Help Jim (aka Riverrunner) Deer hide very stiff

[savage99]

Jim, thank goodness, after much hoop jumping, registering, and typing, I found my ole' Buddy RiverRunner .  This is the old savage99 from the predator forum you used to be on.  You have helped me become a very successful hide tanner, your past advice has proven priceless .  Seems I am in a little pickle now and am in need of your help once again.  I recently tanned a deer hide for a buddy of mine using the Rittel tanning process of the Easy Tan 100, safety acid, and pro-plus oil like I do on all my yotes and fox with SUPERB results.  Seems I erred in not breaking the hide and tending right to the thing like I should have and now it is somewhat stiff and rigid.  Was wondering if you could help me with the steps on how to soften this old girl up??  It is nearly 100 % dry and very stiff, is there anything I can do???  Please tell me it is not a complete loss.

[FinsnFur]

Heyyyyy welcome to the site Savage. 

It's not a total loss...but you do got some work ahead of ya.

Deer hides are much thicker then your varmint hides, so first off all it's gonna take a lot more oil to get it to dry soft.

Also, don't worry about it this time...because you'll make even morrrrrre work out it this late in the game, but on your next deer hide it would be a real good idea to shave the skin when your done fleshing it. By that I mean thin it down.

If you have a real sharp draw knife, you can use that, but the fleshing wheel with the gaurds off is the best.
The neck and everything else above the shoulders is the thickest part, and if you thin it down, you can make a shamy outta that bad boy. 


But like I said, don't try it now. Your too far into the game on this one.

The first thing you need to do is re-wet the skin. I would reccomend filling an old spray bottle with luke warm water and spritzing the flesh side the the hide as it lay out flat somewhere. Cover it up with a sheet of plastic so it dont evaporate.
Come back in an hour and spritz er down again.
Continue this until the hide is pliable again, but NOT until it's dripping, sopping wet.

Once you have it to that stage, heat up some more oil and give her a second oiling. Cover every square inch of the skin with some oil.
If your using ProPlus, since the hide was never thinned....it would be a good idea to give it a third oiling the next day.
Be sure to fold the skin in half once, while it sweats for a minimum of 8 hours, or cover it with your plastic again from when you were spritzing it.

[FinsnFur]

Ohhhh that's not all    But I think you know what follows that right?

[savage99]

I imagine the next part is pay attention to it this time and break it?  Can you reccomend a good way to hold onto it and break it without ripping the hair outta it??  I just hand break yote hides but they are easier to hold onto.

[FinsnFur]

As a matter of fact I can, but IT IS work. 
I still rely very heavily on my tumbler. But if you dont have one you get it just as good if not better by breaking in a scudding fashion.
The key again is to do it as it dries, not after. But not so early that you scud the oils out of it. Just pliably damp...is that a word.

I use a pair of fur grip pliers with the block lug on the lower jaw. (shown below) Grip one edge of the hide, and place the block lug on the edge of your table and it keeps it from sliding away from you when you scud.



Then while holding the hide in place, take a crisp edged piece of wood or even a flat piece of steel stock and use it as a scraper. Pushing down and away from your self with as much pressure as you can give er. Turn the hide over and do it again, and continue until you feel you have scudded the whole hide. Flip it around and grip the other end so you can scud the edges you were just gripping.
The more you do this the softer your hide will be and it really doesn't take much.




Obviously I'm using a salted hide here but I'm not really scudding it, I'm just using it for the pics since I dont have anything at the moment in need of breaking.

If you do this once a day for two days, (that's only twice) you can literally make them as soft as a hankerchief....providing they were fleshed and tanned right. And actually I shouldn't even say that because Ive seen hides come from big name tanneries that had flesh strands hanging all over them and they were soft. They fleshed them half assed, then used a scudding machine to break the hide, left over flesh and all, after it was tanned. 

I've made deer hides blanket soft using this method right before they go into the tumbler, but I use a bigger tool (shown below) and a LOT more pressure. 

[savage99]

Thank you sir, , your advice has proven priceless again.  So glad I was able to finally locate you Jim, .

[bowjunkie]

welcome to the board savage99.......


good info there Jim thanks 

[studabaka]

I've been using a 'carpenter's draw knife' [at least I think that's what it is]. It's sharp and beveled like a wood chisel, except it's about a foot wide with wooden handles.  Before I had my tumbler, I used it right on my fleshing beam after I had hand broken them. Now I typically do a quick hand break, tumble them for 4-5 hrs, go over them with this thing on my beam, and then tumble them again for 3-4 hrs. Oviously you need to avoid slicing the hide, but holding it at 90 degrees to the hide and drawing across it, removes any odds and ends and leaves a smooth soft hide.

I have my new round knife set up, but haven't tanned anything yet were I had used it. May not need to do this anymore as that round knife sure does a nice job of smoothing things out.

[FinsnFur]

That's a good idea Stu. 
I dont know if I'd be able to keep the hide on the beam with the amount of pressure I like to use, but you'd have two hands to scud with.

With you here coverin my sixes on this tanning stuff were gonna become dangerous