Cutting Long Latigo Leather

[horseplay]

I have a project for braided reins where I need to start with 12-13ft by 1" pieces. Of course my hides aren't that long. I believe I can use the spiral cut method to do this but I have no idea how much of an area I need to start with. Is there a formula I can use to figure this out?

[oltoot]

Yes there are charts available from LaceMaster but you have another issue here. At 1" wide the strings won't straighten out if cut on too tight a spiral. If you are going to cut the 1" into 1/4" strings then you can more effectively cut from the center of a circle and pull the strings straight before beveling them if you cut 1/4" strings to start with. And if you will be leveling (splitting) them any, 1/4 will handle better through most splitters. If you must cut 1" then they would be best cut from the outside in and stop and go to another hide when curves get too tight which will take a lot of leather and leave several unuseable (for cutting 1" strings) circles.

[horseplay]

Yes, the braiding part of the reins will be split into 1/4" pieces but it all starts with a 1" wide water tie. So, it's a continuous piece of 1" leather that starts with about 8-12" at 1" wide then is cut the rest of the length to 4 1/4" strips that are braided to the end.

[oltoot]

If you must do it that way the 1/4 splits will work better after splitting vs before. That means you can cut the 1" pieces on tighter curves than if you were going to use the 1" whole. Suggestion: resist the temptation to cut off 13 foot pieces as you go. You will want your water tie ends to be in firm parts and straight. Also, I would play around with the Aussie Strander or whatever you are planning to use for splitting and see how tight of a turn you can make and keep on track and let that determine when to stop. BTW if one side of a piece gets too sharp a turn while there is still room to go on other corners, you can round that sharp turn off with a sharp knife and go on for a few more turns.