Just recreated this logo in vector for my father(Alpena Fire Chief, I have authorization if anybody is concerned). Only thing I'm unhappy with is the bugle and the hose nozzle in the middle, but I'm waiting on a high quality photo of it on a truck(read: vector) to fix those.
What I'm more concerned with in the space on the outside of the rope. I found a nice rope brush for that, so it looks good, but that rounded look the outer cirle has - I can't think of a clean way to make that vector. I messed with live trace for like an hour but could not get it good enough(dad's a perfectionist, but can't do the graphics himself - go figure huh).
So... Any ideas on how I can recreate that rounded looking texture in the circle would be gladly appreciated.