Making Rawhide?

[rgerbitz]

Before the "incident" somewhere on here a guy had put up a bunch of pictures of how he went about making rawhide using hot water to get the hair off. I just tried to do that today and so far.... no good. I can't remember who it was that did it that way but I would really like to find out what I did wrong and if it is possible to salvage any of what I have left. Any information on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Rob Gerbitz

[rawhide1]

Rod

It was KAW who posted that and I believe he took a 50 gallon drum and filled it with water. He then brought it up to 145 degrees with the hide in it. He used a propane burner. I think he said for no longer than 3 or 4 min. I may be and probally am wrong on the temp and time. But thats about all I remember. I haven't seen him on here for awhile maybe pm him. Hope this helped a little. Mike

[HorsehairBraider]

I've made rawhide slip hair before by putting it in water... cold, hot, whatever but it takes about a week. I kept changing the water several times a day (because it gets really smelly depending on the time of year) but keep checking and it'll eventually slip. If you have a running stream that's nice (except for the people downstream) but my stream does not run all year and in any event is about a mile from the house, so I don't use it for this purpose. I'll bet you can salvage it, but it is going to take a while.

[rawhide1]

Rob

I noticed I misspelled your name. My apologies!!

Mike

[rgerbitz]

Thank you horsehair and Mike, I guess I'll just leave it till it slips. Last hide took about two weeks to slip, I changed water about every other day but it still smelled pretty bad. I was hoping to find a way to get the hair off in two or three days if possible. Fits my work schedule alot better. And would cut down on the smell alot. Not that it bothers me so much, but my wife and here horses have a pretty serious aversion to it.

Rob

[KAW]

I posted the pictures you were talking about.

When I slip the hair with hot water I use a propane weed burner and a 55 gallon drum filled alittle over half full I elavate the barrel on a couple old truck rims and run my flame in from the bottom acouple cinder blocks work good too then I heat my water to 136 to 140 leaving the hide in the water for 6 to 15 minutes, the temp and the time can vary with elevation and air temp, I use a fresh green hide and it has to be fleshed and containtly move it in the water and checking to see when the hair slips and use a digital thermometer, put the hide in the water after it has reached temp, this method only works with a green hide ecspecialy in the winter. If I can't get a fresh hide I use lime. I like to use green hides whenever possible. If you can't get the hair to slip you could still salvage it by streching it very tightly and scraping it with a knife. I skrewed up alot of hides finding out what works and what doesn't different breeds of cattle and their age will have alot to do with it too. So if you cant get it to slip and it hasn't rotted on you I would scraped with a knife being careful not to guage it, let it dry hard as a rock before you scape it, I do it in the frame but I have friends that like to scrape it over a rounded surface like a barrel or an old bulk feul tank and scrape with the hair. I have had very good luck slipping with hot water but it doesn't always work out if you don't have a green hide in my experencies so the more ways you can learn to make hides the better then you always have a back up plan. These are a few ways I do it, hope this helps.

Edited February 3, 2008 by KAW