Tanning Hides

[AZ Prepper]

Tanning Hides
http://www.pioneerliving.net/tanninghides.htm



The Indians Tanned hides in several ways and by different substances according to the tribe. It is always well to keep in mind that Indian tribes were different and that many of them had their own style of doing things. Indian buckskin is NOT tanned at all. It is just worked soft. A fresh skin is immediately soaked in water for several days, usually from 3 to 6. Sometimes the hair is cut off, or at least as much as possible. A lye made of wood ashes is used for removing the hair from the pelts of elk & moose (not necessary on deer) In some cases the ashes are sprinkled on the hair, rubbed in, and then the moist hide is rolled up to await the loosening effect of the lye. If this is done you will have to pee on the skin side.

The next step is to take the skin from the water and put it over a graining log. This is a log from which the bark has been removed. Note: Cottonwood is the best and should be cut during the winter. It should be 8' long by 10 - 12" in diameter, seasoned for 6 months before removing bark and cut to a finished length of 6'. One end is on the ground and the other end is propped up to waist height. It is stuck obliquely into the ground so that its upper end is waist high. Once draped over this beam the particles of flesh, fat and sinew are scraped off. An implement specially designed for this purpose is used. In olden days it was a heavy handle of elk horn with an end like a small hoe. To this a flint scraper was tied, but in later times a steel blade was substituted, a lawnmower blade sharpened on one side to a 90-degree angle with the ends taped so it won't cut you. When this had been done the skin was reversed and the hair removed with a beaming tool. This was once made from the cannon bone of a deer, and it had two sharp edges. When the stone and bone age vanished, as the settlers came in, this tool was made of wood and a long iron blade. When the hair stuck, it was wet with moist ashes which loosened it so that in a short time it could be removed. Most skin workers took the hair off and then turned the hide over for the fleshing process but whichever way used, great care was taken not to work a thin spot in the skin.

A good skin is of uniform thickness, though perhaps we should say thinness, for soft skins were considered the best. When the skin is thoroughly scraped, de-haired and clean, it is washed in clear water, wrung out and then stretched on a wooden frame, being laced to it by leather thongs or bark cords. The skin should be almost as tight as a drum head. Now comes the trick of mixing brains with this tanning business,--and the old Indian actually thought it took brains to do it right. A batter of brains is now rubbed into the skin until it is thoroughly saturated. If the skin has been worked and twisted before "framed" the process does not take long.

The wringing process is IMPORTANT, and it consists of twisting the skin length wise and then looping it about a tree only to twist it again by means of a stick thrust through the loop. When dry it is stretched out, pulled in all directions thrown back in the water, wrung again, twisted again, pulled again, only to be thrown in more water to have the process repeated. (Note: do this SEVERAL times!!) The work applied to the skin is necessary for removing the cellular filling, and to produce a clean sheet of pelt fiber. When this is achieved, and the skin is soft, pliable and white, it is seamed up in the form of an irregular bag with crossed sticks thrust in the mouth to keep it open.

A smoke pit is now dug and in it a fire is built. Rotten wood, punk, cobs, chips of oak, beech or corn cobs are thrown in upon the coals and a smudge is started. The bag is now inverted over this A cord holds the bottom of the bag to a limb or a pole. Care must now be taken that the fire underneath does NOT blaze, and that the smoke fills the bag evenly. To guard against an uneven flow of smoke, ALL holes must be sewn up. Inspection must be constant, and when the pelt is of the right color, --yellow, tan or brown, it is taken from the smudge and laid away, the smoked surface being folded upon itself.

A few days of this sets the color and finishes. This is the so-called "Indian Tan", though more properly it is simply "Indian Worked", as no tanning solution such as is used in leather making having been employed. Buckskin is warm and pleasant to wear, and it outlasts any cloth ever made. It is the ideal material in the wilderness for it does not tear or allow thorns to puncture it. Its one drawback is that it wets easily, but even so it is soon dried and with a little rubbing, is restored completely.

The only drawback to these instructions is that it takes SEVERAL days to complete a hide, but if you follow them, you will have a beautiful piece of buckskin that will look great and it takes nearly a week & a half to do it right. The more the hide is work the better.

Good luck and stay warm.

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A great series on tanning hides...

The Derelict Epistle Braintan Buckskin

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVfb_rBs1OE


Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cjC92XnvvY


Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q0nFehnlXY


Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9h85T1v_0


Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ84GZdUVqI


Part 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37F7RDWKNM


Part 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru6dHdAwC3I


Part 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZf4lxzovF0

[AZ Prepper]

Brain Tan Made Easy- Brain Tan Buckskin
(a very vague overview of the basic steps)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGa_k8-ZYD0


BrainTanned Deerskins
http://braintanned.com/howto.html

Acquiring Skins
Skins can be found in many places. A few common places to start looking are with hunter, garbage bins, meat packers, the sides of roads, a sign with your phone number and a $5 cash offer in a strategic local, or if your lucky, from a brain tanner in your area. There seems to be more buckskinners all the time.

