Grainy Deerskins (underground scraping aka basement scraping)

[primitivepaulette]

Decided not to scrape and scrape to remove the residual grain that fresh scraping this bagged, salted and frozen hide had.. I'm thinking that perhaps it just may look beautiful with all the stripes that will be left over on the skin that I hope to smoke very darkly. Planning to cut it up and use it for a med size shoulder pouch with maybe a bison leg flap. I've always done the overkill on removing every last little bit of grain and well I can kinda take the FUN out of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!! Not so sure that all that is totally necessary to have something that is truly beautiful.. well at least it will look HANDMADE! I'll call it novelty oil and smoke tan.. using some eggs on this.. I have all the brains I collected in a couple of large ziplocks. So the eggs were just a bit more convenient, although I prefer the oil of the brains the most!Hmm.. could have used the sawsall to hack off a chunk of brains to thaw I suppose!.. next time. 

I used my friend Louis Jones of NC's handmade scraper for the job of scraping.. I didn't soak the skin at all beforehand.. I did however wash and shear the skin and flesh it before I salted and bagged and stored it thinking that perhaps I could do this job of graining in the warmth of our basement.. it was real nice and didn't in fact make a huge mess.. just a grocery sack full of bits of hair and grain.





So this is about where I am at right now with the deerskin.. found the almost perfect wringing pole set up! My basement looks a little like a thrift shop with all my kids clothes.. I found clothes racks for 3. each outside a local Family Dollar store.. ewww.. what a score! never thought about using part of them to wring skins over but with just a little resourcefulness I don't have to mess with skins outside at all! Which is okay with me.. freezing out there! And there's not a lot of privacy out there.
 

Sure this is old hat to a lot of you but just thought I'd share my idea of primitive tanning.. not so primitive, huh?? Well like has been said many times.. just an incredible amount of ways to skin a cat.. or tan a deerskin!

[Lemos]

That's using what you got. My wife wanted to kill me when I scraped one outside I can't imagine the luxury of doing it in the basement. That's a neat scraper you got there, how's the handle held on?

[Patches]

Is the scraper made of bone or antler?  I am just learning to tan, so I am interested in learning how to make new scrapers.  right now using an old dull knife.

[primitivepaulette]

The scraper is made of elk horn and it is all one piece except for the one handle that was shy a bit so a piece of wood dowel was epoxied onto it. Louis told me that sometimes he uses an angle grinder to bring an edge to a tool like this and he has shared tools with me that are made of plexiglas too.. not very primitive but I like using the plexiglas too.. the plexiglas feels like using bone and is kind of gentle in the belly and leg skins that one can easily pop a hole into! I had a bit of a time however at the neck.. nothing quite like a heavy steel fleshing knife and a narrow beam for areas like the neck.. that is if you're not using some bucking solution and soaking it for a bit of time.

[richardzane]

I think its ALWAYS great to try new things, break a few rules, and as far as leaving scarf skin on in little stripes,well,why not? see what happens?
if you don't like it when you're finished you can always soak it down again - rinse and repeat!

That looks like a very lean beaming pole! .  I've just never used a beaming pole , just always stretch em on a frame
and scrape the hair and scarf skin off dry....but then getting a frame set up in a basement where you can reverse it might be a little bit of a challenge!

[primitivepaulette]

Not sure if you can reverse the looks once it's smoked? Maybe by really smoking it heavy it can be.. never gave that much thought!

Yes the narrow pole is pretty aggressive and a wider one would make a wider path for sure..but my skins are usually scraped without soaking FIRST.. they I find I repeat the scraping after soaking.. was last summer anyway. I do use my frame sometimes in the basement or even my living room.. quite a wrestle getting it into the basement..BUT seems a heck of a lot easier to soften them.

This one I'm working on really seems to feel a bit tacky.. I think I'll rinse it and wring it a couple of times and then rebrain it.. might even soften easy by hand if the ground substances are then totally removed.. maybe I should bring the old wringer machine back in the house and leave several skins to soak and agitate in it for a long while! with a little vinegar!

[Pappy]

I usually scrap my dry also in a rack but after the 1st soak I will look it over and if I have ant whiskers left on it I will scrap it again on my fleshing beam, they don't tan very soft if any of that is any follicles left on the hair side. It like a Saturday night beard. Nice set up.
   Pappy