Rawhide (material) - Uses

Uses

It is often used for objects such as whips, drumheads or lampshades, and more recently chew toys for dogs. It is thought to be more durable than leather, especially in items suffering abrasion during use, and its hardness and shapability render it more suitable than leather for some items. For example, rawhide is often used to cover saddle trees, which make up the foundation of a western saddle, while wet: it strengthens the wooden tree by drawing up very tight as it dries, and resists the abrasion regularly encountered during stock work or rodeo sports. It can also be used as a backing on a wooden bow. Such a backing prevents the bow from breaking by taking a share of the tension stress. Bows made from weaker woods such as birch or cherry benefit more from a rawhide backing. Rawhide is, however, more susceptible to water than leather, and will quickly soften and stretch if left wet unless well waterproofed. It is quite effective when used for training dogs and also satisfies their natural desire for meat. Many vets are beginning to discourage the giving of rawhide to dogs due to the animals' inability to digest the rawhide properly and its tendency to swell in the stomach.

Wet rawhide has been used by some earlier cultures as a means of torture or execution, gradually biting into or squeezing the flesh of body parts it encloses as it dries. An example is buskin. On the other hand, it has also been used in the context of medicine by First Nations peoples, such as the Sioux Nation: wet rawhide would be wrapped around a long bone fracture and it would dry, slowly setting the bone—the rawhide worked exactly as a plaster cast does today.

"Rawhide" laces often sold for boots or baseball gloves are made of normal tanned leather rather than actual rawhide. Rawhide is not pliable when dry and would be totally unsuitable for this use.