Dressing means soaking the deer hide in a oily solution. I used ivory soap and olive oil. Wringing is getting the excess water out of the hide. It is amazing how much torque you can force on that baby and it doesn't faze it. Softening is pulling (and pulling and pulling) the hide until it is dry. The theory is that if you pull it while it is drying the mucus within the hide's fibers will dry without attaching themselves to the other fibers, hence a much softer hide. Honestly-- it didn't turn out perfectly. I'm not sure what went wrong. About a four/five inch perimeter of the hide is very nice. The interior is too stiff for garment use. I'm not sure if I messed up on the graining or on the softening. It is a bit discouraging. The parts that turned out nice are heavenly.
Dressing means soaking the deer hide in a oily solution. I used ivory soap and olive oil. Wringing is getting the excess water out of the hide. It is amazing how much torque you can force on that baby and it doesn't faze it. Softening is pulling (and pulling and pulling) the hide until it is dry. The theory is that if you pull it while it is drying the mucus within the hide's fibers will dry without attaching themselves to the other fibers, hence a much softer hide. Honestly-- it didn't turn out perfectly. I'm not sure what went wrong. About a four/five inch perimeter of the hide is very nice. The interior is too stiff for garment use. I'm not sure if I messed up on the graining or on the softening. It is a bit discouraging. The parts that turned out nice are heavenly.
No comments:
Post a Comment