More hidework

[BowEd]

Cool...Fur-on brain tanning especially beaver can be tough for a nice soft outcome.They are thicker hided than a person thinks.
Bulkier because of the hair to rope dry also,but not too bad compared to a roping deer hide.Smaller hide altogether makes up the difference in difficulty.
They can take some time though.Same with otter.They are thicker than a person thinks also.I use a wooden stretching frame for them after fleshing.
For beaver after fleshing well and lacing it in a hoop and left to dry I suggest using a palm sander with 40 grit paper to thin the hide some.Spine,neck and rump areas mostly.It'll make softening a lot easier and more successful the first time braining.
I made or welded up a 1/2" rerod hoop years ago.Robin uses the steel hoop to make round finger woven rugs now.
Made many a large willow hoops from the steel hoop tieing them onto the steel to let dry.Blanket beaver measure 32" by 32".That's the size I made the steel hoop or a little larger really.It takes a 13 to 14 foot willow to get that big of a hoop.




Assuming it's a winter hide sanding till you can just start to see the hair roots slightly through the leather.It'll take a while and you can feel how thin it's getting also.It will be thin enough then to get a good stretch on that leather to get softened.
At that point par boil cook up a pound of brains and massage them into the flesh side warm while laced in the hoop.Keep massaging till the brains are used up and hide is completely limp.Try not to get any on the fur.
Then it's just a matter of unlacing it from the hoop and stretching hide every direction and roping it dry.You'll like it.
Beaver fur is some nice stuff.
Doing other fur hided critters like large coon sanding can be done on the neck and spine a bit too.Coyotes and fox usually don't need any sanding on the hide. Except maybe a large coyotes' neck area.They usually are good to go without any sanding.
There's at least 8 different animal hides hanging on this rack.Some are brain tanned and some are aluminum sulfate/pickling salt tanned.

[Piddler]

Ed, you are correct that beaver are thick. I took my dremmel oscillating tool with some 60 and 80 grit to them. Thinned them down a lot. Even hit the coons a bit in the shoulders and head area. I have a few deer brains to use. I have two beaver about 36 x 31 and a couple smaller. Didn't get them very round I don't guess. Gonna try the orange bottle stuff on the smallest one, hair is not as good as the others for some reason. Used it on a couple coons. Turned out ok but I'm sure would have been better with brains. I've got them out of the hoops already. The dremmel was cutting the line when sanding. Wasn't planning on putting them back in the hoops unless I would need to for some reason. Just gonna brain and go for it. Yes all winter beaver and coon from last winter. Pretty fur except for the littler one. There's a lot of working fleshing those things. They've been salted, stretched and dried ever since. Work got in the way during the spring when I was planning on doing them then it got too hot.
Piddler

[BowEd]

Chemically tanning is cool too.I've done a lot of them with aluminum sulfate and pickling salt.
There's a smaller amount of roping and stretching to be done while drying using chemicals.
When done properly with brains though it will be softer IMO and more gratifying.
Just finished up on a 30 square foot beef rawhide today.Cut out a number of 12",8",and 6" circles for drums or handle lace wraps on bows.Large 40" by 40" piece out of the center for pocket,hip,or back side quivers,knife sheaths,paraflech,or even a rawhide box.This type rawhide will be a little more pliable but still be stiff and hard enough yet.
I had brained it earlier.Staked it in frame for quite some time but not completely dry.Folded it up and put it in the freezer a few months till now.Still cardboardy and around a 1/8" thick will work great as rawhide.
The scrap pieces I'll cut up and make hide glue from them.

In the past I've made quite a few cat quivers from beef rawhide.At 3D shoots people would approach me to get one for themselves.Even toting FG bows.I charged them $70.00 a piece for them.They usually did'nt have anything worth while to trade to me.

[Piddler]

Well got the two coons on deer brains and the beaver on the orange bottle juice. Will work them some tomorrow. As per the instructions I don't think its a time crunch on the beaver so I can work it as it dries. Didn't seem to be a time crunch when I used it on the other coons as it seemed to dry slow. The coons I have using the brains I should get tomorrow but if I only have time for one I'll put the other in the freezer and do it later.
Piddler

[BowEd]

That'll work....cool.It's best to not get rushed....
and yes those chemically tanned ones just need periodic type stretching.Not as much as using brains.
Freezing can actually help loosen up the fibers.Much like freezing vegetables and thawing as they become softer.

[TimBo]

I like those quivers.  Do you seal/treat the rawhide to waterproof it? 

[BowEd]

It's thicker hard rawhide but light weight yet.I melt bees wax or paraffin into the rawhide.Does a pretty decent job water proofing it.
Sealed so well if it gets caught in a down pour you've got a large cup of water in the bottom to pour out....ha ha.
Here's my old stand-by...the first one I made.Use it every year.Not the prettiest but makes up for it by it's handiness.
In the past I've made canteens from turtle shells sealing rawhide with bees wax.

