Got a Fresh Hide, Now What?

[Catalpa_Joe 0]

My neighbor just stopped by with a real surprise tonite. He handed me about half a hide from the really nice 10 point buck he shot last Saturday. He says "Here, you want this?". Well I had forgotten my casual comment earlier this summer about "...if you ever get a deer....". It's a real dark brown with long hair & I'd like to clean it so I don't have to keep it in the freezer where it's at now. I've never cleaned a fresh hide before so I need the help of all you deer skinners to get me thru this. What's the drill to get it to the point where I can keep it in the house with all my other supplies? Seems like about a year ago there was a similar discussion but I didn't find anything when I did a search. :dunno:

[Steve P 0]

I'll try to keep this simple but i tend to start to ramble so... appologise ahead of time.

 

Take it out of the freezer (duh) let it thaw (again... duh) lay it down hair side down on a board, and go at it with a big spoon on it's side and scrape the pee snot out of it, you want to remove all the fat/meat/gooey stuff that is there. Then hit it with a 50/50 mix of salt and borax. The salt should be pretty fine stuff like table salt the borax the cheapest and best stuff is the 20 Mule Team you can find at most grocery stores in with the laundry soap. Now that you have a fair amout of salt and boax mixed well you want to stretch the hide as best you can and then tack it to the board that you just finished scraping it on (of course remove all the fat and gooey from tht board before you do this) just use some thumb tacks to pin it to the board or you can be like me and go for the overkill and use small nails too, just make sure you have it stretched but not like a drum just so there is tension applied all over the skin (this is easier if the skin has a nice geometrical shape like a square or a circle so that the pressure is even) now sprinkle it with your salt borax mixture and don't be afraid to go a little wild with the stuff. Now allow to sit in a cool dry place for a couple days and to begin to dry and set the hair. after the first cycle of drying scrape off all of the previous mixture with that spoon but don't get to agressive just get the stuff off well and reapply with fresh borax only allowing this to set a couple days as well and aking sure that the hide is very, very dry you should be able to now remove the hide from the board (if the hide is not dry yet just scrape off the borax and give it another coat and let sit a couple more days, repeat this step as many times as needed). Her is where most people will differ from me on this stuff. I tend to just cut the hide loose from the nails (or tacks) because I never clean the edges as much as I would like them to be so i am afraid that i will eventually get critters because of that so I just cut that part off. Now what you do with it is up to you... you can now wash it and ten allow to dry or if the hair is fairly clean of "juice" just use as is or take it to a good solid 2x4 and just rub the skin side on it back and forth in every angle you can and eventually it will become very soft and suptle.

 

That should do you pretty much and some guys may have different way of doing it so listen to whta every one says and just pick what you think sounds best since this is not the only way just my way.

 

Steve

[rockworm 0]

Catalpa Joe

 

You need to do three things:

 

1) Scrape off all the fat from the skin side.

2) Wash the hide clean (laundry detergent is often used). Then rinse well.

3) Dry the hide (preferably using salt or borax.)

 

I'm sure others will be able to fill in some blanks here. But the process is relatively simple.

 

 

[Ribs1 0]

I went down to Chris Helm's place in Toledo last year to learn how to do this. I took a few hides down and he showed me the program. Here's the steps that Chris follows (and he is the worlds foremost expert on this)

1. Scrape the hide. Chris uses an angled board (ironing board shaped) and a 2 handed knife. Stretch the hide over the board and start scraping the fat and meat off the hide. You have to get all the meat and fat off the hide.

2. Wash the hide. Fill your laundry tub with very hot water and add about a cup of ivory liquid or more. Soak the hide in this for a day then rinse.

3. Drip dry the hide. Hang the hide and let it drip dry for a few hours

4. Tack the hide on a board. Layout the hide on a large piece of plywood hair side down and nail the skin to the board. Prop the board against the wall and let dry for a few days.

Cut the skin into whatever size pieces you want. Chris uses an electric carpet cutter. Make sure to cut up the skin outside as this is the messiest part of the job.

 

According to Chris (and me) you don't need any borax, salt or anything else.

 

[rockworm 0]

Obviously, Steve was entering his info as I was writing up mine. It sounds like he has lots of experience doing this. His suggestion to stretch the hide during drying is a good one. When thoroughly dry, cut the hide into manageable peices and store them in zip-loc (or simlar) bags (with a piece of dichlorobenzene.) Then tye lots of Muddlers, Bass Bugs, and Irresistibles. (And share your good fortune with your friends!)

