Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Cave Men only "Oooga Booga" => Topic started by: juniper junkie on January 05, 2008, 12:12:04 pm
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Hi guys, when tanning a coyote hide with hair on do you use brains? or is there another method?
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Hair-on tanning is a pretty involved process. It can be braintanned with repeated brainings and smokings. Alum tawing is another good method for hair-on tanning, or some of the modern chemical tans. Try braintan.com, I think I've seen some info on there about hair-on tanning.
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you can brain any hide with brains with the hair on also, if you had deer brains you could use them to tan the yote dog, you dont have to have the same brain for the animal.
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Brains will work, Try this.
1st make shere you get all of the membrane off the flesh side. Rake it let it dry and scrap and sand the flesh side of the hide
2nd take the hide out of the rack and smear some brains on it than soke a towel in brains and lay it on the hide, roll it up and let it set over night than scrape the excess brains off the hide and save them there still good.
3rd make it into a sack and smoke it *carfull not to get it to hot so you dont scorch the hair* once you have smoked it for about 1hr take it down and Brain it again.
4th Brake it.. use a cable or a paddle and stretch those fibers till its dry.
5th smoke it one last time , for some color on the flesh side and the smoke smell will help keep the bugs out of it.
Hope these helps some. Leapingbare.
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you can brain any hide with brains with the hair on also, if you had deer brains you could use them to tan the yote dog, you dont have to have the same brain for the animal.
I always thought that you did want the brains from the same anima ??? thanks for the replies all. now all I have to do is go out and call in a coyote! ;D
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you can do all of the above with eggs also. just replace the brains with a dozen eggs. its what i use . theres too many damn diseases crawlin around the critters head these days to risk it anymore. also when tanning where gloves.
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gloves? Blood poisoning is cool! i like to see how far i can get the red line to go up my arm befor the wife makes me soke my hand in hot ebsion salt. 8)
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;D
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how long should I leave the eggs on the hide?
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Severall hours at least. The goal is to get the oils saturated completely through the hide. It's easier with hair-off hides, as you can wring them out good to open the skin and they will soak it up from both sides. With the fur-on hide, you will probably have to repeatedly apply eggs/brains/whatever until you get complete penetration through the hide, then wring it out and work/pull/stretch it continuously until it is completely dry. If you let it dry without working it the whole time, it will be stiff as a board; but if you have good oil penetration and work it until it dries, it should turn out nice and soft. Smoking will then help it to stay soft without stiffening if it gets wet again. I would be careful with letting the hair stay wet for too long, as it could make it start slipping. You can keep the skin itself damp but dry the hair with a blowdryer, shop vac, whatever.
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HEy Dave,
I've braintanned raccoon, beaver and squirrel w/ hair on. first, you want the hide as fresh as possible. Once you get the hide, lightly salt the skin and let it dry. This helps to "set" the hair, otherwise there is a greater possibility the hair will slip during the tanning process.
After the hide is totally dry, resoak it and make sure to wash out all the salt. Then gently scrape the flesh side to get off all remaining membrane. Then, I take brains, mix with very warm water, and begin working it into the flesh side of the hide. It may take several braining cycles to make sure you get good penetration. Once that's done, either freeze it, dry it, or immediately soften it, which means pulling, stretching, and rubbing until it's totally dry. I've never done coyote, but I've seen some that have been braintanned, and they looked and felt really soft.
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Holy crap.....coyotes will never feel safe around me again. >:D
Excellent thread.