Help tanning please.

[Scottski]

I tryed the egg tanning thing because I did not have their brains. Smoked them a little too long one one side. Went to smoke the other side and man they are stiff in big spots. But not where the wood was I had them wrapped around. Tried to do 2 at a time,any help would be great. I want a the simplest way to tan hid with out chemicals. If that is posable I'm willing to put in the work. I worked on these hard, without great results! Oh well maybe next time I will do better.

[Stringman]

Those look pretty stiff, to the point of being unusable. I'm guessin you didn't work them till they were dry, before smoking them.

[Trapper Rob]

If you have any butcher shops around ask them for some brains.

[swamp monkey]

Or try ivory soap. It simulates brain tanning.   I agree that you likely need to soften things more before you smoked the hide.  Tanning is a lot of work and you clearly are willing to put in your time!

[aaron]

We can help you better if you tell us what steps you followed. Egg tanning can be just as good as brain tan, but you have to follow specific steps in a specific order. As someone else said, you may not have worked at softening long enough. After the egg soak you have to soften until the hide is completely dry. There are many ways to soften and each requires constant motion and stretching of the hide. If it is not too humid and pretty warm, this may only take 4 hours. If its cool and humid, it can take 8 hours or more. When a hide comes out stiff, you can re egg it and soften again. So , let us know step by step exactly what you did and we can help uncover what went wrong.

[Scottski]

I did not work it till it was dry. Think that was a big part of my fail.I also tried to do 2 at a time. More working the hide till it is dry next time.

[Stringman]

Definitely don't tackle 2 at once. I can't say enough about spending your time stretching it till its dry. This is a crucial step. However, if you find you are wearing down and get tired in the middle of this step, you can roll it up in a towel, put it in a plastic bag and throw it in the freezer till your ready to hit it again. Now, go scrape another hide!

[Scottski]

Thank you for the tips guys. I will only do one at a time here on out. Also will put more work into the stretching till it is DRY!

[Scottski]

Oh yah, can I salvage the two I messed up? How do I go about doing this if is possible?

[steve.b]

You can try to save these by rebraining them. I would go with the ivory soap and a little oil. Start from the beginning. Soak them in your solution, then wring them, then stretch and work them until they are completely dry. If they dry and they are still stiff go through the process and work them again until soft. Some people will presmoke their skins so it's not hopeless unless they are cooked.

Brain tanning is hard work. Make sure you are working each and every spot until it is soft, it must be stretched and any rough spots or smoothed off.

Going back and looking at those, you may be able to get them soft, but the color may never be what you want it to be. Let us know how it goes.

[aaron]

Like steve said, you can just start with rebraining those. When I had similar problems,  the hides came out awesome the second time around.
How did the color get so splotchy? Did you sew them into a bag and attach a fabric skirt, then suspend over a smouldering punk with a pipe to direct the smoke?

[Scottski]

No I put them together over a tripod I made and wrapped a tarp over them to keep the smoke in. Left them in a little too long I left a hole in top so the smoke could flow out. I tried to do two and cut corners. Lesson learned!!!! 1 AT A TIME AND PUT IN ALL THE WORK NEEDED NO CUTTING CORNERS! Will not make that mistake again.

[swamp monkey]

Scott,

We have ALL walked the short cut path.  No stones coming from the direction of my swamp!  Best of luck buddy.

Swamp monkey

[Pappy]

Also remember when you are doing the final smoke, they need to be dry and no heat from the fire, just smoke ,if you get heat it will cook it not smoke it. You can probably rehydrate them and the work until they are dry and smoke again if they weren't just wet rawhide when you smoked them the first time , if they were they probably will never soften up. I always make sure they are soft and dry before I smoke, the some does nothing for that, all the smoke is for is to keep it from drying hard if it gets wet again and maybe keep the bugs out. If you don't smoke it and it gets wet you will have to pull and stretch it until it dries or it will dry hard. Smoking stop's  that, it's a learning curve but as you are doing, the only way to learn is to do it.  Lots of work but a big reward when you get your first soft hide.
  Pappy

[madcrow]

I have done three at a time before but had to work up to it.   I frame them and use a paddle.  15 minutes each and then a 15 minute break.  When you think the hide is dry, wad it up in a large ziploc and freeze it.  If there is any mousture in it, those spots will freeze.  Then you work those spots and freeze it.  Dry buckskin doesnt freeze hard, it just gets cold.