bucksnort

I cut mine into 10 in squares. For me it's quick & easy & I just stack them on a shelf. When I get ready to use them I case them round off the corners & cut a soga a little over 1/4, split & then cut strings. one square will give me four 1/8 strings about 12 ft. Same concept as cutting circles, same advantages, probably same amount of waste, just quicker & easier for me. Good luck, try different stuff & you'll find what works for you. Happy Easter, Buck

Big Sioux, I think you'll have to keep it somewhat warm to work. I tried rolling a fresh off the critter hide hair side in (per Bruce Grant) & had no slippage after 4 days & got scared I was ruining it. I had one a while back that that a friend had butchered but told them I couldn't pick it up for about 5 days & ask them to put it in the freezer. Instead they threw it in a box setting in an old cooler that wasn't running. I thought they had ruined it, but I took it home & stretched it. That's when I found that the hair was slipping & it fleshed really easy. It made a really nice hide. That is what led me to try something similar with this hide. Several times I almost chickened out, but in the end the results were great. They do get stinky, but if you put it in a big plastic bag or sealed plastic tub the smell doesn't get out to bad. Just make sure you take it outside before you open them up. Good luck. Buck

Hide looks good, keep us posted. Buck

Joel, That's my kind of subtraction. Buck

Really nice Brian. I like the open bail. Great job. Buck

Bret, I just wadded it up in there & moved it around every day & definitely have to hold your nose. I think it is better to have the hide fresh off the animal. They say that good decisions come from experience & experience comes from bad decisions. I always like it better when my experience can come from someone elses bad decision. Brad, I think that will work, we're kind of planning to be down there that evening as well. Buck

Bret, Not sure what the white spots are. When I stretch hide I pull them as tight as I can & then tighten them again the next day. I think you'd be more likely to break your frame or string than stretch a hide too tight. Pics might help. When I resize I pick edit/organize in upper left corner, click on picture & it gives the option to resize. Buck

First case is a hide from a friend I ran into one day. He had a cow that died, he skinned her & hung the hide over the fence where it hung for a couple of weeks before he saw me. I wet the flint dryed hide enough to get it into a barrel of lime. The weather was cold & it took 2 weeks for the hair to slip. On top of all that, it had 4 brands including a nice big ones on both ribs, an ugly tumor & was bloodshot on one side. Some how the rawhide I salvaged in between was really nice. Case two is something I've been wanting to try. This hide came to me the day after butchering & spent a cold night in the back of a pickup. I put it in a plastic bag inside my shop where it was a little warmer & left it until the hair slipped. That took almost 2 weeks, it was a little odorous & I thought I might have ruined it but the picture show the results. As clear & evenly colored a hide as I've had in quite a while with no fleshing until I stretched it. After it was dry I sanded the flesh side with a flapper wheel on my angle grinder.

Tracy, Rinse your strings in hot water until you get the excess dye out & then dye them in some strong coffee if you need more color. Neatsfoot oil, make sure its pure neatsfoot oil not neatsfoot compound, will darken it some & I've never seen any sign that it will cause any damage. Buck

I think I'll use Brian's method & eat the pi. Buck

Very nice & I'm sure he's having a ball with it. Buck

Brian, Thanks for sharing, will check those out. Buck

Looks good, should weather nicely. Forgot to mention to you that they don't bevel the strings on most of those reins & they will curl & have really sharp edge if they get wet. Glad to see it worked out for you & we all learned a little from it. Buck

Joe, I had a hide recently that I decided to lime because of the circumstances. It wasn't freezing here yet, but was really cool weather. It took 2 weeks in the lime & I was afraid I had ruined the hide, but it turned out fine(cow hide, not horse). Anyway, to answer your question, I usually lime in a plastic barrel & I just set it up near a pasture fence & dump it on the field when done. Haven't ever seen any harm from it, the lime is beneficial. It would be good for a garden as well & probably OK on your lawn. If you will be doing more, they say that used lime water slips hair faster than fresh. Congrats on the horse hide. Buck

Tracy, Brew some coffee, experiment with the strength to get the color you want, soak your strings till they look right, dry & braid. The Argentinians use tea the same way. Both hold the color & don't tend to fade. I have been using Fiebing Dye I been ordering from Ebay, it paints on with a dauber, The light tan I ordered was really yellow, other than that it seems pretty good. Buck

It may not be your leather. I've never had Rit tan turn out anything but greenish, brown runs to red or lavender, black is kind of blue. You might try different strengths of coffee for your browns. also a different kind of dye might work better. If you stay with Rit it requires a lot of rinsing, set it with vinegar in ice water, let it dry completely & then rinse in warm water until the water remains clear. Hope this helps. Buck

Many people also prefer braiding it on. Alan Bell has a really good tutorial on here of his method which is kind of a hybred of braiding & the multi string method. Buck

Nice. Looks like it does a good job for you. Buck

Very nice. Can't wait to see the rest. Buck

Although I don't use the multi string nose button, but I agree with Brad & Rawhidelady that it is simpler, the turnbacks are about the only confusing part. Grant's book has good directions for it. Buck

These measurements are off the head guesses & of coarse will vary with hide size. From the neck & tail come in about 8 to 10 inches (these pieces are ok for button strings), off the center of the back come down about 20 inches ( rest of this is scrap, too thin & stretchy). The oval left is your best rawhide. Some cut strings out of this & some, as I do, take a strip of about 4 inches out of the center of the back ( between grubs & the use of pour-on this rawhide sometimes isn't that good). I use it for bosal cores & such. I personally cut the rest into 10 inch squares & store it to cut into strings. When I get ready to use it I mark & cut a circle & cut a string a little over 1/4 wide & get about 25 feet, which will give me four 1/8 strings for reins. If you search Lacemaster, they have a lace calculator which is really accurate. Not always easy to tell thickness on a dry hide but with practice you can get squares with even thickness ( that center piece is usually pretty consistant & many will cut the entire piece into one long string & for reatas this is a necessity. Cutting strips would probably be OK for bosals or any shorter items, but wouldn't give you long enough strings for reins. This is just the way I prefer & there are a lot of other ways that produce equally good results (or better). Try them all & you'll come up with what works best for you & if your like most of us next week you'll be doing it differently. Buck

Brian, We use a little different terminology, you call it a reverse bi-helix, I just call it cool. Beautiful job & I don't think you have to be a braider to appreciate the complexity of the braids. I like the pendant as well, Joe did a nice job on it. Buck

Thank you Bruce & Pete. Bruce, glad you like the reins, the little Osborne 86 splitter I got from you is sure a step up from my low end Tandy. Buck

A little on the dry side is better. You can add a little much easier than take it out. Once you have a little moisture in the hide, a quick dip & back in the humidor for a couple of hours will usually do the trick. Buck

Sounds like that may be the solution. Buck