Hey y'all. I'm new to the forum and new to leather making/leather work. I harvested my first deer in Nov and I've been attempting to tan the hide and turn it into workable/functional leather.
Basically, I'm wanting to make a holster for my buddy, and a coin purse for my wife. I am trying to figure out if the end result (workable leather) has been reached or if I need to re-tan and continue stretching the middle. Or if i can resoak in water and stretch from there. Or if i need to stretch at all. I havent smoked the hide yet and I tanned using "Deer Hunter's & trapper's hide & fur tanning formula"
Here are the images: My first tanned deer hide https://imgur.com/gallery/JxqN6
The white part (image 2) looks and feels like soft leather. It's not very thick, so I'd probably use that for the coin purse? I don't think it's split leather, but I'm also not entirely sure.
The middle/tan part of the grain (image 3) is slick and much more thick. I'm thinking I need to stretch it more. But I'm worried about over stretching and essentially turning it into suede. I'm assuming this part of the hide would be best suited for the holster, based of it's overall thickness.
Is the white part (image 2) the end point im looking for? Or have I gone too far and split the grain, when the tan part (image 3) is actually the endpoint?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! ☺️
P.S. If there is already a topic dedicated to this, I apologize.
