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I would like to better understand this; when the pickling/tanning method says re-shave the thick spots. I have never done home tanning but used dry preservative in my early years and then commercial tanning. When I got the commercial tanned hides back I used a skive knife and scalpel to thin around the eyes, nose lips and chin. I do not remember doing anything else to the hide (eg below the neck).
I fletched , by hand , the hide so it did not have and fat or large thick areas of meat before I salted and dried the hide. So if I am using a home tan how do I know i there are ‘thick’ areas , can I see a difference in the color of the hide , or is it just by feel ?
July 22, 2011
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Short answer is color and feel.
Long answer is experience. If you have never shaved/thinned a deer cape on a machine it’s gonna be hard to explain without showing you in person. It takes lots of practice to learn the feel of a properly shaved skin. On a W/T cape it will almost always be thicker around the ears, in the throat area and forehead. But, with that said, for best results the entire cape needs shaving.
The hide on an animal is thicker in some areas than others. An example would be that the area along the back of the neck is thicker than say the arm pits or belly area. The pickle or acid solution helps plum up the whole hide so that you can pull it across a shaving/fleshing wheel to thin it down so that it will be more pliable and get better stretch after it is tanned. More prep work is or can be done after tanning to thin down the areas you want more detail in, and less shrinkage.
I see D was typing and was quicker in hes reply than I was….
