making rawhide

[razorback]

How do you guys go about making rawhide. Have some freinds promising me skins and any I get will hopefully be made into rawhide for backing. Just not sure the best way to do it.

[Trapper Rob]

The way I do it is take hydrated lime you can get it at a feed mill I mix about 2 quarts with 5 gallons of water if you have to much lime in the water no big deal it will settle to the bottom of the bucket make sure you flesh your hide good then soak it in the lime water I soak them for about 4-5 days put a rock on it or it will just float to the top just keep checking it till the hair slips easy then I take my fleshing knife & take the hair off if it is ready it should slip right out if it don't put it back in the lime water when finished scrapping the hair off put it in a creek for 2-3 days to get the lime washed out of it then nail it on the side of a building.
Rob

[vanillabear?]

[macbow]

Same technique with the dehydrated lime. I leave it soak till I can push it off with hands.
I rinse well. Then soak in water and a cup of vinegar to kill the action then water and baking,soda to help whiten just a little.

Stretch it on a,frame. Then before it drys remove any meat that was missed before.
This works on deer squirrel Etc.

[razorback]

thanks guys. I have one skin that I got thursday morning. It has been in a plastic bag since then. I was going to flesh it today. Has it been too long? temps have been in the 40's and 50's.
To flesh it I was going to drape it over a porch railing and use a draaw knife to pull the fat and meat off, will this work?

[macbow]

Since your removing the hair anyway should be OK. If it's getting too ripe to work would be the only problem.

If I don't have tome to work one right away I put them in the freezer in a plastic bag indefinitely .

Porch rail might work but might get messy. A round barrel or trash can works Ok.

[razorback]

thanks's Mac,
I think I can get a 55 gallon drum to work with. The missus would definetly not like deer crud all over the railing.
How long do they take to air dry.

[John Scifres]

You can work stinky skins.  But wear gloves.  That smell does not go away without a fight     Cover your porch railing with some plastic too.

[macbow]

I can't remember exactly on the drying time.
Most of the time it was winter. So I would sit the frames in the shop. I have a small wood stove .

Seems like a couple of weeks.
I make my frames from 2x4's use corner braces.The  hides don't have to be real tight when green. Just snug. They shrink and tighten,as they dry.

[razorback]

Thanks guys.
Don't think the skin will be too stinky yet. Will hopefully get to it this afternoon.
Found a big plastic barrel that i will drape the skin over and sit on the end. Will hopefully work real well ansd save the porch and railing from a mess.

[Roy from Pa]

Tony, just hang it over the cloths dryer. When you hear your wife scream, just run like hell.  

[razorback]

Roy, with all your wonderful advice its amazing that you aren't on everyone's list    

So how "clean" do you need to get the skin before soaking it. Does it need to be as clean as you have to get it tp tan it, or can there still be some of the connective membrane on the skin.

[Trapper Rob]

I get mine as clean as I can then after I dehair it I scrap again then soak in the creek for 2-3 days then stretch on the side of the barn about 2 day's mine's dry.
Rob

[Jake Fr]

I know a rawhide draider that puts hides right on the frame and lets them dry and trim fat and flesh that way then shaves the hair off and uses a paint scraper to finosh the hair Side

[britt]

I use ashes from our sweat lodge fire pit, about 4 gallons of ashes. And tide laundry soap. I put ashes and soap in a trash can with water. Mix it up, then put hide in. I mix it every day. About 5 or 6 days. Take it out on a warm day,pull hair off by hand. Then I tack the hide up on a piece of ply wood in the sun. After it dries I make drums with it. I cut it with a jig saw. Nice trick that a friend told me about.

[britt]

I use ashes from our sweat lodge fire pit, about 4 gallons of ashes. And tide laundry soap. I put ashes and soap in a trash can with water. Mix it up, then put hide in. I mix it every day. About 5 or 6 days. Take it out on a warm day,pull hair off by hand. Then I tack the hide up on a piece of ply wood in the sun. After it dries I make drums with it. I cut it with a jig saw. Nice trick that a friend told me about.

[razorback]

Got the skin in a lye bath tonight. How much is too much wood ash. i put 2-3 gallons of ash in a drum of about 20 gallons of water, will this make a solution that is too strong. Should I water it down and just let it soak a little longer. Too much time fleshing it to ruin it now.

[Trapper Rob]

There is a way you can check the water with an egg I think if it sinks you need more ashes if it floats on its side to much ashes should float straight up & down.I use hydrated lime because if you get to much it just settles to the bottom.
Rob

[razorback]

Thanks Rob, I'll try that tonight. I added more water just to be safe. Would a weak solution just mean a longer soak time and will that hurt anything.

[Trapper Rob]

I'm not sure never used ashes always used hydrated lime because we use it in the free stalls for the cows so I always have it around a good book is deerskins to buckskins by Matt Richard it tell you about mixing ashes to dehair & if you ever want to brain tan it covers it also even making hide glue is in the book I think 3rivers has the book.
Rob