Wet Scrape Method
The wet-scrape method involves scraping the wet hide on a smooth horizontal log, at stomach or sternum level. A steel blade or split leg bone can be used for a scraper. The hide is draped on the log, the person leans into it, holding the hide in place with their body and pushing the scraper away with both hands. The epidermis is scraped off, and the flesh side is scraped as well, to remove the membrane. If the hide is more than a day or two old, it should be bucked first. "Bucking" can be done in a solution of hardwood ashes in water, or simply lye in water. Bucking causes the grain layer (epidermis) to swell, making it more visible and easier to scrape off. If a small part of grain is left on the skin it will poorly affect the finished product, so bucking is quite helpful. Bucking will also cause the hair to slip and fall off, if the hide is left in long enough. This is also valuable for some processes.
Read more about this topic: Buckskin (leather)
Famous quotes containing the words wet, scrape and/or method:
“A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
And bends the gallant mast;”
—Allan Cunningham (1784–1842)
“and a man climbing
must scrape his knees, and bring
the grip of his hands into play. The cut stone
consoles his groping feet. Wings brush past him.
The poem ascends.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Relying on any one disciplinary approach—time-out, negotiation, tough love, the star system—puts the parenting team at risk. Why? Because children adapt to any method very quickly; today’s effective technique becomes tomorrow’s worn dance.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)