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info needed on the steps of how to tan a hide

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richardzane:
those look like some good scrapers Pappy,
I made one similar shaped from a snapped off old file (here) and i use it to get started (at the neck area)
but i find that i have to be SO careful with the angle, or it'll pop through or I can easily scar the hide I'm scraping, with one misplaced pull.
the cabinet scraper edge (because it has such a miniscule burr) can handle strong pulls and leaves the hide evenly scraped.
but i'm always looking for the easy way!

Pappy:
Yes I have a couple like them I made and found the same thing,guess I just didn't get the angle just right when I made them,they work but a lot harder to use than these I have now. :) Back when Jesse was around he ordered these for us somewhere on line.They should last forever if taken care of but I do plan on trying the cabnit scraper,just never thought about using one.Thanks. :)
   Pappy

richardzane:
youre welcome,  I have a hide stretched drying now and unfortunately the guy who skinned it
musta really wanted to use his new hunting knife, so it has a lot of slashes.

I'm hoping that using the curved cabinet scraper, (which i used on my last skin for the first time)
its going to ride over those nicks and slashes easier. I'll give a report about it.

Pappy:
I have a few that are the same way,I now only keep hides that I skin myself,no knife except to get it started at the legs.I have also started using a sander with 60 grit on both sides of the hide and that will thin out the thick areas and also help clean up any slashes. I have used sanding stone but they don't last very long,the sander seem to work better for me, not very primitive , but O well.
   Pappy

richardzane:
here's a pic of the process using a curved cabinet scraper.
I started it up close to the neck edge with the standard scraping tool...you can see the little nicks!
once it was started,
this top part here? took about ...sheesh...20 seconds. I use the scraper in both hands just like you do when scraping wood.

the second pic is the scraped hide.. it was a little damp at the bottom,but the scraper worked ok anyway. I go pretty close to the edges.
one larger hole (on the left) the scraper did pop into and made a couple tiny 1/8" tears in it ... i wasn't being careful...

after the hairs gone,
the scraper works good for thinning the hide too.trying to save these shavings for hide glue.
 nice to have such an all purpose tool you can put in your pocket.

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