# Dehairing Leather



## RatherBHuntin (Mar 31, 2007)

I have a deer hide that I left out on the back deck for a year or so and I think all the salt must have washed out of it.  While I was pickling it in a salt and battery acid solution a lot of the hair slipped out.  Is it too late to soak it in lime so I can get the rest of the hair out easily and make rawhide out of it?  The couple of books I have say not to salt it at all and to pickle it AFTER dehairing.  

Anyone know?


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## Nicodemus (Mar 31, 2007)

If i`m after rawhide from a deerskin`, all I do is remove all fat and meat from the inside, on a fleshin` beam. Then I lash it in a frame, and usin` a scrapin` tool, shave the hair and the hypodermis (very thin ouer layer of hide) from the outside. Once it`s dry, it`s rawhide.


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## RatherBHuntin (Mar 31, 2007)

Thanks Nic, I was hoping you would chime in.  I didn't think it would be a problem, just worried that the pickle may make the epidermis hard to get off.  And as I said, it wasn't originally intended to be rawhide but thats what it's gonna be now.  It now has a future as the inside liner of my quiver so I can put broadheads in it without worrying they will cut the leather and also to give it some form.


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## Nicodemus (Mar 31, 2007)

Oops, I meant epidermis. Hypodermis is on the inside. My mistake. 
Since it will be used for a quiver liner, I wouldn`t worry too much about gettin` it all off. Post a pic of your quiver when it`s completed. We`d like to see it.


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## choctawlb (Apr 1, 2007)

A hide that has been drying for a year or more, and the hair is slipping on, can be soaked in just plain water for a few days, and the epidermis will scrape off with very little problem. I just scraped 2 hides a friend gave me that were raw, and had dried for a year or so, and the hair was slipping. Soaked them 2 days in water, and they scraped better than any hide I have bucked with lye. Epidermis and the membrane came right off , with very little effort. Hopefully the tanning solution ain't made it where it won't come off.
Ken


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## Son (Apr 1, 2007)

*dehairing*

I've always used lime to slip the hair. A hard dry hide can be relaxed with borax.


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## OkieHunter (May 24, 2007)

You can use wood ashes and lay out a deer hide after fleshing it, cover with wood ashes and wet it down and let stand for a couple of day's but be sure to keep it damp. The hair will slip right off


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## vomStokes (May 25, 2007)

I scrape, then I boil it in a pot with brain solution, hang it to dry and cure, then smoke it, but that takes awhile to do


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## RatherBHuntin (May 25, 2007)

I forgot about this thread.  I had that hide draped over the rail on my porch for at least a year.  The part that was on the very top, that 6" portion didn't have a hair left on it after it was done pickling.  The rest was hard to scrape the hair off so I just left it, figuring I could use it for something as is, and I did.  Looks like mold had gotten into the hide too, lots of black spots left on it, and the hair didn't stick well in those places.  I have used vinegar on hides to get the mildew spots out before and should have tried that on this one but didn't.  

This was a good lesson in what not to do.  If I want a hairless hide, I'll use the lye or ashes on it right away.  It was too hard to dehair without that step.    I never did try to just soak it in water after pickling to see how that went. I've used lime in the past and that worked well to buck a hide, but was done before pickling. 

Looks like I'll just need to shoot a few more deer to get hides to play with.  And maybe a racoon...and rabbits....coyote.......


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