How I Process Deer Legs for Sinew, Skins, Bones, Hooves and Glue Stock
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 08. 2016
- I have processed tons of deer legs over the years acquired from hunters who don't want them. Processing in quantity forced me to become fast and understand what is and is not worth doing or keeping. I think the way I was taught to remove sinew is inefficient because it creates extra work and that seems to be the way most people do it. The main sinew cords are best removed separately from the underlying sheath-like tendon below it. The sheath seems to be weaker and does not process as easily. You can shred it if you want to, but it is still easier to remove them separately and that will save time in processing when you inevitably remove the tendon from the dried up sheath.
There is a lot of connective tissue in the whole foot and lower leg, almost no meat and usually not very much fat. This connective tissue can be cooked into glue. See my glue making series for how to cook and dry the glue. • Quality Hide Glue From... Glue is not made from the actual hoof which is more like hair than skin, so hoof glue is a misnomer. What it should refer to is glue made by cooking the feet and lower legs (sometimes known as trotters) to dissolve the large quantities of connective tissue in the foot into a glue solution. There is a lot of fat inside the foot and leg bones which is where neatsfoot oil comes from, but I'd recommend to start your glue making with materials that are free from fat or meat, like the tendons and tendon sheaths.
The hooves are removed from the legs by cooking briefly in hot water. It doesn't have to be boiling, you can just bring it to a boil and take it off the stove.
Support on / skillcult has been critical in keeping me experimenting and making content. If you want to help me help others, this is probably the best way to do it. Thank you Patrons for supporting the mission!
Donations can also be sent via PayPal @: www.paypal.com...
Buy less, but buy it through my links! Shopping through my affiliate links generates revenue for me, at no extra cost to you, click links here, or go to my Amazon Store page: skillcult.com/a... But seriously, buy less, do more.
Standard gear I recommend. I either use or have used all of it.
Council Tool Boys Axe: amzn.to/3z0muqI
Bahco Farmer's File: amzn.to/3Hbdhij
King two sided sharpening stone: amzn.to/32EX1XC
Silky f180 saw: amzn.to/3yZzM71
ARS 10 foot long reach pruner: amzn.to/3esETmM
Victorinox grafting/floral knife: amzn.to/3Jki1E9
Wiebe 12” fleshing tool: amzn.to/3sB0qSl
Atlas Elbow Gloves: amzn.to/3FwB5g6
BOOKS:
The Axe Book, by Dudley Cook: amzn.to/32kx7sN
Bushcraft, by Mors Kochanski: amzn.to/32q2rpT
Subscribe to my channel for more insightful Self Reliance related content: www.youtube.com... Click the bell icon to be notified of new content. Subscribing doesn’t mean that much on it’s own.
Blog and website: www.skillcult.com/blog
Instagram and Facebook @SkillCult
Don't cook the feet too long, just a minute or so and the hooves should pop off pretty easily. To remove hooves from deer legs in a campfire, just roast them in the ashes beneath the coals for a minute or two and pop them off.
Bone will crack like wood when it dries. To season the large bones, remove them, scrape off the fleshy stuff and oil the entire surface before drying slowly. The smaller bones rarely crack. You can bury them for one year and dig them up. I'll show you tricks for cleaning them sometime. Another good reason to subscribe to my channel! In fact, we'll surely be revisiting some of these parts in other projects or how to videos. For now I just wanted to show how to remove the sinew and stuff.
The lower leg skin is often referred to as the hock skin, although I don't think that is anatomically correct. it can be cooked for glue or skinned out with the dew claws (small hooves) and then sewn into bags and such.
I am so happy to see you do not let anything go to waste. Our culture has lost that knowledge. So you are helping to bring it back. Thank you. E :)
I don't really use everything , no one does, but it's good to know how to use as much as possible. I mean nothing really goes to "waste" around here anyway. It either goes into the compost or back into the soil somewhere or maybe the chickens and other animals eat on it along the way.
That is what I meant. Even the bone in the ground feed something till you are ready to use them. Another youtuber, name Rick Larson put the deer head in his hot compost pile. It cleaned the head and turned it a bit of a different color.
I learn something completely new every time you upload a video. Thanks for that.
Great, that is definitely the idea. Now just toss a pair of limb loppers in the trunk and start scanning for fresh roadkill!
Provided me the information that I was looking for to find out where real neatsfoot oil comes from. I enjoyed watching the removal of the hide from the leg bones and I read about the sinew. It is about time for me to remember where these parts come from and how they are used. The rattles are cool. I liked the unique guitar strap as well.
