[TheForge] OT - Hides in ones Blacksmith shop

Tue Feb 19 13:16:45 EST 2008

Wes,

I ruined a few hides trying to get the hair to slip.  At this point, 
I wouldn't be worried about the  hair slipping. It will slip or dry 
shave off as the hide drys. I'd be more worried that the hide will 
spoil in the thawing process .

Lye soaking the hides  does a couple things.  It turns fats into a 
soapy slimy stuff. It also weaken the hide as the lye  breaks down 
proteins.  You are right about the salt not helping the tanning 
process, but salt  does stop bacterial growth.

At this point, First to get ready,  I'd make up a square / rectangle 
stretching frame out of doubled up, 2" by 4" s  but spaced/ separate 
the  2" by 4" with little 6 inch chunks of 2"by 4"  between every 
foot or so, so  you can tie through the slots between the 2 by 4s, 
and still have enough strength so that the shrinking hide doesn't 
easily twist the lumber.   Punch or drill holes around the edges of 
the hide and 'Sew" it to the frame with plastic twine.

I think I'd want to get the hides out the lye water as quickly as I 
could.  To get the hide(s) out of the ice without more bacterial 
growth,  I think that I'd try adding enough salt to melt the ice, and 
then once free from ice, promptly wash the lye and the salt water off 
the hide, with a garden hose, and then with several cold water baths, 
and stretch it on the frame.  The lye water  should have caused the 
hide to thicken and swell up  a bit, but when it shrinks and drys, I 
think that the hair will loosen and slip.

The " food grade" mineral oil that people drink by the table 
spoon,  as a laxative, does a fair job at oil-tanning a hide, if 
rubbed in while the hide is drying.  I've had some luck using a canoe 
paddle on larger hides to  work and to stretch the hide, and keeping 
adding mineral  oil  to it, much like the brain tanning method.

Any hair / buffalo wool remaining on the hide will probably  shave 
off pretty easily at this point, but it is more like abrading the 
hair off, running tool something like very  dull knife across the hair side.

At least that is what I would try after working the oil into the 
inner side. and getting the drying hide mostly oil tanned.

Dann

At 02:56 PM 2/18/2008, you wrote:

>I have some elk hide I was going to use for the main bellows.  The buffalo
>was going to be used for hinges and valves.
>
>Some other things the buffalo hide was destined for: belts, possible drum
>head, and for the soles of some new boots.
>
>Yeah, that stuff is [heavy].  And we do have a line on 6 more from the same
>place.  Biggest problem with it is that those suckers were heavily salted
>then hung over a barn beam to dry - I think the over kill on the salt is why
>we were having problems getting the hair to slip free.
>
>-Wes

>-----Original Message-----
>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Saint Phlip
>Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 2:49 PM
>To: Sponsored by ABANA
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] OT - Hides in ones Blacksmith shop
>
>That's going to be some awfully heavy material for the bellows- a bit
>like sinking an I-beam for a tent stake. Do you have a splitter? You
>likely want 8-10 oz leather, alum tanned. Brain tanning will work, of
>course, but it's an awfuly big job, with a buffalo hide.
>
>On Feb 18, 2008 3:14 PM, Wes Marquart <marquart at arlinn-tower.com> wrote:
> > You could have my dilemma...
> >
> > I've got two buffalo hides sitting in a barrel of lye-water (actually
> > lye-ICE) taking up space in my shop...
> >
> > A neighbor brought them over in early November so he could 'teach' me
> > tanning... he'd originally said that we'd only need to soak them for 2-3
> > days in wood-ash/water to get the hair to slip off... so we checked them
> > every couple of days - for a month & a half - no slippage... so we drained
> > them and then went to a lye and water solution... still no slippage...
> > finally it got cold enuf for things to freeze into a solid block... so I
> > have a 55 gal. poly drum sitting in the middle of the floor...
> >
> > I've even tried running a torpedo heater on it to try and thaw things out
> > far enough so I can drain the liquid...
> >
> > Looks like I'll have two hides as residents till later this spring...
> >
> > Fun!
> >
> > .... OH YEAH!  Forgot the blacksmithing content...  :)
> >
> > part of the hides are destined to become part of a new double chamber
> > bellows...
> >
> > -Wes
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> > [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jerry Smith
> > Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 2:01 PM
> > To: Sponsored by ABANA
> > Subject: RE: [TheForge] Pelt Stretching Frame
> >
> > Wes,
> >
> > I was think of doing that, I need the space and the
> > barn is the right size to work on such things.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jerry
> > --- Wes Marquart <marquart at arlinn-tower.com> wrote:
> >
> > > You could always hang it from a beam... lower it
> > > down with ropes when you
> > > want to work on it & then haul it back up to free up
> > > floor space.
> > >
> > > -Wes
> > >
> >
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>--
>Saint Phlip
>
>Heat it up
>Hit it hard
>Repent as necessary.
>
>Priorities:
>
>It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.
>
>.I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
>notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow
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