>Hi Diane >Why do you say that the deerskin is the best ?What others have you tried? Years ago, buckskin, recently chamois (that my customer bought and wanted me to try), and two kinds of "beefhide", one of which is vegetable tanned and the other I can't remember what they called it at the tannery. Anyhow, we put each kind of beefhide both ways on sample hammers using hide glue so we could take them off again and the deerskin also smooth side out and rough side out. Then we put the action back in and listened to the six hammers (I know, I know, terribly subjective and not a good enough sample. This is why I think we all need to work together on research.) My partners and I thought the deerskin with the smooth side out had the best tone. I never heard of useing elkskin and am anxious to go to the tannery to get some to try. .When >glueing the leather on it has to be done in 2 steps.It is not glued onto >the >entire hammer but only at the base of the hammer felt and hammer molding Yes, that is correct. Thanks for the input. Diane _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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