Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: brownhillboy on December 22, 2008, 04:50:06 pm
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I'm making my 1st attempt at tanning a deer hide with the hair on. Sat. morning I took it out of the freezer and put it in water to thaw it out and to aid in cleaning it since it was dragged through the mud(no pun intended). After it thawed out and I rinsed it off with a water hose, I cleaned off all of the big chunks of meat and junk. I then salted it heavily and let it drain until Sun. morning when I salted it again. That afternoon I started wet scrapping and only got about 2/3rds done when I had to leave to go to a Cristmas program at church. Well, the temp. dropped from the 40's down to 14 this morning with a high in the low 30's expected. I think I read that once a hide had been frozen, that you could not freeze it again or the hair would slip. Is this right? Should I now soak it in a water and ash solution to remove the hair and just make leather out of it, or should it still be ok? Thank you for any help.
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I'd just keep tanning it. It couldn't have froze that bad if it was salted. I've put them in the freezer for months, salted and rolled up, and they weren't frozen stiff when I took them out.
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I think salt actually helps to "set" the hair (the opposite of slipping). I would just keep tanning like Mullet said.
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Thanks guys. That's good news. :)