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Post by Buckskin Billy on Dec 8, 2009 16:21:14 GMT -5
whats a pie bald deer hide you ask. this ole boy shot this young and i mean young little buck a couple of weeks ago and brought it to me to tan for him. i have only seen pictures of deer with hair like this but this is the first to see in person.    |
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Post by joanne2 on Dec 8, 2009 22:03:06 GMT -5
Wow. Neat lookin! I have one in my freezer to tan for a guy that has a lot of white on it. Not sure what it looks like. Was wanting to pickle it, prior to tanning.
How did you tan it, Billy? It looks beautiful.
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Dec 9, 2009 12:29:42 GMT -5
thanks joanne. i soaked it in alum and salt for about 7 days and allowed it to dry until kind of sort of damp. then i mixed up some brains and took a paint brush and painted the brains on the flesh side.
i folded it in half over night and the next day let it air out a little and then pulled it across the cable, till it was stretched open real good. i then painted more brains on it and folded it up and let sit over night and repeated the process again the next day until dry.
this deer was born this pass spring jugdeing by its size. the hide was paper thin and i was affraid to really get down on it while i was softening it. it turned out nice and soft but i can get them much softer than this. i would rather have it a little papery than i would have it ripped in two.
i hate to see them get shot this young but sometimes it happens that way
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Post by chaz629 on Dec 9, 2009 16:29:11 GMT -5
looks like a real skinny cow,two steaks and a burger lol
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Post by caretaker on Dec 9, 2009 19:50:40 GMT -5
Great lookin hide .
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Post by joanne2 on Dec 16, 2009 7:37:27 GMT -5
Sounds like it was kind of a project being so thin and all.. Yep.. the alum plumps them up nice for sure but they can tear rather easily, so you really need to watch! Thin young immature animal skins are just difficult to soften very well regardless.. not many fibers there to plump up and soften I guess!.. I've found skins tawed with alum easy to begin to tear around the bellys it seems. Yep I understand about seeing them shot so young too. I do think that it is better to take these piebalds out of the gene pool..So perhaps it's better that it didn't have the chance to spread it's genes. But they are unique and I think pretty special. I've never had one to work before this one this year, too. From what I've read the piebalds occur because of too close of family relationship breeding. Same reason I hear for the messed up horns sometimes, too. Sounds likely. I finally got this deer thawed naturally enough to flesh. Debated on using the taw but I just am not real comfortable with preserving them with just a taw. I think if you follow the taw with the smoking that it would be something a little more to feel comfortable with but lots of folks don't like the smoke smell...anyway I'm giving this one a shot at braintan alone. I fleshed it with the powerwasher and there is no membrane to have to work through to get right into the skin plus I froze my fingers off getting it into the frame yesterday after letting it hang after a good salting so at least the salt may have pulled stuff out of the skin and helped with setting the hair.. I will soften in the frame and use the deep freeze factor to stretch and keep the fibers stretched open till it feels soft and dry.. no rush once you get some oils inside.. Should it start to dry and stiffen I can always rehydrate fairly quickly and easily with the washer and ulu.. won't have to soak it and risk losing the fur! It's brutal cold out there and I had to have a bucket of hot water for the fingers just to get it in the frame! I think I will cut it's face off and possibly the ears.. I didnt do a perfect job of removing the cartilage on those.. those inner ears on deer are a pain..probably takes the right tool and I don't have it! lol.. not much sense in having them on there.. the face has one white spot about a quarter size just past the muzzle.. kinda neat.. maybe I should cut the ears and face off and pickle those in the alum.. sounds like not a bad idea at all. I tried to stretch it out a bit yesterday and brushed some egg yolk and water on it but it was pretty wet yet so doubt it got much oil into the skin.. it will dry even though it's freezing out there.    btw.. the deer has the nice short fall coat.. and a broadhead hole in the top of it's neck.. must have been taken from a tree stand. Wish me luck on the softening and smoking! |
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Dec 16, 2009 22:12:55 GMT -5
i like the colors on yours joanne. and it is a lot more mature.
it should make a good looking hide.
the ole boy i did this for was suppose to pay me and that sure would had been good to help out with christmas, but i'm told he had a stroke.
the boy is younger than me. i hope he's ok. and will spring back to good health soon.
he offered to pay up front, guess i should had accepted, but for now it looks like i have me a pie bald deer hide.
i really dislike doing hair on hides. it seems like they are harder to work than brain tan. but when i tell some one i can tan a deer hide that is what they think of. i guess i shouldn't complain about doing them cuz they bring in extra spending cash. and Lord knows i need that
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Post by joanne2 on Dec 17, 2009 8:01:50 GMT -5
Billy, I copied your top pic and posted it on Hoodlums survival forum in the thread I started there on piebald deer. .someone started writing about the superstition about harming these oddities but really they should be shot as allowing them to breed causes harm to the rest of the herd..anyway....I don't believe this guy suffered the bad luck of a stroke from shooting the deer.. my guess would be that possibly he was OD'ing on possibly consuming too much of the meat much like mushroom poisoning. you eat too many beefsteak mushrooms fresh up here that time of year and you can poison yourself from just having too much of it.. I don't think that too much of anything all at a time is good for you. My guess is that that young deer was real tender..yep.. consuming a lot of it would not be hard but hard on the amount of placque that your body system would have to digest.. Too bad about the guy! Yeah too bad that you were depending on the extra cash too. I know how that goes..sometimes tanning deerskins or other animal skins can be real iffy on payment! We're not expecting one of our best Christmas' here either and well I will pray for you that the good Lord will work some mysterious ways to help you get through any rough spots during these holidays. I am very sure that I'm not the only one feeling STRESSED! Sometimes this hide tanning thing JUST STINKS! I hear you there! It's all a labor of love and if it helps...Well I admire you greatly for honoring our creators works in this important way! Good Lord has His reasons and I'll be darned most of the time for wondering what they are!
My power washer helps a lot on hair ons just for the way the turbo will deep clean. I like to also use the ulu after framing to pull junk out of the skins. you can see the junk that runs out and I try to water em down again and repeat at least till the water runs clear.. didn't do it on this last hair on because it was just too freaking CCCCCcold.. very cold.. freezin' my fingers off doing this crap.. anyway I salted it and let it hang and then framed it salted and painted some egg mix right onto the skin salt and all.. Been stretching it some.. will have to add some pics later this morning.. see how it's looking today.. ttyl.. p
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Dec 17, 2009 20:06:00 GMT -5
joanne send me a link to the post on the hoodlums you are talking about. i would like to read up on that
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Post by joanne2 on Dec 17, 2009 21:08:11 GMT -5
I can't seem to copy the browser page link with my phone Billy, but if you visit the hoodlums board at www.survival.net or is it .com? Lol well one of those two and then scroll down to hoodlums photo forum, I began a thread called piebald deerskin or something like that! How's the ol boy doin? No not you!! J/k! |
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. JanT Hello to Whitedove and Kentuckybushcraft was looking for a more active discussion of hide tanning. Did have fun making my first avitar, Put my beach umbrellas in it. That was a new experience. Jan