Deerhide Lanyard? And Cutting Lace?

[Tracym]

Rit dye I have, it'd be nice and easy if that worked. What do you mean "get them wet and case for braiding consistency"? Will they be stiff after dying?

[bucksnort]

Tracy, Rit dye works fine, but will fade fairly quickly. To avoid this I first soak in ice water with vinegar when coming out of the dye. Then rinse it with hot water until water runs clear. This will set the dye & it won't fade. I think what millwright was referring to is if your using rawhide. I get the impression your using a tanned hide? If so, just dry & braid like you would with roo. Buck

[buckwhip]

I make bullwhips with deerskin. I use the Aussie strander to cut my strands, and I get really good lace after I resize my strands. You can set the strander to a very small width, but you can get the lacer tool from Tandy for $8 and it will do what you want.

You can certainly use deerskin for fine braiding. I just finished a white deerskin bullwhip today that tapers down to a 6 point fall hitch with 3mm strands.

One bit of advice - after cutting your lace, dunk all of the lace in warm water, then stretch it by winding it around a hook and pulling all of the lace through the hook. This will squeeze most of the water out, but you still need to let it dry. I usually wind the damp and stretched lace around the legs of a table without any slack and then let it dry. This way any stretch you get will not revert during the drying process. If you skip this step, you will have a lot of gaps in the braid because of the stretch. Also, you will find that the lace is stiffer and, in my opinion, easy to work with after it dries.

Edited October 26, 2014 by buckwhip

[Tracym]

Yes, this hide is tanned. Fading I would not like. I know instructions for the Rit on some things say to add vinegar when you're soaking the item in the dye.

Thanks buckwhip. I have a lace cutter from y-knot which works very nicely for cutting lace narrower. So I suspect if I could get the intial strands ok, I could cut lace nicely with that.

Re. the getting it wet, stretching, and drying - you say the lace is stiffer and easier to work with - for kangaroo lace (which is what I've braided with), I'm trying to get it nice and soft and supple, don't want it stiff. Is deerhide different? I can see maybe wanting it stiff for a whip, but since this is a lanyard someone will wear, I was thinking it should be soft...

[rcsaddles]

Tracym, if you are not really interested in cutting your own lace and don't want to invest in a lace cutter, PM me and I will let you borrow my Aussie Lace cutter for this project. Just pay the shipping both ways.

[buckwhip]

Yes, this hide is tanned. Fading I would not like. I know instructions for the Rit on some things say to add vinegar when you're soaking the item in the dye.

Thanks buckwhip. I have a lace cutter from y-knot which works very nicely for cutting lace narrower. So I suspect if I could get the intial strands ok, I could cut lace nicely with that.

Re. the getting it wet, stretching, and drying - you say the lace is stiffer and easier to work with - for kangaroo lace (which is what I've braided with), I'm trying to get it nice and soft and supple, don't want it stiff. Is deerhide different? I can see maybe wanting it stiff for a whip, but since this is a lanyard someone will wear, I was thinking it should be soft...

By stiff, I mean not "floppy soft" the way deerskin usually feels. It is still soft and supple, and will regain the typical texture once it has been handled enough, but there is a bit more stiffness after drying. This makes it easier for me while plaiting because the strands don't all drape next to each other and co-mingle, which causes less tangling while plaiting. I wish I had a video to show you what I mean, all I have is this one of me plaiting deerskin that is drenched in plaiting soap.

[Tracym]

Thanks so much for all the help everyone! I see re. the softness of the lace, thank you.

Re. borrowing the strander, that is really nice of you! I may take you up on that, or may just go ahead and get one. Still thinkin'

[Tracym]

I got a good deal, and ordered a strander. I'll report back once it arrives

[Tracym]

Well I got the strander. And a Tandy splitter.

omg I do not like cutting deer lace What a hassle. Sooooo stretchy. Sooooo soft. aaaaaah!

But I guess I have enough cut for a lanyard.

I may not even bevel this (as it is even horrid to bevel) - guy wants rustic, and thick. It's so soft, the lanyard might be fine without. Thoughts?

[Tracym]

OK, the beveling doesn't matter, this is soft and smooth anyway. However, I am having terrible trouble trying to dye the strands. I posted this in the dying/staining/etc forum, but haven't gotten any replies, figured I'd try here.

I do not know how this skin was tanned and cannot find out. The guy said some "fairly new method" whatever that means. It is very soft. When he got it back from the tanner a few years ago he said it was a weird greenish gray color. Now, just from sitting around, it is almost white, slight grayish tone. If I get it wet, it looks greenish gray.

I have been trying the Rit dye on scraps. But the results were very weird. Tan dye = greenish gray. Medium brown dye = red. Dark brown dye = lavender (!).

I tried soaking the leather a while before dying it. I tried soaking it over night, didn't make a difference. I heated up the water, added the dye, soaked the leather from 45 minutes to 3 hours. Then soaked it 30 minutes in ice water with vinegar.

In addition to the 'lovely' colors I am getting, it seems as if it gets wet again that it will release the dye, obviously not workable.

What I am trying to do is just this darker somehow (tan brown etc) as for duck hunting, he can't have a real light color as it would stand out. Funnily enough, most macho hunters aren't really into lavender.

I cannot seem to figure out how to dye this stuff - any ideas?