Big fella into buckskin/Smoking/Lots of pics./Items made

[Aaron H]

I'm following along with you as well Ed.  Thanks for doing this, one of these days I will try my hand.

[BowEd]

OK fellas I'll continue here then and your welcome.Got on my high horse today and finished up the step of making dry scraped rawhide ready for braining.I'll need to get some brains from my local Hy Vee grocery store.I'll get 3 pounds of pig brains for the job.Don't really have any type formula of ration for this.A person can't overbrain it,but it can get underbrained.Want to make sure I've got enough.I inspected my work in good lighting and am satisfied with the work.Even though all traces of membrane and epidermis are gone it is'nt guaranteed to be brain tan on the first braining & roping.I'll show later how I make the odds in my favor that it does get brained properly enough to become what I call a dressed hide [white brain tan].To me it does'nt really get cured till it gets smoked properly.Here's some more pics.
Hide in frame here has been thoroughly sanded with 80 grit with palm sander on both sides.Used to do the sanding by hand.Lots easier now.

I cut it out of frame now with my pocket knife.It looks smaller but has just folded a little bit that's all.It's still close to 20 square feet yet.A couple of pics of both sides out of frame also.Total time on framing/fleshing/dehairing & sanding around 6 hours.2 days of waiting for it to dry properly to be dehaired.
Hair side

Flesh side

I'll wait till conditions are right to brain it and rope it dry.It's raining now a bit and I've gotta get brains anyway.Ha Ha.My girl friend liked that line.....LOL.It's a big hide for me like I said and will take a good 4 hours of roping to dry.An hour longer than normal I figure.
Here's an old pic some 30 years ago when I was braining and roping in the basement of the old farm house.I had things great then.I could do them all winter long with a wood burner down there for heat.Most I ever did in one winter was 33 hides.Back then the brain tan hides sold for 10 dollars a square foot unsmoked.Sold them all to one person.He'll still buy all the hides I can get done today.So there is a demand & money for it always yet. Nowadays it's up to almost 15 dollars a square foot.I had a mutual friendly connection with the local rendering plant workers in them days for road killed hides.You can see multiple hides fleshed and dehaired hanging behind the one I'm working on.

[BowEd]

Looks like one of my muzzle loader kills through the neck with my .54 cal.

[Danzn Bar]

Cool old picture ED...I think I had a pair of diem jeans like those back in the 70's....
DBar

[Stringman]

Do you put extra effort into sanding the neck down so it's not as thick?

[BowEd]

Danzn Bar....Thanks....Those are brain tan pants with antler rosettes for buttons.Made a few more pairs since them days.Don't rendezvous much at all any more though.

[BowEd]

Scott......Not too much but with my scraper being razor sharp I let eat that's for sure.Sanding does help but a person should use 60 grit for sure maybe to see any difference in thickness.The rawhide is pretty tough stuff really.

[bjrogg]

Thank for posting this Ed. I've never brain tanned only made raw hide with water and wood ash, if done wet like I did would you have to scrape epidural or sand it? Just wondering how you remove it I believe it's still on with wet method am I right?

[jimmi the sammi]

Great thread!  I don't have near the experience but learned how to brain tan many years ago from a good friend who was also into period buckskinning.  The frame he taught me to use was just like yours, Beadman, but was 2 of them the same size put together with a 1 1/2" spacer between them.  He then cut up inner tube bands and made a #9 wire hook attached to each band.  The hide was stretched with those bands and a piece of 1"X2" wood that was slipped in between the 2 frames.  You could add as many "stretchers" as needed in whatever location needed using this method.  The nice thing was never needing to restretch the hide as you were working it because the rubber bands kept it stretched at all times.
Everything else he taught me is just as you are describing.  I will be interested in your method of brain absorption since he had a distinct method of accomplishing that also.
I braintanned a bunch of deer hides that were used to make my wife's wedding dress those many years ago.  And you are right on when you say it is time consuming and one needs to be patient to accomplish the desired end product.  (Not including my almost completed hide that the dog completely ate!!)

[BowEd]

Yes bjrogg the method you did will leave the epidermis on yet if you just lightly scraped your hair off it.I've removed epidermis with a fleshing knife over a beam wet before too.It is a little strenuous to do and care should be taken not to rip the hide.It does leave a very nice smooth surface of leather after it's done.Absolutely all fat and meat and membrane should be removed flesh side before dehairing this way.You don't want any little obstacle to get between the fleshing knife and the beam.It'll rip the leather for certain.Your beam has to be pristine smooth too.The epidermis will come off in strips just like dry dehairing only wet.Fleshing knife should be dull too not sharp at all.You can feel it take it off just like removing early wood from osage.Only you'll be pushing on the beam instead of pulling on the stave.
Now after all epidermis is removed your hide will be pressed and wrung out completely of moisture from the process of epidermis removal.It'll be damp.Now is the time to prepare some brains for braining.Put them on warm.Work and wring it several times in brain solution [1.5 gallon water with at least a pound of brains]to get oils to penetrate the leather.Let it set overnight in bucket with brain slurry in frig if you can.Next day rope it dry.That's it.If not soft enough to suit you rebrain it and do it again.No harm no foul.

