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Posted

Here are some pictures of making a hide the other day

hide on the hoof.

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skinning

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hair slipping tools

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fleshing beam

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hide ready to be fleshed

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fleshing

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dehairing

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have to finish in another post

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Posted (edited)

here are the rest of the photos

streching materials

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ready to streach

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streched

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drying

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cured

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Edited by KAW
  • Moderator
Posted

I think I understand the process a little better, now, looking at the pics. I knew there was a lot of work in making rawhide! It would be great if you would add a little more description of what you do, and why, because it looks like you have the whole thing down to a T. How many hides do you use in a month? Where do you get your raw hides from? Pardon my ignorance, but I'm used to leather & rawhide coming off a store shelf, and I'd love to learn more about your methods, if you have time to explain.

Johanna

 

 

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted

Johanna, I'm pretty sure that hide came from the cow out in the field with that (Oh S**T) look on it's face...LOL

Very interesting to actually see all that is entailed in the making of rawhide. Thanks for the look see.

Ken

Beaverslayer Custom Leather<br />Wearable Works of Art

https://www.facebook...erCustomLeather

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Posted

Hey Kevin, Thanks for the pics. Does your fleshing beam have an arch to it and are you using a draw blade to flesh? How long do you cook the hide and what is the temp? I can review the tapes of Vince but since I have you here I'll just ask you. It seems a lot faster than liming the hide and a lot easier. It looks like a hereford have you ever gotten any brangus? Those thick necks sure mess up a hide! They drive me crazy. I get my hides from a packing house so I have to wait until the breed comes in that I want and I can pick it hide on hoof and come back after they skin it. They don't do as good a job skinning so I have quite a bit of fleshing left to do. I did a horse that had been down for half a day last winter and the blood had pooled on one side. It colored the hide actually pretty nicely! I'm not in the position to do it with a cow but you might give it a try. I'll try and get pics of the 2 different sides to show how it colored the hide. Johanna, I'll try to explain a little and Kevin can correct me if I get anything wrong. The cow in the first pic supplied the hide. Kevin skinned it trying to leave as little meat and fat on the hide as possible without cutting or nicking the skin. The he finished fleshing or removing fat and meat with the hide stretched out on that beam. Next he 'cooked' the hide in the 50 gal barrel set on the tire rim with the propane tank in water. Near as I can tell this is a technique Vince Donely came up with (not sure where Vince got onto it) Being careful to not actually cook the hide just heat it enough so that the pores open up and the hair "slips" out easily. He slipped the hair using a stick and pushed the hair right out of the follicle. Next he stretched the hide in the hoop frame and let it dry to cure. And 'Viola' RAWHIDE. The old standard technique involves "cooking" the hide in a lime bath for a few days, then neutralizing the lime in a vinegar bath for another few days (all this while you have to keep stirring every so often) then slipping the hair off and stretching in frame and drying and (a week or so later) 'Viola' RAWHIDE. There was also the just flesh it stretch it and dry scrape all the hair off method and that is what the Dorrances did. I've done one that way too and it is a lot of scraping and you have to get it done before the hide 'wrinkles' in the frame to do a really good job. My friend Barry Cox has his frame in an old barn held rigid between two post and scrapes on a hide for months because the frame doesn't give and the hide hardly wrinkles. Making leather is done with the lime method and then you use tannic acid from the bark of an oak tree and it takes about 5 - 6 months. Making your own rawhide is definitely better than buying lace from a production source. It is labor intensive but you can control the whole process. In any gear that you make; the better the quality of the raw materials the better your end project CAN be it is then up to the artist to work their magic as Kevin does so well!

Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell

Wake up and turn me loose, for the rain is falling
Bob Marley
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Posted

Johanna,

Alan explained it pretty well

Alan,

The beam I use has a slight crown to it and yes I use a draw knife to flesh with.

Up here there isn't many Brangus and i dont use the neck in my braiding but it make some nice knife sheaths and other projects.

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It varies from hide to hide, weather and elevation but from 136 to 140 and from 6 to 10 minutes and you have to watch it close you can ruin a hide very quickly if your not paying attention moving the hide seems to help some, this method of making rawhide has been around for along time just alot of people didn't know about it and those that did didn't say much, a thanks to Donely for sharing, it is by far the best, fastest and cleanest way to make rawhide for braiding that I have found if done right. I have a couple of hides like you mentioned and they make some very unique looking pieces! The scraping method works well for good using gear but for collecter pieces it leave to much of a stuble when you are cutting string down to a 64th of an inch, Bill Black uses that method and makes some nice work!! The hides when useing that method should be streched as tightly as possible.The better quality of materials makes it alot easier to make HIGH QUALITY gear that will last!

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Posted

Great pictures! What did you make your drying hoop out of, and is there any tendency for it to pull crooked while drying?

After some folks tell you all they know, they keep on talkin'

  • Contributing Member
Posted

The pictures and explanation on making rawhide are interesting. I have a couple more questions. It doesn't rot? Does the temperature or weather or anything matter when you are letting the raw hide dry and cure? You don't have to put anything on it? The other question is about the thickness of the hide. When you are done stretching it, is it fairly even? Is that something you take care of when preparing the strings for braiding?

You guys that braid rawhide must have an endless amount of patience but you sure turn out some awesome work.

Clay

Posted

I make rawhide all the time, but this is a new method to me.

Clarifying: You have the water at 136 to 140 degree Farenheit first. Then you put the hide in the hot water for 6 to 8 minutes. Right?

You say you have to watch it carefully. What are you watching for? How do you know when enough is enough? How does it ruin the hide? How large a hide can you do at one time? You have a picture of a stick you use to scrape the hair off. Any particular shape to it? Could you use something metal, like the side of a rasp, to do this?

Thanks, Rod.

"Every tree maker does things differently."

www.rodnikkel.com

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Posted

Waddy,

I made the hoop out of the end of a big spool the phone co uses for fiber optic cable it was inch square tubing I just cut the ends out, the ends of an old round bale feeder works pretty good too. I have had some heavy hides in them and they have never tweeked.

Clay B,

I try to make most of my hides in warm weather I dont like them to freeze when they are green and they are hard to cure out when it is cold they may take till spring to dry sometimes. If it is really hot they can spoil fast if you don't get to them fast enough. I split my hides after I cut them into a long string.Some hides vary greatly and others dont such as Herefords are quite thick and Lonnghorns are usally alot thiner, the age and sex of a critter has alot to do with it too. I don't put anything on them until I start braiding then I will use soap then when I am finished with a project I will use white saddlesoap ar vaquaro rawhide cream from ray holes but on a reata I use beef tallow.

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