Main Discussion Area > HowTo's and Build-a-longs

finishing a braintanned hide

<< < (2/3) > >>

eorr:
I usually soften 2 or 3 skins at a time.  I've tried pre-smoking.  IMO it's helpful for big thick skins... especially bear, but otherwise I think it's just extra time that doesn't return much.  But to each his own.

BowEd:
Deersled,This is rather a late comment on this but I did'nt see it.Sorry.You may hve done a hundred hides since.The more hides you do the more familiar with the conditions you like to do your hides in.I personally like it about 75 degrees,sunny,anywhere from 50 to 70 % humidity with a 10 to 15 mile per hour breeze.Thinner ones will go faster of course.The hotter the faster.You don't want it so hot that you can't keep up with it drying.Been doing it for 30 years.I've done them both ways.Roping and in the frame and prefer to rope them.Done hundreds including buffalo and horses.Hair on and dehaired.Wonderful stuff I'm sure you know.I will put mine in a plastic bag wrapped tight if I want to take a break.Smoke them all after roping sewn in a tube.Your fingers will callus up good after you rope three or four.Usually the backside on my knuckles.Good isometrics....LOL.Usually people will have trouble getting all of the epidermis off.That has to be to get brain penetration.The hair on just from the flesh side with the brains of course.Always ready to help a fellow brain tanner.A person has to be persistant.

eorr:

--- Quote from: Beadman on May 02, 2011, 01:13:29 am ---Usually people will have trouble getting all of the epidermis off.That has to be to get brain penetration.The hair on just from the flesh side with the brains of course.

--- End quote ---

Really, you don't have to get all of the grain off... or any of it.  It has very little bearing on brain penetration, but it does make for a skin with more "hand."  If it was a real issue, you couldn't braintan a hair-on skin.  I've seen skins de-haired and tanned without being grained.  They're not as flexible as a grained skin.  Depending on the application, it could be advantageous to leave the grain on.  Indians would quite often leave a lot of grain on their skins when making buckskin for utilitarian purposes.

BowEd:
eorr,When your talking about grain do you mean the epidermis that the hair roots are in?I dry scrape all my hair off skins with my sharp scraper after it is dry.Sand it too as I do the flesh side after it is dry.I've done it on a fleshing beam too while wet.It leaves a smoother surface.I like the dry scrape for beading even though you can bead the wet scraped easily too.Soft as a flannel shirt when done.Smoked hides get used in daily life and unsmoked or white for ceremonies.

Bryce H:

--- Quote from: deersled on January 20, 2011, 09:45:27 pm --- As it begins to dry I can feel the areas that are not softening with my stick. The stick will suddenly slip over these areas and it just tells me to work a little harder on these spots.

--- End quote ---

Just curious, as I've never tanned a hide before, so I'll do my best to ask the question- When you say that, do you mean that you have it on a frame and are using the stick to kind of rub over it? Maybe rub isn't the term, but you would push into the hide with some considerable force that would stretch it in that spot?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page