Storing Skins
A fresh skin is best scraped of the blood, meat, and muck and dried in a safe place out of the reach of critters and nasty bugs that eat little holes in your skin. The next best option is to freeze the skin as is. The third best option is to heavily salt the flesh side of the skin and store in a cool dry place. This salt will need to be completely rinsed from the skin before it's worked again. Use natural osmotic pressure if you have enough water, or in other words soak the skins a whole lot to remove the salt. DO NOT REMOVE SALT DIRECTLY ON OR INTO LIVING THINGS LIKE GRASS OR CREEKS BECAUSE THINGS WILL DIE.

Fleshing the skin
The flesh side of the skin is the side that faces the insides of the critter. All the fat, meat and other chunks plus layers of thin membrane are removed to allow penetration of the brains. These bits are removed by scraping with a dull edge, my favorite being a draw knife, but old planer blades work well. The skin is draped over something round and smooth and is pinched between the "beam" and whatever the beam is supported by. I use a aspen log as it doesn't splinter much and has a nice smooth, even surface but lots of folks use PVC pipe these days. Photos in the gallery show how this is set up. Note how the skin is neck up, tail down.


Upright beam

Some folks use beams that are about waist high and scrape the skin by pushing away from the body, using the body to hold the skin on the beam. This is known as a waist beam. Like I mentioned, I use a piece of aspen that leans against a tree. This is known as an upright beam. Either way you want to protect the skin from whatever it's being pinched, the body or the tree/wall/rock.


Waist beam in use

There will be a whole lot of scraping on your skin so get used to it. Try to develop a system of moving your skin to expose the next spot to scrape as efficiently as possible. I basically sort of scrape out a "T" with the top of the "T" being the neck and the body of the "T" along the spine for my reference point for both fleshing and dehairing.

Dehairing the skin
Buckskin gets it's name from the next part of the process called bucking. Bucking is using a basic (as in acid/base) substance such as lye or wood ash and adding that to water to penetrate and break up substances in the skin to allow the brains to penetrate. Re-read that because it's an important clue as to what your doing overall, preparing fibers of the skin expand and "fluff" up to become soft.

To buck your skin add Wood Ash (check out Matt Richards book for more info on the recipe for wood ash) or 8 oz. Potassium Hydroxide (both end up as only water when used up) to a 10 gallons of water mixing thoroughly. A plastic trashcan works well and is preferred. Place your skin in the can/bucket and allow it to soak. Mix it several times per day until the hair on the neck pulls out without breaking hairs to remove them. You'll notice that the skin swells considerably. Try to ensure that the skin has the same uniform grayish tint throughout.

When the hair pulls easily you'll need to rinse the skin some otherwise it's way to slippery to work with. Running water is the best way to remove the slipperiness. Several many changes of water will make the skin manageable. If you get your skin on the beam and it's way too hard to control then you need to rinse it some more.

Time to scrape. You'll notice as you scrape that there is a layer of the skin just under the hair that wants to scrape off with the hair. This layer needs to be completely removed. Much may be said about scraping but it's something best experienced to find what works for you. You will find that the skin varies in thickness and in how hard the hair and skin comes out. These variables will always exist on every skin and be dependant on what time of year the animal was killed, the age of the animal, storage methods of the skin, and penetration of the lye.

After scraping the hair and epidermis layer off of the skin I rinse the hide out in a creek until there is no more of the basic solution left in the skin. Any of the basic solution will inhibit brain penetration. After the basic solution is rinsed from the skin I then place the skin in a weak vinegar bath to get the pH back to normal. I then membrane the flesh side of the skin again then dry the skin out completely.

Braining the skin
One pound of brains will tan several skins. I blend my brains in a blender with hot water and add more water until I have about 3 gallons of "slurry". I take the dried skin and wet it enough to make it somewhat supple and then add it to the brains. I soak it in the brains long enough to let the brains soak into every fiber of the skin. I then wring the skin out, removing as much of the moisture as I can from the skin. To ensure that you have brained your skin as well as possible I recommend braining your skin again and wringing again.


Wringing the skin

Softening the skin
I take the well wrung skin and lace it into a frame, cutting holes every 3-5 inches along the outer portion of the skin. I push and stretch on the skin with a heavy stick until it no longer feels cold to the touch and then stretch it across an aircraft cable until it's completely soft and dry.



I then cut the crusty outer portion of the skin off so that I have a supple edge. This process can take from 2 hours to 7 hours dependent on ambient temperature and skin thickness and size.

Smoking the skin
I take the softened skin and glue it into a large bag and sew a "skirt" onto the skin. Dig a hole in the ground and make a fire in the hole. When there are only coals left in the pit add the most rotten wood you can find to the pit and place the skirt over the hole so that there is no air getting into the pit or smoke coming out of it except to go into the hide bag you have suspended over it. When the skin is the color you want it be flip it inside out and smoke the other side. You now have a BrainTanned, smoked skin that will last you for many years.

