Hi, I am trying to learn how to brain tan a couple of deer hides that I received last fall. I figured I could put them on salt for the winter and figure things out by spring. I have been doing some reading at different web sites, which has been both enlightening and confusing. I could use a little one on one feedback.
Background
Initially I laid the first hide directly on the shed plywood floor, covered it with salt (almost to the edges) put down a sheet of plastic, placed the other on top with salt, covered the both with plastic and some 2 X 8's. I noticed some moisture building up beneath the bottom one so I moved them so that I could lay a sheet of plastic beneath the bottom one.
Questions
I thought this process was supposed to keep them pliable which they are. Did I need to remove the salt after the first day and resalt? Should I do it now? I was planning to tan the hides while I am making some syrup within a few weeks.
I am trying to make leather. Do I dehair next or scrape the remainder of the flesh, first? I was planning to dehair using an ash sludge (pH ~13).
I would appreciate any feed back and help. Thanks for reading and hopefully responding.
Darlene
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Yes I would shake them off and resalt. But to be more helpful here Salt help remove moisture out from the hides. You should have them on a slant so that the moisture does not lay on the skins. Also slat will not keep the hides pliable. Salt dries out the hide and it will make it hard. From there you will need to rehydrate the hide if it's dried hard. If it's still pliable 3-5 days after the salting you can do what's needed next.
Now you are trying to make leather and still you need to flesh out the hide. I have never went into dehairing but to get a bunch more info on the subject and a better way of going is to talk with Bruce Rittel. All you need to do is go to his site here or click on their name and e-mail them direct. Or the other guru is Mark from Knobloch's. Both of these guys can aid you better.