Hair on deer hide

[crappyice]

Scrape the flesh.....salt it??? Brain tan it? Ring it?

I can't really find a great tutorial for hair on hides...

[chiefbkt]

Scrape it with a flint knife.  

[EspressoBuzz]

Scrape it with a flint knife.  

 

He means have your squaw scrape it with a flint knife!

[landtracdeerhunter]

Leaving the hair on, this is what I do.

Remove all the fat and left over meat off the hide. Use non iodine salt to completely cover the hide for 3 days. Spray off the salt. let drain for 30 minutes. I pickle mine in citric acid, but alum works just as well. Use 1 lb alum, 2 lbs of salt adding to 1 gallon of heated water. Once desolved, add mixture to 3 gallons of water mixing well. Soak the hide for at least 4 days to a week. Make sure to mix the hide and solution a couple times a day. I hold my hides down with bowling balls in shopping bags. The hide must be completely covered with the solution. The hie will turn white when done. If citric acid is used, a baking soda solution must be used to neutralize the acid. Use plenty of water on the rinsing process. Now your ready to fletch the hide. I use an Alaska style scraper on a fletching board. This is the toughest process,and hours of hard work. I stretch my hides out on a cardboard plywood backer for 24 hours. I feel this speeds up the drying process of the hide, but be sure to remove the cardboard after this period.

Once dry, scrape the hide to the desired softness. I'll rub neadsfoot oil into them to make them baby bottom soft.

Edited July 9, 2014 by landtracdeerhunter

[crappyice]

Thanks land... After the soak in the salt and alum for a week and rinse, what do you mean by fletch the hide....am I to re-scrape the flesh side again and then stretch and dry?

[landtracdeerhunter]

Some refer to fletching the hide when you remove the fat and meat down to the skin. I suppose this is true, and maybe when I said flech the hide, I should of said final fletching. I like my skins thinner and it easier to do while the hide is plyable.

After the hide is final rinsed, you can apply a liquid tanning solution. A quart will do 2 - 3 deer hides. Let it sit 24 hours and rinse it out well with soapy water. When the hide dries, brake (work, stretch) the hide to make it plyable.

[crappyice]

Thanks again