Hide stretching frame/process questions

[boxerboxer]

I've got two deer hides that I salted and stored, one several years old and one from last fall. I'd like to turn one into rawhide and the other to leather. Next step I imagine would be to soak them til pliable and then scrape off the hair.

I've got a bunch of buckthorn growing in my back yard and while most of it is too crooked and knotty for bows I think I could probably make a stretching frame from it. Would 2" diameter be sufficient or should I go thicker? I was thinking 6' long pieces with braces in each corner.

When it comes to scraping, what's the proper tool? Could I use a hatchet held sort of perpendicular to the hide? Do I need to buy/fab something?

[Hawkdancer]

Not familiar with buckthorn, but I would think 3" would be a lot stronger, also 7' length.  Hides stretch a lot!  You can slip the hair with a solution of garden lime, first rinse the hide to get rid of the salt, then use about a coffee can to about 20 gallons of water, stir daily until the hair starts to slip.  Wash hide with pure soap, Ivory or Murphy's.  Be sure hide is fleshed.  Good luck!
Hawkdancer

[Pappy]

Here is one of mine, it is ERC so not sure how buckthorn would compare , mine is about 2 inches and I make the frame 7 foot, nothing worse than start stretching the hide and the frame to small, just takes a little more string if the hide is small. you could use a hatchet head I guess but the tool I use has a one sided bevel , I will try and get a picture of it this weekend.
 Pappy

[Pappy]

Never tried the wet scraping but I know that will work with out racking the hide, seen it done but I don't like the mess.
 Pappy

[Pappy]

here is the tool I use to scrape the hair, notice the single edge, works really well.
 Pappy

[boxerboxer]

Here is one of mine, it is ERC so not sure how buckthorn would compare , mine is about 2 inches and I make the frame 7 foot, nothing worse than start stretching the hide and the frame to small, just takes a little more string if the hide is small. you could use a hatchet head I guess but the tool I use has a one sided bevel , I will try and get a picture of it this weekend.
 Pappy

Thanks for all the info. The frame I just finished is more like 6 feet and small change, but I only have 2 hides to process and if I have to split them in half and do 4 pieces total that's alright. I can always make a bigger one later.

As for a scraper I found a piece of steel angle about 1/8" thick whose sides are about 2"x10". I'm going to try cutting a piece of that, making some holes to bolt a handle to on one side of the angle, and grinding a curved blade onto the other. We'll see how that goes.

[boxerboxer]

How far from the edge of the hide should I make my holes? Can I use the point of my pocket knife? I'd worry that a cut slit might want to tear, but I don't really have any leatherworking tools. Would it be better to drill holes with wood backing?

[Pappy]

I slit with a knife, make the slits going with the length of the hide not to big, just big enough to get string through , I make them about an inch off the edge , maybe a little more around the belly area, make sure the hide is wet and will stretch, also as you tighten it pull on the hide not on the rope, pull the hide at the hole to stretch and slip the rope through. Hope that makes is clear. I make holes every 5 or 6 inches apart. Pappy

[boxerboxer]

How does this scraper look? I will attach to a handle but I will probably use it just like this to scrape the last few bits off the flesh side once I get it stretched. It's about 3" wide with a single bevel.

[Pappy]

That should work.
 Pappy

[boxerboxer]

Got the hide stretched. The hair I’m planning to dry scrape. As for the little bit of membrane to scrape on the other side, should I do that wet or dry?

[Pappy]

Usually comes off better wet, for the hair side it has to be bone dry and tight in the rack. Pappy