Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: aaron on January 20, 2012, 02:41:39 pm
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living at the mouth of the great Columbia river gives me access to the rich bounties of this land through the time honored practice of roadkill harvest. And one critter I always pull over for is the sleek curve of a river otter. After firmly affixing a trapping tag to it, I sling it into my station wagon and go on home.
They are not too easy to skin- having lots of fat, stinky musk (?) glands, and welded-on skin. They are harder to scrape- the tail especially has two strips of fat that are very hard to get off. (any suggestions welcome!). Also, the fur cushions the scraping- doubly so because i case skin them and scrape on a waist beam. After skinning I freeze 'em and then spend a few hours trying to get the stink off me. I give the carcass to my neighbor who has those bugs that eat flesh. A week later she gives me a shoebox of clean bones.
After scraping I rinse several times. They are kinda stinky so I have tried rinsing with baking soda in the water, and also I use shampoo on the fur. (suggestions welcome on this part too, should I be degreasing with lye and if so, would it hurt the fur?)
My first one I braintanned and it came out pretty good. It was the first hide i ever tanned.
The next two I made rawhide quivers from. Many tribal people have made TANNED otter quivers, usually with the fur inside (most notably ishi). However, I wanted a quicker project than tanning so I opted for the rawhide. I put the fur on the outside for looks. I do not intend to use these for hunting, so i didn't need the silencing effect of fur on the inside and braintan.
My first otter rawhide quiver was pretty rough- not well scraped and dried over a form that didn't fit the skin too well, but I have used it at events for years and it looks cool. The second otter rawhide quiver I am making right now so I want to share my improved process. First step is a case-skinned and scraped critter that has been rinsed a few times.
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Next, I made a form to dry it on. Using galvanized "hardware cloth" I made a long cone. Also (not pictured) I cut a flat piece to dry the tail on. The hardware cloth was quite strong- which is good because whan the skin dries, it would crush weaker mesh such as chicken wire. I took care to bend in all the cut wire ends so they wouldn't poke the skin. I thought this cone was way too big at first, but the skin stretched to cover it perfectly. I knew it would shrink so I was glad that the skin was a little loose on the form at first. You can see the form below (without the tail part)as well as the half-done quiver and the completed "first" quiver.
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After i stretched it over the form i rinsed it some more using warm water and shampoo. Then I squeegee'd as much water out of the hair as possible.
Now, when drying hides, there are a few things i keep in mind: I knew the hide would shrink. I knew the edges would want to curl and not dry properly. And I knew the hair would hold alot of water. So with this in mind I grabbed some pins from my girlfriend's sewing kit and a comb from the bathroom.
I used the pins to attach the hide edges to the form. I pushed the pin through , then bent the tip into a hook which i hooked onto the frame. I did this every 2 inches around the tail, as well as the ends of the hide "tube" Then i used the comb to comb all the hair so it stuck out. That is, i combed it backward, against the grain, so it did not lie flat, but stuck out like a spiked hairdo. I also needed to prevent the arms from drying irregularly, so i inserted some wadded-up wire in each to hold it out.
I suspended the tube, with tail piece attached over a heater and also put a fan on it.
After 12 hours, the hide had shrunk and stuck on the form, but it was not dry yet. The edges were pretty dry and i figured they were past the point of wanting to curl, so i unhooked all the pins. To release the hide from the form, i gently crushed the whole package with my hands, .This made the form slightly smaller. using much force and two pairs of pliers I was able to pull the hide off the form. I immediately put it back on, but by repositioning the hide towards the small end of the cone, I left some slack in the hide. That is, there was now 1/2 inch gap between the hide and form. Then, i re attached the hooks to keep it in place. I repeated this repositioning process twice more over the next 2 days. I also combed and recombed the hair to help it dry. When it was totally dry inside and out, i removed it from the form. Two things i noticed were the marks left by the wire and the patches of unscraped fat i had failed to completely remove. Any suggestions on removing the marks or fat?
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very very cool i would love to get a otter hide one day.
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having never done this with an otter, i can offer no suggestions
but i really like yr process and that you took the time to explain it.
and the outcome is to be looked forward to
thanks!
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I've made several like the ones you posted. An otter has to be one of the greasiest, nasty fish smelling critters around. You have to degrease them or they will start to go rancid when they dry. I know someone will give you all of the EPA, Surgeon General's and DEP reports but, I soak them in premium gasoline for a little while, take them out and then wash it in Dawn dish detergent, (wear Nitrile gloves, and if you are realy afraid, Tivex suit and Full face respirator ::)) After that I stuff them with dry newspaper and let them air dry. But they will always smell like fish, especially on a rainey day.
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didn't read through your whole post(s) but assume that somewhere you ask about getting rid of the fishy smell,,based on what Eddie wrote.
