Hawkeye;
Here's a couple of pics.
Not much needed for equipment.
I've been a trapper all of my life so the 2 fleshing knives, and the fleshing beam you may have to come up with a replacement for, but everything else you probably have out in your shed.
I did not have a chipper/shredder, so I used the tile spade to bust up my oak bark.
I also used a draw knife to peel the bark off of the tree.
I then boiled the bark and 20 gallons of water, in a stainless tank, over the propane burner.
You won't end up with 20 gallons of juice when you are done, unless you have a cider press for the bark. lol
Strained and dumped the "witch's brew" into the small barrel, it took 3, they are 8 gallons each.
This is also how I stored the juice concentrate.
The hide, I had fleshed, and salted last fall.
No, that one hole is not where I shot the buck, bad stroke with the knife. lol
I soaked the salted hide in the hydrated lime for 3 days, then dehaired the hide on my fleshing beam.
I sprayed the hide for an hour with my water hose, then soaked it for another hour to get the lime out of the hide.
Then she went into the big barrel with five gallons of the juice, and 15 gallons of water.
I let it sit for a week, poured off five gallons of the juice in the big barrel, and replaced it with five gallons of the original concentrate that we saved.
I did that once a week till I ran out of concentrate.
Yes, it did take better than a month.
Pulled the hide out of the barrel, rinsed the hide, then the work begins.
Before all it was, was time, now you get to stretch the hide, this is where the work starts!
My initial stretching was done while it was still wet.
I put the edges of the hide in my woodworking vise and stood back to pull on the hide.
I did that around the entire hide, 10"s at a time, with me always pulling the opposite side.
This worked great for the initial stretching.
I stretched it till it was getting dry.
Since my arms were about to fall off, I stored it in a plastic bag overnight, so it would not dry too fast.
Since then, it's been a matter of stretching the hide by hand.
When I get a stiffer spot, I set a wet sponge on the spot till it gets soft, then go to work pulling those areas till they are soft.
I'm convinced that some areas, I will never get leather glove soft.
This buck was shot during the rut, so his neck, and back is twice as thick as the rest of his hide.
I'll keep stretching the hide till I figure I can't do anymore, and we will call it a successful project.
Then I'll get around to oiling the hide.
One last thing, I wore a rubber apron, and shoulder length rubber gloves while doing most of the work, which is very messy.
Hope that helps.
Jim
