Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Cave Men only "Oooga Booga" => Topic started by: n2everythg on November 10, 2008, 05:39:56 pm
-
Think this belongs in this section. I know my wife and neighbors are gonna think I'm a crazy weird cave man that doesnt belong in this upscale suburban neighborhood...........
you know how one small thing almost always turns into something bigger than you thought it was gonna be when it first seemed like a good idea at the time?
well started out I was wanting to stitch up some mocs and maybe build a quiver. Couldnt find any decent leather that I liked anywhere. The stuff at tandy leather looked like plastic and wasnt too sure about any of the online stuff.
So started hunting round local for buffalo ranches thinking maybe I could get a hide. found a good deal but it grew bigger than a bread box. First I was just gonna get one green hide.... now keep in mind I have only tanned a couple squirrels, a wild cat and in the process of doing a skunk. but how much harder can a buffalo be anyway... it is only 1000 times the size of the squirrel...
well one hide was so cheap that I thought it would be cool to do one hair on and one hair off..... and then I started thinking about the head and horns... well it wasnt much more to get a recently chopped off head with all particulate matter attached....
So now I got 2 hides and a head... all green and gooey......
I live in the middle of suburbia so I figure this ought to get interesting real quick......
well the hides I can freeze til I'm ready to do something with 'em..... but what the frick am I gonna do with a bloody buf head... The wife will absolutely FREEK out if she opens up here freezer and finds a decapitated buff in there.... not that she is gonna be entirely pleased with a couple green hides taking up the entire freezer......
So right now I am picturing walking down the street through my little suburban neighborhood carrying a decapitated buf head to get down to the little woods to hide it somewhere to decay and stink for a while....
or maybe I can just hammer it up to the fence and let it drip away... hum... neighbor control... that might work... drive out all them neighbors that I cant stand... now just gotta figure out which fence to hang it on.....
well the whole lot only cost me $100. Think I got a deal but a ton of work ahead of me.
Any suggestions?
later
wade
-
:o :o :o :o :o
-
only idea i have is that you could cut off the horns and sens them to me ;D
cant seem to get the buff farms around me to give that stuff up, i even offered to pay for them still got a flat out nope :'(
peace,
tim
-
I live on a large buffalo ranch where they sell young bison for meat. In the winter the hides are really nice. It takes up lots of floor space in the garage but they dry out well with lots of salt. We have buffalo heads all over the place as the bears and coyotes drag them off. If you skin out the head while its fresh they are not so bad to handle, but after they get ripe its another story all together. A fresh head will have enough brains to tan the hide once its dry and fleshed out! I don't envy you the chore you have taken on! Watcher
-
lol. it is pretty obvious that I have not thought this one through all the way....
I was gonna let the head rot then go out and buy some brains to tan the hide.... man.
Hopefully I would have at least figured that one out before putting the head someplace handy to ripen.
any idea on how to get the brains out with out screwing up the skull? not sure what I am going to do with head and horns but might make a cool decoration til I figure it out....
Man I just had this image of how to get the brains out of the skull... you'll love this...
I could remove the spine then insert a high pressure air hose in the eye socket..... blow them right out the back
what do ya think?... I say stand back and let 'er rip.
Later,
N2
-
well if nothing else it would be intesting to watch ya try that lol
-
Sounds like a big mess to me. You could boil them in the Kitchen on the wife's stove for about 9 hours. >:D Just be sure and open all the windows. ;) If you go in the bottom of the skull near where the spine enters, in between the Jaws. You can make a hole there big enough to bring the brains out the bottom without messing the skull up. I've done it on several animals, the bone is not thick there.
-
Mullets right about how to remove the brains----I just would not wait too long ::) ::)! Watcher
-
FIRE ANTS!!! ;D
-
Wade, I would say that I do not envy the job ahead of you, but I am in almost the same boat. I have two cow hides salted right now, just waiting for me to dive in. As far as the brains go, this is what I do for deer adn should work for the buffalo head. I take a piece of 16 gauge welding wire ( clothes hanger will work), cut it about a foot longer than you need. Wrap one end around a wooden dowel and wind up about an inch to look like a spring. Then stretch it some so that there are gaps in it. Then I insert it through the spinal cord into the brain. You may have to give a little extra push to break through the membrane around the brain. No need to make a hole when there is one already there. Give the wire a few twists and start pulling the chunks of brains out. Just keep an old coffee can or your wifes' favorite bowl under it to catch the brains. I'll bet those neighbors are going to love you. ;D ;D ;D
-
Dermastid beetles work too. I have a small colony of the little buggers working on a snake and some deer legs right now.