Thanks. Neatsfoot oil is cool, but to make it you need a lot of legs! I've tried with deer legs and the yield is very low. Keep in mind that if you buy neatsfoot oil Compound, that it will have solvents in it. The last time I bought pure neatsfoot oil, it smelled like solvent too. I just use old bottles of olive oil for similar applications now.
I have 2 points. A. kd5dvm you said exactly what I was going to type. B. I hope there is a whole episode on that little sharp bone that makes the strap. this is genius....I hope it runs stupid Hobby Lobby outta biz!
Mam, I love this guy, He s like, " People say good glue, trust me, if you boil this deer toe, you won't get any glue whatsoever. " clears up misconceptions.
It's a myth Ryan, I'm telling you, it's all a freakin' lie! ;)
Ahh man, I just liked how you said it though...
Absolutely love your videos thank you so much for the wonderful information. You've literally been my saving grace as I've come into my family's cattle ranch in Mexico. There seems to be allot of cows that die of strange and unnatural causes. Getting their hides has been great but have found no one nearly as informative. So grateful to have found you.
Well thanks :). I'm glad I can help.
It took five years for me to find you but man was it worth it. Great job
I need another million of you! or two million :)
I literally learned 3 new skills from you in the duration of this video.
Wow this was awesome! Super cool. Thanks for taking the time to teach this stuff. I'm going to do exactly what you just demonstrated so thank you! Also, loved the rattle and guitar strap too!!!
Very nice brother. Your embracing a lost culture and techniques. I love it
What a great video, thank you very much for sharing would be interested in watching you make a rattle as well. Also when you go squirrel hunting take us with you. Would love to see your recipes and how you process them.
Thanks
Hi friend. Maybe I"ll get out squirrel hunting this fall. They are out and busy right now.
SkillCult
👍🏼
Still would like to see a walk-through of your camper.
So many cool things to do! Love the guitar strap.
Part of my cave punk line of fashion accessories :)
Well, I know what I'm going to be watching on CZcams for the next couple of weeks. These are awesome videos! Thank you for sharing!
You're welcome :)
I look forward to your vids every week...good stuff!
yay!
Great video. Just got my first deer and was looking for ideas for the hooves. Thank you
Congratulations
Very interesting to find someone talking more about breaking down such a super common waste item from hunting. Our processors have barrels of them and we were tanning skin, saving sinew, removing hooves, and we turn the leg bones into bone needles. I am new to watching, do you have a video on actually crafting with the pieces? Thanks again for showing this!
Hi. I don't have much really. I have some hide glue making vids, but using skin. So many deer legs out there!
i find it amazing how much knowledge we lost over the past few decades ....
It goes super fast. I am shocked sometimes how fast I forget stuff that I'm not using or thinking about, let alone over a generation or more.
Thanks for sharing that awesome now I know what to do with my hoofs
cool!
Thank you for posting this super informative video. Obviously im 3 years late watching.......but we all evolve differently. NE
Very good instructional video. Only thing I would say is that animal hooves are indeed used in making glue. They don’t boil down as easily as collagen tissues and require a mild acid to be added for the proper consistency and usefulness as a glue. Hoof glue is mainly hydrolized keratin rather than collagen based.
Have you done it? I've seen that proposed in two places, but neither with any references. If you can provide references, that would be helpful.
I have boiled down the hooves to a degree by crushing them in as small of pieces as possible and boiling full on for several hours. I never did get an even consistency suitable for glue, but later found out that an acid was needed to fully dissolve the keratin. Stomach acid was sometimes used, but references I’ve found say .8 molar HCL will work well. There were several videos on youtube years ago of people doing it- one with pig hooves. Like you though I can’t find anything but references now. May be something good to try again and post a video of this deer season.
www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Hoof%20glue&item_type=topic
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoof_glue
Those are more like rumors than references. They both use the same references. One reference talks about making a shield and simply mentions hoof glue, again, a common statement that I think it a misnomer. Another is a dead link and a third is a woodworking website that talks about hide glue and just mentions hooves as an ingredient: "the protein comes from melted-down cow hides, hooves, and whatnot." I think the whatnot is probably an important ingredient ;) Having read old technical writings I can't recall a single reference to glue made from keratin or the hoof of any animal. But I can recall looking for any references and not finding them. I just went and looked in another glue making manual I dowloaded a while ago and hadn't read yet, and he has this to say:
“Keratin is the nitrogenous horny substance constituting hair, epidermis, horns, hoofs, feathers and nails. It is very difficult to dissolve in either hot water or acids, but on protracted heating it gives a solution which does not gelatinise; consequently the forms of keratin possess no value for glue making, and have to be removed as far as possible. They are generally used up in the manufacture of ferrocyanide of potassium (yellow prussiate), in the manure or other trades, among which may be mentioned the use of a large quantity of hair in plastering, and of horns and hoofs for handles, etc.”
and
"“The upper thigh bones are used for making piano keys, handles, etc., while hoofs and horns are separated, as they yield no glue (see Keratin), and are used for other purposes.”
