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Deer Hide Day 3

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Last year I had some gloves made from my F.I.L.'s deer hide. This one is my son's. I scraped the hide a couple days ago and started it in a calcium hydroxide solution. Tomorrow I'll neutralize it, then pull/ scrape the hair and start the tanning process. I'm disappointed with myself when I think about all those deer hides that went un-used for so many years....
 

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Hardwood ashes in water, especially those from the Ash tree, is what I've used to soak hides in for the hair to slip off. Then, once washed, stretched out to dry into rawhide for projects. I've at least one full rawhide rolled up and stored. For a pair of gloves or winter mitts it maybe worth tanning it eventually.
 
You can use wood ashes and water to remove the hair or you can just dry scrape off the hair and top layer of skin. Are you brain tanning the hide? It’s a lot of work but fun.
Last year I had some gloves made from my F.I.L.'s deer hide. This one is my son's. I scraped the hide a couple days ago and started it in a calcium hydroxide solution. Tomorrow I'll neutralize it, then pull/ scrape the hair and start the tanning process. I'm disappointed with myself when I think about all those deer hides that went un-used for so many years....
 
Hmmmmm. Wait until you get to the point you have to stretch and soften the finished hide. Many are glad they skipped a few hides once they hit that part.
No doubt you are right! The last hide I tanned produced two pairs of gloves - and involved eight or ten hours of scraping, dehairing, tanning, stretching and softening, EACH!!
 
I just trade mine to a local glove maker. 1 mule deer hide = 1 pair gloves. 1 elk hide = 2 pair gloves.

Of course, you can't have it all cut up and holey, it has to be in good condition and whole. Not worth packing an elk hid out at my age. Rather just buy a pair of gloves!
 
Are you going to show the rest of the process? I'd like to watch :)
After the hide soaked in the solution for four days, I put it in a neutralizing rinse, washed it a couple times, then took it out and scraped the hair. It was in my cold garage - and I probably should have changed the water and let it soak another night, but I still got through it. After the hair is pulled and scraped, I went back over the hide again to remove the darker membrane. Once the membrane was gone, the hide took on its cream/ white color. Next step will be rinsing, tacking and tanning....
 

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Last year, I did the whole enchilada -- scrape, dehair, egg tan, stretch, smoke & oil/stretch again. I even hiked it out 2 miles just so I could try it out. Yea, it made some leather. But it wasn't that great. And it was a lot of work. This year, I just sent it to the taxidermist. For about $150, I can just drop it off and they'll ship me the finished leather. A hide is a terrible thing to waste. But so is time. I have less of time these days.
 
Last year, I did the whole enchilada -- scrape, dehair, egg tan, stretch, smoke & oil/stretch again. I even hiked it out 2 miles just so I could try it out. Yea, it made some leather. But it wasn't that great. And it was a lot of work. This year, I just sent it to the taxidermist. For about $150, I can just drop it off and they'll ship me the finished leather. A hide is a terrible thing to waste. But so is time. I have less of time these days.
I get that - but pretty much everything about this hobby / past-time / way of life is a labor of love. For me it is kind of like grinding my own sausage. Sure, I could drop the carcass off at the game-butcher and for a couple hundred bucks or so pick up a box of steaks and sausage in a week or two. But when I spend the time cleaning, grinding and wrapping my own - well, I'm not say it tastes better... it just tastes better. (One thing we can definitely agree on - it feels right when you can do something with the hide.)
 
I always had alot of fat that i trimmed off the deer that i dressed and threw into the scrap bucket...thinking that was alot of waste and wasting it made me think hmmmmm need this for something ..then i got to thinking about about patch lubes home made and i think it was on on here that i read about info pertaining to what would be a good fat and mutton talo ect that they used. I took that deer fat and I set it in a pan on a outside propane heater on low until it melted then added murphys oil soap and stirred it in then let it cool...it made a great patch lube but theres enough on 1 deerthat will last you a life time.
 
Good stuff! Following along. I’ve tanned a few things w the citric pickle / aluminum sulfate tanning solution.
Timber
 
The last hide I fleshed and stretched with the hair on was salted heavily repeatedly until the water stopped running out. I left that hide stretched on the frame for a couple years in the garage with the "I'll get to it soon" mindset. When I did get to it, after rinsing all the salt out of the hide it was surprisingly limber. Figured the salt broke down the grain of the hide enough to soften it from the tough as a board stage it would have been in if I had gotten to it prior. As it was intended to be a wall hanging anyway I let it dry out and kept it that way.

If I were to make a garment, though, it would have been dehaired first and worked as you are doing. I have a hides that are rawhide. If I ever get the notion those can be rehydrated and then tanned in the future.
 
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