Suggestions on improving round braid tidiness and finish

[fighttobreathe]

This is a 6 strand around a core. The first photo (white background) is after one attempt at tightening, the second (with the grey and purple background) is after another attempt. I feel like I’m not getting the hang of tightening correctly. I tend to pull to the side and back a bit and end up with a few small gaps, so I went in with a fid to try to tighten it up and it looks worse. Is there a process to tightening like that? A pattern I should follow? Do you braid a few rounds and then tighten or finish your braid and then go back and work it over?

I’ve been using Fiebing’s white, but I’m not sure if I’m applying it correctly. Everyone seems to have a different process. I’ve been wetting my strands and then dragging them between the soap and my thumb, then working it in while stretching each strand. But I’m afraid that’s ending up with too much soap. I just wet a cloth and rubbed down my handle and it foamed.  I tried rubbing it down with a cloth and all I seemed to do was rough up the beveled edges. 

Also, with these strings, I cut, then beveled, then split. I probably should cut, split, THEN bevel, yes? I’m working with a LaceMaster. This is a 5-5.5 oz crazyhorse, split down to about a 2.5 mm thickness.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by fighttobreathe

[bucksnort]

There are different ways, all are right lol. I braid around a core the same as I do without, which is to push up with my thumb & forefinger of the hand holding the last cross & pull the next strand tight on the under side & lay it tight. So, Braid tight as I go & my pull is only tightening up a few crosses. Many braid looser & pull tight further up the braid. If you are on Facebook, Bill Black has a video showing this. It’s kind of what works best for you. Most tend to soap above their braid as they go so the strings slip. Hope that all makes sense. Buck.