Has anyone finished their own buckskin? I scraped the hide clean and salted and froze it. Now I've been looking all over to find pure lye for the de-hairing step to get started, but am coming up dry. I found some generic drain cleaner that is a mixture of lye and sodium hypochlorite, but I think that will probably ruin the hide. I'm not worried about color because I want to dye it dark eventually.
De-hairing a deer hide
- Thread starter thebigslide
- Start date
I put a bunch of hardwood ash in a barrel with enough water to sink the hide. Leave it covered, outside, for a few days or until the hair pulls out easily. You'd think it would reek but I stuck my head in the barrel and couldn't smell a thing.
I have turned a few deer hides into buckskin, it's not real difficult. I am currently working on a moose hide. To remove the hair from your hide, you have to soak it in a strong alkali solution. I have used wood ash to make the alkali solution, but I didn't like how dirty it made the hide. If you try using wood ash, try to get hardwood ash. You will need twice as much softwood ash to make a strong enough solution. Leave the hide in the solution until the hair pulls out easily. The moose hide I am doing took 14 days for the hair to come off easily. I don't like wood ash, so I use hydrated lime. You can buy it at most farm supply stores & it is cheap.
skneub
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
You get this stuff ...you be very very carfull with it
Mix to much in water at once and it will do nasty stuff
Not to mention it will burn you badly
I dont know if it is what you want or not , i just know it will hurt you quick
I don't know if they will sell to a private person or in what volumes but Brentag and Univar are both in winnipeg and sell just about any chemical you could ever want. I would try giving them a call. Caustic Soda is easy to get but its nasty stuff to deal with whatever you do don't get it in your eyes.
