We show you exactly how to make a scraping beam in our online hide tanning class. Spread your hide on the beam, making sure it’s flat and not folded. Once your hide is deemed worthy and has been trimmed up, it’s time to flesh. These areas can be hard to work and it’s best to just get rid of them right off the bat. Next, trim off any dangly bits and the very thickest part of the neck. Unless all you want to make is lashing, a holey hide is not ideal. Look out for knife marks that penetrate into the gray layer between the flesh and skin. Lacerations that don’t go all the way through the hide can become holes later. Learning how to tan a hide is a lot of work, and it doesn’t make sense to undertake this effort if you’re starting out with a poor-quality hide. The first four steps we listed above prepare your hide to be worked. Preparing your hide for tanning: Evaluating, Trimming, Fleshing and Soaking Your arms: strong, or ready to become strong.Punky (half-rotten) wood: 5-15 gallons of evenly punky wood, or a combination of punky wood and fir boughs.Wringing pole: a smooth strong stick of very hard wood 2-3 inches in diameter and 3-5 feet in length broken tool handles work well for this.

Wringing beam: a pole lashed to 2 trees works well.

Three beading needles and beading thread.

Cable: 5 feet of ⅛ inch steel cable and 2 cable clamps.

Fat: ¼ cup olive oil or rendered bear fat.

A dozen egg yolks will work in place of the brains, but brains are slightly superior.

Brains: one deer brain is just enough, but more is better.

A good sharp knife (We prefer carbon steel as it is easier to keep sharp).

A large garbage bag and belt or rubber apron.

Make handles for it with pieces of hose or fabric wrapped with duct tape. Scraper: an old, dull planer blade works well.Scraping beam made from a scraped and smoothed hardwood log, or a piece of PVC pipe with some sort of propping device.Deer hide: fresh, salted, frozen or dried.Overview of how to tan a hide by brain tanning

It will also be somewhat messy and stinky.įor a more complete run through of hide tanning, join us for our comprehensive Online Hide Tanning Course. The whole process will take you a few days, so be prepared. Brain tanning is, however, incredibly rewarding and we’re excited to teach you about it. You’ll find other “how to tan a hide” resources out there that claim it’s easy. We’ve been turning animal skins into supple, eminently useful buckskin for fifteen years, and we’ve got the muscles to prove it! Using all natural materials and getting a hide velvety soft and pliable is a lot of work. This is an exciting moment! We’re going to walk you through how to tan a hide in 10 comprehensive steps with the wet-scrape brain tanning method. So, you’ve gotten your hands on a deer skin and you want to turn it into leather.

Long dark cured leather