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Four deer hides fleshed

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bjrogg:
Ed, are you suggesting I give it a KOH bath? Then remove hair, rinse well restrech, dry and then cut in strips. Or dry scrape hair then just cut into strips.
Bjrogg

BowEd:
It doesn't matter to me what way you want to process the rawhide as I've done both ways.I used to use a can of red devil lye for dehairing then on to the fleshing beam after rinsing and delyming.I've heard it's almost impossible to get any more but hav'nt investigated into it lately.They think it's ultra dangerous and can be.Latex gloves are suggested when using that stuff.
Which ever way conforms to be the easiest for you.The reason I suggested it was the size and thickness reasons.Yearlings make very nice thin rawhide but still tough as heck.Rawhide backing strips are handy to have around and good for trade for others too.Rawhide can be used for more things than backing strips and having some available is handy as it will keep well for years and years stored properly.
If obvious holes are present on your small hide right from the get go and you can see more knife slits on there then during the process of stretching making brain tan more holes will arise.Inspecting your hide good before working dry is suggested for that reason.Sewing suspicious knife slits prior to stretching and drying takes care of that.If the knife slit is so thin you can almost see daylight it'll be a hole.
On the contrary if you make brain tan from the small hide that's thinner that's a good one to get the feel of it too as they are easier.Are you confused yet?.....Ha Ha.
It's just a suggestion.You may have alternative reasons for making more brain tan or more hides on the horizon to process for clothing.Mature does and young bucks make excellent clothing and bag material.Larger older bucks make good pants material.When making clothes etc. it's good to match thicknesses' etc.The holes are no problem in that smaller hide and give it some character for clothing.
Summer killed deers' leather is thinner than winter killed too.Just a natural thing that happens.You see that processing fur for the fur trade too.I used to do a lot of hides from a rendering plant that picked up road killed deer.

bjrogg:
Thanks Ed. I didn't type that out very well. I'm sorry. I wasn't asking which method to use really. I was just asking if you were suggesting that I use one of those methods to make rawhide instead of brain tanning. It's not terribly small. It's just that the first one was pretty good sized, probably almost as big as your big fella buck. It was from a mature 8 point buck one of my old timer friends shot opening day gun season. November 15th. I think since I already have it fleshed and on frame, I'll probably practice dry scraping and maybe brain tanning on it. I should still get some useful material from it.
Bjrogg
PS I'll try get a picture up when I can

BowEd:
Going by square footage is a good bench mark comparing hides.

bjrogg:
Here's a couple pictures of second hide. Frame is same size. 6.5 x 5.5
Bjrogg

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