Raw hide thickness

[freke]

Hi,
My current ash project should have backing -  found calf and goat hide for music instrument (drum skins sold as complete or half animal ) with thickness 0,5mm (about 0,0198") (same store had also other and thicker raw hide and from diffrent animals), well this skins was all expensive.
This weekend I found a dog bone in the local pet shop, it is transparent and I can read the authors name on TBB thru it - and it is thin, very thin maybe about 0,011-0,016" up to 0,035", so I am worried if I can use it.

I have a warning bell saying 1/16" is right thickness,
-> how thin can we allow us to use?
-> what is the best thickness etc?
-> best hide (and what to avoid) ?

Many thanks for any help ,
Jonas

[bradsmith2010]

thin rawhide is fine,, you can get a whole goat hide thin for 20 dollars and it will back alot of bows,,,with the hair off even,, Shorty Palmer(you can google him) sells them for drums, but they work great for bows,,,

[freke]

Found the store, goat skins is more than 3 times better in the states than here in Sweden - maybe better than looking for dog bones

Edit: Goggle for djembe drum dealer round here, found one not state the thickness by number but there was indeed mentioned thin, medium & thick as reference to the sound - what is the preferred thickness for goat skins ?

[Pappy]

Thinner the better, at least that is what I want to use for backing. I do my own rawhide and prefer a young doe if I am saving the rawhide for backing.
 Pappy