Soaking Rawhide?

[DRon knife]

Hi,just wondering,How long do you soak Rawhide? I am making a RH strip handle and and I really never worked with it. I've been soaking a large dog chew for 4 hours now and It' lose enough to unroll already. Would you think its ok to forgo the glue,and just wrap and bind it,I may want to take it off? hey thanks,Ron

[Pat B]

Ron, you soak it until it gets pliable enough to work with. I rawhide backed a bow today. It is deer rawhide so its thinner than what you have. This took about 15 minutes in warm water to get to a workable stage. If you wrap the rawhide tight and tuck the ends under the wrap it will draw up tight as it dries out and hold itself in place. Be sure you wrap the rawhide in the directions your fingers are pointing when you grip the bow. If you wrap it the other way your grip can looses the wrap.

[DRon knife]

thanx Pat,and thanx for the timely answer too!! I better get crackn' then!