Horse Hair

[munkiboi182]

hi guys and girls

long shot

im going to try my hand at making some horse hair fishing line to go with my home made fly rod and reel. do any of you have some knocking around or even a pony that needs a trim? happy to offer trades (got lots of buffalo horn and some bits of antler) and/or postage. thought i'd ask you all before i consult evilbay

cheers

simon

 

[tombear]

Not got any myself (could do with some if you get more offers than you can handle) but please note that you only want tail hairs from male horses and from the manes of either sex as i've been told that the mares tail hairs is no good due to the chemicals it absorbs in the urine. it weakens it or something.

Sorry for butting in!

ATB

Tom

 

[Mandos]

how much you after i may be able to get some for you ?

 

[Macaroon]

Not got any myself (could do with some if you get more offers than you can handle) but please note that you only want tail hairs from male horses and from the manes of either sex as i've been told that the mares tail hairs is no good due to the chemicals it absorbs in the urine. it weakens it or something.

Sorry for butting in!

ATB

Tom

You're entirely correct, Tom; the hair from the tails of mares is no good for precisely the reasons you state............

 

[munkiboi182]

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated. I'll take whatever is on offer really. Even if it's only good for practicing with

 

[Macaroon]

I'll ask a few people tomorrow if there's anything available; mostly what's to be had from yards will be, I suspect, much too short for your needs but there may be some longer stuff around.

 

[Toddy]

I got a bagful a while back from Swyn.
It's very sore on the hands plaiting it up....worse than plaiting a pony's mane, put it that way, and at least with a pony you can elastoplast your fingers; it's very hard to plait fine with elastoplasted fingers

That said, it made a beautiful, strong, fine line

What you could do is maybe contact the folks who supply musicians....the folks who make/restring violin, viola, cello, etc., bows.
They use long white horsehair.....and there's a lot of waste.
The short stuff can't be used on bows, but I don't know what they do with the waste, but at least some of it ought to be long enough to plait up well to make a line.

atb,
M

 

[Toddy]

I had a quick google

http://www.sowden.co.uk/

atb,
Mary

 

[Mandos]

they are also quite expensive aswell looking at the price list. http://sowden.co.uk/prices/price_list.pdf

I had a quick google

http://www.sowden.co.uk/

atb,
Mary

 

[munkiboi182]

Cheers guys n girls. The really annoying thing is the fact I used to live on a horse dealers yard which I'm no longer welcome at. Could've had as much as I wanted.

 

[Mandos]

get you some posted by next monday !

 

[munkiboi182]

get you some posted by next monday !

nice one. muchas gracias

 

[Toddy]

they are also quite expensive aswell looking at the price list. http://sowden.co.uk/prices/price_list.pdf

Those are the prices for the carefully picked long lengths intended for bows. There will be an awful lot of hair that isn't long enough, and a lot of it probably ends up as stuffing Modern sinamay is made of nylon or polyester, but that too used to be made of horsehair.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[munkiboi182]

@ toddy: you are a never ending mine of information! .thanks for the great advise...again.

 

[tombear]

Once munkiboi has got absolutely all he wants, if any one has some more spare I'd be gratefull if they'd let me have some. I'm after stuffing grade and some longish stuff to make some cordage, for a sling amongst other things.

ATB

Tom

 

[Mandos]

ill see what i can do no promises

Once munkiboi has got absolutely all he wants, if any one has some more spare I'd be gratefull if they'd let me have some. I'm after stuffing grade and some longish stuff to make some cordage, for a sling amongst other things.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

No worries, but thanks!

They dug up some what look to me like leather sling pockets at the digs at York but the consensus of opinion is that the holes in some are two small for hemp or flax cordage strong enough so Id like to try horsehair/bowstring type stuff. Currently I'm assuming you need a lot les diameter for the same strenght.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Um, wont let me edit that last post.

Anyroad see page 3408 here

http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/resources/AY17-16-Leather and leatherworking.pdf

For the possible sling parts.

ATB

Tom