Old deer hides tanning questions

[hedgeapple]

I have a couple deer hide that are 5 or so years old.  They were scraped and salted.  I rolled the up skin side in and hung them vertically in my shed.  The hair is still on them. Do you think they would be worth removing the hair and egg tanning?

[huntertrapper]

im not sure if the hair will still come off, i thought once i heard that if its salted and dried the hair wont come off.

[El Destructo]

I have two that are three years old hanging....with Hair On....and I would almost bet....short of shaving them....the Hair is there to stay!!

[hedgeapple]

huntertrapper, El Destructor, I'm quite sure you all have more experience in tanning hides than I have.  I've done it 3 or 4 times using Tandy's "Tannery in a Box"  I always salted my hides immediately after skinning and doing a prelimenary scraping, and some where put in the freezer after salting.  I've not had a problem with the hair coming off.  Of course, these weren't salted for 5 years either.  So, you could very well be correct.

Hair removal is the easiest and first step, so either if will come off with the lime or it won't, not much time wasted either way.  But, if the hair will come off,  do you think the hide is worth tryig to egg tan?

[billy]

HEdge,

Yes, you can still remove the hair and epidermis and tan them.  I've done the same with deer and elk that were dried and they turned out fine.  I use the wet scrape method described in Matt Richard's book Deerskins into Buckskins.  Just soak them really well, then soak them in the lye solution.  If you're gonna dry scrape them, then soak them in water for several days.  Once they're thoroughly wet, stretch them in your frame and scrape them once they are dried and tight.  I prefer brains over eggs though.

[hedgeapple]

Thanks Billy.  I'm brainless    But my chickens are producing more eggs than I can eat.  So...

[Hillbilly]

Older hides will actually tan out better than fresh ones a lot of times. The glues in the skin break down with age, easier to break them.

[Pappy]

When Jesse and I get ready to do the ones from this year I may give it a try also.I have 3 or 4 that were scraped,salted and rolled up 4 or 5 years ago,I wondered if they would be OK.Guess we just need to give it a try,they ant much good like they are.
   Pappy