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More hidework

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Pappy:
Looking good Ed, I have 10 or 12 rolls like that standing in the corner of the cabin just waiting to be brained when the weather gets right, that may be a while around here,  :-\ good thing as you said if you keep the bugs/mice or dogs out of it and dry i guess it will last a life time in raw hide form, sort of like leg tendons, I got some out Friday for a friend and helped him pound it, no problem and I am sure they were 8 or 9 years old, I just save all that kind of stuff and if you keep it in a dry safe place it will be there whenever you need it,even years later. I love watching your tan a longs, I have done many but always seem to learn something I haven't thought of that make it either easier or better leather , Thanks. :)
 Pappy

BowEd:
Yep it's a type of tanning without chemicals that can be picked up anytime the mood swings a persons' way with it still being as good as gold for the final product.
Getting them into the rawhide state makes room in the freezer for other things.
It's been a yearly ritual or priority for me for quite some time.Hides usually don't stick around very long though and I've made about everything under the sun from them in the past too.
Quill workers and bead workers will seek out good brain tan for the projects they sell and a lot of them go there too.
Funny how things stick with a person that are liked as a kid.Fur,leather....etc.

BowEd:
While growing up I lived just a few miles from the South Dakota border.I guess I am influenced by the culture of the native american plains indian.A sound nonimpactful way of getting along with mother nature.The nomadic life style they lived is 1 reason why I use the dry scrape method of brain tanning.
Another reason why I make many things out of rawhide also.Parafleches,containers,boxes,quivers,knife sheaths and the like.All these items stated are posted with pictures on threads.The strips of thicker rawhide I use to tie or secure a lot of things.Usually from thicker beef rawhides.


I use it to make my top shelf hide glue also.
Even lacing in a backpack/chair combo.A build-a-long is posted making this item.This as a back pack that weighs less than 5#'s and it'll carry 90#'s of meat/equipment or as much as you can handle.It's a chair to sit around a camp fire or even a chair in a canoe like long ago.A multi purpose use item.




As luck or bad timing can happen.I've had to go through a minor surgery and recovery says I'm to not do any strenuous excersize for at least 3 weeks.Even riding the lawn mower is considered extreme.Extreme if you ask me but a person better not argue with a surgeon.
I'm doing well though and the future looks bright.

BowEd:
It's funny how far behind things can get in 3 to 4 weeks,but I'm back in the saddle again as they say getting things done before winter hits.
A pleasant stretch of temperatures lately is a good time to do it.
Finished up braining and roping dry the previous 4 hides shown earlier.Thick and soft as velvet.All holes are sewn with real sinew and ready to smoke.
I smoke hides inside my steel tractor shed with the sliding door open so weather will not be any factor getting that done.
I measure to around 35 square foot of brain tan there.A yard stick ruler is there as a reference.That's about a 25% shrinkage from a rawhide stretched state of 45 square feet after roping them dry,and that's about normal.Roping them dry will get you a thicker hide.
I use foot square tiles on the floor in my basement to measure the square footage.
The hide on the far right [the spine shot 1 and 1/2 year old doe] became smaller as I sanded too much and holes appeared.Something I warned about previously in reply #30.Lesson learned here is that it's ok using coarser sand paper on older thicker hides but not on younger thinner hides.
Far left is the buck at around 12 square feet and the 3 does to the right of him at 10,8,and 5 square feet.

GlisGlis:
Happy you're well and in force again
Those hides are real beauty !

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