[bjrogg]

Thanks for sharing your vast experience with us Ed.

I always learn something when you post these

Those quivers do look really nice.

Bjrogg

[TimBo]

Thanks!   

[BowEd]

A person can research and experiment with this water proofing goal.
I've found prickly pear cactus juice and shellack does not do as good of a job as paraffin or bees wax.
Rawhide lace for my backpack chair or snow shoes I used a tung oil varnish applying it on in multiple layers with a brush.

[Piddler]

Ed, The coon in the brains came out pretty good. It was a big boar coon and is as good as the little ones I had done with the orange juice. Still have the one in the freezer may try it tomorrow. It's a big boar as well.  Could have probably thinned them down in the neck area some more it seems. The beaver got another shot of orange juice today. Still a work in progress that one. They are some thick hided creatures down the back even though I thinned them down or at least thought I did.
Piddler

[BowEd]

Nice work then on the coon.Got any pictures?Nice hats,pouches or even quivers from them.
Yep those beaver are thick little guys.They need to be being in that cold water and taking on the bites from each other.
Wood chucks are'nt quite as bad,but I like to make just plain rawhide from woodchucks.
Even using 40 grit onto an orbital sander can take some time thinning.Being that thick they take a while to dry too after tanning.
A razor sharp scraper can be use to thin too but then it should be laced in a frame.

[Piddler]

Couple pics, hope they aren't distorted or too small.
The Coon is the one that was brained and froze. Pretty thick old coon hide. Turned out pretty good. Beaver still a work in progress but getting there. Quite a lot of work in the Beaver. All of them for that matter. Makes you gain a whole new respect for the people of old. I can't even imagine a buffalo.
Piddler

[Piddler]

Well photos are a little distorted. Maybe if open the attachments they will be somewhat normal.
Anyway,
Thanks Ed. Enjoy these threads and gaining knowledge from you guys.
Piddler

[BowEd]

I usually cut a line though the belly of coon that are cased while braining and stretching while drying.I can get a better stretch on the hide and on the rope.
Hides look well fleshed and the fur looks good too.Pictures are not distorted.

The leather structure of animals like deer,elk,and buffalo get progessively coarser.In fact one has to be careful about getting buffalo or elk too thin.Just concentrate thinning in the neck,spine,and hip areas only.While staking elk or buffalo holes can appear just from stretching too much while staking.Deer is the tightest of the ungulates and usually that does'nt occur.Antelope and goats too.I have over stretched yearling deer before though too as it's rather thin and dries rather fast.
Beaver,coon,coyotes,otter,and fox are all tight also.That's why deer are really the best garment leather out there.

Beef hides are the exception.Their fiber structure is tighter yet even with it's large size.They are very hard to get a good stretch on to soften.I believe horses are about the same also but can't say for sure.Usually I make rawhide from beef hide.They can be somewhat softened or pliable though after braining to make parafleches and rawhide boxes from though.Contrary to what some may think that smoking helps soften them like doing moose does not work on beef rawhides.

I usually stake buffalo or elk till almost dry then unlace it and rope it.It's the volume of square footage that's tiring to keep up with,but does get lighter as moisture disappears.Of course areas that are dry don't need attention.Just the still damp areas.It can take quite a while till the neck and hips of elk and buffalo get dry.It has fooled me before and takes extra hours to completely dry.I've rebrained the thicker areas and reroped again before with success too.


Putting it into a plastic bag while taking a break does a great job of not letting it dry out on you.I think it redistributes the dampness from the thicker areas to the thinner areas already softened making the process easier and actually dries the hide faster in the end.
Then after taking it out of the plastic bag the hide gets an overall roping again and then back to concentrating on the thicker areas again.

In the past I've laid towels onto deer hides and rolled them up for an hour or so after twisting to even out the moisture overall on hide and then begin roping it dry.I see no need to do that any more though for quite some time as I rotate the donut 90 degrees and retwist the hide a few times more,and that is good enough then.A few small wetter places may still remain but no too bad really.

Should have more pictures of this,but this in the only one I've got showing the donut formed and the twisting process.
This was a beef hide but the set up is the same for all hides.The hide is layed onto the pole width wise overlapping neck and hind quarters over the pole.Edges are rolled up to meet each other.This prevents any slippage that might occur during the twisting.




After twisting and catching all the drippings I put the brain solution back onto the stove to warm up while stretching and pulling the hide back into shape on the rope.Then redunk the hide back into the brain solution for an hour or so and go through the process again till satisfied.
When I see small bubbles oozing out of the rawhide while twisting it's telling me it is getting brained properly.

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