do you rub this into the hair or just on the bare hide or both.thank for the info and to everyone else dave
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Desert Eagle Sent: November 18, 2006 11:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [VFB] hides Hi Dave, just getting on so hope I don't re-iterate a bunch of stuff for you. Having been a trapper and hide person since the late 60's would be glad to help if I can. First, go to your local store, in the detergent isle you will find "20 Mule Team Borax", or possibly a store brand. Get a box of that. Then, stop by the seasoning isle and get a container of "course salt", not rock salt. If that is not available just get non iodized salt. Take these home and mix them 4 parts Borax to 1 part salt. Then soak and wash the hide in a mixture of Dawn dishwashing detergent and cheap hair conditioner. Scrub it the best you can to take out any blood stains and free fat or meat. Now, stretch the hide out as tight as you can on a sheet of plywood/ Use nails or staples to hold it stretched as tight as you can. Use a butcher knife 90ยบ to the hide to scrape off as much of the fat and meat that you can. Then, take the borax/ salt mix and rub it in liberally to the hide. In the morning, or evening, depending when you do this, look for any dark spots. The dark spots indicate an excess of fat or moisture. Rub another generous amount into those areas, even if they are small. Check the hide every day about the same time, and run a bit of fresh mix into it every third day. At the end of 10 day just let it set for about a week. It should be toughly dry and firm by then. If it is, with no damp or dark spots cut it into suitable sizes for storage. If you have space, and it will be long term storage, bagged and in the freezer is the way to go. Otherwise just bag it with a bit of the borax/salt mix and it should be good almost indefinably. Most parasites can not survive in the borax/salt mix, but, as an added safe guard, throwing the bag in the microwave for a couple of minutes should kill anything else, (best done when the wife is out). Then put it up for storage, in a cool dark place. Hope this helps, and not from thru Department of Redundancy Department...;-) Jimi Ok guys here we go again,just got a deer hide got most of the fat and meat off it. i realy don't care if the hide is soft or not,the question is,would borex work to save the hide or can i just cut the hair off it and bag it. any ideas guys thank dave
