Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: butch on November 09, 2007, 08:25:09 am

Title: hide
Post by: butch on November 09, 2007, 08:25:09 am
i soacked my hides in lye and scraped , worked good except some small patches. tacked it down , scraped , then added draino to get rid of some stubborn patches of hair and cartilledge. worked fair, they were translucent, when rinceing they shrunk and thickend. is this normal. how do i strech them to original shape, incidently, i wore rubber gloves but my urine had a strong smell af hydrocloric acid this morning. should i be concerned. thanks.
Title: Re: hide
Post by: cowboy on November 09, 2007, 10:51:57 am
I'm no expert but sounds like you might have not diluted your draino enough and burned the hide a little. I'd stretch it on a frame and let dry, don't think their's any real harm done. On the urine thing, hmm, well, I dunno, hehe :D.
Title: Re: hide
Post by: jamie on November 09, 2007, 12:52:51 pm
you need to rinse the hide in an acid solution (vinegar) to nutrilize the base solution (lye) .
Title: Re: hide
Post by: mullet on November 09, 2007, 05:27:11 pm
    Wouldn't you need to rinse it in Baking Soda?Lye,or Drano is a caustic acid.But rinsing in clean water should dilute it enough,anyway.
Title: Re: hide
Post by: jamie on November 09, 2007, 05:51:59 pm
lye is actually a caustic base and vinegar being and acid will nuetralize the lye. i have a formula ive been trying to dig up. its so much water and so much vinegar in a bucket. when i find it i'll post it. peace
Title: Re: hide
Post by: mullet on November 09, 2007, 07:16:41 pm
 Sorry,got that one backwards.I thought lye was an acid.
Title: Re: hide
Post by: DanaM on November 09, 2007, 08:06:48 pm
Lye is sodium hydroxide over 7 on the pH scale, vinegar is acetic acid under 7 on the pH scale. and of course 7 is neutral.
I know a little chemistry but nothing about tanning ???
Title: Re: hide
Post by: mullet on November 09, 2007, 08:26:46 pm
   Yep,I feel like a Dumb A$$,I work in Chemical plants all the time making Phosphoric acid.Whenever I want the latest cell phone,I have a problem with mine falling in the waste water  ::)
Title: Re: hide
Post by: stickbender on August 11, 2008, 01:10:01 am


     How do your lungs feel?  You might have breathed some fumes, and that is why your urine smells like that.  Of course it could have been something you ate......Mullet do you work in the phosphate mines?  Do you glow at night?  I understand that there is low level radiation in them.  Would be a bummer to keep getting up to turn the lights off, only to find you already did......

                                                                   Stick Bender