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Making Rawhide

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bigcountry:
I am trying my hand at making rawhide again.  First time, got nasty, and I thought the skin was bad, so I tossed. 

So, I have three deer hides in my liming mixture for 3 days.  I have it outside because of the slight odor.

But its very cold.  At night it gets down to 25F or so.  The hair is not slipping yet.  Do I need to bring it in?  I figured temp wouldn't matter as the lime should be swelling the hide to slip the hair.  But wonder if its keeping the hair on.

HoBow:
The colder temps will slow down the reaction time, so you should be fine. I'm not sure how that soaking will affect the rawhide quality though ???

JackCrafty:
Take it out and try scraping the hair off anyway.  If it comes off with only minimal effort, I would say go ahead and finish scraping.  If it doesn't come off, just make sure the solution has enough lime and put the skins back in.  Check twice a day.

If you are using hydrated lime, make sure the solution has reached complete saturation...  there should be some lime at the botom that won't dissolve.

bigcountry:
Thanks guys.  Some say it might take a week in this weather. 

iowabow:
I made a bowsting  from a hide I found from a deer that died in my creek. The animal had be there all winter and in the spring I went and recovered the hide and scraped it. I made a bow string from the raw hide and tanned another part of it. I think because this was very effective that  deer hide could be placed in a small creek and the hair would slip at this point you scrape and stretch and let dry.

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