Rawhide Hardness^^^^^^^^^

[stomper]

:hmm:
I have a full cow hide commercially tanned Rawhide. what is the cure for soffing it up as I make Parflech bags etc.,As it dries ya can't open them up w/a tractor and chain.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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[Black Hand]

From what I remember reading, the natives pounded their rawhide with a stone-head mallet to soften it some. This may work for you as well but beware of cutting through the hide by pounding too vigorously or pounding it on a hard surface (concrete). You could also rub in some Neetsfoot oil, but you may end up with half-tan.

 

[lockjaw]

...soak the hide until soft,stretch the hide, make a paste of ivory snow flakes and water, rub it into the hide from both sides...will dry as "half tanned", be flexible and smell good too.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

If it has been tanned, it is not rawhide. Pre-treating wet tanned leather with oils etc is one method, tumbling with an appropriate medium is another for softening leather. Stretching and working over a beam will suffice, but very labor intensive.[url] http://www.orgs.ttu.edu/leatherresearchinstitute/page15.html[/url]
[url] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=softening+tanned+leather[/url]

 

[Birdman]

Stomper, most of the originals I've seen have been either scraped very thin so as to be useable or were sewn together to make a seam were they bend. kind of hard to describe.