Deerhide to Rawhide: The Making of American Folk Art

If you've been looking high and low for a good instructional video on how to turn deer or elk hide into rawhide and then make rawhide into crafts and dog chews, well…to paraphrase Tag Team, oops, here it is. Producer, host and writer Patty Bailey takes viewers through the entire process: scraping the meat off the hide, soaking the skin in a water and agricultural lyme solution, scraping the hair from the hide, and, finally, rinsing and drying. Bailey offers step-by-step demonstrations for creating drumheads, lampshades, the aforementioned dog chews, etc. As one who has witnessed hide preparation from a respectful distance, I can vouch for Bailey's claim that her method is easy. Still, there are important points to be aware of: as Bailey sagely advises, one should scrape the meat off when the hide is fresh (so the meat will come off easier) and not undertake this step in warm weather as “it will attract flies.” Yes, it will. Conversational, direct and generally clear in its instruction, Deerhide to Rawhide is a fine resource for do-it-yourselfers, nature craft enthusiasts and hunters. While probably not a good choice for Southern California and other PETA strongholds, this is recommended for libraries serving patrons prone to the seasonal mania of the deer hunt. Aud: P. (M. Tribby)