Re: MtMan-List: alum tanning

[Longtrail <ezra@midrivers.com>]

Gary, If you decide to give it a try and have any questions, feel free to
write and ask.
         Longtrail



                   O   Sundog Traders    O

                      Joseph Dinsmore, M.T. & Victoria Longtrail D.
                                     POB 182   Winnett, Montana    59087
                            406-429-7828   or   ezra@midrivers.com


                                        Brain Tanning
                                   Less Instruction With More Results
                                                            by
                                   Joseph Dinsmore & Victoria Longtrail D.


!.  Flesh the deer hide.  All you are concerned with is getting the meat
and fat off.  Then place the hide in water and soak over night.  Make sure
the hide   is completely soaked. ( the greener the hide the easier to
dehair)

2.  Dehairing :   Take the hide out of the water and place it over a beam
and dehair.  The objective here is to get the brown layer (epidermis)  off.
Keep in mind the fresher the hide the easier it is to dehair.   If you are
using a "flint" or dried hide  with the hair still on, soak it overnight
and flesh it again and you will notice the hide whitening out as you flesh.
When done, throw it back in the water overnight. It soaks much faster.
Dehair the next day.

3.  This is what I call pre-braining.  Its better to  pre-brain the hide
after you dehair while the hide is still pliable rather than letting it go
to rawhide.  After you de-hair the hide put the hide in either an old brain
solution or a new one.  If it goes to rawhide, soak overnight in cold water
and then stretch by hand.  You will see the hide whitening out (not
totally).   The objective here is to open the pores ( don't work all day it
only takes a couple of minutes)  A metal strapping band ( the kind used to
bundle wood with) works the best for me.   You can soak the hide  in the
brain solution for as little as twenty minutes or over night.  I prefer
over night.  Brain solution recipe is at the end of the article.

4.  After pre-braining take the hide and hang it out to dry.  Its not
necessary to wring out the hide  Don't fold the hide on itself, prop it
open with sticks or whatever, or hang it straignt up and down.

5.  Soak the dried hide in COLD water over night.  Lace the hide on a
frame, this is the pre-stretching phase. ( I emphasize cold water because
the hide is plyable enough to put on the frame and whiten out.)  Before I
begin staking the hide, I sew all the holes.  I do it at this point because
then there is no pucker, I use artificial sinew (personal preference).
All you are trying to do is whiten the hide out by staking it.   The
weather dictates how often the hide needs to be staked (remember, your not
trying to soften it your just trying to whiten it).   In recent experiments
it seems to stake out better when working side to side rather than up and
down.  You will notice that when staking the hide, it sometimes starts  to
soften up, if you like, keep working it, I don't.

6.  Pre-smoking.    After the hide is whitened and dried out, smoke it.  If
you think about it, if a white buckskin is smoked and gets wet, it softens
back up with very little work.  Why can't you  do it a pre-stretched hide!
I smoke the hide for three hours in a smoke house. (its nothing more than a
box made of four sheets of 4X8 plywood  and a roof.)  I hang my hides
horizontal about three foot from my smoke pot.  The thing to keep in mind
is don't bake the hides. Keep a warm smoke (punky cedar is in my
experience, the best wood to use but you can use any kind of punky wood.)

7.  After smoking, put the hide back in the brain solution.  I leave the
hide in it for thirty minutes to an hour.  Take it out and rub it over the
band (I do this to make sure that there are no hard spots in the hide, if
there are hard spots, then soak it a bit longer.)  Put it back in the brain
solution, you can either leave it for three hours or over night.

8. Take the hide out of the solution, it is your choice of either putting
it through clothes wringer which is what I use, or wringing it out in any
method you choose.   At this point I most often lace the hide onto the
frame and work it soft and dry.  Usually the hips, rump and neck are the
last to dry.   Don't stop working on the hide untill those spots are dry
and softened or they will harden in the middle.  If at any time you have to
stop working on the hide, you can freeze it wrapped in a plastic bag until
you can get back to it. It requires  you to be lazy. Not real lazy. It IS
possible to overwork the hide.

Brain Solution Recipe:   One cow brain, two gallons of water.  Make it look
like a weak campbells tomato soup but don't eat it.  Heat the solution
until warm, NOT hot. The beauty of this pre-smoking method is that you can
tan more hides with one cow brain.  You will notice if you use this same
solution (add more water when needed) the hides will get easier and easier
to sofen out and the solution smells more like smoke than brains.
Sometimes I have to add another cow brain depending on how much additional
water I have added.  I have found that rain water works best when making
the brain solution.  Any kind of chemical in the water, such as chlorine
seems to have an adverse effect.  I have done as many as twenty-two to
twenty-four hides with two cow brains.

Feel free to call or e-mail with any questions you may have.