ill try to explain as easy as i can. i know nothing of pickling a hide. but i do know first you want to get fat and membrain off of the flesh side. then if you want you remove hair from hair side.two ways of doing this. one way you soak it in ash water till the hair slips and you "push" it off.use something simular to a draw knife. or a deer leg bone, it works too. or you let it dry and you scrape hair and epidermal layer off with it. then resoak it. then put in frame.now if you do not have brains, its o.k. lard works the same way.warm it up and i use a base ball bat to push on the hide then i rub in lard or brains, then bat to push on hide, then big wooden scraper to scrape hide. then add more lard, more pushing with bat, more scraping. keep doing this untill hide is dry {all water has dried from hide}. when its nice and dry and very soft, smoke it over a smoldering smokey fire. some things that help....that ash water to slip hair, well you can ad oak leaves and crush acorns to it to help "tan" the hide.heres why it works.. you remove fat and membrain and hair. you soak hide. it takes out blood in hide, it also makes hide plyable. you tie in frame and work it till its dry and soft while adding fat { fat sticks to separated fibers of flesh keeping them from sticking together and getting hard again...unless it gets wet again....so......you smoke hide. this adds carbon to that fat on those fibers. carbon is water proof! once smoked real good. the hide if it gets wet may get a little stiff, but nothing like rawhide. all you do is twist it and pull on it to get it soft again. but it wont rot. get a brooks leather jacket wet once. leave it wet, see what happens....thats why i dont commercial tan anything.lol its a lot of work. you work that hide. the more you put into it, the softer it will be. if you stop before its dry and soft. start all over again. lol lets say its getting late, your getting close but your tired. freeze it at that point. itll keep. i dont know how youd freeze it in a frame but if you did it would be fine untill you could get back to it.i know this works. done it for years this way. remember brains is fat, lard is fat, carbon {smoke} sticks to fat, fat sticks to individual separated fibers of flesh.carbon is water proof. fat is water resistant but washes out with enough water.the flesh /hide, its full of fibers that have their own glue to hold it together. without the fat and carbon you have rawhide
.... that will rot unless you cure it somehow....like smoke.Tony
