Squirrel hide was usually used as a smooth leather known for its incredible strength. Often squirrel hide was used for leather lacing because it could be drawn tighter than most other leathers, even though it was not very thick. It was pretty much standard shoelace material on Civil War style Brogan shoes.
In fact my great uncle told me a story about molding balls for his squirrel gun when he was a boy. He had old Brogans with no socks, and squirrel laces. He dropped a freshly cast ball, and it went into the top of his shoe. He said he was astonished that he was able to rip those laces out of his shoe with one hand. He still had the scar from the hot ball on his ankle in the early fifties.
Hungry Horse