[BowEd]

jimmi....I hear what your saying about the stretching process you described,and if you had good success with that good.Restretching a time or two while fleshing never really bothered me much.When I'm done my hide is stretched to it's complete max it can handle solidly to dry.I really don't think rubber bands would do that.The shrinking leather will be stronger than the rubber bands if let to dry.You may not have meant that I don't know.Part of good brain penetration is to get the hide stretched to the max while drying.My method of brain penetration is pretty simple really.A brain slurry in  a bucket with the hide being wrung out several times.I adopted the method the old Praire Wolf John Mcphearson does.It works most times.Nothing's ever guaranteed completely though that's for sure.
I used to have a pair of traveling frames I took with me to rendesvous and demonstrations.Ahhh the good old days.Making trades of all kinds etc.Don't travel much any more doing that.Used to demonstrate a hide being fleshed in the early morning.Left to dry by 3:00 then brained and roped dry by dark proving to doubters that a hide can be made to white brain tan in a day.
Made my girlfriend a dress last winter here too.A 3 hide dress.No beadwork yet.....lol.She's got three dogs in our house here too.No white brain tan laying around for sure.....lol.,but the smoked stuff they leave alone.
Those Buckskinning weddings are noisey are'nt they?Muzzleloaders shooting off in salute.I belonged to the Cherokee Ridge runners from Cherokee,Iowa.

[lebhuntfish]

Great job so far Ed! I'm definitely keeping up with this one! Thanks!

Patrick

[jimmi the sammi]

I actually have had good luck with using the rubber bands keeping the hide stretched really tight for a thin hide, Beadman.  Guess I am lazy when it comes to continuous stretching.   

The method of braining that my mentor taught me uses pig brains also.  Put the brains in a blender then fill the blender with WARM tap water.  Blend until it looks like a strawberry milk shake.  Put the "shake" in a 5 gallon bucket, wash out the blender with more warm water added to the bucket then add more warm tap water until the bucket is about 2/3 full.  Immerse the now prepared dry hide into the bucket.  The hide will soak up the brain slurry like a chamois.  When completely soaked, remove the hide and wring out as much fluid as possible.  Tie the hide around a solid item ( I use a porch post or solid upright pipe of some sort ) in a big half hitch knot.  Take a broom handle and wring out the hide completely.  Go through the same process of resoaking and wringing at least 3 times.  This seems to help break down the hide fibers and get the brain slurry completely saturated through the hide fibers.  Then off to the rope for the pulling, stretching, drying process.  I found that if I couldn't or didn't want to complete the roping in one session, I could put the still damp hide in a plastic bag and freeze it until the next time I could get back to the roping process.  Pull the frozen hide out of the plastic bag before thawing and the hide has lost some more of the unwanted moisture during the freezing process.

Yep, it was a big wedding!  Had my tipi set up.  Lots of good food and drink.  Even had a barn dance!

Thanks for letting me share what little I know about this process.  It is very rewarding to have end uses for ALL of the animal.

[BowEd]

jimmi......Thanks for sharing.That's exactly the way I brain my hides too.Cool.We must have read the same book......lol.Your right the softening process does not need to be done all at once.Nor does the dehairing.The fleshing does though.The old Praire Wolf strikes again.I actually met him in New Ulm,Minnesota once at a rendesvous.He was cooking deer meat in a fresh deer hide on a tripod for a pot using hot rocks to heat the water.Nothing but the highest praise for him from me.He has a series of how-to books out there that complete the gambit of primitive skills.All tried and proven by him.He is the real deal here.I communicate with him every so often emaling.He's over in Kansas yet if I'm not mistaken.Others on this site I'm sure know of him too.
A note here and different view too....I've softened a few hides after braining with success this way too.After braining the hide is relaced back into the frame and then using a stick the hide is probed and stretched in all directions till dry.[Your rubber bands/quick attachment style would work well here].This way will work but needs to be pulled and scuffed over a rope afterwards.The leather will actually be thinner then too.All knife slits and hole repairs have to be very sound then too.As they should anyway even roping it alone.
Brain tanning is cool in my book and tougher than a hickory knot.All it is,is softened rawhide really.

[BowEd]

I'll show the way to repair holes nice and flat with no plug insert where you won't even be able to hardly see the repair after smoking is done.I only have one hole in this hide.A zwickey arrow head did that from my winged elm self bow.