rawhide

[mike]

i just got a very nice hide off a fat young doe (and i do mean fat- it was strange) and i got to thinking. could rawhide be used for clothing (with some working to loosen it up of course)?

[paul vallandigham]

Yes, but you would not want to wear them, in all probability. Tanning is the process of turning raw hide into pliable leather. You scrape the inside membrane off the hide, and then rub the hide in a solution, using the brains of the deer mashed, or ground up in water to chemically treat the hide. After a long soak, the hide is then hung over an open fire, and smoked. Most people make a pit fire, with a trough, or rut to the side so they can feed wood to the fire from the side, and then make a cone shaped tent, or Tipi of the hide so that the smoke from the fire travels up and finally out of the top. You can either stake the bottom edges of the hide to the gournd, or make a small tipi frame with green branches to support the hide over the fire. Wet or green woods and leaves are used to make the smoke, and the hide has to be smoked until smoke seems to be coming out of the pours of the hide on the outside.

To make a hide pliable, and therefor usuable for clothing, you break the cell walls down by rubbing the hide over a rope, a tree branch, a post in the ground, etc. This takes much work, sweat, and strong hands. If your hands aren't strong now, they will be when you are finished!

With small hides, you can cheat these days. After the brain solution has been thoroughly rubbed into the hide, and the hide smoked, Throw them damp, and therefore limp into a clothes dryer, with some old gym shoes, and leave the dryer on Cool. Let the shoes and tumblers in the drum beat the hide soft. Tennis balls can be used, also. In fact, the more " clean " junk you throw in the drum with the hide, the quicker it will be softened. Then let the hide dry in open air. There are also commercial tanning solutions you can use instead of brains. And, brains from any source will work- you don't have to use deer brains to tan a deer hide.

If you will do a search for Tanning, you can find several good sites with full instructions on how to tan a hide.

Rawhide was used to make suitcases, and other articles that carried things. Parfleche is a form of raw hide. I have a Round Ball container to carry the lead balls for my flintlock rifle made out of raw hide. Rawhide, is often used wet to wrap something line a knife or axe handle, and then allowed to dry in place. Rawhide shrinks and will hold blades and tools heads in place firmly. Indians used rawhide to wrap their arrow shafts to hold the flint points in place, to hold the feathers, or fletching to the shaft, and to strengthen and support the Nock on the back of the arrowshaft. A stone warclub could be quickly made by wrapping wet rawhide over a stone, and then tying the hide's ends to the end of a stick. Rawhide was used to make rope, or whips, and for all kinds of lashings, where strength and endurance was needed. Braided rawhide left only a small amount of the outer surface exposed to rain, so it did not loose its strength even when it was wetted in rain or snow. So, it too has many uses. Google Rawhide, and I am sure you will find mor einformation.

[Kortoso]

Deerhide is very thin. I have made rabbitskin wearable without tanning. Dunno.

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

Deerhide is very thin. I have made rabbitskin wearable without tanning. Dunno.

Thin.. but not quite thin enough.