Bucking/Graining ?

[Dingleberry]

Hi all,  Im currently attempting to braintan my first hide and may have run into a snag.   My hide has been soaking in a wood ash solution for 3 days and today I attempted to grain it.  My wood ash soln. passed the egg test but I think the soln. may have turned out to be too basic; bc.  I put several new holes into the hide with my scraper and am afraid that the hide was being dissolved by the alkalinity.....I ended up putting it back into the soln. and adding more water.  Was that ok or bad?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[mullet]

  I've never braintanned anything.But I have put a deer hide in water with a little bit of ashes to loosen the hair.I found out that it wasn't good to leave it soaking more than three days.When I went to take it out I had a bucket full of jelly goop and hair.The hide was gone.

[Hillbilly]

If the scraper is going through, I wouldn't put it back in the buck. If you think it's too alkaline, rinse it overnight in the creek or several changes of fresh water with some vinegar in it to neutralize the alkalinity. Is the hair and grain coming off? That's why I like to dry scrape. A lot less guesswork, not as messy, and you can work on it here and there as you get time.