A buddy of mine gave me a nice otter hide several years ago, which I made a plains style quiver from.
It was stiff rawhide when he gave it to me so I bought some lye soap and took it down to a creek where I hunt, washed
that hide for quite some time rinsing it well in the creek. No more fish smell after that!
I let it dry thoroughly then "broke" it, twisting the hide in every conceivable direction in order to soften it to the
correct suppleness for use as a quiver. Then applied Neatsfoot oil,,actually applied way too much oil as it never seemed to
want to dry, the hide staying quite heavy with that much oil in it. So I had to rinse the hide again to wash out some of the oil,
then when nearly dry I softened the hide just slightly more and reapplied oil.
It seems that the leather gets dry in between hunting seasons so I just reapply some oil inside the quiver whenever necessary.
hope this helps!
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thanks sonny and mullet for the degreasing advice. I think some lye ore lye soap would have been good. I make lye with ashes for bucking braintan, but I just wonder what effect it will have on the fur- will it cause the fur to slip ?
Anyway, the project has taken a 90 degree turn in the last day. The thing is, this is the biggest otter by far i have ever seen- too big for a back quiver. you can see in the photo above that the body alone is longer than an arrow. Also in the photo is my other quiver, made from a small otter.The smaller qiiver works great- holding the fletching over my shoulder in easy reach, but If I were to convert the new otter into a quiver like the other one, the thing would be down to my butt and the arrows too deep in there to get a hold of. So, I think the thing to do is to spend the time to braintan the thing so i can either use it as a side quiver or just a general purpose bag.
Which is why i need more than ever advice on how to proceed.First I need to degrease and rescrape, but should i take pains to keep the lye off the fur side or just dunk the whole thing?
Also, i probably need to create a new beam better suited to scraping a case-skinned critter.
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My otter quiver is quite long as well, long enough that I can fit the entire arrow in it fletching and all.
For that matter I had to fold over a bit of the body onto itself such that it wouldn't be too long entirely.
I simply folded over the length that I felt was appropriate and whip-stitched it together along the opening
into which my arrows go. pics would likely help to better show what I'm talking about but I don't have any
right now.
I also used some green pigment along that part of the skin, where it's folded over, as well as on the skin
side of the tail. It came out really nice.
My quiver is really quite simple in that there's no adornment but it was made for using not for showing off.
The deer that I'm hunting don't know the difference ;)
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.....will go on to say that my quiver hangs by my side like a plains style quiver.
I made the strap for it from an old wool blanket that I grabbed from my grandmother's
house after she passed away. Just feels right to use such things, at least to my way of thinking.
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Use of the wire mesh is a great way to allow them to dry an shape.Great Ideal An I like the quiver alot sweet job
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Be carefull with the lye, it might make the hair susceptible to slipping.
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yeah, mullet that's what i am wondering... do i need to degrease it without getting the hair wet?
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When I soaked them in Gasoline and then washed them in detergent I completely submerged them in the solution. I never had a problem with hair slipping. I have found that it is important to really try and scrape all the fatty tissue off. Afterwards I rubbed the hide down with musk oil.
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I have made couple of quivers from otter. The first one I made I used a PVC pipe for a frame. That was a huge mistake. Getting that hide off the otter was hard. Getting it off the pipe after it dried was even harder. Your use of the wire mesh for a frame is a splendid idea! Gotta remember that one.
After they are freshly skint, I first roll mine in a mix of cornmeal and borax. This helps to absorb blood and kill bacteria. It absorbs some grease but not a lot. Then I freeze like you do. When I degrease I use Naptha thinner. Take necessary precautions. that stuff is stout.
Otters are a lot of work but boy are they a beaut when the project is done.
Thanks for posting.
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I could be wrong about this but I am of the opinion that whether or not the hair slips has a great deal to do with how the
hide is handled when first removed from the animal. If left wet for too long I believe that there is much greater chance of the hair slipping, but if the hide is salted and dried there is a greater chance that the hair will be set firmly in place.
Simply speculation based on what someone recently said in a thread I started elsewhere about keeping the hair from slipping on a deer hide- they indicated that soaking in a brine solution (before fleshing, for instance) will set the hair for good.
I would assume that the same is true for otters as well.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary I'd like to know!
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You are partially right about hair slip. How you handle the hide can influence hair slippage. However, you can do everything right and still have hair slippage due to a condition trappers call "blue hide". This occurs when an animal still has ample circulation to the skin. Once the animal is skinned and some of the fat scrapped the hide has a bluish tint. When things get really cold the hide has reduced circulation and is off white. These hides tend to have limited hair slippage.
Blue hides are best used in a rawhide condition. If you try to tan them fully it will break your heart. Taxidermists may have something to address this, but that is above my pay grade.