…a tanned hide vs a raw hide?
would the tanning process affect the fur?
Tanned hides are soft and flexible making them much easier to handle and have also concluded that in many cases the untanned pieces are made from lower quality parts of the skin.
I like the “raw” hides better than tanned. The stiffness is an aid in getting the hair cut off the hide. Soft tanned hides just flop all over the place when you try to cut hair from it.
I just finished washing, scraping and drying a buck deer hide.
fishbum
Normand,
My experience with having both tanned and ‘raw’ (dried?) is only with deer hair for spinning and such.
Obviously, there is a difference between the hair resulting from the two processes. The hair from the tanned hides, like the ‘primo deer hair strips’ is softer to the touch. I believe that it makes a ‘softer’ bug that comes out denser (thus heavier…I can’t ‘prove’ it’s heavier, but it seems that way to me). The dried hair is stiffer and makes a ‘harder’ bug that seems lighter in weight.
Many of the ‘big name’ deer hair guys seem to prefer the supple tanned ‘primo’ strips for making bass bugs.
I’ve used both, and find that for bright colors, you can’t beat bleached then died and dried belly hair. It’s ‘stiffer’ hair, it seems to flair better for me, and I like how it packs. If I’m ‘on’ when I’m using it, I can get a bug that feels as solid as cork when I’m done.
I think that the bugs made with dried belly hair float better, but that could be because I use them mainly for larger bugs…which will float better anyway…could be just a perception.
I like the tanned hides for making smaller bugs, it is easier to handle and the hair is softer.
I ‘steam’ a lot of my bugs after spinning/stacking and before trimming them. The way the two styles of hair reacts to this is significantly different. The dried hair really puffs up and flairs out. The tanned hair, not so much.
I make sure I don’t ‘mix’ the two different types on one fly.
I have quite a few gifed pieces of deer hide from hunters and taxidermists. These are all dried…and the natural hair on them works as well as the tanned stuff, even though some of these pieces are over 30 years old.
I’ve also been given some pieces of black bear, coyote, javalina (peccary), bobcat, and elk. It’s all dried on the hide, but I’ve not purchased any of this stuff commercially and haven’t been able to compare it to ‘tanned’ piece. Again, some of it was old when I got it, and I’ve had it all for over a decade, and the hair still seems fine.
Buddy
Tanned hide for zonker strips…
These guys are w a y off . . .
Tanned hide is what we used to get from Dad, or the occassional school teacher when we didn’t do right . . .
Rawhide is the show that gave Clint Eastwood his first big break
WRONG AGAIN!!!;):lol:
RawHide - Is what you got from Dad if you Did it Again!!!:lol:
my Dad was obviously less patient than yours … ( mostly with good reason ) !