smoking leather?

[jkyarcher]

I saw a Youtube video where leather was being made by just working rawhide until soft then he smoked it.

I was wondering how effective this method is and if anyone knows something about this metod.
 
It seemed like a simple method but alot of work.

[JW_Halverson]

And we all know if it is on the internet it must be true!

Unless some fat/oil/grease was added, this is nothing but smoked rawhide.  Getting it wet will undo all the work.  And yes, it IS a lot of work.  Why do you think I don't do it?

If he was going to do all the work, I am not understanding why he didn't add brains or something to make leather?!?!

Some of the brain tanners in here like Beadman will probably chime in with some scientific explanations of why this won't work.

[Stringman]

Without protein/oil added it won't work. How scientific was that?!?   

Scott

[Josh]

i can't ever seem to get the hide to fit in my pipe..

[ScottN]

I have no problem getting them to fit into my pipe

http://www.stevenhumour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/giant-smoking-pipe.jpg

[Josh]

I have no problem getting them to fit into my pipe

http://www.stevenhumour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/giant-smoking-pipe.jpg

HA!! Well played sir! 

[aaron]

some hides finish nice and soft without brains, etc... I have done raccoon and nutria , hair on, without braining and they came out soft and lasted for years (never wet). I doubt it would work for a deer hide ( otherwise we'd all have been doing it that way for millenia). What type of hide was in the video?

[JW_Halverson]

I have no problem getting them to fit into my pipe

http://www.stevenhumour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/giant-smoking-pipe.jpg

Looks like you could smoke "square grouper"* in that pipe!



Now I am wondering just who in here will get that reference. 

[rover brewer]

how can you put square grouper in round pipe?

[jkyarcher]

In this video the guy was "tanning" squirrel and badger. All he did was rinkle and stretch the fleshed dried out rawhide until soft then he smoke it over a fire.

Thanks for the responses I was just wondering if it really would work as good as he made it seem. He made it sound as though it was leather as if it were done by any other tanning process.

this is one of the videos     http://youtu.be/sdAocIzADUg

[stickbender]

I have no problem getting them to fit into my pipe

http://www.stevenhumour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/giant-smoking-pipe.jpg

     So that is what the cops mean, when they say they burn it, when they
confiscate large quantities of Marijuana......... I noticed they always have a large
quantity of volunteers to help......

[stickbender]

     Ah yes, J.W.;
     I was shark fishing with a Buddy of mine, and I thought I saw something floating
near the boat, and I did, l did! It was night time, and we were just north of the Boynton Beach inlet, and there had been ...... uh..... a lot of square Grouper washing up on shore, and I thought, I was suddenly rich, but turned out some !$#@!! had tied a rope, and chain, and shark hook, around a fifty five gallon barrel!     If I had had a gun with me I would have shot it full of holes!  It was just drifting along......I guess that they figured that they would look for it later.  Sure made me mad.    My buddy just had a bang stick, and didn't want to waste the shells.  Well of course, ........ I was mad, that someone would endanger marine traffic like that! not just uh..... because..... I uh saw all that uh..... money drift away.....

[stickbender]

how can you put square grouper in round pipe?

   Easy.  First you just smoke it, and then it really doesn't matter,   besides you
have to go get a big bucket of chicken, or a couple bags of hamburgers.....

                                                         Wayne

[jkyarcher]

In this video the guy was "tanning" squirrel and badger. All he did was rinkle and stretch the fleshed dried out rawhide until soft then he smoke it over a fire.

Thanks for the responses I was just wondering if it really would work as good as he made it seem. He made it sound as though it was leather as if it were done by any other tanning process.

this is one of the videos     http://youtu.be/sdAocIzADUg

 Can I get some more informative post on this topic

[aaron]

what else do you want to know? This will work for some critters and not others. It's generally used for small skins with the hair on.after skinning and scraping, you work it until soft, then smoke as with any other hide (smoke one side only. ) It eliminated the bucking , braining and acidifying type steps, but all the hard steps are still there ( softening, smoking ).