Samuel Rideal. “Glue and Glue Testing". 1900
I've also, like others, tried boiling hooves to no avail, but not with an acid. Acids were used in making bone glue, so maybe someone extrapolated because their hoof glue wasn't working. BTW, last time I looked, I was referenced on the wikipedia page for hide glue. WIkipedia is notoriously unreliable. If it is made at all, which seems doubtful, it doesn't seem worth it, or that it was used traditionally. If someone can show me that it actually works or a more substantial reference, I'm interested. Maybe I'll check in with a hide glue expert I know about.
Thank you for sharing knowledge. I am eager to see your other videos. Greetings from Bosnia.
Hi Sasa, thanks :) I plan to do a lot more bush and primitive tech videos in the future.
You can put the bones in a cage or mesh and put them on an carnivores ant hill. The bones will be completely white and clean in a few days to a week. ♡
Nice idea man
This came in handy today mate , processed two legs, pinned out the skin and pulled the hoofs off , couldn't find the needle bone for the life of me ,maybe I'll find them when I dig them up in a year lol
Maybe your deer don't have them. Also, they are only in the front leg. That's probably it...
That's freaking awesome!
thanks for the video!
Great video. I am an idiot. Getting the hooves off a dried deer foot is a challenge. Thanks for the tip.
Try soaking them in warm water for a day to get them more like fresh, and then into the hot water. that might work. It's seriously a nightmare once they are dried. Been there done that.
Thank you very much.
Great info thanks
Great way to show us how to use and get to each part of the lower leg and hoof. You kept mentioning glue. What and how do you get glue and how to use it? Is it strong and water proof? Nice to know and thanks again for showing us
I have a video series on making hide glue. It is very strong. All old string instruments are made with it and most furniture etc. It is water soluble, but that can sometimes be used to advantage. Most fine string instruments are still made with it, so that they can be repaired, even taken all the way apart and put back together. It used to be the standard glue for everything, but it's inconvenient to use and water solubility is more often a detriment than a benefit.
Big thumbs up as I have learned something.
Thanks
:)
Very interesting video. Thank you.
i have 16 legs from this season and was wondering what i can do with them. I made candles and soap from deer last year and looking forward to doing something with the hooves this year! thanks
Fun. I hope to do more deer use vids and stuff about the different materials and their properties.
Thanks.
Super awesome video. Love it. Will try to make a goat hoof rattle next week. Is the rattle from just the outer hoof or does it include the bone too. Basically, can I take off the the hoof, dry them and then make a rattle?
The rattles are the outer hoof shell only, popped off just like I did in the video. If you cut out the soft bottom of the hoof the rattle will be quieter and you'll need more hooves. Either trim them while they are green or re-soak them and trim. If you don't have a drill, you can try putting a small nail through them while fresh or resoaked and leave it in until they are dry. It may split the hoof a little, but just experiment with it and see what happens. I usually dry them and then drill the holes.
I have bought neats foot oil when you can make it that easily! Man you have a great channel!
Well, there is a problem with neatsfoot oil and that is getting enough
legs to make it. If you can get a pile of cow legs or something, you
could make a bit, but it's hard to get enough smaller legs. I usually
use olive oil now. I just always have it and it's cheap. I'm not
convinced that neatsfoot oil has magical properties.
Ok i would guess that neats almost doesn't go bad. Almost like say.....motor oil. I never knew it was from bones. Olive oil....that's cool! Does that go rancid after several months or not really when the hide sucks it up. Yeah there is a almost mystical amazing feeling around neats oil. There is more than one way to skin a cat! Thanks
I have strangely never noticed rancidity being a problem in oiling leather. I've used rancid oils quite a bit and used oils that go rancid easily like lard. Olive oil is relatively stable by comparison. I have no idea why it doesn't seem to leave an odor of rancidity, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Ok good....maybe the hide does do something or maybe not. Thanks
Nice upload, glad I found your channel, new subscriber
thanks, and welcome!
I'm curious about using the legs and "feet" (hooves removed) in bone broth/stock. Calves feet are a traditional ingredient in stock, to increase the gelatin. I've always wondered how well deer feet would perform that task. I'm probably going to experiment with it this Fall, but wondered if you have any experience at it.