[rockworm 0]

Ribs1

 

I think the purpose of the borax/salt is partly to help dry the hide and partly to kill off (and prevent) bacteria and mould from invading the skin.

[Steve P 0]

I've been told that the salt though it acts as a wonderful drying ingredient that it's true purpose is to "set the hair" which basically means that it will make the hair stay in the skin until plucked or cut. Unfortunatly yes I do have a good deal of experience with this and the board that Ribs is talking about is a fleshing beam and I have three of them in the garage for different sized animals and I have a few draw flesh knives as well but have gotten to where I don't like them as much and have gone to a push type of knife that is a bit smaller. I have been working with the local taxidermist for the last four years and have picked up a few tips here and there but again I am no expert just a guy that might be able to help.

 

Steve

[rockworm 0]

Steve

 

Don't knock your experience. It is worth ten times what you can find in a book. And more.

[Ribs1 0]

Ribs1

 

I think the purpose of the borax/salt is partly to help dry the hide and partly to kill off (and prevent) bacteria and mould from invading the skin.

 

I am only relating what I have learned from the recognized world master of deer hair as it relates to fly tying.

There is no one with more expertise than Chris Helm and this is the way he does it. This however is not the only way. I personally have treated about 10 skins and hung out with Chris while treating a few hundred.

If you buy hair from Chris it is not treated with borax and doesn't need to be. I've got pieces of hair from Chris that are up to 10 years old and they do not have mold on them.

 

[Steve P 0]

For sure you do not have to use any salt or borax I have done a couple hides with out and prefer to do rabbit mask without just because. and I am sure that deer and squirrel and all other manner of furry and feathered woodland creatures can be done the same way but I do prefer to use borax and salt to dry with since that is the way I was taught and so that is the way I prefer to do it. just like the fact that some guys like the hides to be stiff but I like mine really well broken so I tend to spend several hours a day rubbing them across a breaking beam until they are very soft and suptle. Every body does things different and I am no exception for sure matter of fact I tend to do most everything different. To be really honest with you if you want to do it really old school go to the store and buy yourself about 4lbs. of pig brains and then PM me and I'll e-mail you the instructions on how the indians brain tanned a hide back in the old days. It makes a really nice looing hide very golden in color and super, super soft when properly broke. Be redy to spend hours a day working the hide though and trust me your knuckles are going to hurt like hell but it will be worth it every time you lay that hide over your lap in the winter then you know you have done some real work to stay warm. I personally have brain tanned 4 hides and the last one I did will probably be the last one I will ever do.

 

Steve

[Harold Ray 0]

Thank y'all for this discussion. I had been wondering about this; I'm doing some turkey wings right now. I also remembered the thread about this from last year, too.

 

Ray

[bowfin47 0]

Before you do anything... Take a long and serious look at the quality of the hair. Deerhair in Texas/Louisiana and a bunch of other places is not worth a damn for spinning.

 

If your hide is from Minn./ Mont./Canada or other cold climit, ya may have something worth spending your time on.

 

Is the hair as long as quality hair from Chris Helm?

 

Also, the hair on fresh hide always semes better than it actually is... in my humble opinion...

 

Been there, done that...

 

a Louisiana boy...

[J.Z 0]

oh, that is where i went wrong... i hade about a square foot of polar bear(one of the local taxidermists got one in) and it got maggots. i forgot the borax :wallbash:

[Floyd 0]

Give this site a try. Some good information in it. http://wildlife.tamu.edu/publications/A086.PDF

[sulfernut 0]

I have to throw my 2 cents in here! I have never done an entire deer hide,but have done a few smaller animals and a ton of deer tails. All the above advice seems sound,however,I will relate that I made a big mistake on a bucktail once ( and yes,it was the biggest,fullest,most beautiful bucktail I had ever seen!) by washing it BEFORE the salt/borax treatment...and the skin simply disintegrated,leaving me with a bucket full of loose hair! I was heartbroken!! I firmly believe that the salt and borax helps to "lock" the hair into the skin...salt acts to draw excess moiusture and oil out of the skin,and also "shrinks" it.

 

Salt is also a natural preservative. Good Luck!!

 

Sulphernut