Giraffe hide as bedspread?

[Fredrik]

Hi all!

I'm looking into a giraffe hunt for 2025 and I had the idea of making a bedspread of the giraffe hide (something like 2,4x2,4 meter which seems doable from what I could find regarding sizes of skins).

I'm thinking it would be a pretty cool way to ise the skin, but, will it be to hard and/or heavy? I'm never come across a giraffe hide in the past. I had this idea with my bison skin and that one is a bit on the heavy side but mainly the bison I shot was a tad to small to make it work properly.

Any thoughts?

 

[K-man]

Hi all!

I'm looking into a giraffe hunt for 2025 and I had the idea of making a bedspread of the giraffe hide (something like 2,4x2,4 meter which seems doable from what I could find regarding sizes of skins).

I'm thinking it would be a pretty cool way to ise the skin, but, will it be to hard and/or heavy? I'm never come across a giraffe hide in the past. I had this idea with my bison skin and that one is a bit on the heavy side but mainly the bison I shot was a tad to small to make it work properly.

Any thoughts?

I have a giraffe hide that is tanned I purchased. The hair is a bit too coarse for me to want as a spread next to me. Looks great on the stair rail!

 

[375Fox]

I wouldn’t. Possibly nice for a rug on the ground but definitely not a bed spread. You’d also likely need to hunt a cow or younger bull that still had a nice hide without too many scars instead of best trophy.

 

[Goat416]

I have a couple bull giraffe flat skins. The main body is roughly 2.25 meters square plus the neck that is approximately 1.5 meters long and ranges from just over a half meter wide to a little over a meter. They look great and love mine as a flat skin. The hide is double the thickness of my zebra flat skins at just shy of 4mm thick. It might be a little thick and stiff for a blanket. I would discuss the tan with the taxidermist and make sure they keep as much size as possible when they skin it. It is my experience they trim quite a bit when skinning and tanning.

 

[buck wild]

Will be stiff and possibly a little heavy for bedding

 

[Fredrik]

Thanks for all the input. The picture is of a print blanket but you get idea of what I had in mind. I'm not to worried about it being coarse as I'd remove it every evening but it seems it will be a bit stiff to roll/fold and to "fall" nicely over the bed and with a 4mm thickness I guess it will be quite heavy as well.

And thanks for the advice of ensuring it's not being trimmed too hard.

I'll discuss with the taxidermist but from what I could read up, full flat skins are very hard to make properly flat and "always" have some "wrinkles" so it's not suitable as a rug as it makes a great trap for tripping. Is that something you have experienced @Goat416 ?

Regarding the hide I'm very much aware and the offer I got was related to a specific bull that's not too old with a good quality hide so that's why I was considering to use it as a bead spread.

 

[Ridge Runner]

@Fredrik

Not sure about the gariffe hide, but seems plausible, as with cowhides. Not sure if 4mm is thick enough, but see if you can have the gariffe split and soft tanned. It will make the hide more pliable and lighter. Then use the split for other projects.

 

[Huvius]

I have a couple bull giraffe flat skins. The main body is roughly 2.25 meters square plus the neck that is approximately 1.5 meters long and ranges from just over a half meter wide to a little over a meter. They look great and love mine as a flat skin. The hide is double the thickness of my zebra flat skins at just shy of 4mm thick. It might be a little thick and stiff for a blanket. I would discuss the tan with the taxidermist and make sure they keep as much size as possible when they skin it. It is my experience they trim quite a bit when skinning and tanning.View attachment 642808

What are the measurements on that skull?!!

 

[Goat416]

Thanks for all the input. The picture is of a print blanket but you get idea of what I had in mind. I'm not to worried about it being coarse as I'd remove it every evening but it seems it will be a bit stiff to roll/fold and to "fall" nicely over the bed and with a 4mm thickness I guess it will be quite heavy as well.

And thanks for the advice of ensuring it's not being trimmed too hard.

I'll discuss with the taxidermist but from what I could read up, full flat skins are very hard to make properly flat and "always" have some "wrinkles" so it's not suitable as a rug as it makes a great trap for tripping. Is that something you have experienced @Goat416 ?

Regarding the hide I'm very much aware and the offer I got was related to a specific bull that's not too old with a good quality hide so that's why I was considering to use it as a bead spread.

I have one of my flat skins in my reloading room. Not a lot of traffic, but mine lays fairly flat. When it was tanned it looks like they pressed a fold into each leg that makes it lay much flatter than I think it would without the fold. I have mine positioned so the folds are not in the line of traffic. I will try and take a couple pictures if it is helpful. it rolls up similar to an area rug with a similar flexibility.

Given a large enough piece of skin to work with definitely possible, but might make a better rug.

 

[Goat416]

What are the measurements on that skull?!!

The skull is almost 3 feet long, I have it wrapped awaiting the right project. At one point I thought of doing some sort of European mount, but that's probably a different thread.

