brain tanning without brain?

[thatoneguy82]

I am hoping to collect a raw deer hide from a friend and want to tan it but don't have any brain, and rather than source some cow brain I was wondering if there is another more ready source of oil I could use?

 

[Elnathan]

I am hoping to collect a raw deer hide from a friend and want to tan it but don't have any brain, and rather than source some cow brain I was wondering if there is another more ready source of oil I could use?

You could try neat's foot oil and soap. I believe that egg yolks were also used.
Matt Richards discusses alternatives to brains in Deerskins to Buckskins http://www.amazon.com/Deerskins-in...89667232&sr=1-1&keywords=deerskin+to+buckskin

Most libraries around here seem to have a copy.

 

[thatoneguy82]

I'll give that a looking into, thanks

 

[jimikinz]

That book is fantastic. I've used eggs on 6 hides. They come out very nice.

 

[thatoneguy82]

cool, thats a little easier to come by.

Do you guys sew your hide into a bag to smoke them? I saw someone using some kind of glue.

 

[fiddler]

I use Alum and Salt to tan.

 

[Leon/Iowa]

The book Deerskin into Buckskin suggest gluing or sewing two skins together. I talked with the demonstrator (sorry I can't remember his name) that was at Friendship last September and he suggested to just staple them together. Just remove the staples when done. He recommends using the same book Deerskin into Buckskin, by Matt Richards. Leon

 

[zimmerstutzen]

A friend tried eggs and flour years ago. Smeared it into the dried green hide and put it in the rafters of the barn for a day, then repeat. Within a week, the whole neighborhood could smell it and wanted a different piece of "his hide."

 

[Elnathan]

I use Alum and Salt to tan.

That will work too, but is technically tawing, not tanning (and "brain tanning is technically "dressing" a hide, not tanning it, IIRC). It is a different process and you get a different result than using emulsified oils (brains, eggs, neat'sfoot, etc.)

When I tawed cowhide many years ago I ended up having to use neatsfoot oil and ivory soap to keep it from hardening as it dried - several attempts to soften it without oiling it first failed.

 

[Rod Lassey]

cool, thats a little easier to come by.

Do you guys sew your hide into a bag to smoke them? I saw someone using some kind of glue.

Clothespins work really well. I've sewn them before, but using clothespins, you can unpin it at any point and have a look inside to see how it's smoking.

I've always used brains, but from what I've heard, anything with some natural oil will work. Ivory soap, eggs, etc.

Rod

 

[Black Hand]

Do you guys sew your hide into a bag to smoke them? I saw someone using some kind of glue.

Clothespins work really well. I've sewn them before, but using clothespins, you can unpin it at any point and have a look inside to see how it's smoking.

As do staples (forgive the "modernism").

 

[matt denison]

Ivory liquid hand soap works very well, doesn't smell bad, doesn't attract flies. Binder clips or clothes pins to close them up either onesies or twosies, hang them from a tripod over a smudgy fire in a five allon bucket to smoke 'em.

 

[jimikinz]

I have 2 deer, 1 antelope that are softened and 1 deer in the freezer right now. When I get that last one ready for smoke, I might try a smoke house type rig to do them all at once. We'll see how that goes.

 

[armymedic.2]

Another vote for eggs. No reason that smelly hide should have been in the rafters. After egging it is work time. Not hang time

And the tighter the bag the better and faster it will smoke. Sewing on a smoke skirt is worth the time

 

[gmarc]

Eggs...what is needed isa source of fats (lipids ) worked into the hide after deheairing & scraping.

I use egg yolks, castile soap and water in a bucket

I work the hide over a length of taut wire cable until flexible & soft.

Smoke hides over fruit woods or cedar or hickory. Thsi introduces nitrites that keep the hide from spoiling.

 

[matt denison]

"Sewing on a smoke skirt is worth the time"

+1, yup I agree. Keeps the bottom several inches of hide from getting crunchy from the heat of the smudgy fire.

When you think about it there are several ways to accomplish the same chore. Use your imagination and what resources are available to you. You can build a smokehouse, you can use a tri-pod and sew your hides into an envelope, you can drape them over sticks ala jerky style. Depends on your situation. I like to be able to control the draft of the fire to keep it smudgy so a metal 5 gallon can with holes punched in it near the botttom does that trick pretty well.

 

[Rifleman1776]

don't have any brain

My wife says I do everything without a brain.

 

[Silex]

Sounds interesting - I have a wildboar hide soaking in lye water right now.

Do you have a recipe with a ratio?

Thank you
Silex

 

[tenngun]

I've never used egg myself but have used lard and neats foot oil and it worked as well as fresh brains. pork brains from a butcher shop work well. Dryed brains stinky when rehydrated andhard to work with.

 

[THOM]

2 bars of Fels Napha; shaved and melted in a quart of water.. when cool; 1 16oz. neatsfoot oil added and then put on hide.. might have to dip and soak twice.. then a steel cable; or a canoe paddle, anything to pull the hide over to get it " fuzzy "..
Hvae fun...
hope this helps..
thom