Horn Knot Tightened to Saddle Horn

Had a customer a couple of weeks ago buy a big horn knot to go on his saddle horn. Most people who have been buying my knots have been tying them onto their horns themselves, but I do offer the service of tying it for them. So he brought me his saddle last week and I found time this weekend to knock it out. I had originally tied a 8Lx9B THK with a gaucho interweave or 17Lx19B gaucho knot, but when looking a the circumference of his saddle horn, I decided to reduce the number if bights. So, I retied the horn knot, this time a 17Lx15B gaucho knot. It took a three go-rounds of tightening. I got a little anxious when starting the last round by tightening too much, and by the end it was pretty tough to pull the line through. But after two hours or so of work I finally finished. The horn knot is made of a single strand 3/16" Solid Braided Nylon. Around 20 feet of cord when the knot was loose and then pulled out another 8 feet or so after it was tightened.

A Nylon Keeper, plus some Horn Knots

I had a request for a Keeper that had the ability to be size adjustable. I started with a four strands 6 feet long, found the middle of each strand and started a four strand round braid. I made the four strand round braid about and inch and a half. Then I folded the braid to create an eye, then started an 8 strand round braid. The 8 strand round braid is done for about 16 inches. I then tied a constrictor knot to secure the braid in order to tie a stopper knot. I tied a 4 strand diamond stopper knot, then doubled it with the remaining 4 strands. Now that the stopper knot can be pressed through the eye, with a little force, I wanted to make sure it can be strongly secured. So, I tied a Spanish Ring Knot, tight enough that it wont come undone, but loose enough that it will slide nicely. I then tied a couple more Spanish Ring Knots down the braid from the stopper knot. This will make the size of the Keeper adjustable. In other words you can make the loop of the keeper have smaller diameters.

The cord I used is 1/8" Solid Braided Nylon. A total of 26 feet were used.

I went ahead and included another picture of some horn knots I finished.

Full view of the Keeper

Diamond Stopper knot followed by Spanish Ring Knots

Round braid eye followed by a Spanish Ring Knot

7X8 THK with Gaucho Interwave, used for Horn Knots

The horn knots are tied from 3/32" Solid Braided Nylon.

Horn Knots Revisited

After making simple horn knots for a while, I decided to step it up finally and make horn knots using a turk's head knot technique. I have some old horn knots that my grandpa made, so I just duplicated them. The cord is 3/16" Solid braided nylon. The THK is a 7x8 with a goucho interweave or also known as a 13x15 goucho knot.

These things are hard as a rock and do not move/stretch at all. Very good quality, and as long as it isn't cut or burned by flame. it will never wear out.

Getting Ready To Work

I snapped this picture before I started working on some horn knots the other night. I thought it was a neat picture and figured I would share.

Nylon Horn Knots

I've been away from tying for a while, so therefore I needed to replenish my inventory with some horn knots. I tied these from Solid Braided Nylon 3/16". I tied 4 small horn knots and 1 big horn knot. The first picture shows the smaller horn knots before they are tightened and ends trimmed. Second picture shows the final result of the small horn knots. And the last picture shows the big horn knot, which is not tightened. This is because the final result is tied around a saddle horn instead of a hollow core.