 

[Rimbaud]

You either (1) live alone or (2) have the world’s most understanding wife or (3) have a man cave with a bed. I’ve seen skins used by various clothing designers over the years so maybe check with them to see what they can do, or what they have done. I wish I had some pointers in that direction, but I can recall seeing animal skins turned into “fashion” or household items in the homes of many non-hunters.

 

[Goat416]

You either (1) live alone or (2) have the world’s most understanding wife or (3) have a man cave with a bed. I’ve seen skins used by various clothing designers over the years so maybe check with them to see what they can do, or what they have done. I wish I had some pointers in that direction, but I can recall seeing animal skins turned into “fashion” or household items in the homes of many non-hunters.

I was thinking the same thing. I get one room I can do anything I want, and in the rest of the house I need to get the blessing of my better half.

 

[Rimbaud]

I was thinking the same thing. I get one room I can do anything I want, and in the rest of the house I need to get the blessing of my better half.

I live in the same world, my brother

 

[Fredrik]

You either (1) live alone or (2) have the world’s most understanding wife or (3) have a man cave with a bed. I’ve seen skins used by various clothing designers over the years so maybe check with them to see what they can do, or what they have done. I wish I had some pointers in that direction, but I can recall seeing animal skins turned into “fashion” or household items in the homes of many non-hunters.

Haha, I was laughing out loud when I read this. I DO have a very understanding wife!! The rule to follow is simple and workable - "No DT's on the ground floor" (DT's = Dead Things, which means skulls/horns/antlers etc, skins do not fall into this category). In the stairwell, basement and garage - very few limitations, but when I wanted to place a buffalo skull by her computer screen in her home office I got a no

For the bed I do have a bison skin I wanted to use for the same purpose but it's slightly too small, a bit hard to fold (but not that bad) but mainly that it's quite heavy. I think it's over 10kg (~20 lbs).

That's why I wanted to reach out not to end up in a similar situation with a giraffe skin if I pay to have it prepared.

 

[Goat416]

I live in the same world, my brother

I think that boat is pretty large.

 

[Goat416]

Haha, I was laughing out loud when I read this. I DO have a very understanding wife!! The rule to follow is simple and workable - "No DT's on the ground floor" (DT's = Dead Things, which means skulls/horns/antlers etc, skins do not fall into this category). In the stairwell, basement and garage - very few limitations, but when I wanted to place a buffalo skull by her computer screen in her home office I got a no

For the bed I do have a bison skin I wanted to use for the same purpose but it's slightly too small, a bit hard to fold (but not that bad) but mainly that it's quite heavy. I think it's over 10kg (~20 lbs).

That's why I wanted to reach out not to end up in a similar situation with a giraffe skin if I pay to have it prepared.

My giraffe hide is slightly thicker than my bison hide, but similar in the flexibility. I think as others have said the tanning process that was used and the amount of time spent scraping the hide down to thin it out could greatly change the compatibility of end hide.

Good luck with your decision and post some pictures if you decide to proceed. I have a large rack of hides from Africa and North American game that I am always looking for good ways to put them to use.

 

[Philip Glass]

Hi all!

I'm looking into a giraffe hunt for 2025 and I had the idea of making a bedspread of the giraffe hide (something like 2,4x2,4 meter which seems doable from what I could find regarding sizes of skins).

I'm thinking it would be a pretty cool way to ise the skin, but, will it be to hard and/or heavy? I'm never come across a giraffe hide in the past. I had this idea with my bison skin and that one is a bit on the heavy side but mainly the bison I shot was a tad to small to make it work properly.

Any thoughts?

Probably not the best idea. Giraffe hair is some of the most abrasive I've ever encountered. I do have an ottoman that is well done and not too bad.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I think it could work if skin is shaved to a pliable thickness. I would not trust shaving a skin to African tannery/taxidermist. Contact a tannery on this side of the pond. It's a fairly common procedure. Almost all the Native crafts made up here (e.g. beaded moccasins and gauntlet gloves) use rough-out split moose leather.

 

[Fredrik]

I did use a taxidermist in SA two years ago and they tanned my buffalo hide and made a really nice apron and a rifle case and the other hides (flatskins) where also very well made so I do trust that company quite a bit (they also did a pretty complex Sable mount for me to fit the stairwell, they even had to create a custom mannaquin for that mount).

@Philip Glass : That ottoman you mentioned, is it to coarse to sit on or how bad is it?

 

[Philip Glass]

I did use a taxidermist in SA two years ago and they tanned my buffalo hide and made a really nice apron and a rifle case and the other hides (flatskins) where also very well made so I do trust that company quite a bit (they also did a pretty complex Sable mount for me to fit the stairwell, they even had to create a custom mannaquin for that mount).

@Philip Glass : That ottoman you mentioned, is it to coarse to sit on or how bad is it?

It's not too bad. Just don't scoot around in shorts! (Or try anything else too creative!) Troph in Windhoek did it.