So... I could explain the method I learned.... but get the book “deerskin into buckskin” you will likely be able to make a very nice first hide if you get and read that book.... I use a method similar to the one in that book just a bit of a variation...the first thing I do is flesh the hide, (removing muscle and fat from it). Second, you make a bucking salutation, which is a lot of ashes in water and you know when it’s strong enough if an egg floats just barely on top, it’s too strong if the egg is way out of the water. After you make the bucking salutation you put your hide in it for 2-5 days ( I usually do 5). Now you grain the hide, which is removing the fur and the layer under the fur (the epidermis) this is hard work and takes a few hours, and really is hard to tell what’s going on...the book would explain this more in-depth. After its grained you leave it in creek to rinse overnight (very important you use a creek). Then you take the membrane off which the stuff under the flesh on the flesh side. And now this is where the method I use varies from the book, at this point I put the hide in bark tannins you can use oak other bark and leaves to make this and there is more online about this.... you leave the hide in the tannins for probly like just a hour or so. And then you ring the hide out to the correct moister content, and now you add the emulsified oil brains or eggs or all kinds of other things... but I just use lecithin and any kind of oil. And after you soak them in that salutation overnight, you stretch them every ten minutes or so until it’s dry ! The thing that I do differently from the book is I don’t smoke them I put them in the tannins instead, this is to preserve the hide... but really there’s a lot I didn’t explain... get the book...
-Fox
