Boy Scouts Tanning Hides?

[gmarc]

If you have the brain, brain tanning is most authentic. You can also egg-tan. The idea is to get fats into the cells for softness, coupled with proper prior scraping and fullering.

Be advised that the neck hide on an elk is TOUGH! It must be worked vigorously until soft. Best to have a team of scouts on each hide. I have softened elk hides by rubbing them back and forth on a steel cable suspended upright, so I could lean back.

The process involves a number of soaks and wringing of the hide. This is for smooth leather tawing. If you want to leave the hair on, scrape and treat with salt and alum before rubbing.

If you want them waterproofed, you need to smoke them to prevent rot. This happens when nitrites get introduced into the hide by the smoke.

 

[Reb_Cav2]

gblacksmith,
Thank you for your insight. We are planning on getting the brains but if that falls through then good to know the eggs are an option. as for hair on thanks for that info I would have tried with the brain tan and more than likly not with good results.
I will talk to the scoutmaster about having the scouts work as team on the hides since that seems like a great idea.
Thank you again
Reb_Cav

 

[Loxahatchee]

Another option to actual brain is soap and oil. I've had good results with a mixture of plain ivory soap and pure neatsfoot oil (its a leather treatment oil) I use 1 bar plain ivory soap, 2 cups hot water, and 1/3 cup of neatsfoot oil. Grade the bar of soap and mix it all in a blender and you will have a decent amount. For elk hides though youll need more if plan on soaking the hides in the solution. Id say add more water and oil in that case.

 

[tenngun]

Plain old lard also works. The "tanning" comes from breacking the fiber apart and wrapping them with grease. Brains are handy since it was the greases part of a wild animal. I have used neats foot oil on small skins. but you can buy lard by the bucket.

 

[Reb_Cav2]

Well we got the 6 Hides on the 13th and the scoutmasters wife had to play a little and before she knew it 5 of the 6 are fleshed and 3 are soaking in solution to remove the hair. The scouts get to grain those three and all will see hide number 6 with the meat and fat on it before we start fleshing it on Thursday night.All of them will get a chance to flesh some of the hide during the evening. The plan is to have the three grained and hopefully Brained before the weekend is over and the hide requiring fleshing will at worst case be in the the freezer waiting for the next opportunity to be worked or soaking to remove the flesh.
Will update more once we get done with the weekend unless we do more this week. Hope to upload pictures and scouts reactions to the process and smells.
We do have some nice hides and am thankful to Allen from the elk farm for his awesome donation.
Check back soon for another update.

 

[Black Hand]

Looking forwards to pictures and an after-action report.

 

[Loxahatchee]

Sounds promising!

 

[James Morris]

Please keep us updated on your project with your Scouts as it's sowing the seeds of ideas to use with my troop. We have our annual winter bush camp in 7 days and the kids are getting excited!

 

[Reb_Cav2]

Ok we are back and all survived. Some noses will never be the same but all said it was not that bad. The general feeling was the smell was more like the warf in Newport Oregon so I am sure that was not to bad. The scouts helped flesh one hide on Thursday Night and then went hiking an Friday morning while I started removing the hair and grain from the hide. When the scouts arrived back in camp some wanted to help others wanted to shoot arrows and throw tomahawks. Who can blame them. The first hide is readt to have the membrane removed and then rinse and start the braining process the other 2 are in various stages of having the hair nad grain removed. I kow that all the scouts cannot wait to get some leather made so we can sew up some scout projects and they can see what the hard work produced. This is a learning process and I am thankfull we do not have to wait another year to try again so we can make leather. I can already see changes in how the second hide will turn out since the grain and hair are being removed more efficently. The scout master made a second beam for us to work on and I am sure that will inspire more scouts to participate since some lost interest waiting their turn.
Will post pictures as soon as I figure out how to do so and again thank you all for your support and will keep you all posted as to how this whole project turns out.

 

[Rick Son]

My buddy Chuck Streeper did that with a bear hide i gave him as he teached mountain man at the shools after retiring from traveling the Rockies,he had students do a little at each school,i believe he used the egg method. The hide sure came out nice~It was he that got me started in this stuff,he's the real deal!
http://americanfrontiers.net/dispatches/view.php?newsid=1031755676,1583,&team=