Everything about Rawhide totally explained
Rawhide is a
hide or animal skin that hasn't been exposed to
tanning. It is much lighter in color than
leather made by traditional vegetable tanning.
The skin from
buffalo,
deer,
elk or
cattle 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', for example 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 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, 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. Rawhide is, however more susceptible to water than leather, and will quickly soften and stretch if left wet unless well waterproofed.
Wet rawhide has been used by some earlier cultures as a means of
torture or
execution, gradually biting into or squeezing the flesh of body parts it encloses as it dries. When exposed to sunlight, a strip of wet rawhide was stretched tightly around the forehead of the bound victim would shrink; as the material dried and if left unattended, the victim's skull slowly cracks as a result of the pressure.
References in pop culture
In the movie
Man of the House (1995 film), as the hitmen try to figure out a way to kill Jack Sturgess (
Chevy Chase) and Ben Archer (
Jonathan Taylor Thomas), Ben says: "If you really wanted to kill us, you'd wrap us in wet rawhide and leave us in the sun and all of our organs would ooze out of our orifices like a tube of toothpaste."
Sources
Further Information
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