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

[Ed Brooks]

Thank you for the post, this is something I have been leaning toward trying. I have one question about smoking the hide. can you get a good smoke in the hide, inside a smoke house, allowing the smoke on both sides at the same time? my smokehouse is big enough to hang the hide up in. Ed

[BowEd]

Yes it will adhere to the leather which will waterproof enough to come soft after being wet and dried.People hang them up in their teepees like a smoke house to get smoked too and have had success.Takes longer of course most times,but multiple hides can be done to make up for time.

[BowEd]

Thanks Patrick.It's been 6 months since I shot the old boy.Those yearlings you got make wonderful projects.Once in a while I wear something made in the public just to antagonize peoples noses.....lol.

[paulsemp]

Thank you for the Post! Lots of great info here. I've only made rawhide planning on referring back to this one when the time comes. Whole lot of work doing all those pictures and putting this together. Great job and well explained

[BowEd]

Thanks you all.Guess the knowledge is good for something anyway.Maybe someone can make use of it sometime.Was'nt sure but more than likely it's posted somewhere else too.
One little thing a person should do is where tape over top their knuckles roping these hides or just let them callouse over.It'll take the skin off the backside of your knuckles.

[BowEd]

A deer like this makes for a good pants with it's length and thickness.Lots of times in the past I always struggled getting a deer hide big or long enough for pants pipe length with a 35" inseam.Always having to put an addition onto the lower half.Now to get another deer hide the exact length and thickness again is a challenge.
Why I never used elk was a matter of wrong location living/time/and money but I think do make the best durable leather for pants.A bit hot in the summer but nicer in the cooler and colder months.I've never actually done an elk but did do couple of hair on 2 year old buffalo robes.
That's partially why I never did mind shooting these 2 year old does though.They make great clothes overall and taste really good.
Lots of projects out of a persons' effort here.My old man used to say to me too when I was young you'll get what you put into it son and that holds true here too.
The list of things to make is endless and too numerous to actually show including moccasins,bags,quivers etc.Here's a few anyway.
Pants

polished antler buttons

beadwork on lower cuff of pants

Shirt front

Shirt back with quill wrapped fringe

Coat/7 hides actually into this coat

brain tanned buffalo mounty style cap with rosette on front/no. 10 seed beads.Harness leather viser whip stitch beaded on edge.

Full outfit on

Dress for Robin

You might get a kick out of this.A while back a friend came by that had a brain tanned dress that she stored in a very musty basement too long.There was green mold onto this.She asked me how to get rid of it.I really did'nt want to scrape it all off.So I thought mold is a live oraganizm.Smoke kills things.I'll see if that works.Here's the solution I come up with.

It worked.

[lebhuntfish]

That's cool Ed! Way to be innovative with the dress. I've had a project of a pair of moccasin boots that I've messed with for a while. Kinda of a  rainy day/back burner project. I found it takes a lot more leather and time than one imagines.

Patrick

[BowEd]

Working with leather is fun to me.You gotta hand it to them before electricity etc. sewing with sinew by hand.Long process.I've never read how they did sew with sinew back then completely.I think a sharp bone point making a hole through the leather then one end of sinew is left with a stiif tip and put through the hole.The rest of the sinew is kept moist to pull tight and shrink and seal things up good.One stitch at a time.Maybe a needle out of bone too.I think a type of vegetable or grass thread was used at times too.
I made a pillow once out of brain tan with real sinew that way on the seams.Stuffed it with buffalo hair.The seams are amazingly tough with sinew.
Just imagine all of the seams on a tipi,the clothes,and different accoutraments.No wonder many turned out to be craftistic artists with all of that practice sewing.Boggles my mind the amount of time and work.

[lebhuntfish]

Ed,  now that you mentioned it it kinda boggles my mind as well.

Patrick

[bubby]

I wonder how many replys this would of got if the title was,"big fella into leather" 😜😂

[BowEd]

I don't know bub.Maybe so.The skills of braintanning are or were almost lost really by the natives the way I understand it.Nowadays I think what's being done is done mostly by white people.Some for themselves and some to sell the skill from buying a book.

[BowEd]

I understand too most people that are archers don't really need a great amount of leather not like buckskinning and it is'nt the most glamorous type of hobby either and a bit more hard work than bow making to a certain degree.Like I've always said though birds of a feather will stick together but it is still a primitive skill no doubt.

[Knoll]

Solution to the moldy dress ..... pure genius!

[bubby]

I was just kiddin ya Ed😉 nothing like good buckskin

[BowEd]

I don't blame a lot of people for buying chrome tan leather for a project with the way time restraints are on people nowadays and the price of brain tan is so expensive too compared to chrome tan.About 5 to 6 times more.
I shyed away from the use of harsh chemicals to remove hair and soften leather like lye/sulphuric acid/chromium chrysals or whatever.
Used to use aluminum sulfate/pickling salt to tan many hides which is safe and pretty cheap too and not as labor intensive either.
For overall toughness though brain tan sits above them.It's really just softened rawhide.No chemicals to compromise the natural connecting fibers.Beading and quill work apply easily.
The way I see it with the cost of tags and processing of deer[if not done yourself] why not at least break even while deer hunting and enjoy a trophy of your deer every time.