graining

These are pictures of me graining a deer hide. Graining means removing the grain (and the hair and the epidermis). I've been soaking two deer hides in a bucking solution for about a week. I used hydrated lime for the solution. I'm a beginner and I sure am learning a lot. Notice I'm wearing a plastic poncho. That was smart, but it just wasn't enough. It was so cold and wet I eventually moved the entire mess indoors. First thing I've learned-- do buck tanning in nice weather. I'm not positive I'm doing this correctly. I didn't have any luck at all removing the grain on the first hide; I ended up removing the hair and throwing the hide back in the solution to soak for a few more days. On the second hide I figured out graining but there were pink, uncooperative spots. So that one got thrown back in, also. So I guess I'll just be doing this all over again in a few days. The thing the girls noticed was "dang those deer have a lot of hair!" It was laying all heaped up on the ground underneath the scraping beam.