Recommendations for hide tanning

kyturkey

kyturkey

Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
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I shot a small doe a couple days ago and kept the hide to try and tan it myself. I fleshed it (got all meat and fat off but their is still some thin membrane in places I think) and salted it. I know you can brain tan, use alum and salt, and there are commercial kits available to use.

So, I was wondering if anybody had done this themselves and had recommendations on what to do or not to do.

Thanks
 
Depends on what you want . If you do the traditional Indian way you get a wonderful soft yet tough leather .But it's a very labor intensive method !! If you don't care about that I think you might as well send it out.
 
I've tried doing it myself before. With a lot of work and care you might produce a nice tanned hide. Hair on or hair off? The hair on tan I tried eventually slipped and was a mess. The hair off was a heck of a lot of work and still wasn't as soft and supple as I would have liked. My best hide was sent off to a tannery for a hair on tan. That was a piebald deer I shot some years back.
 
I satrted once and ran out of time and interest. Havnt done one in years but sent them off to WB Place and Co. not sutre if they are still in business.
 
Sure are. They are the ones my taxidermist sent my hide to and I was pleased. I'd heard horror stories from friends who sent theirs elsewhere and didn't want to risk my unique piebald hide. W.B. Place did a good job and returned the same hide I had sent them.
 
I was kinda looking to try it myself as its a small hide and nothing as unique as a piebald. I wanted to leave the hair on. The soaking/tanning process didn't seem too bad from what I've read, but the breaking it so its soft and pliable appears to be all the work. It definitely would be easier to send it off, and I might end up doing that.

I know a couple people who have sent hides to USA Foxx and they've been pleased with the results. One guy did say the ears on a few hides came back all wrinkled. I have a red fox hide that I was planning to send to them, but I'll will have to check into W.B. Place and Co.

Thanks for the replies.
 
a buddy does brain tanning and he said its not all that hard, just a lot of work. he put several cow brains in a 5 gallon bucket and added some water to aid in liquifying the brains with a paint mixer. you soak the hide in the brains and with a 2x4 shaprened to a point that has been rounded, you work the hide back and forth till that section is dry.

if you get tired of working it the hide can be froze and thawed later to be worked. just keep the wet parts damp with the liquified brains as you work it dry.
 
there's a book called "deer skin into buckskin" get that. if you are gonna brain tan it you shouldn't salt it. send it off, brain tan the next one.
 
I like brain tanning, sure its work but what else are you going to do with your time...and you can say you hunted killed butchered ate and even wear the deer.....a few times I have only had one deer brain and two hides to brain so I added a dozen eggs to the brain......worked out just fine.....my biggest problem with brain tanning has been finding the time and place to smoke the hides once they are softened....living in the city with a smokey back yard itsn't exactly BBQ friendly.....
 
Another vote for brain tanning here. I have tanned a couple hides this way, and the results are incredible. A local tannery here in Colorado sells brain tanned elk for 10 times the price of commercial. I say its well worth the work.
 
It would be great if you would take the time and effort involved to make it into a buckskin. It is not that difficult compared to other methods. If you have kept the brain of the doe, then you are almost set to go. Rule of thumb is that each animal carries enough brain to tan its own hide.
You can also use eggs and vegetable oil, like olive oil.
You can use oak tannins. You boil oak bark to get the tannins.
You can use commercial sets, but beware because many of them use chrome, which will make the hide only suitable for a limited range of applications.
So it depends on what you want to do.
If you tan it with oak tannins, it becomes a little harder, some say excellent for sheaths and such, and with darker color. Never used this method to be honest.
Elbow grease and some set-up is required in all methods.
Buckskin is top quality for special pieces of clothing, very durable, breathable, waterproof, soft. Can be used for food pouches and such.
I believe, a deer hide is destined to become buckskin.
 
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