Separating Bucktail

[snboggs 0]

I've got a video in which Lefty Kreh suggests separating bucktails to obtain two pieces of colored and a piece of brown. He suggest cutting the hide along the dark spot on the back. I tried this and lost alot of hair and did not get clean pieces. Does anyone else do this and know of a good way to get clean pieces with minimal loss of hair??

 

Thanks.

[Guest]

I have to separate my bucktails all the time 'cause they just won't stop fisghing each other. ba-dum, crash! *waits for laughter to subside*

 

But seriously, if you mean just for getting a more natural color shading then yes, I do that sometimes. I don't cut the hide though, I just clip hairs and blend.

[letumgo 0]

I've split a number of my bucktails as suggested by Lefty Kreh & Bob Clouser. I run a fresh (ultra sharp) single blade razor down the dark line on the hide side of the bucktail. I was recently cleaning and trimming some very thick elk hide and noticed that the hide cut VERY easily when it was wet. You may want to briefly soak your bucktail in water to soften the hide before you cut it with a razor. I think you will find that the leather will then cut very easily and you can use much less force when sliding the razor along the dark/light line on the hide. You can also "retrain" (i.e. - straighten) the hair on the tail while it is wet.