Post by longtrail on Jul 12, 2008 14:57:04 GMT -5
After purchasing our pw and nearly a month of using it to flesh, we are having second thoughts about if it works for OUR method of tanning.
My disclaimer~ saying it might work fine for another method.
We have noticed that in the last four or so batches of hides, they have not come out as soft as our hides use to, with the same texture all the way through the hide.
We went over all our steps to see what we were doing different. Nothing different except the hides we have done, that didn't come out soft all the way through were pressure washed. It is my theory that pressure washing them, on the board the way I do it, applies so much pressure per sq in that it condenses the hides. It would be like hammering it all over to make it as dense as possible. Think of the pressure per sq. in.
We are in the process of an experiment, the last two hides that were fleshed, were fleshed by hand and we already notice the difference in those hides from the ones fleshed with the pw.
1. the flesh side comes out cleaner and is very slimey after pw.
the hand fleshed hide has a bit more membrane on flesh side but is not slimy.
2 dehairing~ the pw hide is easier to dehair but the hide feels thin and dense
by hand the hide is a bit harder to dehair, but both sides of the hide are lofty and softer
3 Pre~brain~ the pw hide is harder and does not "give" when pulling on it when braining it.
the handfleshed feels like wet slimy fabric , and easily stretches all directions
4. When the hides have been left on the line to dry sideways, the pw hide .......... feels slick
The hand fleshed hide feels greasier, like it has absorbed more of the brain solution
5. Pre-stretch~ The pw hide is soft and prestretches easily, but dries harder at the last few minutes. The hair side is slick and has no texture, loft and softness to it. It feels thin and dense. It does not have much flexablity at all.
The hand fleshed hide, prestretches easily, gets very lofty and porous on the hair side and when it comes off the frame it drapes over on its own.
This top photo is of a hand fleshed, prestretched hide. This shot is of the hair side.
The photo below is of a pressure washer fleshed, prestretched hide, hair side also. With the hair side being more dense and fibers tight, the smoke does not permeate as well as a hide whose fibers are more open.
So far, the handfleshed hide we are working on today, is drying much faster. The pw hides, take on average, about 3 hours to dry and this one, a handfleshed hide is almost finished and took an hour and a half.
We had debated renting a pw first to see how performed, but it took nearly a month before we could make any real observations. There are so many variables when doing hides. It takes a lot of hides to figure out what works longterm and what doesn't.
We still have to smoke, brain and soften these two hand fleshed hides, and will let you know how they come out, but so far they are behaving like they use to.
If we are convinced that the pressure washer does not work for our method when used on a slanted board, and when we get caught up on some softer hides, we might try lacing the hide on a frame and pressure washing it to see if the effect is the same. We would still like to use it to flesh if possible. Ya, its way mechanical and non tradish, but we are interested in quanity as well as quality, and anything that saves wear on the shoulders is a good thAng!
We like for our hides to be the same texture all the way through. Not with a soft outerlayer and a dense inner layer. We like for them to feel like velvet cloth.
If we never tried anything new, we would still be rubbing the brains in the hide with a pumice stone like we were over 20 years ago.
Thanks Paulette. See ya in Oct. Dlt
Summer time, and the tanning is easy...........again.
My disclaimer~ saying it might work fine for another method.
We have noticed that in the last four or so batches of hides, they have not come out as soft as our hides use to, with the same texture all the way through the hide.
We went over all our steps to see what we were doing different. Nothing different except the hides we have done, that didn't come out soft all the way through were pressure washed. It is my theory that pressure washing them, on the board the way I do it, applies so much pressure per sq in that it condenses the hides. It would be like hammering it all over to make it as dense as possible. Think of the pressure per sq. in.
We are in the process of an experiment, the last two hides that were fleshed, were fleshed by hand and we already notice the difference in those hides from the ones fleshed with the pw.
1. the flesh side comes out cleaner and is very slimey after pw.
the hand fleshed hide has a bit more membrane on flesh side but is not slimy.
2 dehairing~ the pw hide is easier to dehair but the hide feels thin and dense
by hand the hide is a bit harder to dehair, but both sides of the hide are lofty and softer
3 Pre~brain~ the pw hide is harder and does not "give" when pulling on it when braining it.
the handfleshed feels like wet slimy fabric , and easily stretches all directions
4. When the hides have been left on the line to dry sideways, the pw hide .......... feels slick
The hand fleshed hide feels greasier, like it has absorbed more of the brain solution
5. Pre-stretch~ The pw hide is soft and prestretches easily, but dries harder at the last few minutes. The hair side is slick and has no texture, loft and softness to it. It feels thin and dense. It does not have much flexablity at all.
The hand fleshed hide, prestretches easily, gets very lofty and porous on the hair side and when it comes off the frame it drapes over on its own.
This top photo is of a hand fleshed, prestretched hide. This shot is of the hair side.
The photo below is of a pressure washer fleshed, prestretched hide, hair side also. With the hair side being more dense and fibers tight, the smoke does not permeate as well as a hide whose fibers are more open.
So far, the handfleshed hide we are working on today, is drying much faster. The pw hides, take on average, about 3 hours to dry and this one, a handfleshed hide is almost finished and took an hour and a half.
We had debated renting a pw first to see how performed, but it took nearly a month before we could make any real observations. There are so many variables when doing hides. It takes a lot of hides to figure out what works longterm and what doesn't.
We still have to smoke, brain and soften these two hand fleshed hides, and will let you know how they come out, but so far they are behaving like they use to.
If we are convinced that the pressure washer does not work for our method when used on a slanted board, and when we get caught up on some softer hides, we might try lacing the hide on a frame and pressure washing it to see if the effect is the same. We would still like to use it to flesh if possible. Ya, its way mechanical and non tradish, but we are interested in quanity as well as quality, and anything that saves wear on the shoulders is a good thAng!
We like for our hides to be the same texture all the way through. Not with a soft outerlayer and a dense inner layer. We like for them to feel like velvet cloth.
If we never tried anything new, we would still be rubbing the brains in the hide with a pumice stone like we were over 20 years ago.
Thanks Paulette. See ya in Oct. Dlt
Summer time, and the tanning is easy...........again.