Yes I have refered to the same book, it is an excellent resource.
I give it away to guys here wanting to learn how if they get serious about it.
I tell them a little bit of what is involved, and honestly, once I start the softening process it is more like being in a 4 hour wresting match or 4 hour fight, as I am constantly moving, pulling, pushing, turning the hide, working it soft.
* Good eye you have too noticing none of mine are smoked, & the reason is this=
Here where I spend a lot of my time now,
the 18 Northern Pueblo Indian tribes, the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi etc all use mainly
the purest white hides, not ever smoked, & we also have hardly any humidity or rain.
The West Coast tribes, East coast tribes, Midwest tribes and Mountain Men will smoke their hides as they expect "wet conditions" and smoking protects from the moisture & stiffening, and helps preserve the hard work, and their investment.
So, unless I get someone that request "a smoked hide" which has NEVER happened to me here;
I dont do it, as it wont sell, they dont want it.
They need/want the most pure white hides I can produce, in fact I will use "sacred cornmeal"
and or
"blessed corn flour"
to help with this, to "clean them" up and add more whiteness.
So, depending on where you live region wise, youll see differant people using/wanting/ making either smoked hides or not smoked hides, depending on the use, like mocassins, robes, ceremony dress, war shirts, breast plates, etc.
In the days people made their own clothes, every hide got smoked for a reason- to last the test of time.
I learned how to do the big hides like whole buffalo and big elk watching the Cree women
who did the tanning way back when-
Nowadays, the work involved is great, I see artist substitute brain tanned or bark tanned hides with Tandy Leather Co. commercial hides instead due to cost. But they get less money for their art or craft in its not real "brain tanned" hides...
Sometimes too I see guys selling commercial hides, they have "sprayed with brain water" to try and fake the smell of a real brained tanned hide, to get quick money.
I want guys looking for me and my work, because they "know" its the "real deal"
I hope this helps and thanks for your input here!
I rarely if ever nowadays will meet anyone that can do this.
It is a skill, and not everyone out there can or even "wants to endure the stink, the horrid smell" of the rotting flesh, the decomposing epidermis, and the process of dehairing, fleshing, etc.
I even made my own tools & scrapers from the shin bones of the buffalo... Following traditional methods is also something I take pride in.
The look on an old Navajo medicine mans face when he inspects my work, smells the brains I have used still on the hide, and questions me on how I did it- IS PRICELESS!
* I used to run into a lot stubbornness & attitudes of the native people here with this-
"we dont want the White Man to know this knowledge"... I just rely "too late brother, its already up here" as I tap my head...*
It only motivated to be a better brain tanner.
