How To Make A Round Braid That Starts And Ends At A Metal Loop

[Kaff]

I'm trying to make a "semi-choke" (not sure if a correct term) collar for my dog. The idea is to make one slab of heavy duty leather with D-rings on each end, then a braided loop that goes through the D-rings and has a metal O-ring for the leash.

The flat part of the collar is pretty straight forward, but the braided loop puzzles me.

I've learned how to do a round braid starting from the O-ring, but now I also need to end the braid in the same O-ring to form a loop. It also needs have a certain amount of strength to it to withstand yanks and pulling if the dog doesn't want to cooperate .

how do I do that?

[dirtclod]

You want to back braid through what you have already braided. I don't know how to explain it. But when i did a search this is the closest thing thing i found to explain how to do it. http://www.yalecordage.com/pdf/brait_eye_splice.pdf and you can look here and probley find out how to do it. http://kingsmerecrafts.com/

[Kaff]

Thanks for the link! Making an eye-loop such as described in the link could be an option, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

If you look at the attached crude sketch I made, option 2 could be done using the instructions on the link. However, figure 1 illustrates what I'm really after - it would make the collar more light and the loop more round (making the collar more loose when no force in the leash) as opposed to the eye-loop's tendency to stick to an oval shape.

I'm not even sure if option 1 is even doable - not to mention so it would endure the stress on the leash. If not, then I'll give option 2 a try. What do you think?

[NMGizmo]

I've never done this, but I think that the idea is to back braid on BOTH ends not backbraid the two together. I can draw it and upload if that doesn't make sense.

[dirtclod]

Do the back braid part without the making the eye.

Edited January 14, 2013 by dirtclod

[Kaff]

Do the back braid part without the making the eye.

Say I make an 8-strand braid.

a ) I start off with four long strands which I run through the ring and start braiding the loop. Once I get to my desired length, I run all the 8 strands through the ring again and then braid back a few times. This would make the other end of the loop much more thick and it also makes the other end have twice the amount of strands through the ring.

b )I start of with 8 long strands, tie them together and start braiding somewhere in the middle. Once the length is ok, on both ends, I take all the eight strands through the ring and braid back. More uniform this way.

c ) I make a braid with an eye-loop at each end and make the ring go through them. Kinda similar to b ), except eye-loops as opposed to just strands going through the ring.

What do you think has the best look/strength ratio? Also, have I understood correctly that when back braiding, it actually gets tighter and more strong if you apply tension to the loop? or will it eventually just come apart with enough force?

Edited January 14, 2013 by Kaff

[dirtclod]

I'm not sure what to tell you on what works best. I've done back braiding but it was several years ago. My friend that was in the Navy said they told him that three times back through was as strong as the rope / line they were spliceing i belive.

Maybe somebody that does it pretty regular will chine in because i do very little braiding anymore and it wasn't that much when i was braiding. Knothead or Megabite ( their the ones that i can thank of off hand ) over in the braiding section would be of more help on that than me.