Experienced hunters will process the deer hide within ten minutes of it being skinned; the longer the process takes, the greater the chance of failure and the worse the quality of the hide.
If the deer hide is not soaked in salt in time and quickly, the hide will not have any problems for the time being, but the deer hair will fall out, and eventually it will become a bald deer hide.
Truly superior deerskin comes with fur. For example, if you want to make a rug or a chair back, the quality of deerskin with fur and deerskin without fur are completely different.
Hairy skin appears fluffy and soft, while hairless skin appears dry.
Hairy skin is easier to preserve, while hairless skin is prone to cracking in the folds, forming scars, and eventually drying into pieces. This is what mountain people often call "rotten skin," resembling the surface of a decaying plant.
Strictly speaking, fine salt, or refined salt, is better for processing the fur of sika deer.
Coarse salt particles are too large and may damage the dermis, which will accelerate decay and deterioration.
But in Wang Tianxiao's time, there was nowhere to find fine salt; he could only buy coarse salt.
So he had to put the salt on an oilcloth and keep crushing it to turn the coarse salt into powder, and then use the finest gong to sift out the powdered salt.
The gong is not the kind you strike; it's a common farming tool shaped like a sieve. It functions similarly to a sieve, but the holes at the bottom of the gong are smaller.
Normally, we use it to deal with small insects in flour, or to separate the parts of dried chili peppers that are not completely ground after they have been ground into powder.
Its holes only allow flour and very fine chili powder to fall through, and the fineness is sufficient to meet the separation requirements. The holes are definitely finer than those of refined salt.
The salt should have been prepared beforehand, but he only remembered that he had forgotten to process the salt after he finished skinning the deer. So he hurriedly crushed and sifted it. Fortunately, with Wang Tianxin's help, he was able to finish it quickly.
Wang Tianxin may not be good at studying, but he's really willing to put in the hard work.
In the words of the older generation, that's a life destined for hard work.
"Tianxin, do you want to give it a try?"
Wang Tianxiao brought over a large bucket from the warehouse and, seeing his younger brother nervously guarding the deerskin, asked him with a smile.
"How do I do it? I don't know how."
"It's very simple, if you want to learn, I'll teach you."
Wang Tianxin looked at the deerskin, then at the large bucket and the salt beside it. After hesitating for a long time, he finally shook his head. "You do it first, I'll watch you do it once, and then you watch me do it next time. What if I ruin this deerskin?"
"So what if it gets broken? There's always a price to pay for learning."
"No, I don't think so. My sister-in-law is in her postpartum period. After the leather is repaired, I can make her a mattress or something. It'll be warm and cozy, wouldn't that be perfect? It would be such a waste if I accidentally ruined it."
Wang Tianxiao was stunned.
He was a little unaccustomed to hearing words of concern from Wang Tianxin, but then he felt a sense of relief.
This child has finally learned to care about others; he's no longer that selfish teenager who did things his own way and didn't care about anyone else.
I've been taking care of him these past few days, and through his influence, he's gradually changing without me even realizing it.
Since his rebirth, he has been constantly torn between his conscience and his feelings when facing Wang Tiancheng. Sometimes, seeing the familiar face would stir up a wave of displeasure, but more often than not, reason prevailed over impulse.
It's too easy to ruin a person.
The key is what his choice is.
From the current perspective, his choice is not problematic.
That's enough.
However, Wang Tianxin said that using deerskin as a mattress is actually not very suitable.
Deer hide is a very high-end animal fur. It is soft, strong, and delicate. It is very lightweight for the same area and is also waterproof, resistant to high temperatures of over 100 degrees Celsius, and very resistant to low temperatures.
Moreover, deerskin has excellent softness, flexibility, and extensibility.
Therefore, deerskin was often used in later generations to make very high-end genuine leather clothing or genuine leather seats in many luxury cars, etc.
It's not that it can't be used as a mattress, it's just a waste of its potential.
However, even if it's just a mattress, it doesn't matter. He's not in a hurry to make a lot of money all at once; his wife's health is more important than anything else.
He had already lived a lifetime and found that many fame and fortune were meaningless. The only things that truly made him feel at ease were those that he genuinely cared about.
If you give up what you have most in pursuit of things you may not actually need, you will inevitably regret it one day.
He's been reborn; he can't be foolish enough to leave any regrets.
Since Wang Tianxin lacked the confidence to take direct action, Wang Tianxiao began to handle the situation.
He first laid the deerskin flat on a large oilcloth, hair down and flesh up, and then began to sprinkle salt evenly onto the flesh.
This male deer weighed 170-180 pounds, and according to the ratio, it would need about six pounds of fine salt. To be on the safe side, he added a little more, probably a little over seven pounds in total.
Sprinkling salt is the first step. Next, he uses a small brush to gently spread the salt evenly so that every part of the pork skin can be marinated with salt.
If the process is uneven, some parts will still mold and rot, and the skin extracted from the salt will have some cracks, making it unusable.
After the salt had soaked in for a few minutes, when there were not many salt grains visible on the surface, he rolled up the deerskin from the outside in, with the fur on the outside and the flesh wrapped in salt inside. Then he put the whole pelt into a large bucket and poured water into it.
Once the water just covers the surface of the leather, sprinkle some leaves of the *Cinnamomum camphora* (a type of privet) inside to prevent decay.
Nan Zhu is a plant that originally grows in the south and is almost never seen in the north. Wang Tianxiao used some dried leaves of Nan Zhu because there is a nursery in Ziwuling where it is artificially cultivated.
He originally intended to use it when making pickled vegetables, as it would act as a preservative. Now that it was available, he used it directly.
At this point, the initial stage of curing the deerskin is basically complete. From now on, stir it with a stick every day to ensure that the brine can penetrate the fur thoroughly, inside and out, so that the fur will not fall out.
After ten days to half a month, you can take the fur out to dry, or you can leave it there and just leave it inside. Just make sure the place where you put it won't be eaten by mice or insects.
"Finally finished."
Wang Tianxiao was exhausted. He told Wang Tianxin to seal the bucket and take it to the warehouse, remembering to put a big stone on top to prevent rats from getting in.
I lay down on a large rock at the mouth of the mountain ridge, ready to rest for a few minutes.
Strangely enough, at the entrance of the road down from the station, there was a huge rock, about a dozen square meters in size.
The stone is flat, and sitting on it to enjoy the mountain view or rest, with the gentle breeze that is partially blocked by the surrounding peaks and the sounds of birds and insects in the mountains, is exceptionally pleasant.
When Wang Tianxin came out and saw him lying on the rock, he called out, "Brother, it's so cold on the rock, what are you doing lying there? Come on, change your clothes, wash up and eat. Brother Wenhua has already prepared the meal."
Wang Tianxiao responded, stretched vigorously, and tried to stand up like a carp leaping out of the water. He writhed a few times but failed.
He had no choice but to awkwardly turn sideways, get up, and jump off the rock.
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