Rawhide Quirt

[rawhide1]

Well it's been awhile since I've posted anything and longer since I've braided something. And after seeing some of the work being posted I almost didn't post this. But what the heck here goes!

I braided this for my daughter to use when she runs barrels and poles. The wrist strap is a four strand roo over a strip of rawhide. It's 8" long. The body is sixteen strand over a leather core. Including the popper It's 25.5" long. The two long knots are 8 bight knots with others being 6 bights. A few years back we had to put my daughters gelding down due to west nile(they think) so she wanted his tail hair worked into it. So I used it for a interweave and to skirt the poppers. Over all it turned out alright it has a great feel and action to it. Were I used the gaucho pattern it could of used a interweave. But I have never done that and didn't have time to figure it out. The strings were a nice brown color due to me dying it with coffee but I over worked the strings and you can see the result in color loss. It honestly looks better in person than these pics. show. I guess pictures really show the nitty gritty of stuff!!

Mike

[bucksnort]

Mike, Very nice. I like the way you used the horsehair. Do you make your own rawhide or buy. Your rawhide looks like great quality with nice even color. Thanks for showing. Buck

[megabit]

Nice work.

[rawhide1]

Thanks fellas. I for sure need to get back at it. Can anyone give me a source for interweaving the gaucho.

Thanks again, Mike

[Peter T]

Nice work, Mike. Incorporating the horse hair is a great touch. I'll bet your daughter loves it.

Pete

[rawhide1]

Pete thanks for the kind words. And yes she does love it. And although I wished it had turned out better. Having her be happy with it makes me feel better about it.

Mike

[Leatherpownder]

Looks good, the string is cut even and it looks like good hide with nice color.

[rawhide1]

Buck

I forgot to tell ya I got my rawhide from Bill Confer. He seems to have pretty good hide.

Leatherpownder

Thanks I've gotten alright at cutting string. Just because I screw up so much. I gotta cut a lot of it. I bet i cut all those knots off at least two or three times. The strings for the knots was a real nice dark Carmel color from dying it with coffe. But I had to go back and retighten them. It seemed that pulled the color right out of them.

I'll keep looking at your stuff for inspiration !!

Mike

[Tanthathide9]

What thickness do u shoot for with your working gear. Mainly the quirt.

[rawhide1]

Tanthathide9

I haven't been on here in awhile. So my apologizes for not answering sooner.

I don't have a set size I shoot for. I try to build the piece to fit the person it's for. This was for my 14y/o daughter so I built the handle dia. Smaller than if it had been for a full growed woman or man. I also made it shorter as she uses it to run barrels. I hope this answered your question if not holler at me again.

I apologize again for the late response.

Mike

[Rawhidelady]

The revised book Braiding Rawhide Horse Tack should help with the interweave on a gaucho button, as well as Gail Hought's braiding books.