Big fella into buckskin/Smoking/Lots of pics./Items made

[BowEd]

Well it's been pleasantly warm here lately and thought I'd take the opportunity to prep ready this buck hide for brain tanning.Drying in the sun here after fleshing.A fleshing blade made for myself[heat treated disk blade] attached to an elk antler was used.A different like kind elk antler tool to be used for dry scrape dehairing later.I can't remember doing a whitetail quite this big.Inside approximate measurements of frame is 6.5' tall by 5.5' wide and made of 2" by 6"s.Which to my estimation makes this hide close to 22 square feet.Of which after roping dry and smoking it'll be around 13 to 15 square feet brain tan hide.It'll shrink from roping dry by anywhere from 25 to 30 percent but be pretty thick.Here's a pic.

Seems like for me yearling deer are for bow rawhide backing/cow hides for rawhide quivers and equipment/and every sized deer inbetween are for brain tan.Clothes and bags and such.Here's the thread of the deer harvested....http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,54877.0.html

[Zuma]

Wow that is a nice big hide
Keep us posted with your progress.
Zuma

[BowEd]

It'll be a bit to get done.Got a few other things to do too.Normally a hide takes around 8 hours of actual work to finish but this one may take a few hours more I'll see.Days are wasted waiting for things to dry properly to continue too.

[Outbackbob48]

Beadman, nice stretch job, looks real square. bob

[bjrogg]

You really got it together there Beadman really nice job on the stretcher.

[freke]

I working on a deer skin myself and comere you have done a better work:), I have a visible exit hole....yours have no visible holes - have you sew or done other trick?

[BowEd]

freke....The deer was shot in the fall with it's winter hair set in already.The hole is there.A dogwood arrow hole.Lower to the right.I sew all holes after I brain it and just before roping it.
I'm gonna try to show along here the whole process with tools etc. for those interested.It's not the only way to brain tan just my tried and true way I'm used to getting success.
A side note here.....I started brain tanning back in the 80's.Buckskinning a lot back then.Learned from a book or books and trial and error.Many many books out there.Done well over a 100 or so but still a person can't really take any short cuts doing this.It won't work.Like most passion driven type hobbies it takes persistence.You do get a feel and eye for it the more you do.Can't explain that really but no matter how much I show or pictures I show there will still be a hands on type doing learning curve to overcome for success.
At the moment I have it about 1/3 dehaired.Have to do this inside garage because of all of the critters running around here wanting to eat it.

[BowEd]

The process of brain tanning starts for me right from the get go.Skinning the deer.Evenly slit up belly/no knife slits while skinning.Shot in the fall or winter I roll it up flesh side to flesh side to avoid freezer burn.It waits there till I get time to work it to brain tan.You can salt and dry it but it will need to be rehydrated to get into frame to flesh.Also having a fleshing beam and fleshing knife around can be nice too.
You soon figure out if you seriously want in to do this that there is a need for different sized frames for different sized animals.I used to use a lot of parachute chord for lacing it in.Fairly cheap stuff and strong.Personally anything of nylon works well.It does'nt knot up on you in a pile and does'nt rot.20 to 30 foot lengths.Holes are cut around perimeter every 4 to 5 inches about a 1/2" long.This whitetail is big in my book and I'm using a frame intended for beef hides.

[BowEd]

Scrapers....A flesher and a couple of deharing scrapers.Around a foot long handle.These are elk antler but they can be made with a wooden a handle too.Works just as well.Blades are from very hard steel to hold an edge good.Sharpened with a stone.Only beveled or sharpened from one side.Blade width will make a difference too.A blade of about 3/4" to 1" wide works good.Wider one for fleshing.Attached with glue and rawhide.
Elks' second tine off main antler for blade attachment was made into a hide scraping or fleshing tool called the wahyenta[not sure of spelling].Elks' Siouw indian name is the wapati or waterhorse because it likes to submerge itself in deep water occasionally.

[Pappy]

Nice racking Ed, it has gotten almost to hot and humid here, I like doing them in the winter months.
Pappy

[BowEd]

I gotta agree Pappy.I like doing them in the spring or fall best up here.They're a lot of  hand work.

[BowEd]

I did'nt show the fleshing but will comment here.After framing it I flesh from the top down.I lace it in from the top and around too keeping it centered best I can as I go.Get used to retightening your lacing a time or two because it'll stretch a little with the pressure applied while fleshing.Leaving a little meat on hide makes fleshing easier.Goal is to get all flesh/fat/and membrane off.After fleshing and drying I use an orbital palm sander with 80 grit to ensure I have all membrane off before flipping it around and dehairing.
Now to dehairing with some pics.You'll find paying attention to the weather will help.A high pressure system with low humidity will make things easier and do a better job.Rawhide absorbs humidity but can still be dry.Your hide will not stretch as much during the dehairing if humidity is low.
Goal is to remove hair along with the epidermis.The older the animal the thicker the epidermis as a general rule as so a winter hide's epidermis will be thicker than a summers' hide.Thicker epidermis will require more strokes to remove it.Wash boarding happens too.Going opposite direction will remove most of it along with the sanding later on after dehairing is done.

It'll come off in strips

Here's a look at hair removed but some epidermis there yet.The light gray colored streaks.It's got to get removed otherwise your hide will not rope completely soft overall.Epidermis is sorta like a glue and is rock hard.One reason for a beginners failure.Along with improper brain penetration which I'll talk about when that step comes along later.To ensure epidermis is all gone here's a tip.Put a light or the sun on the other side of hide and look though the rawhide.You'll see it if it's there.

Good enough for today.This hide is almost like doing 2 does or 3 yearlings.You'll notice I've dehaired along the edges first.That's because while I have a very sharp edge on my scraper I did them without much pressure on hide to remove hair & epidermis.The hide is very thin there.I want to stay away from poking a hole through my rawhide.Center of hide is thicker and more pressure can be applied without that risk happening.

[BowEd]

All blood stains etc. will disappear through the braining and smoking process.You'll get to know your animal as you go.Scars will be evident.Tip here...Dehair with the direction of scar.If epidermis is on yet don't worry it's a scar anyway and will not soften much.Another reason for epidermis removal is that smoke will not penetrate through it.Nor does it penetrate through a scar either.The scar line will be lighter colored almost white after smoking.
I'm sure your wondering well how about hair on tanning.The epidermis is on yet.Correct it is,but a hair on hide will not be as flannel soft as a hair off hide.It will be more like a robe.Brains are just applied to the flesh side then.Smoking a hair on hide is done just on the flesh side too.Smoking a hair off hide is done on both sides.

[BowEd]

I know there are many other brain tanners out there maybe following along here.If there are any comments needed you think feel free to comment.The more the merrier.I know I've done other ways like the wet scrape method on the fleshing beam for dehairing with success before too.Maybe I can learn something on this show-a-long here too.
There are all sorts of pitfall problems that come up with this process.I'm just trying to comment on the ones that have given me problems.Keep me from feeling like I'm just entertaining myself here typing.

[Stringman]

I'm following Ed. Good info on the epidermis removal. I hadn't realized how important that was to a soft hide. Gonna start paying closer attention.