order some from the U.S./ Ive heard that they are very well made and it looks like a lot of folks down there use them. Again, wonderfully done.

Yes, I posted this knife in Armas Blancas. The blade is "Defensa" wich is a second brand of Boker. I realy like this blade. I boght it in Argentina last year. I posted some tutorials in Armas Blancas. My user there is ecapone. With time, I will translate and put this tutorials here.

Enrique

Edited September 26, 2011 by Ecapone

[flatlander2]

Yes, I posted this knife in Armas Blancas. The blade is "Defensa" wich is a second brand of Boker. I realy like this blade. I boght it in Argentina last year. I posted some tutorials in Armas Blancas. My user there is ecapone. With time, I will translate and put this tutorials here.

Enrique

Enrique,

Beautiful work. Could you talk a little about how you softened the rawhide. Also, since you were using deer rawhide I was wondering if you were using it dry, or nearly dry? In order to limit the streaching.

Flatlander

[TroyWest]

Ecapone,....beautiful work.

[Alan Bell]

Que lindo Enrique! Very beautiful! Now I'm afraid to post mine! Vas ir a TCAA in Oklahoma? Ya me voy con una de mis hijas si quieres ir con nosotros. I'm going to start another handle this week and I need your help. I made the handle myself and have some horse rawhide. You can call my cell at 972 467 2827. Abrazos

Alan

[Ecapone]

Alan,

When are you going to the TCAA? I have to travel to Canada on Sunday October the 16th and we have a party on saturday so that weekend I can't. I heard that the works are exposed for 2 month.

I will be glad to help you with your knife handle. My phone number is 214 636 4647

Cheers,

Enrique

[Ecapone]

Enrique,

Beautiful work. Could you talk a little about how you softened the rawhide. Also, since you were using deer rawhide I was wondering if you were using it dry, or nearly dry? In order to limit the streaching.

Flatlander

Dear friend,

I use the strings almost dry. I just rub them with a little bit of soap paste.

To soften the rawhide, I get the rawhide wet until is tempered. Then I rolled it by the conners with the hair side inside and I hit it with an especial mallet that we call maceta (see picture). I made this maceta with 2 pieces of 2 x 4. After hiting the rawhide I roll it and I save it on a plastic bag overnight. Next day I take it out for another session and I save it back on the plastic bag. It take about 7 days to soften it. Between sessions I also rub some pork fat or some glyceryn soap.

I hope this information help

Cheers,

Enrique

[flatlander2]

Dear friend,

I use the strings almost dry. I just rub them with a little bit of soap paste.

To soften the rawhide, I get the rawhide wet until is tempered. Then I rolled it by the conners with the hair side inside and I hit it with an especial mallet that we call maceta (see picture). I made this maceta with 2 pieces of 2 x 4. After hiting the rawhide I roll it and I save it on a plastic bag overnight. Next day I take it out for another session and I save it back on the plastic bag. It take about 7 days to soften it. Between sessions I also rub some pork fat or some glyceryn soap.

I hope this information help

Cheers,

Enrique

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[braiding4fun]

Dear friend,

I use the strings almost dry. I just rub them with a little bit of soap paste.

To soften the rawhide, I get the rawhide wet until is tempered. Then I rolled it by the conners with the hair side inside and I hit it with an especial mallet that we call maceta (see picture). I made this maceta with 2 pieces of 2 x 4. After hiting the rawhide I roll it and I save it on a plastic bag overnight. Next day I take it out for another session and I save it back on the plastic bag. It take about 7 days to soften it. Between sessions I also rub some pork fat or some glyceryn soap.

First off, I don't know much at all about rawhide, but I want to learn and plan to try braiding with it as soon as I can procure some of my own. When you soften rawhide like this, does it stay soft, or if it gets wet in the future will it harden and go out of shape?

Thanks,

[Ecapone]

Dear friend,

I use the strings almost dry. I just rub them with a little bit of soap paste.

To soften the rawhide, I get the rawhide wet until is tempered. Then I rolled it by the conners with the hair side inside and I hit it with an especial mallet that we call maceta (see picture). I made this maceta with 2 pieces of 2 x 4. After hiting the rawhide I roll it and I save it on a plastic bag overnight. Next day I take it out for another session and I save it back on the plastic bag. It take about 7 days to soften it. Between sessions I also rub some pork fat or some glyceryn soap.

First off, I don't know much at all about rawhide, but I want to learn and plan to try braiding with it as soon as I can procure some of my own. When you soften rawhide like this, does it stay soft, or if it gets wet in the future will it harden and go out of shape?

Thanks,

When you soften rawhide, it stay soft.

Enrique

[Rottmaster]

I don't know if this is the right post to ask this question or questions on softening rawhide but since it was brought up I'll go with the flow.

First I have 45 feet of Buffalo rawhide cut in 1/2" wide, what I would like to know is should I tried to split it into thongs while it is still very stiff or should I softening it first?

What kind of paste would you folks recommend for softening rawhide?

I know this might sound crazy but what do you folks think of using aloe vera to soften the rawhide, do you think it will work?

I use aloe vera whenever I get a sunburn and it works great.

Like I said I know it sounds crazy but it's just a thought.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Russell

[Aggiebraider]

I think there may be some confusion here on the topic of softening vs casing. The softening process that Enrique told us about actually changes the fibers of the rawhide to soften it almost to something similar to chap leather. It isnt quite as soft as chap, but more like it than rawhide. Since you are changing the fiber matrix, there is no way (in my knowledge) to get it back to what we know of as rawhide. Russell, I think what you are thinking of is called casing. This is the process of adding moisture to rawhide in order to make it more pliable and easier to cut/braid. Yes, you will need to case the rawhide in order to cut it smaller, split it, bevel, and braid it. The degree to which you case a piece will depend on what you are doing with it. There are many different techniques for casing, just find what ever works for you. The softened rawhide is used a lot in Argentina for things like knife sheaths, belts, and other strap goods.

Hope that helps,

CW

[Ecapone]

Russell,

CW is right. The softenning I was talking about is the equivalent to tanning but instead of using chemicals, it is using mechanical ways. It is hard but after you soften it, it stays soft. When you temper the rawhide to cut it, it gets hard again when it loses the humidity.

I hope this helps.

Enrique

[TexasJack]

Beautiful work!