Rawhide

Marie-Josette Bellefleur - But when the hide comes out of the water, it tends to freeze more easily. Thus the importance of having two people to stretch it before it freezes. Once it's dried in the cold it will remain stretched.
Narrator - To obtain a soft, yet strong hide, you must remember to remove the natural coating that covers it.
Marie-Josette Bellefleur - Otherwise the hide will freeze quickly and loose its elasticity, making it impossible to stretch. After we've placed the stakes that will hold the stretched hide as it freezes, we scrape the interior once more. It has to be whiter, so the snowshoes will look nicer.
Once the hide is frozen, we untie it to protect it. Because it's snowing, and an accumulation of snow on the surface will thaw it out. Then we tie it vertically, higher up, to keep it frozen solid. This way, the hide dries in the cold without touching the snow. If the hide touches the snow, it will ice over without drying. So the stretched hide is hung in the cold and wind for three or four days, depending on the temperature, so it will dry in the cold.
Pelashe Mark - I'm trimming off the edges, where we made holes for the stakes. These pieces can still be used to repair snowshoes, for example.
Narrator - A very important step: analyzing the hide. Since it will be used to make rawhide sinew for snowshoes, parts of the hide are chosen to suit different sections of the snowshoe.
Pelashe Mark - The most solid leather, from the animal's back, will go in the middle of the snowshoe, and the thinnest part, from the flanks, will go for the snowshoe's front and back.
I've looked it over and cut the hide in four. Next, I'll cut it into strips.
Narrator - The heat of the tent softened the hide. Now we need to put it back outside to dry once again. Once the pieces of hide are frozen solid, we cut them into strips to make sinew. Then we immerse the strips so they will stretch even more. This way, the sinew will be even whiter.
Music - Rodrigue Fontaine, Bill St-Onge, Luc Bacon

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Rawhide

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