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Preparing and Using Rawhide Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 3 Volume 3 Number 6 November-December, 1954 Article 23 11-1954 Preparing and using rawhide J A. Mallett Department of Agriculture Follow this and additional works at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture3 Recommended Citation Mallett, J A. (1954) "Preparing and using rawhide," Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 3: Vol. 3 : No. 6 , Article 23. Available at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture3/vol3/iss6/23 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 3 by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PREPARI USING By J. A. Mallett. NTANNED bullock or horse hide—usually known as rawhide or greenhide—has U played an important role in agriculture in many countries for centuries. It needs little preparation and combines tremendous tensile strength with light weight and durability, so is an ideal material for many farm uses. The Boer pioneers in South Africa prob­ The Bran Method. ably used rawhide more extensively than A method of de-hairing recommended any other community and developed con­ by "The Handbook for Farmers in South siderable skill in its preparation. Africa" is to immerse the hide in a sloppy They used rawhide to make ropes, whip­ mixture of wheat bran and rainwater, lashes, harness, footwear, saddlebags, rubbing this well into the hair. The hide buckets and many other articles of farm is then taken out, folded and placed in equipment. a tub for 24 hours or until the hair comes Rawhide thongs or "riems" were used in away freely. place of fibre ropes, and were plaited or With the bran method there is less risk woven to make chair-seats or laced across of damage to the tissues by rots and grubs, beds to make mattress foundations. also the skin has a whiter, cleaner ap­ Apart from the heavy hides used for pearance and less objectionable odour such purposes, the skins of deer and ante­ than when dehaired by the other methods lopes were often worked to silky softness. described above. The "buckskin" of the American Indians was another form of rawhide. Dehairing with Lime. DEHAIRING Hides may be de-haired rapidly by the use of lime, but this method has a tend­ In the preparation of rawhide, the first ency to make the finished product too dry task is to "flesh" the hide to remove all and reduce its strength. scraps of flesh and tissue adhering to the inner surface. The next task is to re­ About i lb. of builder's lime (quick move the hair. lime) is used to each gallon of water. The The Boers accomplished this by per­ lime is first slaked, then dissolved in the mitting a certain degree of decomposition water. When the solution is cool, the hide is immersed and left soaking until to take place. If the hide had been al­ the hair comes away freely. While in the lowed to dry after flaying, it was first limewater, the hide should be moved soaked in rainwater until soft. Newly- around frequently to allow the liquid to flayed hides do not require soaking. reach every part. The hide was then folded, hair side in­ ward, and buried in moist earth or in a It should not be left in the solution an manure-heap, being exhumed and tested hour longer than necessary and should be at frequent intervals. The hair on the thoroughly de-limed by washing in several belly portion of the hide is usually the waters. A weak acid solution such as a most firmly attached, and when this be­ pint of vinegar to three pints of water is gan to "slip" freely, the hide was taken often used to neutralise the lime. A less out, scraped to remove the hair, and then attractive method is to immerse the hide washed free of objectionable matter. in a solution of fowl manure. 727 Journal of agriculture Vol. 3 1954 BREYING The flank portions or thin skins from The operation of twisting and working smaller animals may be breyed and soft­ the hide to make it soft and supple is ened by working them backward and for­ known in South Africa as "breying" and ward over a blunt axe-head or similar is usually achieved by means of a "brey­ tool, set in a vice. ing block". (Fig. 1.) This is a log weighing about 100 lb. with a curved handle lashed to it. The hide is commonly "breyed" by cutting it into a continuous strip. The thin flanks and other uneven portions of the hide are trimmed off so that it presents a roughly oval appearance, then the cut is made round and round in a spiral. The breying block is lifted on to a box or table of suitable height and the strip of hide is passed through the handle and up over a beam or branch of a tree, then back through the handle and over the beam again until the required number of turns are completed when the ends are tied or laced together. The box is removed so that the strip of hide takes the full weight of the block. A pole is then thrust through the handle of the block and the operator walks round and round until the hide is twisted into a tight spiral. On withdrawing the pole, the block descends, spinning at high speed and its momentum continues the spin in the re­ verse direction. As it steadies, the pole is thrust into the handle again and the hide is twisted up tightly until the block is again released. The breying is continued for many hours, the strip being moved round at in­ tervals to ensure that the portions which were round the beam and the handle are Fig. 1.—A "treying block" used for treating rawhide. thoroughly worked. As the moisture is squeezed out of the hide by the twisting, the strip is liberally PLAITING smeared with mutton fat and the breying A person with a knowledge of plaiting continued until the hide is soft and pliable can greatly extend the sphere of useful­ throughout its length. ness of the rawhide strips. The dia­ The flanks of the hide are thinner than grams (Fig. 2) show the basic principles the back portions, and these are often governing some of the simple plaits, treated separately, either in strips or in taught to me many years ago by Mr. L. T. the piece. Even a whole hide may be Smith, of Manjimup, a leather-working breyed intact by punching holes in the hobbyist of considerable skill. ends which are then laced together with In the diagrams, the different strands rawhide thongs. are shaded to assist in identifying them, Variations in the thickness of the hide and the plaits are shown loose and open make it difficult to treat a whole hide sat­ for the same reason. isfactorily however and it is best to cut the In actual plaiting, the strands should hide into pieces or strips of even thickness be tightly interwoven with no daylight and brey these separately. showing between them. Journal of agriculture Vol. 3 1954 Kg. 2.—A, B, C: Three, four and flve-strand flat plaiting; D: Six-strand flat plait with buttonhole; F: Plaiting round a stick using simple "basket weave"; E: Four-strand chain plait; G: Method of making a three-strand twisted rawhide rope. 729 Journal of agriculture Vol. 3 1954 Flat Plaits. which may be obtained from Perth book­ Most people are familiar with the simple sellers (Price 22s. 6d.). It contains much three-strand flat plait (A). In the four- useful information on plaiting with strand plait (B) we merely follow the same leather and horsehair, tanning skins, mak­ principles of "over one and under one", ing moccasins, shoeing horses, working in crossing the two centre strands first; horn and bone and similar information for bringing the left-hand strand over to the the outback hobbyist. right and the right-hand strand over to the left. Chain Plaits. As each strand in turn comes to the out­ Before leaving the subject of plaiting, side edge of the plait, it is bent back, over there is one other plait that might be or under the adjoining strand and is car­ mentioned as a simple method of mak­ ried over towards the opposite side. ing ropes or whips. Practise with the four and five-strand This is the "chain plait" using four plaits, using fairly wide strips and plait­ strands as shown in Fig. 2 (E). For a whip, ing loosely, until the principles are mas­ a long strip of rawhide is split down the tered, then try the six-strand and wider centre from each end, leaving about 6 in. plaits. unsplit in the centre to form the loop by One can introduce variation by switch­ which the whip is attached to the handle. ing from a six-strand to two three-strands The four thongs should taper slightly to­ and back again to form a buttonhole (D) wards the centre loop, then swell out wide or one can form a ridge down the centre to form the "belly" of the whip and again of the weave with any of the eight, ten or taper off gradually to the end of the lash. other even-numbered plaits. The thongs are crossed in pairs as shown in the sketch and produce a round The ridge is made by crossing the plait.
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