The Adventures of Stinky Rawhide: Deerskin Soup, Part 1

[DanaM]

Dang the show hasn't even aired yet and yer already running Geico commercials

[JackCrafty]

 

[cowboy]

Dang, ya changed the lyrics to fit .

[Minuteman]

"Struck through" means that its almost absorbed enough to have tannin all the way through the hide.
  The way you test it is you pull out the hide, find the neck part which is the thickest and cut a small piece off. Then you look at the cut and see if there's any white hide left in the middle , if there is, its not done. If its brown all the way through its done enough to be finished.

 What are you gonna do with these hides,Patrick? Are you gonna brain tan 'em or make rawhide or what? You don't have to grain 'em at all if you don't want to. Rawhide is better ( from what I've been told)with grain on unless you want a very thin rawhide.

[JackCrafty]

Yep, rawhide is what I'm after....for bow backing and bow strings....and possibly for hafting.  The thinner the better.

I de-haired and scraped another hide last night.  The hydrated lime seems to soften the membrane as well as slip the hair.  I scraped both sides and it looks pretty thin.   I rinsed it and put it into a vinegar solution.  I'll rack it and then take some picks (this weekend) of the whole process.

[Minuteman]

In the interest of experimentation ( and to satisfy my curiosity) you might leave one with the grain on just to see how much it's different than the grained hides.
 I moved the hides back inside the basement guys , don't tell the wife!  It smells pretty good now. I just hafta keep adding the fresh bark every 4 or 5 days.

[orcbow]

I promise I'll never mention it!!

[JackCrafty]

I'm having so much "fun" I got the wife to take pictures.  Of course she thinks the whole process is really gross......but at least she knows I'm not out back relaxing in a hammock sippin' lemonade or something.....





This last picture is two de-haired hides back in the hydrated lime....I'll finish scraping them tomorrow (to remove the grain and remaining membrane).

[Minuteman]

The process IS gross, she's right. I must say that is the nicest space suit I've ever seen anyone where while working on deer skins.   Rubber gloves inside the leather ones is a good idea.

 I usually wrap a trash bag around my waist with a cord that way I don't have to take it off over my head.You'd think with a bounty of hair like you have you'd be afraid of losing some to the bucking solution!
 
A buddy of mine is bringing me a coon skin Sunday afternoon. We're gonna put it in the bark tan and see how it does. I've read that the acid in the tannin will set the hair and won't make it slip, guess we'll see.
 I'm glad you finally got the hair to slip.

[JackCrafty]

 

Dang!  You're right Minuteman....I didn't think about getting that stuff in my own hair when I pull that bag over my head.

The apron idea sounds good, but I don't set the fleshing beam that low.  I end up getting the bucking solution all over me anyway.......Maybe I should get me one of these "space suits" (see below)....   Looks almost as good as the trash bag, don'tcha think?

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[Minuteman]

This thread needed another post after the tyvek space suit picture! 
 Hope you don't mind if I add some news of my exploits with the bark tanning Patrick. I've kinda been throwing it in with yours. 
 Anyway, I ran out of chipped bark about two weeks ago and my hides weren't quite where I wanted them to be . Not struck through yet. So I called a buddy of mine that works next to a pallet factory and sawmill and had him get me a bag of sawdust and a bag of chipped  up stuff. It smells like the oak chips I initially used and it makes some strong tanning liquor. I simmered close to 20 gallons out of the sawdust today. I know its not all oak but he said they use 80% oak in their operation and the rest is maple and hickory.Works pretty well.
 Thought ya'll might be interested in knowing sawdust will make tannin. 

[JackCrafty]

Thanks....sawdust is a great idea.

Yeah, I thought I killed this thread with that picture....I could here the crickets chirping...

I'm just about done with the hide processing thing.  I've got at least five good quality rawhides....the rest are damaged with knife marks but I think I can still use them for rawhide cordage and lacing.  I'll take some pictures of the rawhide stuff tomorrow. 

[DanaM]

Here's a thought, I bet dead oak leaves shredded up will maketannin also. Might be easier to get.

[Minuteman]

The leaves do have tannin in them. They have the most when they are fresh. The stuff I used to start out with was shredded oak branches and leaves. Fresh from a tree.

[DanaM]

I just thought you could come rake my yard and get a nice supply