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That's pretty neat, I remember it now, thanks.

Nice! no sew sheath?

That's funny, all that work and I'm actually afraid to cut into it. BTW, I didn't even sew up the holes, they're all on the fringe. I was thinking of cutting the ruffled fringe off and making some...

yep, canola oil. I wasn't quite sure when to stop oiling. I didn't want it loaded down, but didn't want it to dry and crack either. Now that the oil has had a chance to distribute, the red flesh side...

Done!

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/shroomer69/Bushcraft%20in%20Michigan/finsihed.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m50/shroomer69/Bushcraft%20in%20Michigan/finished1.jpg

Here's the hockdkin finishing vid, it's a long one, but to see the finished product just skip to the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBdxMrylNI

The skin is taking some time to work dry....

Those pics are fairly accurate too colorwise. BTW, I saw the pic of your Granny/ Grandma holding up your cow hide, my mom couldn't keep her hands off the hockskins once finished, and that is a...

Here's a pic to compare color change rawhide vs. bark tan. Rawhide on left. There's a few more pics on my photobucket site as well.
...

I'm planning a sheath for my axe, and a possibles bag or/ M/L accesory bag, I'm not sure. I want tough and shiny smooth for the sheath, but a bit loose and a nice grain pattern would look good on the...

BTW, I usually only take notes like that the first time around on things, after that my org. skills drop off exponentionally. LOL! It does help as a reference for the future though. Down the road, if...

Well I guess I better get to it then. Thanks for the compliments ycc, and for all the help up to this point.

I need clarification: you put the skin into several emulsions letting each sit for 24 hours? or just one emulsion for 24 hours? After the first emulsion the oily, soapy water has turned dark orange,...

Today the skins were finally struck through, 61 days it took, and I began the process of oiling and finishing them.
Here's a few pics of the skins before they went into the oil emulsion for...

Cool, thanks YCC.

So, which would be better for the emulsion, regular bar soap or dishsoap? I don't have any of that good ole fashioned homeade lye soap that I been hearing so much about. :)

Day 58: I don't know if you can see from these pics if it's struck through YCC, but, unless you say otherwise I'm going to sew the holes up, rinse out the excess tannin, squeegee out the excess...

The weather is definitely the biggest determining factor when doing this kind of stuff. Today, we're dipping to the single digits. Tomorrow and the next day we are predicted to have the highest...

After putting the skin in the new liquor it seems much tighter and less rubbery/ stretchy. The grain seems more distinct when manipulated. It has a much different feel now. I have to look into...

Update:

On 1-15-2011 I went ahead and boiled another 3 gallons of water, then I added it to under 5 pounds of fresh unshredded bark chips to soak, off the heat. This new liquor turned dark almost...

Ya, if i'd have had this outside it would freeze solid overnight. We've pretty much been below freezing since December 1st and have had constant snow cover with only a 2 day thaw and rain in between....

Is it possible at this stage to go too strong considering it's been in there over a month now?

I added the final pouring of liquor today, about 1/2 gallon of first pour. The liquor hasn't...

Day 26 of the bark tan:

I checked for strike through and added the first gallon of my 1st pouring, doesn't seem to be even close.

This was the first pic, but the wetness and camera flash...

My hockskins are coming along nicely, in fact I think they've struck through. It's hard to tell as they are so thin you can't really see an inner part of the skin, it's paper thin almost.

But,...

After hearing about the sumac, I'd like to try it too. Yet another use for a multi-use plant.

Well, in three days it has taken on a bit more color, although there are small areas on the grain side where it appears to not be taking color. I see nothing but grain in those spots, so I'm unsure...