Braintanned Buckskin Writeup *warning* dead animal pics *Udates will be in RED*

[mofugly13]

I may have missed it but what kind of time do you have to get your hide to the freezer/fleshing beam before it starts to get funky???

Depending on the weather, probably about three to seven days. I got a hide from a guy on the weekend before closing that had sat in the gut bucket for three days already, it didn't stink yet. As long as the hide isn't falling apart, it's good to go. As long as your nose can handle the stank, go for it. One thing o be wary of is bacterial infection, so the sooner you can freeze or salt your hide, the better. At least get it folded up in a bag and stored in a shady spot, or a small cooler, or bring a sack of non-iodized salt along and wet-salt it.

 

[mofugly13]

A good pic of a strip of clean hide. You can see the still attached grain on either side, as well as a piece of it on the fur. I'm showing lots of pics of the graining steps, because graining is probably the most difficult part. You need to get it all off, or you will have stiff spots.

And here's an action shot of the scraping/graining process, youll want some sort of apron, like a trash bag or something, or your clothes will get nasty with the lye water. I made mine with a piece of heavy visquene tied around my waist. It happens to work very well, at some point I'll probably try to fashion an actual 'apron' out of this stuff with duct tape and whatnot.

 

[mofugly13]

There are updates, with photos, in the original posts in RED. Maybe one day I'll have the patience to put these all together on one document.



Here's a photo of a rinsed hide, you can see knife marks made by a 'hide slasher'. These show up in your finished product. That is why it's important, when skinning your critter, to get it started, and then PUT THE KNIFE DOWN! Use your fingers, fists, elbows, whatnot to separate the hide from the carcass. There's not much you can do if you are getting hides from fellow hunters, other than offering to skin their deer for them.

Here is an excellent online article that has great instruction on how to skin a deer for an optimal hide.

 

[mxfireman]

Great write up thanks for the info.

 

[surpip]

man thats freaking awesome
i wish i could do a brain download from you

 

[Smokinthehippies]

I can't believe I missed this thread. Awesome thread.

Yes it is a necro, who cares it is awesome.

 

[mofugly13]

Weak. Photobucket killed the photo links. I will try to fix...