Gutshot, I'm looking forward to learning from you. I've only used Tandy's Tannery in a box and egg solution. I've never really done a hair-on hide.
Greg, to remove hair I used to use the stuff in the Tannery in a Box. The last few deer hide I did, I used ashes and water solution. It take 3 to 5 days for the hair to loosen up nicely. The ash solution does leave hide a bit gray, but by the time you work the hide out it's off white/cream white, plenty clean enough for smokin'. The trick for a soft hide, in my limited experience, has been to work it, work it and work it more. If you start with a wet hide and work it until it's dried, it's going to be pretty soft. If it's still not soft enough for you, wet it and work some more. Pappy does a dry scrape method to remove the hair. I'd love to see that done.
Everyone interested in doing this tanning process I would suggest having hides at various stages of the process so you can get your feet wet doing some of all of them. But, remember tanning a hide doesn't happen is 3 day, from my experience. Like if you're wanting to remove hair with ash solution, it needs to soak for at least 3 day with it being stirred 3 to 5 times a day, before the hair can be removed easily.
I plan to make two 8x8 stretching frames that will be hinged together to create a smoking frame. I'll also buy some 3x4 so we can make addition frames as needed.
And string, string and more string. I'm talking about nylon type string/twine/cord of the paracord size. Less stretch twine is better, but zero stretch parachod is pretty expensive. My experience is you can go through 50ft of cord on one deer hide pretty quickly.
There are at least 3 of us, Wapiti, Gutshot and myself who have some experience in tanning hides, don't be afraid to ask questions. But, be warned you might get three different answers. haha In my studies of hide tanning, there seems to be as many different ways to tan a hide as there is to make a bow.
Lastly, it would be nice to know: what hides you're bring, where you plan to be in the process and what you want to accomplish with the hides. It would give me an idea of what to plan for.