Again, these instructions are very crude and brain tanning is largely a trial and error sort of art form and best learned from someone who has experience in this skill. For $200 I am available to teach you how to perfectly Braintan a skin. For this fee you get a green skin, a scraping tool, and the instruction. During the class I also ramble on about all kinds of other primitive skills that will get your aboriginal juices flowing.

A happy abo!

[AZ Prepper]

Brain Tanning Deer Hide


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osY7ZS2FjgM


Preparing A Rabbit Skin For Tanning


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EuZ5rXbllU

[AZ Prepper]

Brain Tanning with Wilderness Outfitters

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkCsgKU85A


Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_C7Vwab3TY

[Kelly Alwood]

very good stuff..ive done a lot of brain tanning, and had good luck....however, ive tried several commercial tanning solutions and never had any luck...
great instructional videos....

[AZ Prepper]

How To Brain Tan Animal Hides
by: Bullseye
Link: http://www.kentuckypreppersnetwork.c...mal-hides.html

How To Brain Tan Animal Hides

Brain tanning is an old method that is used to tan an animals hide. It’s also known as the open pore method. You will be making leather skins you will need to soak the skin in lye or potash to help loosen the hair so you can remove it by scraping. If you are making fur skins you will need to scrape all the fat and remaining meat particle from the skin side of the fur. Plant tannins are helpful after the skins been brain tanned, but using them alone will produce hard, inflexible skin only good for harness leather, boot soles and belts. No salt at all can be used when you plan to brain tan your animal skin.

To prepare the brains for tanning they must be removed from the skull. Once removed the brains are placed into a pot and mashed. An equal amount of water is added and this mixture which should be the consistency of pudding, is slowly heated until the pink color has changed to gray. The mixture is allowed to cool before applying to the skin. *The brain mixture can be applied without cooking if you find yourself in a position where a pot or fire is not possible. You will need to coat the skin evenly with the brain mixture. The skin is then folded skin to skin sides touching. The skin needs to be placed somewhere out of the sun and out of the reach of scavengers. Coyotes, possums and raccoons love the meal that a brain tanning skin provide.

After a few days you will need to check the skin to see if the process is complete. Take your thumb and first finger and pinch the skin between them. If the indentation of your fingernail remains on the skin side you are ready to rinse off the brains. If the impression does not remain you will need to allow the process to continue. Check your skin daily as the chemical reaction will continue and your hide will decompose into mush. The optimum temperatures for brain tanning will be daytime temperatures in the 60’s and evening temperatures in the 40’s. If its warmer the process will be faster and you may have flies attach your hide.

Wrapping the hide in cheesecloth will help prevent blow fly damage as will allowing a smoke fire to burn near a brain tanning hide. Brain tanning in the winter time takes a long time as the cooler temperatures do not allow the chemical reaction to occur. Brain tanning has a unique and not so pleasant odor and is not something you want to smell inside your house for a week. Generally speaking it will take a week to 10 days for a full sized white tail deer hide to brain tan. Once the process is complete you will need to rinse the hide in water to remove the brain mixture. If your hide is exceptionally dirty you can use mild soap (not detergent) to remove any residual dirt, blood or brains. Dawn dish soap works well as it strips the grease, dirt and debris and does not affect the hide.

Once the hide is clean you are ready to break the hide. Breaking is the process that makes the skin supple and soft to the touch. If you are working with a smaller animal such as a fox or rabbit you do not require any tools to break the skin. Grab a side of the hide with each hand and pull and tug as the skin is drying. Change the position of your hands often to ensure that you work all parts of the skin. Larger animals such as deer and elk will require that you place the hide on a frame or find some friends to help. Using strong twine you place the hide on a frame so that you can use a rounded end stick to push against the hide, breaking it in. Should you have friends you can each grab a section and pull and tug against each other. A fence post is handy to have for breaking larger hides. By using the fence post you and your friends pull the hide across the post helping to speed up the breaking process. Once your hide is broken its ready to be smoked.

Without smoking a brain tanned hide will get hard if it gets wet. If a brain tanned hide is smoked after tanning it can get wet and remain soft and pliable. A fire pit is dug and a trench dug leading up to the tipi frame. A small conical frame built from greenwood branches forms the tipi frame. A fire is made in the pit and allowed to burn down to coals. While the fire is burning down to coals you soak rotten wood in water. Your hide is placed on the small tipi frame skin side in. The trench is covered with rush mats, bark or a tarp to allow the smoke to rise from the fire pit into the tipi frame smoking the skin.

When the fire has died down to coals you add the water soaked rotten wood and cover the fire pit allowing the smoke to be drawn into the trench. The type of wood you choose will affect the color of the skin. Maple will produce a purplish color while hedge apple will produce a yellow tan. Oak produces brown colors the depth of which depends on the species. It takes approximately 3 adult white tail deer hides to make a shirt, leggings and breech clout for an adult. Hunting time not included it will take about a month to brain tan and smoke enough hides to cloth yourself. The additional time is spent soaking the fur skin in potash water prior to beginning the brain tanning process. That process adds an additional 2 days to the tanning process.

Contributed by "S"