I am a "brain tanner" of deer, elk, & buffalo hides.

[Mike Pierson]

Salting, freezing, and drying deerhides:
advice from SkillCult-

 

[Mike Pierson]

Sharing another good resource for learning how to braintan, soften, & smoke the hides.
http://www.braintanbuckskin.com/Tanning_Spirit/Softening.htm?

 

[Mike Pierson]

Sewing up a tear in my softened deer hides today;
my arms are so tired and achey from the softening process over the past weeks work that all I can do is sew...
Yep, that tired!
Started a new method as well as requested by a few Navajo & Pueblo locals for ceremony,
now leaving the "tail on" and a bit of hair on the tail.
Never too old or too young to learn something new, if you have the will & the desire.
Got buckskin?

 

[Mike Pierson]

Received a buffalo hide, thawing it/prepping it to remove the hair, and begin sewing up any holes in the hide. Much work brings much reward!

 

[Mike Pierson]

Frozen buffalo hide, unthawing it, & getting it ready for brain tanning.
Removed the video. Kept getting spammers.

 

[shinyedges]

I tried brain tanning a sheep hide, the fleshing process was freaking tedious. I didn't have the patience or technique. I kept the hide for a few years but it just got moved around my garage from place to place collecting dirt and crap until one day I just tossed it.

 

[Mike Pierson]

I tried brain tanning a sheep hide, the fleshing process was freaking tedious. I didn't have the patience or technique. I kept the hide for a few years but it just got moved around my garage from place to place collecting dirt and crap until one day I just tossed it.

there is definatly a long learning curve. It is very tedious work, & it is easy to tear or rip holes in the hides while fleshing, and then again when softening the hides.
I never tried sheep but have tanned a red fox, many deer, elk, & a Buffalo.
It kicks my butt every time when softening a big thick hide. The prices for brained tanned hides have really gone up recently. It is a lost art or craft. I have to be in the right mood to start one, and then it will take me about a full week depending how it all goes... I have a bunch of deer hides partially softened & frozen in my freezer.