Wringing them brains out...

It was below freezing the morning of the hide wringing (hence the long johns visible in the previous post). 

Proof! Below freezing. (Getting pretty camera-happy at this point, obviously.)

This was the most nervous I'd been while opening the bucket (after all, the hide had been soaking in a brain soup for over 14 hours).  In my previous post about preparing the dressing, I said that I had brought the bucket inside to the fireplace.  Not entirely true.  After a few hours, I took it back to the garage to sit in cooler temps for the remainder of the night to prevent the brains from getting funky (well, funkier). 

A light wringing out in my hands, then a thorough wringing using a slightly horizontal branch on a tree in our backyard and a thick dowel that my handy Dad just happened to have.



Bucket below to catch the dressing in case I needed to soak the hide more.

 

Rolling up the hide into a good bundle for wringing.



One more hand-wring before utilizing the dowel.

It was so cold in the shade that ice crystals were forming on the hide! I was freezing, but the upside was that the hide wasn't drying out too fast.

Here's a long video of wringing brains out of a hide (I will never, ever tire of throwing around the word "brains.")

I repositioned the hide several times and wrung it in both directions (turning the dowel clockwise and counter-clockwise), then stretched it over the beam one more time to make sure all areas were opening.  I made the executive decision that it seemed good, so I quickly got out my sewing kit to sew up two holes that were in the middle of the hide.  I could have sewed some on the edges, but it was difficult (and frigid!) to sew, so I left them alone.

The holes were in thick areas, so I had to use a rock to help me push the needle through. I used polyester thread in the hopes that it would hold up during stretching.

Sewn area in brown thread in the center.  Just an easy whip stitch, but it was so cold in the shade and so difficult to push the needle that I dubbed this step the hardest thus far.  (Had to sew in the shade so the hide wouldn't dry out.)

And that was that.  The next step was stretching and drying, when the hide turns to leather. Presto-chango.  I put the hide in a Ziploc bag to prevent drying out while I prepared the garage for the next few hours' worth of work.....

Don't worry, Mom! I put any "green" thoughts aside and threw away this bag instead of washing and saving.