1St Hide

[Tanthathide9]

Well only a couple hours after she was laid to rest I received my first hide, I did a little fleshing but the skinning was done pretty good, good hide she was a healthy one so some fat and I guess a blood clot from where she laid on that side (she had a birthing complication that left her back end lame) well back to my story I found 0 55 gallon drums to do my lime soak so I got biggest trash can I could find (40 gal and clean) I filled half way with water and I put 3/4 of a tennis ball can of my lime, stirred it up then put my hide in, 2 questions:

1)not the best measurements but is my water to lime ratio sufficient

2) will this become intolerably rancid while in the lime mixture enough to cause a problem I live in a residential neighborhood

thanks for all help and wish me luck

[Tanthathide9]

Well most of hair is slipping gonna let sit another day, my next step would be to get some soap and wash both sides from lime, next I was told to put salt on flesh side and fold where it's flesh on flesh put in shaded area for half a day then stretch er out....this is coming from a man with experience and just wanted thoughts on it pros cons other trial and errors from people who might have done it already just curious thanks in advance

[acox4t4]

Howdy there, Well I hope that your first hide goes alot better then my first and second since they both were flops. I'm not going to give any pro advise other then where I think I went wrong, which was to leave the hide in the lime to long and I had to strong of a mixture so it ate my hide up. Now to find the pro advise I would suggest that you look at all the post on making rawhide. There are atleast one if not two post that are very detailed with great pictures showing the process. And then there are my post where I was making mistakes and the great people on here told me what I was doing wrong and where to go to find answers. Sorry no great answer from me on if your doing it right or wrong but hopefully it will help lead you to the place to find the great answers.

Annette

[curlyjo]

Well most of hair is slipping gonna let sit another day, my next step would be to get some soap and wash both sides from lime, next I was told to put salt on flesh side and fold where it's flesh on flesh put in shaded area for half a day then stretch er out....this is coming from a man with experience and just wanted thoughts on it pros cons other trial and errors from people who might have done it already just curious thanks in advance

[curlyjo]

I don't know where the salt comes from but for rawhide you don't use it. After neutralizing the lime, rinse with clear water and stretch. Maybe the salt is something I've never heard about but I've never used it on anything but the lip of a Margarita Glass. Brad

[roo4u]

bruce grant mentions the salt method in his book making cowboy horse gear....its for if you cant process your hide right away you spread fine stock salt on the flesh side and roll it up tight, i think your supposed to air it out a bit every day...i think the salt keeps the hide from starting to rot until you can get it processed.

[Tanthathide9]

That's another thing I've been using for reference points as well (grants book). I failed to ask the gentlemen helping me what purpose the salt served in his eyes could be same reason, however I did what the gentlemen said in this order ( lime bath, slipped hair, soap and water scrubbed "the devil" out of it with a good brush, let drip dry through the night 8hrs, salted flesh side in am left in covered shaded area out side, and my final step I'm at now is it's stretched and on frame waiting....hows that sound so far? Took pics but don't know how to post thanks every for all the comments hope it all comes out good

[curlyjo]

Maybe I was out of turn on my salt comments. But I've never used salt in any process of rawhide. If I ran out of time before stretching, I just throw it in a trough and do it the next day. And if it takes a while to get it stretched just take it out and throw it over a board in the shade and soak it again when you're ready. It takes quite a while to ruin Rawhide and it will come back. I just nailed 3 fresh hides on a wall and their dry and hard and ready to scrape the hair.( 2 weeks ago) Brad

[rawhide1]

If you read the making rawhide by KAW some one says that salting rawhide will draw out the natural glues in the hide. Leaving you with rawhide that has no life. When I first started I was told never to salt a hide that your gonna rawhide. I reckon the reason is for the reason mentioned above.

Mike

[Tanthathide9]

Lol idk I just did what I was told I have no idea what the salts purpose was I wish I could post pics to show the process by looking at other finished hides on here it LOOKS bout right as far as it quality I've yet to determine that we got a little shower over night and t got a little wet idk if that helps or hurts but again it's my first attempt so I'm in the dark on this one idk what to look for or what to expect but all comments are welcome I can try it different next time and tweak it to my liking or what I feel comfortable with next go around but thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it and don't disregard anything yall say so keep them coming lol thanks all

[Tanthathide9]

Not sure if I didn't remove the membrane? If that's even what this is but on some parts of flesh hide it looks how I figured the rawhide would look my guess would be that I didn't scrape flesh side good and that's why it's looking white and has this look any suggestions? I have pics but can't post can someone show me what the flesh side is suppose to look like when done correct I understand each hide will be different just curious.