Rawhide From Hoof

[ljensen]

Last fall we had a cow that had a large cancer mass on her rear end so we put her down after weaning last fall. Skinned her and limed the hide and it sat on the stretcher unless the other day when I finally got around to cutting it up. Here are pictures of the before and after.

White cow

I was just curious why there was the large white area on the hind end area. It was really thick to cut into a round. This was my first cowhide so I don't have any experience to compare this to.

[dirtclod]

Looks like she had a spot on her rear at one time maybe it faded out as she got older. Kinda like a gray horse turning white. But that's just a guess on my part.

[Alan Bell]

Looks to me like 1) you didn't stir the hide in the lime bath often enough and the hide burned there where it was probably folded over in the barrel and lime was trapped on that spot. AND/OR 2) you didn't neutralize the lime in a vinegar bath after de-hairing and before stretching in the frame. In either one of these cases that spot is not going to be good for anything but maybe a core to a hack. MAYBE!

Vaya con Dios, Alan

[ljensen]

Thanks Alan. It could have been not enough stirring while it sat in the lime solution. You mentioned that the spot wouldn't be good for anything, how can you tell if a section of hide is good or bad?

I appreciate you insight since this is the first hide that I've done.

~ Logan

[Leatherpownder]

Thanks Alan. It could have been not enough stirring while it sat in the lime solution. You mentioned that the spot wouldn't be good for anything, how can you tell if a section of hide is good or bad?

I appreciate you insight since this is the first hide that I've done.

~ Logan

It's hard to tell Logan until U cut into the hide. If it's not any good the hide won't have any life and the fibers will be pulled apart. The rest of the hide looks really good though. Should still get quite a bit of string from it. Really good rawhide should have almost a transparent look to it. Bret.

[want2braid]

As Alan mentioned, that spot looks like the lime didn't get rinsed out, and then neutralized with vinegar. You can definately cut smaller discs out, around that area and get a lot of good string. If you try to spiral the whole hide into one big string and then cut out the parts that are bad, you won't get the length for say reins/romal, etc., etc. I've had those same spots and just cut around it. Your braiding is only as good as the string you braid with, so its better just to not use questionable rawhide, which in this case is the whiter area over the hind of that hide. That section usually has a different feel, even in the thick parts after you split it, it usually stretches alot like the belly, but that's just what i've found from my own mistakes.

It looks like you still did a good job, and have a lot of good hide still to braid with. Looking forward to seeing the finished gear made out of this hide!