Deer hair/elk hair curing

[Chasethorn 0]

I went to my local fly shop tonight for a open tie night and a guy gave me a fresh deer and elk hair hide... Now does anyone or has anyone ever cured their own hair? And tips would be much appreciated!

[flytire 0]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=curing+deer+hide

[SilverCreek 0]

[Goose77 0]

Hey Chase, welcome to the site. In the archives [past posts] there are ALOT of threads on this. You can review these and pick your poison. I deal with alot of deerhair, so am reasonably knowledgeable about this. The simplest [best?] way is to wash the hide/hair...I use dishwashing detergent. Wash and rinse thoroughly. You can blowdry the hair to fluff it if you like. I nail the hide to a plywood board hair down and flesh side up. ALL the loose connective tissue and filmy stuff on the hide is scraped away...keep at it till you're thinning the hide a little. Let it dry...this takes some time [2 to 4 weeks]. You want the hide stiff and it'll often be a little crackly. You can then cut it up in whatever size pieces you want. Put these loosely where they have good airflow...they are not fully dry yet. They still need to breath so don't seal them up. The hair like this ties best after 3 months or more. You can use it before then, but it will get better through time. I like to wait 6 months or more if I can stand it.

Keep the dogs away from it!

The above way is still a mess, but worth it. You can use salt/borax on the hide, and I'm sure someone will recommend that. That will hasten the drying process, but it is far messier. I do this all inside the house in my basement...it doesn't seem to smell.

I have never tanned a hide. I have that done commercially...it costs 80 bucks here. The results are superb.

Hope this helps, Ed

[mikechell 0]

I have that done commercially...it costs 80 bucks here. The results are superb.

 

This is what I always recommend. I understand that it's "neat" to do stuff yourself. But there are certain jobs that just get done better when an expert is involved.

I know how to wire my house, but if I ever need wiring done, I am calling a pro.

 

You can dry a hide. You can chew it (the saliva helps to "tan" the hide). You can learn the process, buy all the equipment and tan it yourself.

 

Or you can spend a few bucks and get back a really nice pelt. It will store without worry, without "crunchy" noises, etc.

[Goose77 0]

Timely. Yesterday afternoon I got a decent deer. Here is the belly patch. It's been cleaned and the first scraping done. Nailed to plywood. After finishing the scraping, slide the hide up the nails to let the hair side dry better. Cheers, Ed

[mikechell 0]

I was wondering ...

If you dry a hide, and it's stiff like that ... can you then just apply some Neatsfoot oil to make it pliable? I know I've restored some gloves and other leather products with it ... but then they were just dried out, tanned leather.

 

There are several synthetic (odorless and colorless) oils on the market. Seems like any of them could be used to make the leather as soft as if it had been tanned ... you just would want to wear it.

 

No?

[Goose77 0]

Hey Mike...thanks for the question. Tanned [pliable] deer hair is nice to work with, you know, like pieces of deer body hair you can buy. But stiff [untanned] hair is also nice...just as good I think. This is almost always what you get on purchased deer belly hair pieces. It's alot easier to cut the hide when it's stiff. You want it flat though...not all curled up. If the hide is scraped thoroughly it's pliable enough when dried that it's easy to work with. Hope this answers your question. Oh yeah, the pieces are cut out from the hide side, not the hair side. It still gets hair all over, but it's better by far. Best regards, Ed

[David Parker 0]

I do not hunt Deer myself, but am fortunate to have friends further north of me that supply me with a skin when needed. A full deer hide goes a long way, so IMO, doing one is worth the effort and certainly a good learning experience for anyone interested. I have a secure garage for the messy job and it helps to keep the critters away from the hide.

My preferred method is similar to what has been mentioned, but with some differences.

I place the hide hair side down onto a sheet of plywood and use a heavy blade hunting knife to scrape ALL the remaining flesh and fat from the hide. This can be quite time consuming and also hard on the hands. It is important to remove everything from the hide to prevent future problems. Best to do this job as soon as you get the skin.

Once the hide is completely scraped clean, I will cut it up into workable pieces about 18" square. This makes them easier to work with when tying, but also for storage.

After the cut up, I wash each piece in a warm water solution of " 20 Mule Team Borax ". This cleans all dirt, debris and especially dried blood from the hair.

I then hang each piece on a clothes line (inside the garage for this purpose) and let it drip dry/air dry for 24 hours.

All pieces are placed back onto the plywood, hair side down and then I completely cover everything with a heavy layer of picking salt. Leave to dry for 2 days.

Every 2 days I revisit the hide and rework the salt. As it draws the moisture from the deer skin, it forms a hard crust on the top layer of the salt. I crumble it all up and reapply it to the skin pieces once again..........this is the messy part, for salt can get everywhere, so I keep it neat.

The salt process will take about 2 - 3 weeks depending on weather temps and where you are doing this job. Just keep checking the hide.

I want the use of the hair, not the hide (skin), so once the job is finished, the skin will become hard, like mentioned, but it is workable.

Once the skin is dried I remove all the salt (saving it for future use) and then will do a final borax rinse/ hang to dry. This just insures me that each piece is clean, salt free, odour free.

I may go a little overboard using this method, but it has provided me with very long lasting deer hair in storage, critter free w/o the associated problems by using salt.

Although quite time consuming, as it may take 2 months to complete the process, it is a worth while effort to me for I use a lot of deer hair.

I store the finished pieces into large flip top storage containers and throw in a moth ball or 2 for long term critter free storage. Please make a effort to store your stuff properly to protect them from critters, for they will invade your stuff............or try to.

I have used this method for years and have a nice inventory of Deer, Moose, Elk, Black Bear, Fox, Coyote............

I recommend anyone to try your hand at this..............if your wife will let you that is..........ha!

Good luck and thanks for asking about this.

[troutguy 0]

Scrape the fat or meat and borax. Nail or pin to board to dry. I have skins that I have for years/decades. I cut up to fit in gallon ziplock bags.

[pica 0]

Flesh the hide(the most important part) and then I add a mixture of 2:1 borax and salt. let it dry well, and shake off the excess. If you are just using it for tying there is really no need to go to any more effort. If you like the hide to be soft and pliable there are numerous tanning techniques. Good luck.