A knife & sheath for a friend..........

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
1,398
As some may know over the last couple of years we've been using quite a bit of braintan buckskin for our frontier pieces, including all of the CactusRose pieces - the buckskin has been supplied by, fellow knifemaker and lover of frontier pieces, Randy Skidmore. Now the "deal" was in return for his fine buckskin, Randy would get a frontier style sheath from us......Well Randy, being WAY too modest, kept hemming and hawing about sending a knife "worthy" of one of our sheaths, so..........

randys-4.jpg


Click on any thumbnail to see more....



Apropos of the "spirit" of of sharing, the blade is one I received in trade from Richard Mize aka Foxcreek Forge - I added the file work and the etch and then hafted it with mule deer antler which sports a cast pewter bolster and file worked buttcap.
Once finished I realized that I wasn't sure which hand Randy used - well turns out he's ambidextrous and likes to carry a knife for a left hand draw - serendipitously the handle fits either hand fine with a bit of a preference for the left hand.....

Anway..............Randy this one's for you
this is Linda's and my way of saying thanks for all of not only all of that fine brain tan buckskin but for your friendship as well..............
 
Truly a classic beauty. I'm sure he'll love it. Very nice touch with the Mule deer antler for a handle.

Steve
 
JohnL,Chuck Burrows is definately the leather man here and will probably give a better description of "Braintan" leather than I but here goes.Braintan leather like the name implies is leather tanned using a slurry or paste made from animal brain matter.It is a very old technique and produces the softest most beautiful & more importantly most durable leather there is.Supposedly every animal has enough brain matter to tan its own hide,now I dont know if that goes for elephants or shrews but for deer sized animals I know this to be true.A friend of mine who is into "old world" ways of doing things (and is a master craftsman)Made some braintan leather and it was a product you just had to see (and feel)to appreciate.Where modern leather tanning techniques work by breaking down fibers I believe braintan preserves while still leaving the fibers for the most part intact.That is why it supposedly produces the strongest leather there is.That is what I have been told --- Chuck ?????? :foot: EDIT :Boy I'm embarresed to say I forgot to tell Chuck How Beautiful that package is.Probably one of the most Beautiful sheaths I have seen , and the Blade , Sweeeeeeeet !!!
 
Chuck very nice package :)

Chuck.. can I ask what you aged the pewter with..
thanks in advance. :)
 
Very nice package, I'm always impressed, never fails. Brain tanning can be fun but, it's not for the squieish (sp?). Thanks goodness I was living down south when I learned how and tried it....they serve eggs & brains at the diner for breakfast. :eek:
 
Howdy guys - for some reason I didn't receive any email notices and just now got a chance to check in....thanks mucho for the comments.

John L - David gave the basics - for more info and where to acquire if you choose not to do it yourself check out www.braintan.com It's also known as smoke tan & Indian tan although the latter is not a good term since the method has been used since time immemorial all over the world (the 4500 year old Iceman found in the Alps was wearing braintan...)

Where modern leather tanning techniques work by breaking down fibers I believe braintan preserves while still leaving the fibers for the most part intact.That is why it supposedly produces the strongest leather there is.That is what I have been told
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A bit of mis-information here (no offense David) but actually all soft leather has to be "broken down" some what although broken down is not the best describer - in fact one of the most labor intensive parts of brain tanning is the amount of work it takes to infuse the brains/eggs/oil into the hide which is necessary to soften it.
As to strength - well not exactly since when making braintan you remove the epidermis which contributes to the overall strength of leather. While perhaps not the strongest it is, when done right, one of the softest, most plush leathers available and is especially good for clothing.
The strongest, best, whatever argument is analogous to that eternal and inane knife making argument of which is better - forged or stock removal. :barf: It really boils down to what the intended use is.........for instance a knife sheath made of braintan without some kind of liner - usually rawhide - would be pretty much be useless as it is way too soft to contain the blade by itself, where as the standard vegtan (and veg/bark tan is an ancient method as well) most sheaths are made of can be used as is for sheaths, but except in special cases it would suck for making clothes - well comfortable clothes anyway.

Chuck.. can I ask what you aged the pewter with..
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Dan I use a mix of muriatic (aka hydrochloric) acid and Birchwood Casey's Super blue - mix a about half cup of the muriatic with a teaspoon of the blue. Let its set for a day or two and then neutralize with a baking soda/water slurry. Afterwards I rub down with a piece of old jeans or some such coarse cloth. It will wear away the color on the high spots and give that aged look. When using this mix though be sure and wear rubber gloves (muriatic loves to find those little cuts and it don't feel good!) also plenty of fresh air and a good respirator is never out of order when using any kind of acid. The blue alone will color the pewter but my witches brew is as close as I've found to the natural color of aged pewter.

Really beautiful etching on that knife
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Brian that's done with my standard Super Blue and bleach etch - I've posted the how-to both here and on TKN in the past so you should be able to do a search. BTW - DO NOT EVER mix bleach and muriatic - that is unless you want to hurt in a BIG WAY!!!!

Again thanks all...............
 
Thanks Chuck
I've stocked muriatic in the shop for many years,
we use it to remove piston deposits from a cylinder when we get a lean seizure in 2 cycle engines :)

it's good for etching SS Damascus too :)
I'm Laying a Slate floor in my bath room right now
( we have 3 old slate queries here in town so I may as well use some of it, it's free. :) )
so I may be using it for that too to clean up the Mortar
..Masons use it all the time.. thanks for the tips..Chuck

if you would and if I don't have it on the Knife making site now :confused: please point me to your DIY's and I'll post those on there.. baring some time.. :( :)
 
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