Do-it-yourself deer hide tanning

How do you tan a hide using the animal's brains?

I am planning on going coyote hunting soon, and I was wanting to save the hide, skull, etc (which I realize if I save the skull, accessing the brains may be difficult). I thought for practice though I could start with a squirrel and try it on the small scale to see how well it all works.

Essentially, you remove the brains through the hole at the base of the skull (where the spinal cord enters the skull.) Mix brains and water into a creamy mixture, and force the mixture into and through the hide.

Vern,

Is that all you do? Force the brains through, then work the hide until it is flexible? Sounds so easy...much easier than the chemical process....

.41 magnum man thanks for the detailed answer and info. This seems to be pretty complex; I wonder if dry ice might be the best way of freezing it for a four day road trip. I've already started looking for taxidermists.

A question for all the guys who do brain tanning. What does brain tanning do that couldn't be done with lard?

MeekandMild, since you are using a guide, I would do what ever he recommends.

And brains have chemicals the lard does not have. I used to know what made it work, but I have forgotten. Gosh, I guess I have forgotten more than I will ever know!

I have a deer hide rolled up in my garage that's been fleshed, salted, and dried. It's been there for about 10 months so it's pretty stiff. It seems to be well preserved because it hasn't rotted and there hasn't been any insect activity at all (btw, I purchased a 50 lb bag of salt for $3.00 marketed as a livestock feed additive at TSC... I haven't noticed any discoloration or hair loss at all... on the hide, that is.). I spent quite a bit of time fleshing this beast so it would be a shame to throw it away. Is this hide too far gone to try to finish the tanning process? Should I stretch it before I do anything else? Do I need to soak it before I stretch it? Thanks for all of the advice.

smithbm, I'd say your hide is fine. You need to rehydrate it in some water and get all the salt out of it. The reason for getting the salt out, is because, as I understand it, the salt in the pickle solution is the vehicle which the acid "rides" to get into the hide. If it is full of salt, then the salt in the solution can't get in. Soak it until good and plyable, and rinse it several times. Then it will be ready for the tan. Remember, once the salt is gone bacteria can set up in the hide, so if you can't tan it right away, put it in the fridge over night or in the freezer till you can.

Thanks for the info. I'll get right on it.

Braintan.com is a great resource for learning about traditional tanning methods.

Having read quite a bit about different variations of the process, Deerskins into Buckskins 2nd Edition is the book I'm buying in preparation for trying this myself. It's available at Braintan.com, but it's a lot cheaper at Amazon. Look for the 2nd edition at Amazon.

First timer here. I am trying to tan my first deer hide and I have discovered that it is covered in deer ticks! How do I get rid of them before they infest my family. Yuck

Leave it outside overnight and the ticks will abandon when there's nothing to eat and no warmth.

Put it in a plastic bag in the freezer for a couple of days.
Takes the fight right out of them!

rcmodel

We tan our own skins for clothing, mittens , hats, and mukluks
We sell tarditional clothing to museums, and wear it out at -40 as it is "Best"

Good tanning starts with good skinning; I use my hands and after making the basic cuts, along the legas and butthole to lower lip, I peel the hide off and use my hands to kep the fat on the meat.
Then we lay it onna ground and put pebbles along the edges to keep them from curling, and let the hide dry out. Then we hang it up and air it, then roll it and tie it up nice and hard dried for storage.

There is quite a process of breaking up the fibers for a sofet skin, as well as scraping off the memebrane. Theres also several steps to condition and streach the skin , using an "Ichun", basicly a copper pipe pice mounted on a handle and chamferd on the inside for a sorta dull scraper that will push off meat, fat and viscara.
People around here will use the dull edge of a milk can, with milk and all in the can, and push /scrape off all the junk.It also streaches your skin a bit.

If your gonna make things from an animal, the basic cuts will determine what the end product will be...if the wife wants something special, I will cut and skin it a certain way, at a certain time of year.

we dont use brains or tanning solutions, as we are in a rather cool, skin friendly place; The Arctic.....

Down there, Id go for the brains or chemical ideas, but if your gonna tan hides, start with a clean skin.....

I learned brain-tanning from a DVD and companion book by Matt Richards.

I have tanned a few hides and posted a write-up of the process on ColoradoK5.com, I also posted it to Calguns.net

Here's a link for anyone interested.

Braintanned Buckskin

I could cut and paste the whole thing over here as a new post if there is a lot of interest.

I had a booklet on brain tanning that said, "Every animal has enough brains to tan its own hide. Except buffalo and congressmen."

mofugly13 said:

Here's a link for anyone interested.

Click to expand...

Sir, you did a fantastic job on that writeup. Lots of pictures, lots of details, and your results are impressive! Thanks for putting the time into that and posting, I'm gonna have to try it out.

why do the "books" and websites tell you to dehydrate the hide prior to fleshing it out? keeping the hide nice and juicy for the fleshing keeps the membranes loose and pliable and easy to scrape off?

for supplies and real info, vandyke is the place to go.

Hi all. An Irishman here with 10 deerskins to cure. I have so many questions, some of which have been answered in this thread and some of which I'll more than likely get around to asking at some point.

.41.... thanks for all the invaluable information you've posted in this thread alone. I'm sure there's more elsewhere on this forum from ALL of you and I look forward to finding it.

I've also got Matt Richards' dvd and book and will at some stage be trying brain-tanning myself (though I may start with egg at first). Not coming from a culture of hunting/skinning/survivalism, it's all quite new to me and I'm going to take things slowly and get used to working with skins and leather.

Essentially, I'd like to make my own leather to make leather goods for archery and bow-making (which I've also taken up), among other things. I also want to "make" some hair on hides that I can cover sword scabbards and make quivers etc.

One of my first questions would be: Is salting and then neutralising a hide all that is needed for curing a hide with the hair still on? Or is tanning still required? Most of the sites I've found online have leaned towards removing the hair and epidermis/grain and that's fine and dandy for getting nice leather or buckskin but I'm at a bit of a loss with regard to hair on hides.

Thanks for any advice or info that you can offer me.

Steve.

Is salting and then neutralising a hide all that is needed for curing a hide with the hair still on? Or is tanning still required?

Click to expand...

Tanning is still required. You can make rawhide without actually tanning the hide, but you'll have all the disadvantages of rawhide, including shrinkage when it gets wet.

Thanks Vern. Is it the same method used for tanning hair on, or should the dressing be pasted on to the flesh side? What I mean is... will the dressing get clogged in the hair etc?

Apply the tanning paste from the flesh side. If you're using the old tan bark method, just soak the whole hide.

Thanks again Vern, you've saved my hide!! hehehe

Excellent question and thanks for all the info. I am hope to get me first deer this year and will be trying to do everything myself as well. Thanks for the thread.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=177046#Post177046

Here's a good explanation. I tried it out on a coyote hide and it turned out pretty good for an amature I think. I have my cow elk hide in the dried phase right now, gotta get it finished before school starts again. Good luck.

lol i dont wanna lose this page again! i couldnt remember what the title was for months! can one of the mods make it a sticky? i think all of use would benefit! thanks to .41 mag, caribou, vern and all of the others who shared from their vast experience!