Hydrated lime vs Dolomite

[BigWapiti]

Can Dolomite used as a lime for soaking hide for expansion and then slipping hair? 

I have a full bag of dolomite and need to get this hide soaking before it dries out.    Will Dolomite work?

[El Destructo]

Is it Dolomitic Limestone or just Dolomite??? I wouldn't use Dolomite because it isn't Lime at all....it is calcium magnesium carbonate ....CaMg(CO3)2....if you are in need of something fast to remove Hair....Pickling Lime from the Grocery Store in the Canning Supplies works really good....and you cant overdo it....because it will only dissolve to it's saturation point and the rest will just lay on the Bottom

[BigWapiti]

Well crap... thanks for the reply El D.  -- I got impatient - read ahead to some other posts that said Garden Lime is okay.. and since this was sold as a garden lime, well I thought....  argh.  maybe I should take it to the irrigation ditch and get it soaking to clean it up and run into town.  Town is a ways tho....  ugh.  me and my impatience -I'm not sure which is worse sometimes. heh

added:
Not sure which is it, but its ingredeints aren't simply LIME I know that.

[El Destructo]

Hydrated Lime is Garden Lime.....and it is mainly.....Calcium hydroxide.....same as Pickling Lime....but a cruder form....thats all.... where  dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate) and dolomitic limestone are added to soils and soilless potting mixes to lower their acidity ("sweeten" them). .....I dont't know what it would do for slipping Hair on a Hide.....may work.....someone else posted that they use 20 Mule team Borax....so maybe Dolomite will work.....I just dont use the Garden Lime....because it makes a Muddy Mess on the Hide............JMO

[Stonedog]

I always use lye in water to slip hair....

[BigWapiti]

Is it Dolomitic Limestone or just Dolomite???

Curiosity has been killing me - here is what it says on the bag in terms of ingredients:

Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 - 50%
Magnesium Carbonate MgCO3 - 40%
Calcium Ca - 22%
Magnesium Mg = 13%

Think it would have worked, harmed it or not made a difference?  maybe a good mix of all? heh.

Just curious - as I have nothing else to do w/ this stuff - we're already in a very alkaline soil area.

-m

[D. Tiller]

Lye = sodium hydroxide. I have a ton of it! Only way to make soap. Just make sure you use gloves and eye protection and remember the mantra.... Hydroxide into water! The other way is explosive and you will have sodium hydroxide burns all over ya! Be carefull and be safe! I have been burned by sodium hydroxide before and man does it burn if it gets in an open cut!!!!

[BigWapiti]

ooh, that sounds like good advice...  i'd not though of doing it in a particular order... yikes

[BigWapiti]

I'm not finding Calcium Hydroxide (Lime) nor Lye... grocery stores look at me like I might be the shoe bomber or something...   crap.  I ended up putting it back in Dolomite Lime for sake of making progress on this skin.

help??  It can't be this difficult - everyone seems to tell me both are easy to get a hold of???

[Auggie]

You might want to try your lumber yard or masonary(brick layer,concrete) for some lime. Just tell them its not for bombs,jujst that your trying to keep the dead body smell down........just kiddin,mule team 20 borax is supposed to work,Ive used lye myself. Cheak the search option here on the the borax,theres a post here somewhere on using it to work hides.

[El Destructo]

Every Supermarket that I have ever been in has Ball and Kerr Jars....and right next to them is Pectin for making Jellies...and Pickling Lime for Pickling Pickles....thats all you need....it is food grade....no Sludge and mud ...like the Masonry kind.....

[AKAPK]

Hydrated Lime is Garden Lime.....and it is mainly.....Calcium hydroxide.....same as Pickling Lime....but a cruder form....thats all.... where  dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate) and dolomitic limestone are added to soils and soilless potting mixes to lower their acidity ("sweeten" them). .....I dont't know what it would do for slipping Hair on a Hide.....may work.....someone else posted that they use 20 Mule team Borax....so maybe Dolomite will work.....I just dont use the Garden Lime....because it makes a Muddy Mess on the Hide............JMO

Just used the Borax to clean, kinda loosens the hide but not as much as lime,takes more elbow greese not using lime though

[BigWapiti]

Every Supermarket that I have ever been in has Ball and Kerr Jars....and right next to them is Pectin for making Jellies...and Pickling Lime for Pickling Pickles....thats all you need....it is food grade....no Sludge and mud ...like the Masonry kind.....

Went to three grocery stores again today, asked different workers - nobody has pickling lime this time of year, they said come back during the summer when people are pickling...  Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons


I did get the hide bucked and scraped fine enough with that dolomite - just was tough work - but then, I have nothing to compare to.   I did get the layer to expand as shows/explained in the book this way.  Next time though I think I'll use wood ashes or lime from a garden center (tho, they too are probably out until spring).