Shedding deer hide

[sweed]

I was given a deer hide that was tanned with hair on. So this boss of mine throws it out because the hair is slipping. WORTHLESS    right!?  Does anyone know a good method to  remove the remaining hair? I just can't waste a good buckskin!
Thanks
Sweed

[Longknife]

Here is a good method to de-fur and tan deer hides. If you can't get the lime then common wood ashes will work. Just wet the hide cover with wood ashes, roll it up and submerge it in a bucket of water.  This process is done before tanning though and I wonder if it will leave your hide stiff??? P.S all fur on deer hides will lose some hair, its normal....Ed


http://hobbydog.net/hunting/tanning.htm

[sweed]

Thanks Longknife
This one is loosing lots of hair. I haven't messed with it yet but I'm sure  s o m e  of the hair will be attached well and hold on.  I'm really fishing for an easy (read chem. or some sort of soak) that will cause this to turn loose, without a lot of time/labor.

[David R. Pennington]

If someone has an "easy" way to tan deer hides I am sure he could get rich. Unless you have access to commercial equipment it is a labor intensive proposition. I have done a few hides and each time I say I'm not going to do anymore. After I did the first one I said I understood why the Indians went mostly naked.
You can just put it in a bucket of water and eventually the hair will slip, but lye or wood ashes will hasten it some. You just have to keep checking it from time to time. If you are not careful it will spoil. It always seems the hair on the shoulder is the hardest to get off. Some of it will peel off easy and some hard. After the hair is off you still have to "tan" it. There are several methods and a lot of books out there but no matter what method you use you still have to add a lot of elbow grease. 

[sweed]

Thanks Dave
Know about tanning. This hide is already tanned with hair on as I indicated before.  Just never come up against this situation and thought I would noodle the minds of the experts here.