First Attempt At Making Rawhide

[Denise]

Yes, you do want that very top layer of the epidermis to come off. It is the dead outer skin layer and if left on, it does nasty things to your rawhide when it dries. The live layer of the dermis is what makes the grain layer and it will stay put unless you damage it.

[Nod4Eight]

Thanks Denise! That seemed to be more apparent as I worked on it some more today. In the heavy ash areas the hair and this epidermis came off in giant chunks and it is nearly done. The courser hair down the spine is the stuff hanging on the hardest. Attatched is the initial picture showing the difference - dark grey is the epidermis, light grey is the good stuff I'm assuming.

[Denise]

Rod looked at this and said yeah, you want that dark stuff off, and it has to slip with your ash/lime/whatever. Yes, you can scrape it off if you have to but then you risk damaging the good layer underneath.

[Nod4Eight]

That was the picture of yesterday. Today the hair was slipping off along with that grey stuff with it, leaving that nice white stuff. So it sounds like I'm on the right path - thanks!

[Nod4Eight]

So, I thought I ruined the hide. I've been so busy with the horse sale the past 5 days or so I haven't had time to do anything with it. Last I did was get the rest of the hair off and throw it in a plastic bag to get it out of the waster/ash mix but keep it pliable. I may have still lost it. The flesh side needs some work still, but the "hide" part still seems workable. If anyone is still interested I can still post pics of the rest of the process.