[TheForge] Rawhide

[dann]

I remember comfortable  furniture:  a couch  and  a chair that were  made 
from tanned leather in old Mexico,  no springs, just the leather supported 
by the frame.,  which is much more forgiving  ( softer   than raw hide).

You can find where the local farmers   have their personal  beef butchered 
for meat, and ask  who buys  the hides, and track down a local leather 
maker that way.  Last time I talked to the "local" he had  a lot of  tanned 
half beef  hides and  also offered me  40  tanned red deer 
(closest  that  the  British  have for  elk)

I have a whole buffalo (bison) raw hide that a friend did up for me, and I 
would not want to use that for a chair. Unless it is damp/ 
slimy    or   well oiled- "tanned ", raw hide is  hard unforgiving 
stuff.  Once,  I did use some beef ... pet  raw hide "bones" for a  raw 
hide  knife sheath- leather.  Soaked, shaped,  sewed,   and oiled,  it 
worked just fine.

Dann Johnson


At 05:43 PM 2/17/02 -0500, you wrote:
>     I want to make an iron chair and make the seat and back out of rawhide.
>Anyone know of a source for rawhide? The Internet list 56,000 sites, LOL. No
>pet bones won't work,lol.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike Ivey
>Savannah River Forge
>Augusta, Georgia                   NOMMA,ABANA.Alex Bealer
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