-
As for the Brains....do like suggested...either use the Spinal column hole or make a larger one underneath and pull the Brains out in pieces through it....now for the Skull....dig a hole in the back Yard....and bury it.....but don't bury the Horns......cover it back up with earth....and let Mother Nature do your cleaning for you....then when its cleaned off of all flesh....just give it a little Boiling to finish it up.....this way you aren't stinking up the House for a whole damned day!!!
-
mmmmmm! wish i could help. you're welcome to bring down to the farm and feed it to the fireants. hillbilly is good at finding them but he's not coming this weekend. you can pick it up on the next trip.
-
I put stuff like that in an ant bed and turn a wash tub down over it be sure to put a cinder block or two on it so it cant be robbed by neighborhood dogs. Make sure to put it where the wife won't notice cause if she moves the tub you may be the next thing to get moved.Ron
-
Wade
shoot me a Pm if you don't mind . I would love to see if that place you got those hides from has any more.
Buff hide would make some greay mocs , or anything else you need hide for !
TJ
-
I'd be very interested to see how this works out.
For future reference, here is a link to skull cleaning services. I think it's the best way to go:http://www.taxidermy.net/suppliers/skull.php
Like nugget, I too would be interested in getting green buff hides. (Anyone with info please shoot me a PM. Thanks!)
-
Here is how it looks after working it all weekend. Bombed out on hunting with Chris in SC due to $ and drive time and too much to do before we leave for FL this weekend.
Fleshed it wet after soaking overnight in several changes of H2O, Man that was a cast iron B.........
Then framed it up and did some dry scraping on it. Egged "brained" it last night. I didnt have any brains.... HA... no kidding... otherwise I wouldnt be doing this...... but found a butcher shop today that sells them so I am headed out at lunch to get some brains.... whew... wife will be glad I finally got some brains....
Anyway, figured I would presmoke it tonight.
TJ - Since you are right here in NC......The Buff Rancher said he sends 1 - 2 buffs to the butcher every 3 - 4 weeks. Send me a PM and I will give you his contact info. I paid 35$ for a green hide. Actually I have one more in the freezer right now. you might be able to trade me out of it or pay me $ if you dont want to wait.....let me think on that one.
Sorry JC dont know how I could get a green stinky hide all the way to TX. think cost wouldnt be worth it. do a search online. I found a place you can get a raw scraped salted hides here: http://www.braintan.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=1&Category_Code=Skins
here is what mines looks like now it is still a bit wet from the first egging.... starting to stretch and work it. Works good just jumping up and down on it in the frame with the frame elevated starting to soften but needs a lot of thinning still and more brains than I have got right now:
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff003.jpg)
-
N2, what size is the frame in that picture? I think I might build a frame or two while I'm waiting for hides to arrive in the mail. ;D
-
looks like someone has done some trapping in their life, nice hide cleaning skills. did you use a flesher and a beam or scrape with a knife. keep the pics comming, me like!
-
patrick - that frame is 7x9 and the hide barely fits. I had it built out at 8'6 x10 but wouldnt stand up in the garage to work on. I trimmed the hide down a bit and cut off the legs to get it to fit and I think that this is a small buffalo from what I have seen. But plenty big nuf for me. some guys over on PP are using either a 10x12 or a 12x12 frames.
-
wow :o Thanks N2. Looks like I'll have to work outside or trim the hide like you did.
-
What I have learned to date and status:
1. buffalo are a pain in the butt. and will kill you even when they are dead and skinned out.
I wouldnt try to wet wet scrape to flesh one out again. they are too big, too heavy and the skin structure is too weak and I have heard and can see from this one if you wet them too many times they start to fall apart especially in the front shoulders. Dry scrape only is the way to go with a buff.
Get a good scraper with a solid handle and a really sharp blade. I have been dry scraping using an old plane blade held in the hand. Forget that! blisters and aching hands! Next one I will build a good scraper before I start. Also there is a perfect window in which to scrape when the hide is not too wet and not too dry.
If you read articles about buff tanning they state that thinning is the most important part. I want to reiterate. thin, then thin some more especially in the rump and spine sections. I've got the front shoulders pretty soft and the sides but the rump and spine are still really stiff. apparently they wont tan unless thin enough from what I can tell and read.
I have "brained" 3 times now.
1. wet fleshed waited til partially dry then 'egged' with 7 eggs and some hot water.
2. waited til almost dry and thinned a lot (I thought) then brained with 2 lbs of pig brains and some hot water.
3. waited til dry. scraped a bit then brained with 1 lb of brains and almost a quart of Neatsfoot oil (hot solution) and folded the hide up and put weights on it over night.
tried to work the hide and stretch as much as possible between, during and after brainings.
Headiing out on vacation tomorrow for a week so - guess it will dry and relax for a week then will need more work and perhaps more thinning. Probably got 15-18 hrs into it so far.
Sure hope this turns out cause it is supposed to be the basis for my xmas gift for the PA exchange as well as for myself.
