Another Beaded, Braided Dog Show Lead Person

[owlstoathens]

Hi all,

I've been lurking and absorbing all of the wonderful information here for a couple of months now, and finally felt confident enough to try my hand at braiding. I'm interested in making braided, beaded kangaroo dog show leads -- they're a hot commodity these days, but I just can't justify paying $2 an inch. So I figured I'd make my own, and some for friends and family, and perhaps try selling them if the trial runs go well.

So I made my first lead, 4-strand round braid, and I think it went fairly well. It's not as tight as it should be, but my main goal was to figure out the technical aspects and I think I did, for the most part. I was worried about figuring out the backbraiding but that actually went quite well.

What I am not getting is the knots. I have a couple of leads made by someone else, and the knots aren't any I recognize (Spanish Ring, Turkshead, etc.) -- they're small with no discernible pattern. I like the size -- I don't want something as big as even a Spanish Ring, they look clunky in the context to me. (No offense!) They were tied onto the lead, separately from the braiding, and the ends were backbraided into the lead braid -- but the ends show a little bit which probably isn't a huge deal for most people but drives me crazy. Plus I would think it would be preferable to tie the knots directly into the braid, wouldn't it, so there's no chance of them slipping off? (Though I suppose the backbraiding helps with that, too.) Anyway, I experimented with a couple of ways of tying knots in the braid but they are, as I expected, mostly sloppy looking. (The one that isn't is too small, the beads slip over it.) What do you all suggest for small, unobtrusive stopper knots to hold the beads in place?

And just for comment/advice, a bit about my "process". I used Lexol Leather Conditioner on the strings before braiding -- near the end I probably should have added a little more to some strings as they started getting tougher to work with. (I had the Lexol on hand, but I read somewhere that it would work for braiding.) I backbraided through five strands on the handle and three or four on the loop (only because my strands were too short to go further). I used some Gorilla Super Glue under the end of the backbraided strands -- I don't know if that's an OK glue or not, it's just what I had handy. I am using pre-cut lace -- I know from reading here that cutting your own is better, but for now pre-cut is the best option for me. I did not bevel the lace -- I might try that next time. It needs a couple more sessions of rolling, I think, to tighten things up more -- I did roll it with the heel of my hand but haven't done it with a board yet. I used braided fishing line for the core -- 65-lb test, doubled (does that make it 130-lb test?). I did not tie the handle/loop before braiding -- with something as thin as fishing line I'm not sure how that would work. I backbraided the fishing line at the ends, too, under one of the leather strands.

Anyway, thanks for any insight/input, especially about the knots!

Edited November 3, 2011 by owlstoathens

[KnotHead]

What do you all suggest for small, unobtrusive stopper knots to hold the beads in place?

It is a matter of preference to the braider on this matter. Me I don't like to use stopper knots in the way that has been done on that lead in your post above. This, I believe will cause problems later on no matter what kind of support you use as the core. To me, this way of braiding a lead compromises the braids integrity, not to mention I just plain don't like the way it looks. This is just my opinion and I am not speaking for others on that issue. Some prefer to do this simply because the beads hole is not large enough.

Another big improvement would be the choice in your leather. I don't know if you are using spool bought kangaroo, or some other leather. But I do have this to say. " There's nothing like using beveled lace to give that finished and professional look to your lead."

Based on what I do see in your braid itself, I would say that the braid is tight enough. The thing with braiding is consistently doing the braid the same all the way through the braid. Same tension equals a nice straight braid. You back braiding looks good from the photo. You will have to cover that with some type of knot in order to give a finished look.

The best way that I have found to braid show leads is to braid out the 36 inches with core or not with core. Depends on the braider. Then do your loops for the handle and snap end.

Brian...

[roo4u]

well i will add my two bits, what i have learned from braiding literally thousands of show leads.

though i never did much beading i found that the ones i did were the bead was too small to go over the braid and had to be put over an unbraided section stretched more in that area than i liked. i used what bruce grant calls a rein knot to secure my beads and also to secure my ends instead of just backbraiding, as i found that backbraiding comes undone too easily. i made the rein knot with one piece of lace and it threads through the middle of the braid so never ever slips or comes undone. i always tied my cores first, if you braid tight you must adjust the length of the core for how much gets taken up by braiding. the reason for this was so that the length always came out consistent and the knots were tight and covered and no worry of anything coming loose. i always used a double strand of harness thread or artificial sinew, also doubled. just loop it thru itself to attach to a snap. my mom did all the straight braiding and was very consistent so i just wrote down the required measurements for each size, this way i could set up many leashes for my mom to work on while i cut lace or finished leashes. The little rein knots became our signature on all our leads and how folks knew they were getting one of our quality leads.

[owlstoathens]

Thanks for the input, both of you!

I am using spool bought kangaroo and will try beveling the lace for a future project; I have done another round of rolling on this lead and I think it's a bit smoother now, but I have seen the difference in photos between beveled and unbeveled.

The popularity of Pandora bracelets has made finding beads that will fit a 4-strand lead fairly easy -- most of the beads have a 4.5-5 mm opening and slip over the braided leather easily. Which of course makes the stopper knots even more important!

I've looked at the rein knots and might be able to figure those out but they're still a little bigger than I see on most roo leads these days. (I spent hours scouring websites when I was looking for the perfect lead to purchase!) Here are a few examples -- I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to know what kind of knots are used, though.

This is one of the leads I purchased -- the knots are backbraided into the lead.

This one just looks like two strands looped:

Is this a crown knot?

These knots are interesting.

Anyway, thanks again for the responses and of course any additional insight would be welcomed!

[roo4u]

well the rein knots dont really end up all that large....if you look at the picture you can see a couple of rein knots on the right side...

[megabit]

I can't see me putting any of those beads on any of my horse tack but maybe a silver ferrules maybe though. ;D I'd secure them with a 4 strand ring knot if I did. They are talked about on this thread: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=30505&st=0&p=190948&hl=+strand%20+ring%20+knot&fromsearch=1entry190948

Or you can just skip to this photo tutorial ring knot photos

[roo4u]

when i look at the pictures of the 3 color pink leash it looks like those are simple crown knots...

[Ecapone]

They are all beautiful.

Congratulations.

Enrique