What to do with some elk hooves?

[Mesophilic]

Helped a friend haul out a bull elk today.  I kept the hide and the lower legs, will get the brain tomorrow when he cuts the antlers off to do some brain tanning.

Anyway,  i stripped the sinew from the legs, roasted the bones and put them in a stockpot.  Now I have 4 sets of hooves and I'm wondering what I can do with them, if anyone has a suggestion.

[chamookman]

I have made wind chimes from Deer Hooves + Dew Claws dried  . Bob

[Mesophilic]

That would be cool and different.  Ok, thanks, I'm pulling them off this morning.

[BowEd]

I've made wind chimes from white tail dew claws too.Used to hang them in my teepee.I've kept elk leg skin with dew claws attached yet for making bags too.Heres' one made from deer legs.Cool you plan to brain tan the hide...Makes perfect clothing/quiver material.What plans you got for it?

[Mounter]

I used buffalo hooves for tip overlays on a couple bows they get translucent when you sand them thin.

[Mesophilic]

Was planning on a quiver with the hide.  Judging by how much I was able to get fleshed and trimmed I'll have plenty for two quivers and a couple of knife sheaths. 

...well at least I think I fleshed it.  Never worked with anything bigger than  coyotes and they weren't shot a half dozen time with a muzzle loader and massacered during skinning.

[BowEd]

Sounds good.That's always nice...A massacered slitted up hide.It was free anyway right?

[DC]

How long did you have to boil the feet to get the hooves off? I tried it once and had no luck at all.

[Mesophilic]

Sounds good.That's always nice...A massacered slitted up hide.It was free anyway right?

Free it was.  Couldn't argue with the price..

Went over to pick up the brain this afternoon and my friend gave me both of the ivories as well.  Will give me some meat later on after it hangs a little bit and is butchered.  Not bad at all for helping to carry this elk off the side of a mointain in a sleet storm.  But the joke is on him as I would have done it just for the hide and the sinews I was able to collect.

[Hawkdancer]

You could probably sew up the bullet holes with sinew before working the hide.  How bad the cuts are will determine whether you split the hide to tan it.  Holes and splits get bigger as you stretch the hide.  It is probably easier to work smaller pieces, maybe deer size.  Ed can give better advice on that.
Hawkdancer

[Hawkdancer]

Btw, how hard was it to get the sinew harvested.  My granddaughter. Found a back leg with the sinew still attached that I want to harvest.
Hawkdancer

[Mounter]

How long did you have to boil the feet to get the hooves off? I tried it once and had no luck at all.

Didnt boil. I used to do alot of buffalo mounts for the indian casino’s around here. Saved the feet off the last few for sinew. Threw therest out back, and later found hooves.

You can cut the toe bones out,which i do and all mounts that require it.... PITA,,,,, or  for this purpose just throw them in a bucket of water till they separte...

Sorryto be long winded, i may or may not of dranks a bit?

[Mounter]

You could just slice off appropriate length and thickness size pieces on a  bandsaw or similar for tips.

[Mesophilic]

Btw, how hard was it to get the sinew harvested.  My granddaughter. Found a back leg with the sinew still attached that I want to harvest.
Hawkdancer

Wasn't hard at all, just a little time consuming.  Take that with a grain of salt as I do have a bit of experience breaking down primal cuts in commercial kitchens.  I used a sharp flexible fillet knife, ran it between the bone and sinew to get it separated.  Then sort of scoop around where it connects to the knee and ankle areas.  I'm sure with a little more experience I could have gotten an extra inch in length, but I had too much going on to worry about it.   In the past I've purchased dried sinew, and doing this myself I was able to also collect the mknor tendons that I'm guessing they don't bother with in a commercial processing situation.  For now, though, it has to go in thw freezer as I'm driving across the country tomorrow for an upcoming funeral. I'll clean it up more when I'm ready tho use it.

[Mesophilic]

You could probably sew up the bullet holes with sinew before working the hide.  How bad the cuts are will determine whether you split the hide to tan it.  Holes and splits get bigger as you stretch the hide.  It is probably easier to work smaller pieces, maybe deer size.  Ed can give better advice on that.
Hawkdancer

If the sun ever comes out today I'll take a pic of what the hide looks like thus far and see what you guys think.  With the cloud cover and shadows it's hard to see any real detail right now.  Because of the funeral I mentioned earlier, I've  done what I can and salted it.  I'll probably need to clean up a few area when I get back, before brain tanning,  hopefull it goes ok after drying/salting. 

Just so much going on.  We've been 1 degree above freezing at nights and so I have to do some winterization of the house and get things ready.  Unfortunately don't have freezer space right now.