Brain tanned elk hide

[BowEd]

I might make a nice pair of pants out of it unless I shoot another 5 year old buck to match the other a few years ago.I want even matching thickness of pants pipes.It's best to think long and hard about what to make from these.The leather is pretty thick on these.1/4" at most places.Beading needle goes through anywhere on the hide.
I have a different perspective on these leather projects [never running out of ideas] since I've been doing this my whole adult life [being 67 years old now] through buckskinning in many different states seeing many things made from leather.
I worked it in the frame a good 7 hours I imagine.Not constantly but intermittently every 15 minutes or so.It was close to 80 to 85 degrees out in the shade so it dried plenty fast.Finishing on the rope was done at about the same rate but just a couple hours more.Keeping it in a plastic bag in between ropi ngs.All together around 2 weeks off and on preparing and working on this hide from start to finish.
With a little luck I'll try another from my buckskinning friend in Minnesota.Depends on the trade we make.....ha ha.He's hunting in Idaho now at the moment or just getting done over there.

[BowEd]

I might explain a little more details of the process here.
The hide came to me flint salt dried.After soaking in a barrel of water to loosen it up good I fleshed as much membrane and a little flesh off on the fleshing beam.
Laced it into the frame.Let it dry good.Dry scrape dehaired it.Sanded it a bit to be sure all epidermis was off.
Prepare a 20 gallon lime solutioin using 5#'s of hydrated lime.Some call this bucking it.That amount of lime is more than enough for this hide but won't hurt the hide any at all.Hydrated lime is safer to work with than lye.
Since it was dry scraped dehaired it did'nt take as long to buck it as the hair and epidermis was already removed.About a week liming it.It'll show it's progess by swelling up and getting rubbery and a bit slimy.It does'nt hurt to leave it in longer either.
I then disposed of the hydrated lime solution to the garden.Made a couple of fresh changes of water to rinse hide in same barrel.Took hide to laundromat and wash rinsed it twice.
Took hide home and put it into a vinegar bath of 20 gallons of water and 1 gallon of distilled vinegar to make sure to stop the liming process further and bring it to the proper PH for braining.
Then went back to laundromat and rinsed it again in machine.Hide was very white and loose then.I go by feel here and the way it looks.No test strips used.
Took hide home and twisted it many times to get as much moisture out as I could.
Prepared my brain solution slurry.Inserted hide while brain solution was warm not hot.
Brained it/twisted it at least 4 times,then let it set overnight in brain solution.
Next day laced it into frame and staked it dry.

[bassman211]

That takes time ,and patience. Excellent.

[BowEd]

One thing someone can't avoid doing these is just plain old hard work,but it's all worth it to me and to anyone that likes fooling with real brain tan.There are no tanneries that do this that I know of.Some to their credit advertise theirs for sale as look-a-like or imitation brain tan but still not the same thing.
The toughness of it [in reality it is softened rawhide] and ability for articulate bead and quill work on it I guess captures my likeness of it.

[gifford]

Well done Ed, that's one big hide. Excellent color.

[JW_Halverson]

One thing someone can't avoid doing these is just plain old hard work,but it's all worth it to me and to anyone that likes fooling with real brain tan.There are no tanneries that do this that I know of.Some to their credit advertise theirs for sale as look-a-like or imitation brain tan but still not the same thing.
The toughness of it and ability for articulate bead and quill work on it I guess captures my likeness of it.

Anytime someone says they have a shortcut or labor saving technique for brain tanning I automatically put whatever they say in the mental delete files. If there was an easy way of brain tanning then everyone would have known about it long ago. Braintanning means WORK.

That's a gorgeous looking hide, Ed, and no two ways about it.

[Piddler]

BowEd. The hide looks really good. And thanks for some of the knowledge you shared with me on PM's. I brained my second deer hide a couple weeks ago. Came out good could have smoked it a bit longer but it's ok. So, I know how much work is involved in a deer I can only respect the amount in a large hide.
Piddler

[BowEd]

There's a fair amount of people doing these elk hides.Really anyone can do it.It's about like doing 3 deer hides at once really so I used 3#'s of brains [pig brains] in 5 gallons of water. also.The only way it truely gets easier IMO is when with experience one recognizes by feel when the leather needs to be stretched at certain stages of drying.Recognizing by sight that all the epidermis is off etc. too.Recognizing the weather too as to whether it's a good drying day also by the humidity in the air and the wind etc.
Softening in the frame makes things easier though as you get a goooood stretch on that hide.Sew all holes before stretch softening.They'll come out nice,flat,and softened to edge of hole.
I suggest doing a few deer hides in the frame before doing an elk to get the hang of it.Although with deer I just still rope them dry from start to finish.Their thickness dictates this.Elk is thicker all together so it can stand getting thinner.
Stretching in a frame makes the leather thinner.Roping the leather makes the leather thicker [puffed up]as the hide shrinks to a certain degree but still stays soft.
The leather will be flatter on the edges [lending easier pattern tracing] from frame softening.Roping leaves the edges a little rippled or wavy.