brain tanning

[Claude Mathis]

I have a friend that always said
"a deer has enough brains to tan it's own hide"

I believe each animal's brain is large enough to tan it's own hide.

 

[Phillip Allen]

I tanned and smoked four or five hides (white-tail deer) and came to the conclusion that if one were to de hair and scrape well and then rinse out and dry and touse that he would have usable leather without adding anything else...the operative word is "usable" though...it's the elbow grease that makes the leather!

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have a friend that always said
"a deer has enough brains to tan it's own hide"

Yup, and that's why they call it braintanning. The only problem comes when you decide to half-tan them and then turn them into leather in warmer weather, perhaps some months down the road. Hard to keep brains in useable condition that long. That's why folks use things such as natural soap, eggs, etc. Don't have to worry about storing them for months. Natural soap doesn't go bad, and it's always easy to come up with a dozen eggs or so.

If you're processing the skin right away, the brains even come in a handy sealed container... :shocked2:

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hello Twisted one in 66,

Is it the Glycerin perhaps in the lye soap that is the peserving agent?

Don't know about glycerin, unless it is a naturally occurring by-product in a lye & lard soap. Certainly isn't an added extra. Trick is the emulsified oils. Emulsifiers allow the oils to blend with the water rather than separating from it. Just about anything that will contain these emulsified oils will do the trick. Natural soap, eggs, Suguaro cactus seeds, jojoba berries, all work because they contain emulsified oils. Or course the real job is stretching and working the skin into leather as it dries.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[barebackjack]

Ive done quite a bit of brain tanning and have to give a big thumbs up to pig brain. Makes for a very soft finished product. ( I read somewhere its because pig brains have some degree of lanolin in them, but dont quote me on that).

You can usually get them free at the butcher.

For a deer size hide I would use two brains, more if its a larger or thicker hide like buff. (I also did a buff once, NEVER AGAIN!) Boil some water, take it back to simmer and add one blended brain (dont use your significant others good blender), make a paste out of it and smear on the hide and let sit a bit. Before it dries completely kinda work it some (the more you work it the softer it gets). Take the second brain and again blend with hot water, but dont make this solution as thick, and submerge the hide in this.

Oh yeah, I add a little secret ingredient as well,.....urine. Sounds nasty, but really makes some nice leather.

Soap eh? Sounds alot cleaner than brains and urine. Might have to look into that one.

 

[barebackjack]

Anybody ever try one of those tanning kits you can pick up at cabelas and such? What a joke, ill never spend my money on that again.

 

[Norskie]

Bareback,
Please share your experience. I've eyed those kits a few times.
Moose

 

[Todd Rickard]

Ive observed the natives here in B.C. Canada making the fine, soft tanned moose hides. It is some of the softest, yet stongest leather I've seen. It is rough on both sides. They don't call it leather or buckskin, but refer to it simply as hide.
They use any kind of oil they can get, including bacon grease and cooking oils from the restraunts (for free!). I think almost any natural, non petrolium oil will work to treat the hide. When I first discovered this 'secret' I amused myself with the thoughts of all the secret recipes that modern day buckskinners use.

 

[Homesteader]

I don't know how germaine this is to the discussion, but I recently found a piece of buckskin I braintanned a few years ago, in a little closed corner of my travel trailer. Forgot it was there. There was also a commercially made belt bag I bought a long time ago. The commercial thing was furry with mold. Disgusting. The braintan didn't have a speck on it.

Don't ask me what it means or why it is, but it pleased and surprised me.

What do y'all think is the difference?

 

[barebackjack]

I dont recall the name of the kit. U-tan, or something like that.

It was a several stage process, using dry chemicals dissolved in water. Advertised as a "garment quality" tan.
Instructions said one kit would do one average deer hide.
I tried it on a fox pelt with the hair on, which isnt big at all. Hide was fleshed and dried just as the hundreds of others ive done.
Instructions were followed to the letter and the finished product took a little tan around the edges in spots but for the most part was re-soaked rawhide. (I later brained the thing and it came out fine).

I tried another kit (got one for free after I complained) on another hide, coyote this time, and I guess you could call it leather, but it was the worst quality ive ever seen, hard, stiff, and this was after using the oil provided to soften the leather. Pretty much ruined the pelt.

I talked to a gentleman with much more tanning experience than me, and he said that those dry chemical tanning formulations do in fact have a shelf life, and if they are expired they will not work. I think I paid $39.99 for my kit. Heck, you can send a deer off to the tannery and get a garment grade tan for about $60.

 

[Norskie]

Thanks for the heads up.
Moose