Buckskin bag

[Walks with fire]

Would a home tanned whitetail deerskin be good for making a winter shooting bag? I was wondering if it would be stiff enough to make a usable shooting bag out of. Of course I don't have any tanned deerskin at the moment but I saw a nice article on tanning and thought maybe it would make a decent bag. The article was for fur so I would have to get the hair off as well.

Anyone make one from a home tanned deerskin?

 

[BrownBear]

In my experience deerskin is marginal for bags, especially if wet. They're so thin and soft, they kind of hang like a full diaper when you get a little weight in them. That's not home-tanned eastern whitetail but I assume it would be similar to any other source I've worked with.

 

[crockett]

If you really want to use the deerskin you can create a cloth lined bag. Before sewing everything together get some blue and white pillow ticking and glue this cloth to the inside of all the buckskin pieces. Rubber cement stays flexible and is water proof, then just sew up as normal. The cloth lined bag seems like you have a light bulb on the inside, nice and bright and easy to see small items. The laminate of buckskin and pillow ticking will yield a soft, flexible bag but it will be plenty thick and last as long as any other bag.

 

[BrownBear]

...a cloth lined bag.

A very good point. The cloth helps bear and spread loads. Just watch out in wet weather and make sure you get it REALLY dry inside and out between uses.

 

[omarick1948]

Medium weight 100% cotton duck (canvas)lining works well and stiff enough to help the bag keep it's shape. Just pre-wash the material first!

 

[crockett]

So far I've had good luck with the rubber cement. In the interest of Historical Correctness I did one bag with hide glue and waxed/oiled the outside leather- it was smooth leather, not buckskin. It was doing very well, even in a light rain. I then soaked the bag in water to see what would happen, the cloth sperated at that point but when the bag dried out the cloth sort of re-glued itself back but there were some bubbles or air pockets. Cloth lined bags are pc however on the originals I think (I've been told by some guy that says he has documentation) the lining was attached by sewing decorative stitches in the center of the front and back- like a star outline, etc- and that helped hold the lining in place. I think rubber cement is one area that you can sort of cheat on the pc aspect.

 

[BrownBear]

I've done it three ways: Glue the lining material directly to the leather (rubber cement) before sewing; sewing a complete bag out of the lining material and "hanging" that inside the deerskin bag; and, "catching" the edges of the lining material in the leather seams without actually gluing.

Having tried them, I'm back to your point about "sort of cheating with rubber cement!" :grin:

 

[Black Hand]

Instead of employing modern materials and techniques, just use the thicker portion of the hide (along the neck/backbone) to make your bag. Another option is to break the hide less, which leaves it with more body and stiffness.

Keep in mind that the bag should be small (6-9 inches to a side) and not shoulder-bag sized as many people make them.

 

[George T.]

It might be better to use it some other way.
I had a bag once made out of really soft leather and it looked pretty rough when loaded. Geo. T.

 

[Walks with fire]

I kinda figured it wouldn't be the best material to start with. I see no sense in doing it unless I used a very good material to start with. More than likely I will just buy one. I have never had a bag and I want one.

 

[crockett]

I notice you are in PA. The bag relates to your persona. Some of the PA bags were pretty nice with cutout figures, border strips of different colored leather, etc.

 

[skunkskinner]

I really like mine. When it comes to the softening stage, hand soften it and it will be a thicker leather vs stretching it up with ropes.

 

[Walks with fire]

Looks pretty good to me.