How Much String Should I Start With For Edge Braiding

[nokiddin]

Hey.

I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint on how much string to start with when I am doing an edge braid of some sort.

The next project I'll do, I want to use an 8 string or 4 string round braid edge. Is there any rules or formulas to figure out how much I need without splicin/g

Also, is there any tutorials out there that teach to splice these braids if needed and also how to make the end tie into the start of the braid if you go all the way around the project?

Thanks for the help!

[LTC]

tandy has a book that covers all of that, but i don't own it. maybe someone else has it and can look it up in there for you. or you could buy it and download it from their site. i've borrowed a friend's before and it covered quite a few different types of edge braiding.

[SilverBear]

I am not sure what you mean by "I want to use an 8 string or 4 string round braid edge." Do you want it to look like an 8 strand square plait or a 4 strand round plait? Or do you mean a Round Braid/Mexican Basket Weave perhaps changed to an over two under two pattern? A common Round Braid/Mexican Basket Weave would use nine times the perimeter of your project, and the Tandy book will answer the rest of your questions and this thread talks about how to do the corners http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=43868&hl=

[Sona]

For most edge braidings like the mexican one you don´t need to splice the string. You rather hide the thread either between two layers of leather (if you use multilayers) or cut a split into the leather edge (for one-layers) and start with a new string to "overbraid" that point.
For edge braiding, i´d recommend to use single strings with a length of ~1m (like 40 inches (?)). If you use too long strings, the surface of the strings may suffer to the abrasion of pulling them through all those holes (exspecially if you use a chisel rather than a hole punch for tighter holes. And believe me, tight slit-like holes look much better than round ones) and starts to look worn which shouldn´t be the aim. Bye using strings of one meter you got a good length to cover that problem, even if you have to thread your needle more often
And whether you need 9 times the length of the braid as string or just four times doesn´t matter in this case. just be sure, you have enough strings to complete the item.

And yes, tandy got some booklets about this where the main braiding techniques are covored. If you want the big one, look for the book "leather braiding" by Bruce Grant. This book also covers a more types of braiding than just covering an edge

And if you say "8-string braid" or "4-string braid", are you refering to the look? Because most edge braiding techniques I know (didn´t do it a lot, just from time to time) just use one string going back and forth to look like more strings. Just to keep that in mind.

greetings and good luck with your first braiding