brain tanning without brain?

[JDWellman]

I used Ivory soap. One thing to watch out for is to be sure no meat or fat is still attached to the hide. I used the 'wet' preparation method for scrapping the hides, and if I ever do it again, I want to try putting the hide on a frame and dry scraping before beginning the tanning process.

Maybe you could post some pics of the finished product when it is ready?

 

[Rick Son]

My mountain man buddy teaches at different grade schools,i gave him a bear hide and little by little he had the students scrape it and tan it while teching them how to do it.He's sort of tricky that way.. :wink: It came out great and i wanted it back of course,but no ceeegar!

 

[omarick1948]

Doing something without brains should be easy for you!...... :rotf:

 

[Rick Son]

I've been known to play with mine for hours,it's easy if ya know how :haha:

 

[thatoneguy82]

so I got the Deerskin into Buckskin book, following the directions I bucked it in lime hydroxide inside a sealed 5gal bucket the basement for 6 days. I did not stir the hide because it wasn't in the instructions but I think I'll be adding that to my list of things to do on the next hide. After it came out of the solution it smelled something awful, and was pretty hard to scrape and as a result of a drawknife with a little too much edge and some necessary force to remove the grain I ended up with a skin that looks like it was at the wrong end of an M249 SAW. No matter, following scraping its been soaking in a nearby creek since last night and I intend to collect it tonight after work, it should only be about 2deg outside here in MI so a lovely time for a dip.

Learning lots, and I get to learn how to dress and sew all the hole here pretty soon, stay tuned for pics.

Does anyone "pre-soak" their hides in moving water to give them a good wash before impersion in the bucking solution?

 

[thatoneguy82]

Immersed sunday mornin when creek was open g, monday night temp dropped to 0deg for two days, this is what it looked like at 5:00pm

 

[jferguson]

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?

I have used alum with success before. I have not tried Murphy's Oil Soap yet, but I hear it works well, too. Has anyone heard of this and/or tried MOS yet? How did it do?

 

[thatoneguy82]

I did the Murphy's oil soap and Ivory soap formula and had good results. I haven't smoked it yet but it smells good after a few days airing. Only faults were of my own doing.

 

[Canute Rex]

A friend of mine who did a lot of work like this recommended lecithin, a food additive. Apparently that's the key ingredient in the brains used for tanning. He used it a number of times with success and got leather that looked/felt like real brain tan.

 

[jferguson]

A friend of mine who did a lot of work like this recommended lecithin, a food additive. Apparently that's the key ingredient in the brains used for tanning. He used it a number of times with success and got leather that looked/felt like real brain tan.

Wonder where in the world would you go to get some lecithin, Family Dollar?!

 

[Canute Rex]

Do a search on eBay for "lecithin granules". About $6 to $15 a pound. Also on Amazon.

 

[Billnpatti]

Go to your local Wal-Mart pharmacy, Walgreen pharmacy, CVS pharmacy, etc. and look in the vitamin section.