Want to build a pair of knee high winter moccs with the hair on inside. like this:
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/Mocs.jpg)
here is how it looked before last braining:
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff004.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff005.jpg)
later. see y'all in a week.
-
As for the brains, you can do the stick and wire bit, or you can in through the eye socket, with a wire, with a right angle at the end, and put the wire in a drill and hit the trigger, and then drain out the mush through the bottom of the skull, where the spine attaches. The , just scrape out the remnants. You can put the head on a fire ant mound, or boil it good, and then let it soak in hydrogen peroxide, to bleach the skull. Those little beatles work really well also. But so do fire ants. What you aren't going to make a Buffalo head hat? Like the one in Little Big Man.
Wayne
-
Wade, If you picked me I wear a size 9. And if you are close to Disney, give me a shout.
-
Wade, If you picked me I wear a size 9.
Man you have a Big Head .............. >:D
-
Eddie,
Headed down to Orange beach AL right on the border for a week. But will be down at Disney for a week over christmas. Planned on looking you up then if you are around.
On the brains... heard you can stick a hose in and just wash them out neat as you please... but heads are buried now. pig brains and neatsfoot will have to do.
As for who is getting 'em........ well I will just have to let y'all wonder for a bit.......
later..
N2
-
Wade, give me a shout. I only live about 30 minutes from that cesspool they call Orlando.
-
Awww, Eddie, if Mickey Rodent, heard you say that why, he send Pluto, Goofy, and Dumbo to fertilize your yard! But if sure would make those Collards grow!
Wayne
-
been busy trying to get back into things from Vaca and not had much time on the forum. Hope Y'all had a good T-Day.
Well 1/2 done almost. still gotta smoke out the 1/2 hide side. The other half still needs thinning and more braining.
Got this one almost where I want it though I think.... not knowing what I am doing anyway. Still needs a little more breaking down I think but not much. Think it is good enough for some mocs and Quiver. Dont really know how much more to break it. front shoulders are almost too soft. Was thinking I would make them the uppers on the mocs. Rump and back legs are thickest and most stiff - thinking I would make them the lowers on the mocs.
Anybody got any better suggestions or recommendations on what part to put where on a pair of mocs? If there is enough left then will do a quiver.
Man this has been a lot of work.... not really looking forward to finishing off the other 1/2 right at the moment....
Later,
wade
PS..... any one know if pappy has cute skinny calves or fat ugly ones? ..... my guess would be the second.... but I am open to ideas from any one who has checked out pappy's calves...
oh yea... almost forgot the pics.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff008.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff009.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff011.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/Fish/buff012.jpg)
-
Wade, down the center of the back is the thickest, toughest part of the hide. Probably best for the soles. Along the belly is the softest(usually thick but soft). Between the two(the sides) is where the body of the moc should come from. The hide is stretchy across wise and stretches much less lengthwise. Consider the stretch as you lay the mocs out.
I've never made mocs but I have worked a lot of leather.
I'm enjoying your misery! ;D This has been enlightening!!! ;) Pat
-
Smoked out the hide for 6-7 hrs last night.
This morning (while working) I washed it in woolite then dried it in the dryer on gentle cycle.
This is how it looks now. Think I am ready to begin making the mocs.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/buff004.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/buff002.jpg)
-
Looks like you did a very nice job on your albatross...I mean hide. ;D Pat
-
that looks awesome my friend! well done on the fur!
-
Ok now that i have confirmed that the person got my christmas gift I think I can finish up this thread and post some final pics. didnt want to ruin the surprise for the christmas trade totally anyway. I mean the guy knew I was making mocs cause I had to get a pattern for his feet but not what they looked like. Guess I will let him post a pic of the christmas trade mocs over on the xmas thread but will post a pic here of the other pair I am just finishing up.
Here is the pair of mocs that I ended up making for myself.
think I will use the rest of the hide to make up a quiver.
turned out ok. learned a lot from my first buff.
especially that thinning is king on doing a buff.
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/DSC01520.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/n2everythg/DSC01517.jpg)
later
N2
-
Very cool mocs Wade. You ought to try to make another. That other shoe just don't fit the pic! ;D Pat
-
Very nice Wade.
-
Very cool moc how does it feel?
-
Awesome job Wade but like Pat said ya need two of em ;) :D
-
Not many post keep my attention all the way through, but this one did. interesting for sure. I want to go out and get me a buff hide! I laughed out loud thinking about blowing the brain out with air pressure . Mike
-
Now I know how they were made.Thanks. Lots of work went into that. :)
Pappy
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
thanks guys.
glad you got a chance to see that too pappy. It was quite an experience.
still have another hide in the freezer so guess I'm not done yet.
wife keeps rolling her eyes.....
working on a powder horn right now.
n2