finishing a braintanned hide

[deersled]

Can someone tell me their time frame of working a hide after it has been brainned and wrung out. I did a couple last year and I would frame it and CONTINUOUSLY work it with a broom stick handle. It takes about 4-5 hrs to get it completely dry. I guess what I'm asking is do you work it continuously (until its dry) or......stretch it good for a few minutes and then let it sit for a while(10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever) and then work it again? I tried one by hand  but, MAN!!!! my hands got wore out (continuos working til dry), then resorted to the frame, which is a little easier.

[eorr]

you don't have to work it constantly.  You can work it for 15 minutes or so and walk away, and then start again 15, 20, 30 minutes, etc. later.  The interval depends on how wet the skin is and how much stretching it needs.  If the skin is really wet leave it a while longer.  You'll need to really start paying attention as the skin gets close to drying.  It takes a lot of practice to figure out when to stretch and when to walk away.  The best thing to do is stretch as constantly as possible on your first skin or two.

Softening a skin can take as little as 45 minutes or as much as an entire day or even longer depending on humidity.  Where it's really arid it's hard to keep up with moisture loss and get the skin soft before it dries, but on a thickly humid day in the Southeast you could spend a couple days stretching.

[deersled]

thanks eorr. I've finished 3 since I posted this question and I am starting to see what you are talking about. I still prefer to frame the hide vs. doing it by hand. The frame lets me see what I am working and I can be confident that I have worked every inch of the hide. I actually started putting a small space heater in front (8-10 ft away) of the frame. I will work it real good for 5-10 minutes and then go take a 15 min break. As it begins to dry I can feel the areas that are not softening with my stick. The stick will suddenly slip over these areas and it just tells me to work a little harder on these spots. The more hides you do the better they turn out. The three are very soft and I am beginning to do a better job with the edges. I still lose a little but not as much as before. Thanks

[eorr]

I'm with you on frame softening.  It's much easier to lean into the skin with all your body weight to really get it stretched.  It also makes a better skin for making clothes...  lies flatter and less likely to stretch. 

[leapingbare]

Pappy and me pre smoke our hides. This way we can let them set for 15-20 mins and pull erm for 5 mins and let them sit again. By using presmoke method we can brake up to 3 hides at a time.

[eorr]

I usually soften 2 or 3 skins at a time.  I've tried pre-smoking.  IMO it's helpful for big thick skins... especially bear, but otherwise I think it's just extra time that doesn't return much.  But to each his own.

[BowEd]

Deersled,This is rather a late comment on this but I did'nt see it.Sorry.You may hve done a hundred hides since.The more hides you do the more familiar with the conditions you like to do your hides in.I personally like it about 75 degrees,sunny,anywhere from 50 to 70 % humidity with a 10 to 15 mile per hour breeze.Thinner ones will go faster of course.The hotter the faster.You don't want it so hot that you can't keep up with it drying.Been doing it for 30 years.I've done them both ways.Roping and in the frame and prefer to rope them.Done hundreds including buffalo and horses.Hair on and dehaired.Wonderful stuff I'm sure you know.I will put mine in a plastic bag wrapped tight if I want to take a break.Smoke them all after roping sewn in a tube.Your fingers will callus up good after you rope three or four.Usually the backside on my knuckles.Good isometrics....LOL.Usually people will have trouble getting all of the epidermis off.That has to be to get brain penetration.The hair on just from the flesh side with the brains of course.Always ready to help a fellow brain tanner.A person has to be persistant.

[eorr]

Usually people will have trouble getting all of the epidermis off.That has to be to get brain penetration.The hair on just from the flesh side with the brains of course.

Really, you don't have to get all of the grain off... or any of it.  It has very little bearing on brain penetration, but it does make for a skin with more "hand."  If it was a real issue, you couldn't braintan a hair-on skin.  I've seen skins de-haired and tanned without being grained.  They're not as flexible as a grained skin.  Depending on the application, it could be advantageous to leave the grain on.  Indians would quite often leave a lot of grain on their skins when making buckskin for utilitarian purposes.

[BowEd]

eorr,When your talking about grain do you mean the epidermis that the hair roots are in?I dry scrape all my hair off skins with my sharp scraper after it is dry.Sand it too as I do the flesh side after it is dry.I've done it on a fleshing beam too while wet.It leaves a smoother surface.I like the dry scrape for beading even though you can bead the wet scraped easily too.Soft as a flannel shirt when done.Smoked hides get used in daily life and unsmoked or white for ceremonies.

[Bryce H]

As it begins to dry I can feel the areas that are not softening with my stick. The stick will suddenly slip over these areas and it just tells me to work a little harder on these spots.

Just curious, as I've never tanned a hide before, so I'll do my best to ask the question- When you say that, do you mean that you have it on a frame and are using the stick to kind of rub over it? Maybe rub isn't the term, but you would push into the hide with some considerable force that would stretch it in that spot?

[BowEd]

Yes the hide is laced in a frame and one method is to use a stick and push and slide your stick over all areas of the hide to stretch your hide as it is drying.You might need to retighten your frame work as you push and slide your hide.[In fact I'll guarantee you will]Brain tanning leather is a process of keeping the leather stretched all directions until dry.[A sort of race]In the frame method means you are there till your done.Roping means you can take a break and put it in a plastic bag 1/2 hour or hour,twist bag tight to seal and resume when your break is over.Putting it in a bag once in a while has two benefits.You get your break and the wetter portions of your hide dissapate moisture to the dryer portions and helps to hurry the process up to a degree.These hides are not shaved to the same thickness so thinner portions dry sooner.I use a rope inch and a quarter thick but any rope will work.Doing it in a frame does leave you with a nice flat but thinner peice of leather.Doing it the rope method leaves a thicker but springier leather.Making clothes from the frame method is easier for patterning and areas like the knees etc. might not get stretched as much as the roping method.Either method is a matter of personal taste.It's wonderful tough tough stuff.It takes a number of hides to get the hang of it.Like bow making you have to be persistant to get what you want.I had Mr. John Mcphearson[Praire Wolf] help me with his books plus I met him at rendezvous and he is a very nice man.

[nclonghunter]

Beadman, I must agree with you on removing the hair grain for brain tanning. I have brain tanned a buffalo hide nd deer hides, applying the brains on the flesh side on multiple coatings and working into the hide. Then smoked the hide, again on the flesh side, which resulted in a nice hide. However, it did not get the soft stretchy quality of removing the flesh and grain before braining.
I can squeeze the brains through the hide like a wash cloth with the grain removed, never been able to do that with grain on. If you want a shirt or leggings that are super soft and stretchy and will not get stiff after getting wet, then remove all the grain and flesh...