You can do it of sure. Lots of gelatine, but not much flavor. there is no meat in the lower leg there art all, so it's bland. I you just want to make gelatine or hide glue (same thing) they're good.
such a great video. Thank you.
You're welcome :)
Hello. Do you know a good resource for instructions on how to make neatsfoot oil?
No, I don't. It's basically smash or cut the bones and boil them to ge the oil out. The oil floats. It just takes a lot of bones, but not as many if you are doing cow legs or other larger animals.
Thank you for sharing this video! I was wondering if you (or maybe someone in the comments) can help me with a question I had about keeping the fur on the hoof, if possible? I have a beautiful bison hoof that I would love to keep the fur on, but I've never done taxidermy before 😅 id appreciate any help, thank you!🙏🏽
There are a bunch of "how to cure a rabbit paw" tutorials out there: wash with mild soap, soak in 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol for 48h, wash, soak in Borax (sodium tetraborate) for 24h, rinse, let dry.
I myself haven't tried it yet, but I found a deer foot in a pile of wood 😄 problem is: one cannot simply buy Borax here in Germany...
Do u sell the knucklebones? U could sell em at renfairs for a good price probably
Thats a beutifull knife. Is it vintige? I want to make my like yours. Is it original from 18th century or??
No, it is just a cheap kitchen knife brand in the US called old hickory. They are okay. Pretty soft and then handles are small and square. they are not as cheap as they used to be.
Do you think the hooves would work for nock covers on a bow, or would they be too soft or irregular?
The dew claws might work, they are much smaller. they are tough and pretty hard when dried.
I feel super silly saying this but you could use needle bones to make needles
For some netting or lacing through large holes maybe, but they are really not that useful as needles for the most part.
Hey, Steven, what if the leg is found in the field, on an animal that was roadkill months ago???. The leg is all dry, but still looks intact.
Hey, it's my old homie Alice ! :) I never deal with those. I tried in the past, but aside from the bones, I'm not likely to mess with them. I don't recall having any luck with getting the hooves off, but one thing I would not do is boil them for long periods of time trying to loosen the hooves. The connective tissues will weaken and you just end up with a hoof with a bone still in it. If I were to approach that situation at all and wanted to save as much as possible, like in a survival scenario or something, I would start by soaking the whole leg in a creek or cool water, then proceed from there.
I'm trying to figure out how I can preserve the leg without skinning? I read I could put the whole thing in salt for a couple weeks and it would dry out? Is that accurate?
The problem with salt is that it gets in the skin and if it is humid out, it draws moisture from the air. It can even start dripping. I have just dried them in the sun before. I think a taxidermist would probably peel back the skin and take out the tendons and stuff, then add something back in there an pull it back over. Maybe some borax powder in there to deter bugs.
I have gotten my hands on some sheep legs and have put them in a plastic bag with a load of salt. Would that be enough to preserve after having dried them? I just want to keep them for decoration or whatever or just for the fun of trying it out. BTW I am a relatively new subscriber but I am thrilled to have found your channel. There is so much to be learned from your material. Thank you!
They will always be subject to insect damage. Probably better to treat them with borax and then dry them. Try searching the internet to see how taxidermists deal with deer legs.
can cook these (without the hide) and make bone broth for dogs ??
Sure.
Thank You for this video! Very helpful. You mentioned neatsfoot oil..have you made it before and do you have a video on that?
I have made it in very small quantities. The problem is getting enough legs. there isn't a ton of oil in a few deer or similar legs. I don't have a video, but it's the oil extracted for the lowest leg bone and foot bones. crushing, boiling and collecting the oil on top should work.
Is there anything you can do with older legs? Cause I found a partial deer skeleton with a leg and I want to do something with the hoof and want to try and preserve it properly
I found a cool skull and some antlers. The antlers are fine. You can try soaking the bones in bleach to whiten and remove junk, this will make the bone deteriate faster tho. Or let them sit in the sun for a long time and turn them around occationally.
Love that rattle!
I sometimes make anklet rattles with the hooves and dewclaws that are pretty cool.
wow. thanks for sharing...
You're welcome..
If the feet have been frozen will this still work?
for bones and hooves yes, sinew yes, glue maybe not
you can use them to make deer leg nun chucks
ha ha, that would be awesome. those would hurt like hell.
Cool 👍😎👍
Спасибо
Do you remove the remainder of hide/hair off feet before boiling feet and shins for Neatsfoot oil/glue?
no. for glue the skin just makes more glue. the hair is inert. the oil floats so it doesn't matter what is in the water.
