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Big fella into buckskin/Smoking/Lots of pics./Items made

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BowEd:
I gotta agree Pappy.I like doing them in the spring or fall best up here.They're a lot of  hand work.

BowEd:
I did'nt show the fleshing but will comment here.After framing it I flesh from the top down.I lace it in from the top and around too keeping it centered best I can as I go.Get used to retightening your lacing a time or two because it'll stretch a little with the pressure applied while fleshing.Leaving a little meat on hide makes fleshing easier.Goal is to get all flesh/fat/and membrane off.After fleshing and drying I use an orbital palm sander with 80 grit to ensure I have all membrane off before flipping it around and dehairing.
Now to dehairing with some pics.You'll find paying attention to the weather will help.A high pressure system with low humidity will make things easier and do a better job.Rawhide absorbs humidity but can still be dry.Your hide will not stretch as much during the dehairing if humidity is low.
Goal is to remove hair along with the epidermis.The older the animal the thicker the epidermis as a general rule as so a winter hide's epidermis will be thicker than a summers' hide.Thicker epidermis will require more strokes to remove it.Wash boarding happens too.Going opposite direction will remove most of it along with the sanding later on after dehairing is done.

It'll come off in strips

Here's a look at hair removed but some epidermis there yet.The light gray colored streaks.It's got to get removed otherwise your hide will not rope completely soft overall.Epidermis is sorta like a glue and is rock hard.One reason for a beginners failure.Along with improper brain penetration which I'll talk about when that step comes along later.To ensure epidermis is all gone here's a tip.Put a light or the sun on the other side of hide and look though the rawhide.You'll see it if it's there.

Good enough for today.This hide is almost like doing 2 does or 3 yearlings.You'll notice I've dehaired along the edges first.That's because while I have a very sharp edge on my scraper I did them without much pressure on hide to remove hair & epidermis.The hide is very thin there.I want to stay away from poking a hole through my rawhide.Center of hide is thicker and more pressure can be applied without that risk happening.

BowEd:
All blood stains etc. will disappear through the braining and smoking process.You'll get to know your animal as you go.Scars will be evident.Tip here...Dehair with the direction of scar.If epidermis is on yet don't worry it's a scar anyway and will not soften much.Another reason for epidermis removal is that smoke will not penetrate through it.Nor does it penetrate through a scar either.The scar line will be lighter colored almost white after smoking.
I'm sure your wondering well how about hair on tanning.The epidermis is on yet.Correct it is,but a hair on hide will not be as flannel soft as a hair off hide.It will be more like a robe.Brains are just applied to the flesh side then.Smoking a hair on hide is done just on the flesh side too.Smoking a hair off hide is done on both sides.

BowEd:
I know there are many other brain tanners out there maybe following along here.If there are any comments needed you think feel free to comment.The more the merrier.I know I've done other ways like the wet scrape method on the fleshing beam for dehairing with success before too.Maybe I can learn something on this show-a-long here too.
There are all sorts of pitfall problems that come up with this process.I'm just trying to comment on the ones that have given me problems.Keep me from feeling like I'm just entertaining myself here typing.

Stringman:
I'm following Ed. Good info on the epidermis removal. I hadn't realized how important that was to a soft hide. Gonna start paying closer attention.

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