While I can see that this is bad timing in the sense of just putting up the baby bump, I would like to talk about working the big hide and my thoughts on it at the moment..

Here is my first one..

What was I thinking? and Just how strong were those folks that wore buffelo robes, you see I had this grand image of me making a big beef robe that would be worn fronter style as a robe, well give that I can barely! pick up the hide, it typically takes two of use to lift and carry it around, let just say that the idea of putting it on and thinking that I was going to be able to walk around and wear it has gone right out the window!

Second, I had a major issue with the weather, despite hanging it, despite working with it naturally a number of ways, the flexing temps, from everything brutal cold to rain over a few week period, I could not get it to a good working point, and i can honestly say that next time, I will have a area prepped and ready for it in the big barn, back in the hay/straw storage area.

What the second means is that I finally had to make a call, I had a spot on the hide that was going bad, now thankfully it was on the one edge of it, which really left me with two choices, call it and just let the hide go (if you just laughed and thought really?) then you have been reading for awhile.

So it meant that Dh and I cut the hide to a smaller (but its still big enough) hide that cut out the part that was going on me, and then we hauled that sucker into the house, my kitchen table area has been convertered into a hide working area, we had to expained the table with wooden boards to make it big enough but its made the difference between success and failure, I was able to thaw it out properly, clean it and salt it and get it to properly cure/dry, its finally coming along nicely in all regards.

I have good faith that I will be able to finish working the rest of what is left, I ended up trimming out about six to seven inchs all the way around.

Now it becomes what do I do with the finished hide when its done.. I am leaning hard to floor rug most of the time and brought out as needed to be used in the buggy as a extra special seat cover or lap cover.

As for all the extra’s, I intend to continue working the good parts and trimming it out and taking the hide off, so that I am left with proper leather cordage that can be used as wraps around the handles of garden/farm tools,

That is my own personal plan for my next sheep hide, I am going to make leather and then want to learn to use it to do old fashioned cordage wrapping.