Recent Posts

Unfortunately, deer is too soft for tooling.

Good Luck

Is it possible to hand tool deer hide like one would hand tool a cow hide?

My husband is thinking about ghetting back into hand tooling, and was used to using cow hide.  Do you think that deer hides would be hand toolable like a cow hide is?  Or is it too soft?

You can stake the hide with the rounded side of the scraper but the oil makes the process much easier and you don't have to work as hard as with out the oil.

You mention not needing to stake the hide, but your booklet calls for what it calls the equivalent of staking, saying to run the rounded part of the scraper perpendicular to the hide down the hide stretching it and softening it after the oil has dried for 24-48 hours.  Is that not necessary?

It takes some elbow grease to get the flesh off.  it's called scraping for a reason.  even with rabbit furs, it takes pressure, an edge on a blade of some sort, and a lot of repetitive scraping.  perhaps you're being a bit too gentle for fear of ripping the skin.  You'll know when you go too far.  good luck.

I imagine that when they say, "peel the flesh" they are referring to a membrane that can exist between the muscle/fat and the skin of the animal. 

After soaking the hide it is easier to remove this membrane.

Good luck.

OK, So I am trying to tan a rabbit hide I have. I found an article about useing Alum Sulfate. So I used 1 gallon water, 1/2 cup Salt, and 1/2 cup Alum. The article said to soak the hide for 48 hours then peel the flesh off. Well, After soaking it for 48 hours I tried to peel the flesh off and there was no way it would come off. So I let it soak for another 12 hours. Still not coming off. Anyone know why I am having such a hard time getting the flesh off?? Any help would be great!

Any help would be great!

Natalie

I don't think the length of time you left it in the solution caused the hair slippage.  I think it has more to do with how the hide was taken care of before the tanning process began.  It can be many factors... The hide got too warm after skinning, not enough salt was placed on the hide, hide wasn't fleshed well enough before salt was applied, or the hide wasn't cured in the salt long enough.

At this point, stretching it won't really affect hair slippage.  I would concentrate on getting a flat hide.  Since you are using the tanning oil you won't need to stake this hide and sanding while still tacked to the board doesn't damage the hair.

If you get it fully tanned with out losing too much hair it should be alright. 

Well, I pulled my hide out of the solution today (8.5 days in the bath, Stephen told me on the phone that that length of time wouldn't matter), unfortunately I didn't check back on your website for this response.  that's a real bummer because the hair is slipping in some places with the thinner skin close to the udder area, and seems to be pretty easy to pull out of other areas.  i didn't mess with it too much, but have tacked it down and oiled it.  Any suggestions to keep the hair in more?  I'm thinking maybe if I leave the hide especially slack on the board, it can shrink a bit more and maybe hold those hairs in better? 

I'm really disappointed to see the hair slipping.  I don't imagine the hair is going to weather the staking and sanding process, or will just shed all over the place after I'm done...  Any help?