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Egg Tanning Buck skins: Have a few questions

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leapingbare:
i agre with hartung, Dry scrape will my a softer hide with a diff look, but wet scrape will work to, also ask about Presmokeing, that makes the hid softer and easier to work.

PaulLovesJamie:
I did my first one this spring.  I read a bit on the internet, then I bought a copy of "deerskins into buckskins" by matt richards. Exceptionally well written, I highly recommend that you start there. You can ask tons of questions and get good answers, but this book tells you how to do it in a very simple easy to understand fashion.  I suspect that without that book, I'd not have done it, and wouldnt do it again.   But as it is we found it to be not very hard, and plan to do a few more this fall. 

Arthur Herrmann:
I read the buckskin chapter in "Participating in Nature". He talks of roping, planking, stretching, drying, fleshing, and smoking.

Now all I want to do is get my ducks in a row before I try my first hide. I will get one from someone who will not cut out the brains for me. That is a big favor.
I am making a game plan, and I thought it would go something like this. Scrape the flesh side, let it soak. Cange water, maybe add lime to help, scrape the hair off the wet hide, Then I was gonna remove the hair side membrane, then do a finer job on the flesh side. I was going to sand the hide to open the grain. I was going toi egg it, then stretch it on the rack to dry. Then I was going to plank it, and work it over my junk jeans on the knee. I was gonna smoke it, and call it done.

That was the plan in the nut shell. I was wondering what I left out that I could use to get better results.

possum:
When you scrape the flesh side you really only need to get the meat and large pockets of membrane.  Then when you soak it soak it in a mixture of ashes and water; enough ash to make an egg float after the ash has settled.  Then put the hide in the water/ash solution, swish it around and put a lid on it for 3-4 days.  Make sure the hide is totally covered with water.  Soaking it causes the epidermis to swell and make it easy to see when you have all the grain off.  Grain doesn't allow the oils from brains, eggs, etc to penetrate very well and will leave stiff spots.

An alternative to ashes is hydrated lime from Home Depot or somewhere.  Use about a quart to 2 gallons of water.

I'll second the opinion on Matt Richards' book.  Excellent info.

possum

jamie:
matt richards book deerskins to buckskins is really the bible of braintanning. i love the wetscrape method. ive done many many hides and its the method i prefer. only thing that matt does different is he prefers not to rack the hide so he stretches it by hand. racking the hide thins it and makes it more comfy on the skin. peace

i just found out im doing 2 moose this winter. havent done one in years and now i have two

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