Post by scrub-buster on Nov 18, 2020 12:49:12 GMT -5
I am attempting to turn my buck hide into soft tanned leather or buckskin. I've tanned a fawn hide before but left the hair on it. With this one I want to remove the hair. After I skinned the buck I used a pressure washer to "flesh" the inside of the hide. There is a membrane layer as well as some fat and meat that need to be removed. The pressure washer worked OK but I was soaked and I had tiny chunks of fat all over me. Next time I'll use a fleshing knife and see if I like that better.
I made a quick frame to stretch it. Looking back, I should have made the frame smaller so it would be easier to move around in my garage. I laced the hide up with some old nylon string and let it dry for several days.
I made a couple hide scrapers real quick to use on the hair side. I should have spent more time forging better scrapers. The ones I made did not work very well. I started on one side and made slow progress. The skin layer holding the hair needs to be removed.
After a full day of scraping I had done roughly 1/5 of the hide. The white part on top is what I got done. At this point I was wishing I had soaked the hide in water and wood ash and done the wet scrape method. I'll try that next time.
I figured out that if I took a sharp knife (Rada sharpener) and shaved all the hair off my scraper would work much better. The darker area is where I had shaved the hide with the knife.
Once I figured this out it went much faster. I had the hide halfway done.
Here is how I shaved the hair off. Not bad for a cheap thrift store knife.
It didn't take long to finish the other half. I'm going to use a palm sander to smooth it out in some spots and then it will be ready for the tanning process. I'm still researching a recipe on what to use. I didn't save the brains from it. They work great for tanning a hide. I think I'll use a mixture of egg yolks, bar soap, and olive oil.
I don't know how well it will show up in a picture but I can see my hand through the hide in some areas.
I made a quick frame to stretch it. Looking back, I should have made the frame smaller so it would be easier to move around in my garage. I laced the hide up with some old nylon string and let it dry for several days.
I made a couple hide scrapers real quick to use on the hair side. I should have spent more time forging better scrapers. The ones I made did not work very well. I started on one side and made slow progress. The skin layer holding the hair needs to be removed.
After a full day of scraping I had done roughly 1/5 of the hide. The white part on top is what I got done. At this point I was wishing I had soaked the hide in water and wood ash and done the wet scrape method. I'll try that next time.
I figured out that if I took a sharp knife (Rada sharpener) and shaved all the hair off my scraper would work much better. The darker area is where I had shaved the hide with the knife.
Once I figured this out it went much faster. I had the hide halfway done.
Here is how I shaved the hair off. Not bad for a cheap thrift store knife.
It didn't take long to finish the other half. I'm going to use a palm sander to smooth it out in some spots and then it will be ready for the tanning process. I'm still researching a recipe on what to use. I didn't save the brains from it. They work great for tanning a hide. I think I'll use a mixture of egg yolks, bar soap, and olive oil.
I don't know how well it will show up in a picture but I can see my hand through the hide in some areas.
