Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills

Otter rawhide quivers

(1/4) > >>

aaron:
living at the mouth of the great Columbia river gives me access to the rich bounties of this land through the time honored practice of roadkill harvest. And one critter I always pull over for is the sleek curve of a river otter. After firmly affixing a trapping tag to it, I sling it into my station wagon and go on home.
They are not too easy to skin- having lots of fat, stinky musk (?) glands, and welded-on skin. They are harder to scrape- the tail especially has two strips of fat that are very hard to get off. (any suggestions welcome!). Also, the fur cushions the scraping- doubly so because i case skin them and scrape on a waist beam. After skinning I freeze 'em and then spend a few hours trying to get the stink off me. I give the carcass to my neighbor who has those bugs that eat flesh. A week later she gives me a shoebox of clean bones.
After scraping I rinse several times. They are kinda stinky so I have tried rinsing with baking soda in the water, and also I use shampoo on the fur. (suggestions welcome on this part too, should I be degreasing with lye and if so, would it hurt the fur?)
My first one I braintanned and it came out pretty good. It was the first hide i ever tanned.
The next two I made rawhide quivers from. Many tribal people have made TANNED otter quivers, usually with the fur inside (most notably ishi). However, I wanted a quicker project than tanning so I opted for the rawhide. I put the fur on the outside for looks. I do not intend to use these for hunting, so i didn't need the silencing effect of fur on the inside and braintan.
My first otter rawhide quiver was pretty rough- not well scraped and dried over a form that didn't fit the skin too well, but I have used it at events for years and it looks cool. The second otter rawhide quiver I am making right now so I want to share my improved process. First step is a case-skinned and scraped critter that has been rinsed a few times.

aaron:
Next, I made a form to dry it on. Using galvanized "hardware cloth" I made a long cone. Also (not pictured) I cut a flat piece to dry the tail on. The hardware cloth was quite strong- which is good because whan the skin dries, it would crush weaker mesh such as chicken wire. I took care to bend in all the cut wire ends so they wouldn't poke the skin. I thought this cone was way too big at first, but the skin stretched to cover it perfectly. I knew it would shrink so I was glad that the skin was a little loose on the form at first. You can see the form below (without the tail part)as well as the half-done quiver and the completed "first" quiver.

aaron:
After i stretched it over the form i rinsed it some more using warm water and shampoo. Then I squeegee'd as much water out of the hair as possible.
Now, when drying hides, there are a few things i keep in mind: I knew the hide would shrink. I knew the edges would want to curl and not dry properly. And I knew the hair would hold alot of water. So with this in mind I grabbed some pins from my girlfriend's sewing kit and a comb from the bathroom.
I used the pins to attach the hide edges to the form. I pushed the pin through , then bent the tip into a hook which i hooked onto the frame. I did this every 2 inches around the tail, as well as the ends of the hide "tube" Then i used the comb to comb all the hair so it stuck out. That is, i combed it backward, against the grain, so it did not lie flat, but stuck out like a spiked hairdo. I also needed to prevent the arms from drying irregularly, so i inserted some wadded-up wire in each to hold it out.
I suspended the tube, with tail piece attached over a heater and also put a fan on it.
After 12 hours, the hide had shrunk and stuck on the form, but it was not dry yet. The edges were pretty dry and i figured they were past the point of wanting to curl, so i unhooked all the pins. To release the hide from the form, i gently crushed the whole package with my hands, .This made the form slightly smaller. using much force and two pairs of pliers I was able to pull the hide off the form. I immediately put it back on, but by repositioning the hide towards the small end of the cone, I left some slack in the hide. That is, there was now 1/2 inch gap between the hide and form. Then, i re attached the hooks to keep it in place. I repeated this repositioning process twice more over the next 2 days. I also combed and recombed the hair to help it dry. When it was totally dry inside and out, i removed it from the form. Two things i noticed were the marks left by the wire and the patches of unscraped fat i had failed to completely remove. Any suggestions on removing the marks or fat?

Dazv:
very very cool i would love to get a otter hide one day.

sadiejane:
having never done this with an otter, i can offer no suggestions
but i really like yr process and that you took the time to explain it.
and the outcome is to be looked forward to
thanks!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page