need help on making leather from deer hide

[paulc]

Who else has done this?  I am making my first attempt and was going to try and "shave" the hide a bit while it soaked in the pickle solution but have no idea how to go about it.  Do i just take a sharp knife and carefully shave the hide? 

I also think I have picked just about the worst time to attempt this...I am in coastal GA and it is hotter than snot right now.  I tried doing two hides, and put one hide in a bucket of water to try and slip the hair off.  Instead it just stunk to high heaven this morning when I took it out of the water...so I pitched it in the dumpster.  I did get the hair on hide into the pickle this morning but not sure about the shaving part...

And what about rawhide backing for bows?  Is that worth a try and how do you do it?  Just slip the hair and then freeze strips of hide to be used as backing?

TIA
Paul C

[billy]

HEy Paul,

I brain tan deer hides all the time, and I live north of Atlanta near the town of Woodstock. 

What you need to do is find an Ace HArdware, and buy pure lye crystals (it's basically a drain opener).  Lye has become more difficult to find because it's a key ingredient used in the manufacture of meth, but they still carry it at the Ace HArdware near me.   Anyway, get the lye and mix 3 cap fulls of lye in a 5 gallon bucket of water (filled with about 4 gals of water).  Stir the water well to make sure the crystals have fully dissolved.  Test it by putting your fingers in the water (it should feel kinda slippery when you rub those fingers together).

Now, soak the skin in that lye solution for about 2 days, but keep it in the shade.  (You may have to put a rock on top the skin to keep it down because the hollow hair is buoyant and will cause the skin to float, which you don't want).  You can also stir the skin every few hours to make sure the lye gets to all parts of the skin. 

After 2 days, pull the skin out of the solution, drape it over a smooth, rounded beam with the hair side up, and take a fleshing bar (or any metal tool with a 90-degree edge) and begin scraping the hair and epidermis off the skin. You don't want something with a razor edge...that will just slice the skin to pieces.  The skin will appear kinda yellowish and will feel kinda rubbery.  You'll be amazed at how easily the hair and epidermis (sometimes called scarfskin) will come off.  Scrape the hair and all the epidermis off the entire hide...this may take 2 or 3 hours since your a beginner. 

The lye doesn't allow bacteria to grow, and although the skin will probably smell kinda funky, it won't smell like roadkill.  Be aware that I very commonly have some small whitish spots on my  skin that the lye doesn't get to and that will smell kinda rank, but just put your noseplugs in and get that thing scraped.  Be careful around thinner areas like the belly...that skin is very tender and you don't want to scrape too hard or you'll tear the skin in those areas.    Send me a Personal Message when you get that far, or if you have any questions and I'll answer them for you!

[HoBow]

To dehair, you can use ashes from a fire, soda ash (sodium carbonate at any pool store), or caustic soda.  Any thing to pull the Ph up to 12 or 13 would help you dehair.  To pickle it, you have to pull the Ph down to an acid...this preps the hide to soak up the tanning solution or brains.  Pickling it will turn it to the consistency of a sponge...you have to pull the Ph down to about 3 or 4 to properly pickle.  I use sulfuric (battery acid), sulfamic acid, or vinegar.  I'm no expert, but if you would like a complete tan-a-long for an alum tan, let me know....I bought a 50 lb bag of aluminum sulfate that will last me 100 hides if you'd like to trade for some.

[woodsman1031]

A tan-along would be great!

[HoBow]

I'll be getting an axis hide in a week or two....I'll do an alum tan along.

[paulc]

thanks for the replys...I live out on one of the islands east of Savannah.  I am using a tanning kit I got online at cabelas, it is from van dykes if I remember correctly.  It seems to be working fine with the one hide I am doing with the hair on...the other hide was no good after I tried to get the hair to slip.

So does anyone know about shaving a hide?  It is supposed to be the way you even out the thickness and get a soft pliable hide...

And I would be very interested in a tan a long...

[HoBow]

I just tale a dull knive and hold it at a 90 degree angle and take off the top membrane. A lot of it will peal off with your hands, too. This is so the tanning paste or solution will penetrate. To make it pliable - you have to break (or work) the hide. The more you stretch- the more the pliable and softer it will be.

[Easternarcher]

thanks for the replys...I live out on one of the islands east of Savannah.  I am using a tanning kit I got online at cabelas, it is from van dykes if I remember correctly.  It seems to be working fine with the one hide I am doing with the hair on...the other hide was no good after I tried to get the hair to slip.

So does anyone know about shaving a hide?  It is supposed to be the way you even out the thickness and get a soft pliable hide...

And I would be very interested in a tan a long...

If you mean thinning the hide by" shaving" what I did this winter was wait til I had the hidesemi-broke and since the hide was nearly 1/4" thick around the neck and spine I just went to my bench sander...turned that baby on and the hide fluff was flying everywhere! but it worked well. Just don't fall asleep at the wheel or you'll sand holes in the hide. Keep moving it around and hold it by stretching a section between your hands(wear glovesto prevent accidental road rash) and run the taught hide over a coarse grade belt. Check the areas being thinned often to gauge the thickness desired...worked for me quite well. Saved a heap of breaking in too.
BTW, I used hydrated lime for making the hair slip. Got it in 10lb. bag from the hardware. 3 days soak and the hair about fell off!
Good luck.

[PAHunter]

Yep I mixed a quart or two of hydrated lye (the kind people put on their lawn) with water and then submerged the hide for a week.  The hair falls right off after that no problem.  It's the tanning process that is a pain for me.