Salted Hide

[Tanthathide9]

Was fortunate enough to be given a hide. Bad thing is I went to pick it up and apparently they have a "hide room" which in my mind was a big walk in freezer instead it was more like a 3 sided cinder block shed with a 2 ft retaining wall and 1000lbs of salt for the hides they sell to someone. Obviously not the first choice for rawhidin it. But I told the man id take it so I couldn't fall back on my word. I dont k ow how long it had been salted but it seem like it was pretty thirsty but there was still play in it once I removed fat and meat. I know how its bad for the hide but long story short can it be salvaged. If u can give me a time frame like 2 days in salt would hurt it then im good. Im in unchartered waters now just need some help. Its such a beautiful hereford hide id really hate it to go to waste itll find a use but for braiding idk. Thanks yall

[bucksnort]

I had one that was accidentally salted about 1/2 hr. before I picked it up. I rinsed it right then, but was never able to get the salt out of it. You can make rawhide from a salted hide & I think it was fairly common in TX. The Argentinians say that it will always cry. Salted hides will always draw moisture. Personally, I would probably try it & see how it works, a lot of what we use isn't our first choice, but sometimes it works better than what we think it will & we gain some new experience. Good Luck, Buck

[Tanthathide9]

10-4 buck thank ya kindly I dont know how long it sat in the salt but it definitely wasnt 1/2 hr but we'll see

[rcsaddles]

I seem to remember something about a "flint hide" and am thinking that is a hide that was salted and then used for rawhide. I think I would have to agree with Buck. At the very least, you will know how it reacts, what might work and might not.

One thing I have always said is I try to learn from other peoples mistakes because there is no use making them over. You would have knowledge on this to share with others.