@@SkillCult thanks for the reply! I've got a pot of forelegs and feet simmering right now. Had been trying to skin The feet but got annoyed and wasn't going to put them in but you caught me in time. Much appreciated.
Do you have a video on making neets oil and/or glue? Would love to see that.
Neats foot oil seems pretty straightforward. YOu crack the bones, boil and skim the oil. I do have a full on extensive series on making hide glue, but it's really long and involved. It's actually really cool, just a bit more than most people probably want. I'm planning to do a short easy version soon, but until then it's there in it's own playlist. czcams.com/play/PL60FnyEY-eJCPd_eQyiP4JE6RLtCgmNxE.html If you have clean material like hock skins and sinew scraps or tendon sheaths with no real meat of fat, you can just dry them, then go straight to the cooking phase.
Intro hilarious.
love the rattle. very neat. will you be at rabbitstick?
I never go there anymore, mostly because it's so far. I didn't even go to buckeye that last 2 or 3 years and it's close. I guess too, I'm kind of over the old model for those type of gatherings. I think it's time to move toward more regional gatherings with broader self reliance skill sets. That is where things are headed. I've seen it coming for years.. Less division of camps like survival, primitive, homestead, prepper, bushcraft and more blending of all that sort of stuff together into versatile adaptive skill sets. Rabbit stick is still sort of the hub though and it would be nice to see a lot of those people again. What makes sense to me is having similar regional gatherings with some kind of unity of principals and approach to getting people re-skilled, and then have every 5 years or more a coming together at a large national or even international event to cross pollinate. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.
Are the legs the principal source for sinew used in fletching or fine stitching?
No actually usually the backstrap sinew is used for both of those. You can use leg sinew, but backstrap is preferred. I have another video on removing that. Leg sinew is more often used for gluing to the backs of bows and for making bowstrings.
What is glue stock?
material for making glue. I think that might be somewhat archaic language usage at this point.
If you don’t mind my asking. What knife is that. That you use in the video.
It's an old Western. The handle is way too small, but it's okay for this.
how did you make the guitar strap? It looks awesome !
The bones are laced on. The leather is oak bark tanned horse hide that I tanned.
Sorry if I am asking a question you have already answered, but I am curious if hoofs work to make buttons, like cattle horns can be? Thanks
They could be, but they are pretty thin for that.
I guess Ive never gotten nearly as intimate with hooves to know about the thickness. Maybe, once softened sufficiently, they could be rolled into toggles. Food for thought :)
I just skinned out four deer legs that had been in my freezer for about two years. They were almost completely dried out, but with patience, a sharp paring knife and a pair of pliers I was able to skin three of them successfully (I was a little too rough and tore one), and I was able to remove the sinew from all three. I'm thinking about bark tanning the three, hair on- have you ever done that?
Yeah, you can do that. It might dye the hair a little bit. You can put them in as long as they are not dried out. Once they are in for a few days or a week, take them out and scrape over the flesh side to sretch them out and get off the membranes and stuff that you don't want, then put them back to finish tanning.
@@SkillCult Thanks for the advice. They're not completely dried out- still a little flexible. I figure even if they don't work out, I really haven't lost anything. I've had some success braintanning, but haven't done any bark tan. Should be interesting. Thanks again!
Just put them in water first and get them all the way soaked up before putting in the tan. Watch my strop making series for more on barktanning if you haven't. That will help. czcams.com/video/urJ2Ll5im_A/video.html
Is it safe to keep a deer leg i found in the woods?
I wouldnt' know. Too many variables. If it doesn't smell and you kids aren't going to chew on it, it will probably just dry out.
Can you clean the hoof with beetles?
I suppose, but there is so little left in there that it's not really necessary. they pop off pretty clean.
@@SkillCult I mean to clean the bones in the ankles. Thanks for the video.
Oh, I see. Probably. I've never made a beetle box or anything like that. Burying them seems to work pretty well, but it does take about a year.
Do u have a shop for your products
Other than Amazon
I don't have many products just now, but I have stuff on and off and some seasonal stuff in my webstore. skillcult.com/store/ Hopefully I'll have more in the future.
+SkillCult no worries thanks for the reply
I'm going to the woods to grab some glue
I wish your camera angle was better. I cannot see what you are doing. Needs a closer view. Good info but not getting the visual is fustrating
I'll keep that in mind next time. are you on a phone? that's a big problem these day, a lot of people watching on tiny screens.
What part of the country are you in?
North West
Cool, thanks for the video!
just like the natives let nothing go to waste
The only stupid question is the one never axed