I hope you all had a great weekend contemplating the chemical reactions that surround us and maintain us as living organisms. Like many folks now I am working my way to the bottom of my freezer. However unlike some of you, (vegans and vegetarian I apologize - but there is a point), I had a couple deer hides at the bottom of my freezer. I am doing a traditional tan to use the hides and the stage I was at this weekend involves and acid/ base reaction!
To remove hair the epidermis and dermis layers of the hide are swollen by soaking in a basic solution,
pH 10-12. Commercially this is done with harsh chemicals like sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide, (both formuals you know). Traditionally there are other options so I used some garden lime and mixed in with some wood stove ash to make a basic solution. When the epidermis, (hair and "grain"), is scraped off I needed to neutralize the hide to prevent deterioration. A handy household acid like vinegar, acetic acid, in the right concentration did the trick. Why didn't my resulting solution smell like vinegar, because it was only a calcium salt and water!
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