how blunt is blunt?

[rivermom]

I started working on a deer skin this week. And iIhave run into a problem almost immediately.

The inside of the skin had no meat on it, so I rinsed it and put it in the bucket of alkali for 48 hours. Then I rigged up my scraping beam, and got a blunt knife, as per instructions, and started scraping.

The only effect this had was to squeeze liquid out of the hide, and give me sore hands.

So, back in the alkili for another day. Took it out and started scraping. The hair fell out, but no amount of scraping had any effect on the skin. No membrane came off, and the damned thing is black and purple, with goose bumps.

On the inside, there is membrane, and scraping that has no effect.

So I changed to using my Opinal, my whittling knife. This removed some of the membrane from the inside, but not all. And it has no effect on the outside.

Now, my hands hurt so bad I can't even pick up a cup. What am i doing wrong?

 

[Mike Ameling]

First, get a bigger knife. Much easier to hang onto and use. A wood workers drawknife really works well - and is real similar to the hide working knives used at the tanneries. Or use a large kitchen knife with the tip end well taped up so that you can hang onto it.

By "blunt" they mean --- not razor sharp! And you never pull that blade sideways in a slicing manner. Always draw the cutting edge perpendicular to the hide - never parallel. A "razor sharp" edge just can cut the hide way too easily, so they say to use a "blunt" edge. Think of it like scraping a piece of wood - to get some fine sawdust. Or using your knife to scrape sideways along a stick to take the bark off and smooth it up.

An old garden hoe head makes a pretty good hide scraper - the wide flat blade type. Or and Adze, or axe head. But it still needs to have something of a sharp edge on it.

Many hide scrapers were made from an old vehicle leaf spring. The end was bent 90 degrees, and the end then squared up and sharpened.

So ignore that "blunt" description. Just don't have it "razor sharp", and don't slice along the hide. And get something larger that is easier to hang onto.

Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[Mike Ameling]

Soaking the hide in the alkali solution just allows the hair to slip off without having to scrape it and a thin layer of hide off. If the hair slips off, you then end up with a smooth side on your hide. If you have to scrape it off, then the outside will also have a fuzzy surface like the inside after you scrape it. But you will need to use a little force to scrape it - to "shave" off a thin layer of the surface.

The inside might look clean with no meat still attached, but there can still be a thin layer of membrane sticking to the hide. That is why you scrape it also.

The scraping can be done on a "fleshing" beam, or done with the hide stretched up in a frame. With it stretched up in a frame, it is a little harder to slice into your hide. On the fleshing beam, it can be a little easier - since it doesn't have any "give" below the hide.

Traditional braintan buckskin was scraped on both sides, and then tanned (oiled) with the animal's brains. So it ends up with that ... swade ... leather look.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands