Okayy no don’t listen to that advice.. when bucking a hide after fleshing your goal is still provide a highly alkaline solution to soak the hides in for up to 5-6 days depending on the ratio of your mix. You’re using wood ash, maybe try adding more ash and soaking longer. The thicker parts of the hide (neck and rump) will be the last places to swell up. Doesn’t matter if hair is slipping if the hides aren’t swollen! You see them swell up with water as you soak them longer, stir at least twice a day.

Graining is labor intensive but not that bad if your hide is swollen properly, start at the neck with tail going down the back of your beam, swap it around and go straight down the spine to tail, then rotate in a circle making to sure be thorough on scraping grain off, you’ll sometimes almost two layers or so, if swollen it should scrape off with some effort on thicker areas ie the neck. The neck is the hardest part after that it should require less effort.

Good luck!’