Rawhide is a
hide or animal skin that has not been exposed to
tanning. It is similar to
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...
, much lighter in color than
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...
made by traditional vegetable tanning.
Rawhide is more susceptible to water than leather, and it quickly softens and stretches if left wet unless well waterproofed.
"Rawhide" laces often sold for boots or baseball gloves are made of normal tanned leather rather than actual rawhide. Rawhide is not pliable when dry and would be unsuitable for that use.
Process
The skin from
buffalo,
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
,
elk or
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
from which most rawhide originates is prepared by removing all
fur,
meat and
fat. The hide is then usually stretched over a frame before being dried. The resulting material is hard and translucent. It can be shaped by rewetting and forming before being allowed to thoroughly re-dry. It can be rendered more pliable by 'working', i.e. bending repeatedly in multiple directions, often by rubbing it over a post, sometimes traditionally by chewing. It may also be oiled or greased for a degree of waterproofing.
Uses
It is often used for objects such as
whips,
drumheads or
lampshades, and more recently
chew toys for dogs. It is thought to be more durable than leather, especially in items suffering abrasion during use, and its hardness and its shapability render it more suitable than leather for some items. For example, rawhide is often used to cover saddle trees, which make up the foundation of a western
saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
, while wet: it strengthens the wooden tree by drawing up very tight as it dries and resists the abrasion regularly encountered during stock work or rodeo sports. It can also be used as a backing on a wooden bow. Such a backing prevents the bow from breaking by taking a share of the tension stress. Bows made from weaker woods such as birch or cherry benefit more from a rawhide backing. Soft hammers are also made with rolled rawhide dipped in shellac: these hammers are mostly used by people who work soft metals without marring it (jewelers, brass instrument repairmen, boilermakers etc.)
Traditional
gaucho's "boots" are made with horse feet rawhide. Gauchos skin the animal and put the freshly skinned hides on their feet like socks, where they are left to dry, taking the user's feet shape. Like
moccasins they are soft-soled. Like ancient Roman
cothurnus, the rudimentary boots have no
toe box
The toe box is the section of footwear that surrounds the toes on closed-toe shoes. Toe boxes that are too tight can cause injuries and foot deformities, whereas wider toe boxes may be used to treat or prevent common foot conditions such as Mor ...
and do not cover the toes completely.
It is quite effective for training dogs and also satisfies their natural desire for meat. Some veterinarians discourage the giving of rawhide to dogs because of the animal’s inability to digest the rawhide properly and its tendency to swell in the stomach; that is much less of a problem in dogs that bite off smaller pieces and do not try to swallow the rawhide whole.
Wet rawhide has been used by some earlier cultures as a means of
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
or
execution, gradually biting into or squeezing the flesh of body parts it encloses as it dries. An example is
buskin
A buskin is a knee- or calf-length boot made of leather or cloth, enclosed by material, and laced, from above the toes to the top of the boot, and open across the toes. A high-heeled version was worn by Athenian tragic actors (to make them loo ...
. On the other hand, it has also been used in the context of
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
by
First Nations peoples, and other groups such as the
Sioux Nation: wet rawhide would be wrapped around a long bone
fracture
Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displ ...
and it would dry, slowly setting the bone;
the dried rawhide then served to support the fracture, similar to how a plaster cast does today.
References
{{leather
Leather
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