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Post by joanne2 on Jan 30, 2009 8:12:46 GMT -5
Can be a little slow around here. I need the frame.. as it's a good solid one. One problem.. I'm going to have to yank it out of it's leaning place. Second problem.. there's already a skin in it. Anyway I decided that I'm going to go yank it out of the snow, bring in into the nice cosy house and dry scrape some hair off of it in my living room!.. No fears.. I have a shop vac! There sure is a lot of snow on the frame too.. will probably try and blow some of that off as I don't wish to heave the edges on this chintzy laminate flooring just yet.. Need oak planks around this place! Or a SHOP for tanning.. heated.. ah well will have to make do. I want to put this little cow elk skin in the frame and help push it dry and done.. would like to do something with it and the other skin hangin on the line.. I just don't feel like tanning outside in the winter..will save my outdoor experiences for something that I can't do inside. like powerwashing.. coyotes!! Guys around here want hats this time of year..so I've been amusing myself in disgusting ways.. nothing much more disgusting than stinkin' frozen coyotes.. oh well I'm not choosy, I didn't have any part of shooting them. and was glad to get all of these skins FREE for the takin'! Sounds ok to me. All I have to add is elbow grease, soap water oil smoke..egg, brains?? stuff.. gotta add stuff and plenty of it.
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 30, 2009 8:31:46 GMT -5
Well.. bringing in the frame was no big deal.. came out of the snow very easily and it's cold enough that most of the snow just brushed off.. This skin's too ripply to do any dry scraping on as it is.. could have figured that as the color of it on the flesh side is brown from drying loose in the frame so when that happens the skins curl like a potato chip.. perhaps some more glues come to the surface perhaps from drying loosely in the frame..either way I'm just going to pull it out of the frame and I think I might just fold it up and put it on the porch or add it to my collection of hides hair on out in the barn and get my little elkskin to drying in the house where it's warm! This skins got some holes in it.. they got there from me allowing the little nuthatches to poke their beaks into the fat on the unfleshed skins.. oh well.. I'm sure they were enjoying that suet.. so it's ok.. I'll just heavily trim the skin and that'll be fine too.. the skin from this doe is already very thin along the side edges to begin with so Ill just make the hole skin a bit smaller. It's good and thin and will make good shirt material. I'll take the middle of it and cut a front a back or a fullsize sleeve from it eventually.
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 30, 2009 9:02:53 GMT -5
so plans changed already My prerogative.. I am a woman tanner after all so my plans can change like our northern MI weather ;D While trimming up this little doe skin the hide feels super pliable.. I did powerwash a good deal of the glues right out of this skin and left it full of water to freeze on the line.. it feels at least 80 percent dry.. so I'm going to be framing it in this too large of a frame and give my scraper a go.. why not..making large messes has always been a large part of being creative! the two kind of go hand in hand there are many framing options.. the idea would be to use a frame the size of the hide but we'll skip common sense on that and let the skin bounce a bit more and not worry too much about chatters and such from a lot of skin bunching up under the steel of the scraper.. We're striving for hair off and mess NOW.. and worry about perfectionism LATER.. ok.. so first things first. a bright idea for working with halfarsed dried rawhide would be to use a leather punch as my first thoughts of framing rawhide would be to include the fact that any knife cuts in rawhide and just asking for larger 'tears' so we'll use the modern 'punch' for this job.
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Post by phoenix1967 on Jan 30, 2009 9:22:51 GMT -5
Neat stuff!
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 30, 2009 10:19:12 GMT -5
Naw,, have to be a bit contrary here.. you know me.. lol.. actually phoenix.. it was just about a total waste of time and electricity. Even covered the dog in deerhair.. Poor Buddy! Yeah the skin's back outdoors where it belongs! perhaps Ill hit it with the powerwasher for a bit and then retighten it in the frame and let it dry so that the blade to dryscrape it would be more fruitful.. anyway.. We decided after messing up the front room it was time to head to the kitchen and get serious about making more constructive messes! that was a very young roadkilled whitetail that's been just taking up space in my crisper! Shame to let that go to waste.. Maybe I can find another frame for the elkskin. AFTER brunch YUM!!
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Post by phoenix1967 on Jan 30, 2009 11:00:06 GMT -5
LOL, Me? Contrary? Never!. MMMMM MEEEEAAATTTT!
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 30, 2009 12:09:39 GMT -5
mmmm, yeah, dang straight on that Phoenix.. it WAS good ok..so it gave me some more energy and so I found another frame and banged the same right leg.. MINE.. again..but I brought it in and I'm sure I need to go wipe up the puddles of water pooling under it as I type. anyway I got the frozen elk skin in it and finishing the softening on this is certainly childs play.. the skin looks pretty messed up in a lot of places..but I think i'll play that all into a skin vest that looks like something clint eastwood wore in some movie that i have forgotten the name of.. I know I admired it when I saw it.. so will try to do one that looks kinda rugged. I'm not going for a lot of 'ado'..just keepin it simple and uncomplicated. just smoking the skin is complicated enough.. it requires me to go outside where I keep my firewood and God knows we stall somewhere going out that back door! this is some really totally 'limp' skin.. nothing dense about this one. looks like it'd make a good towel. kinda reminds me of some of our towels.. ;D
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Post by phoenix1967 on Jan 31, 2009 8:44:28 GMT -5
That fool dog of yours looks just like our dog Chompers. Mine would lay there all the time you wer droppin hair on him groanin and grumblin...But he's too lazy to move!
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Post by joanne2 on Jan 31, 2009 20:20:23 GMT -5
Is that right? Well you're very lucky to have a creature like him! I just love this old Buddy so much. He sure the heck is a flea bag! They particularly love him.. cause he's just so sweet, I guess!
Man.. helllluva day to today skinning thawing yotes.. OMG.. just plain effort. It will be such a pleasure to blow the flesh off hopefully tomorrow with the pw'er. Nasty enough just skinning them..But I sure like the furs.. I GOTTA to do this yote skinning thing..UCK and DOUBLE UCK.
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