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Jan 28, 2008 21:37:16 GMT -5
Post by joanne on Jan 28, 2008 21:37:16 GMT -5
Sorry for your loss.. you have the skill though and it is in giving that we recieve, right?? hope.. hope you get bunch of hides and skins to tan, Billy. Remember, be careful what you wish for! All kinds of good things are going to just come your way, you'll see! :-)
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Jan 28, 2008 23:32:40 GMT -5
Post by Buckskin Billy on Jan 28, 2008 23:32:40 GMT -5
thank you
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Jan 29, 2008 12:10:06 GMT -5
Post by beaudro on Jan 29, 2008 12:10:06 GMT -5
here are a few of my hides, I think it was two years ago,,, i need new pics bad! You can see most of mine are too small for clothing.
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Jan 29, 2008 12:30:33 GMT -5
Post by joanne on Jan 29, 2008 12:30:33 GMT -5
cool.. i really love to look at them. all the different colors, nice:-)
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Jan 29, 2008 13:55:10 GMT -5
Post by beaudro on Jan 29, 2008 13:55:10 GMT -5
yeah, they do have different colors joanne. Thats usually whats left over after a season of tanning, I'll smoke most of them at the same time,and try to match in pairs or 4, but it can go on for days. If I tan as many as 30 hides, i'll smoke a few of them dark, and a few light. Then at the end of the season what I have left is all mixed up. Right now I have maybe 15 hides, of all I only have two that are big enough for a pair of pants, but that takes four hides to finish. After 3 years of maybe 100 hides, i only have two big enough. I'm just not reaching out far enough to get into big deer. I hate to make pants with the two piece leg like some are doing. I can make knee breeches however, and thats a project in the works. I"m a big Alfred Miller fan, and the sketches show full length pants. I'm going to have to look further away from my area and get into bigger deer. Most around here, I call them lake deer, are weighing about 110 pounds and giving me about 10 square feet each hide.. roughly speaking. Maybe I could dry scrape ? would that give me a little more hide?
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Aug 3, 2008 8:43:28 GMT -5
Post by brainsoft on Aug 3, 2008 8:43:28 GMT -5
No not really. Either way, dry or wet scrape gives you about the same. No difference I can see. I would do a google search for deer processors in your area and give them a call in the area you want the hides from. That way you get it lined up and then just drive and pickup. Be sure to ask how they skin them and if they are careful about scarring the hides.
They will however all say no their hides are good but they all get scars unless they pull the hides. I drive two and a half hours to get mine but it is not bad as I can fill the car up and all are pulled. Better for me than lots of 20-30 mile trips to pick up a few. That adds up to a lot of gas too.
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Aug 3, 2008 11:03:01 GMT -5
Post by beaudro on Aug 3, 2008 11:03:01 GMT -5
Brainsoft, you went back and dug up some old posts. Dry scraping did not help, i tried to get a little more out of my small hides but with no luck stretching them out. As far as obtaining hides around here, it's about 1 in 5 that you can find a 14 square foot. Unless someone hunts and brings a big one in from out of state, it's not going to happen here in the woodlands often. I can get a good size white tail out of kansas, or further west, and even go back to texas and find many. A few big ones can be found out here in west Oklahoma, but it's getting harder to find them. There are times I can just have them shipped from other places and it cost less to ship than it does to drive out there and get them. I don't think with todays gas prices i could drive 2 hours and beat the shipping cost. Thats for about 4 to 6 hides anyway. Most of the processors i know of can skin pretty good, and they pull a hide but its the hunters that do a nasty job of shooting sometimes. All is well though, i'm content to get the few hides I do need each year. About 6 big ones, a few small ones , two elk and my buffalo hides , it's all i have time for. Tanning pretty much stops around here in july and august, around the end of september it'll start back up. When the winter buffalo are killed I usually get two or more of them. The rest of the time i'm either at my job, or going to rendezvous, working on other projects, I have to tan a few each year to trade for the things I need, or supply my own projects.
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Sept 4, 2008 11:41:45 GMT -5
Post by brainsoft on Sept 4, 2008 11:41:45 GMT -5
I just did a google for deer processors in my state and started calling around where I live or within an hours drive. I had previously got hides from WVA and out of 100 none went over12-13 and very few...like three or four went that big. So back to Ohio and looking. Not all will be big tho and but if a person can up their sq foot average by getting from another source known for bigger hides it would help.
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Sept 4, 2008 14:54:59 GMT -5
Post by longtrail on Sept 4, 2008 14:54:59 GMT -5
It looks like you soften your hides by hand. If you soften them on a frame, or put them on a frame right before they are dry and finish softening them then, they will come out flatter and larger. Also, I think I mentioned it before, with not to much response, but prestretching the hides, makes them a bit larger because you are opening the fibers in the center of the hide so it widens it some. You end up with a hide that is more the same thickness throughout rather than real thin on the edges and thick along the center. We softened by hand when we first started tanning and It was difficult to make clothing because the hides were so wavy, especiall along the edges. Working with a flat hide when making clothing is much easier. lt
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