Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

314 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTa cloth continuation, leaving it open. Suspend thisbag from its bottom to a tree or pole. Bend a smallgreen stick into a hoop and place it within the bottomof the bag; under the mouth of the bag placea pan containing the smouldering wood (the clothmouth is to prevent the skin from heating). Inspectthe inside of the skins from time to time andwhen they are smoked to a deep yellow or lightbrown the process is finished ; sometimes both sidesfor a few days to season.of the skins are smoked ; otherwise, fold the skinswith the smoked side within and lay them awayThis sets the color, makingit permanent. The skins of antelope or any ofthe deer tribe are treated in the same way. Antelope,deer, moose, and caribou hides make goodbuckskin, but elk hides are comparatively weakand inferior material.Rawhide.—Rawhide is often useful in camp andis easily prepared. Soak the fresh hide in water,or in a weak lye made by adding wood ashes towater, until the hair will slip. The alkali is notnecessary for deerskins.Then remove the hair andstretch the hide with great force on a frame or onthe side of a building, extending it in all directionsas tightly as possible, so that when it dries it willbe as taut as a drumhead. Dry it in the shade. Useno salt or other preservative.This is all, unless you wish to make the rawhidesupple, in which case rub into it thoroughly a mixtureof equal parts of neat's foot oil and tallow,and work it thoroughly over the edge of a plank.Butter, lard, or any kind of animal grease will doas a substitute for the above mixture. Viscol,rubbed in, not only softens but waterproofs theskin.A convenient way of making a stretching framein the woods is to go where two trees grow at theright distance apart; notch them at the properheight to receive a strong, stiff sapling that has beencut to fit the notches, the deep cut of the latter