acox4t4 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 Needing some please. Here is a picture of the rawhide in progress. Today is day 4 of it being in the lime I noticed it starting to slip the hair so I pulled it out to work with it a bit and see how its going. I was using a ice scraper to run it over the hide to see if the hair was ready to come out. Some of it comes out but most is still holding strong so I'm putting it back into the lime water. Question is does this look like what its suppose to?? When I scrape it some of it comes out and has what looks to be a membrane with it, slim stuff. Is that suppose to happen? Should I take all the hide down to under that membrane thats sluffing off with alot of the hair? I thought that was what made the hide strong but its just coming off when I even pull the hair with my fingers. Its only coming off in some spots not all. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance. Oh ya I bought some 1/8 inch 20 yards long rawhide from Tandy in Wichita and was wondering what horse related project would be the best do for my first braiding attempt? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stringman211 Report post Posted October 24, 2010 Needing some please. Here is a picture of the rawhide in progress. Today is day 4 of it being in the lime I noticed it starting to slip the hair so I pulled it out to work with it a bit and see how its going. I was using a ice scraper to run it over the hide to see if the hair was ready to come out. Some of it comes out but most is still holding strong so I'm putting it back into the lime water. Question is does this look like what its suppose to?? When I scrape it some of it comes out and has what looks to be a membrane with it, slim stuff. Is that suppose to happen? Should I take all the hide down to under that membrane thats sluffing off with alot of the hair? I thought that was what made the hide strong but its just coming off when I even pull the hair with my fingers. Its only coming off in some spots not all. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance. Oh ya I bought some 1/8 inch 20 yards long rawhide from Tandy in Wichita and was wondering what horse related project would be the best do for my first braiding attempt? Hi, Rusty here, I would scrap this hide and start fresh. The way I learned to make rawhide came from a Bruce Grant article. The process Started with stretching the hide first, then dehairing. I had problems when the hide wasn't dried long enough( 4 days were best for me), the same rotten spots showed when trying to dehaired. More time stretched and left to dry was best and I got a better hide to play with. Cutting the long strip after and stretching for a few days as well, gave some really nice strings for different projects. Keys: stretching, scraping and drying adequately, then dehairing before cutting I to a long strip to stretch and dry some more. 'Twill be a long winter of braiding! Have fun!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
acox4t4 Report post Posted October 25, 2010 Thanks I've not given up yet. I am waiting until Kansas Deer season and then will try it with the FREE deer hides to learn on. HEHE the $30.00 cow hides that then I twice messed up was starting to get expensive. So I took the advice of everyone here and went to hobby lobby and got some cheap plastic lace, and other leather lace to pratice making knots, ect with. That way when I do get this rawhide stuff down pat I'll be ready to use it Thanks again for the advice I need all I can get. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aggiebraider Report post Posted October 25, 2010 Let us know how the deer hides work as rawhide. I have often wondered why no one talks about it as a possible source of rawhide for plaiting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
roo4u Report post Posted October 25, 2010 it has been mentioned here before...if you search you should be able to find it....i believe it was said that it is too stretchy for braiding. perhaps that is why the indians did not make rawhide out of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flaxfilly Report post Posted December 20, 2010 I have been using deer hides for many years now... I finally told the hunters to let me do the skinning, with a little extra time, you wont need the fleshing beam!! Lime and water works ok for de-hair.... but a running creek is awesome! I took some old field fence, kinda sandwiched the hide where it would lay flat in the creek, 3 days in the spring and the hair was slipping nicely, no smell and no nasty lime! The draw backs to deer hide is you never know what you get till the hair comes off, ticks and barbed wire will leave scratches and small pit's in the skin, the part that is most important!! I just cut my rounds in the good spots and give the dog the rest! who has any info on "cooking" the hides, what temperature and how long?? inquiring minds want to know!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kgee Report post Posted January 13, 2011 Hi I am another newbie here looking for answers. I am looking to repair some snowshoes and needed some rawhide lacing. Finding it expensive and hard to come by thought I would make my own. Long story short the fellow that was going to help me spoiled my hide but gave me some lacing that had been cut off the hide initially but nothing else ever done anything with it. This was all last year but now when I am going to use the lacing and trim it down it has a strong odor to it and as one of the other posters said it is not real white but discolored. My question is can you remove the odor now or is that supposed to happen in a previous step. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rgerbitz Report post Posted January 13, 2011 If it is just the fat and left over meat that has gone off, most of the odor will go away when you remove that. If it has been like that for awhile the odor will stay with the rawhide for a long time. Unless you plan on bleaching it. Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kgee Report post Posted January 17, 2011 Thanks Rob Is one year a long time? If I coat the lacing with a varnish will that mask the odor? It might not matter as the snowshoes are worn outside but while they aren't being used I hang them in the garage. I am in the process of making KAW's splitter and hopfully that will get rid of what ever is causing the problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rgerbitz Report post Posted January 17, 2011 I would think that varnish would help, but I have no experience with that. I had some string around here that had gotten pretty rank. I left it in the barn for 6 months or so then brought it in to work with it. My wife recommended that I remove the rawhide from house or look into another living arrangement. Once the string got up to room temp it did have a pretty strong odor. A guy I braided with once told me about another man that had braided up a hackmore out of some really rank string. He put it on a mule and said that they had a heck of time getting it off the mule before it killed it self. Apparently the mule took offense to the smell. Not alot of usable info, sorry. Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tanthathide9 Report post Posted September 28, 2011 I'm not sure if I De fleshed my hide good enough I just finished my first hide and it's been stretched for bout a week humidity is horrible on the gulf coast of Texas, anyways, it just don't look right there's like a white fibrous substance idk exactly how to explain it but ithe hide isn't opaque or translucent in some areas it is mind you, but I would 90% if not more of the flesh side is not translucent/opaque. Hides stretched tighter than all get out so my thought was not enough fleshing, any suggestions to what my problem could be and how can I correct it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KAW Report post Posted October 5, 2011 What breed of cattle did you use, how old was it and what type ot feed was the animal on? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tanthathide9 Report post Posted October 5, 2011 Brangus, several years old, grass/ hay fed, well what grass we still have in tx....the hide looks great I stuck it in garage away from humidity and the rain we got wasn't helping so I sheltered it and it finished drying in there and it looks great, what I was concerned about jut flakes off now , but please continue with ur comment Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
