Hey all.
Figured I'd make a post about my endeavor to be able to get red deer hides to a really high quality, plush soft state via brain softening & smoke tanning. I've been able to get them very soft, or very close to the plush soft state that I'm aiming for in 1 softening session. A Woman called Theresa Emmirich has been hosted by people I know in Australia, teaching people how to make buckskin & she's a true master at it. I was told that they get their hides incredibly plush, first softening session with 0 pre-smoking & without having to re-dress the hide in brains. I've succeeded at doing this with Fallow & Red deer hides, but I'll share my process, experiences & lesson. Red Deer are also an introduced species to NZ, they are incredibly abundant & are essentially a small Elk. I tried brain tanning them like Americans would with white tail to only fail. So dry scraping these large reds seems to be a necessity. They're absolutely able to soften properly into high quality buckskin, they can make for some damn beautiful leather & I can't wait to make some clothing with them.
1: De-flesh hide with fleshing blade on fleshing beam.
2: Raw scrape grain off if it's a smaller hide. Or, Raw scrape off as much as I can, dry on frame, then dry scrape remaining fur/grain & thin areas down if a large hide. If it's a crazy large hide, I'll soak the hide in lime for 10-20 days, scrape grain & fur off as much as possible, de-lime in stream, dry on frame, dry scrape remaining grain & thin hide. Areas that I will thin are the neck, rump & spine from neck to rump.
3: re-moisturizing the hide in warm water & stretching by hand if a small hide, or stretching via wringing on a beam after it's soaked for a good 10-24 hours. Dependent on the size of the hide of course.
4: Once fully moisturized, soak in a diluted vinegar solution. Ensure the pH of the solution is 5-5.5 to bring the hide down from a 7. The mild acidity neutralizes the glues, making it far easier to soften the hide as it's much more receptive to the fats in the brain solution. A small hide will soak for 30-60 minutes, a large hide will soak for a good 10-24 hours. It's important that it's specifically at the pH of 5-5.5 as if it's too acidic the hide will swell excessively & become a bit stiff.
5: Briefly wash in water to rinse off excess vinegar on the exterior of the skin. Then wring, stretch out, submerge in brains. Work it in the brain solution or leave it to absorb plenty of the brains for 30-60 minutes. Come back, then proceed to wring the hide out 4 times going both ways once, rotating the hide around the wringing pole a bit & then going both ways once again. Stretch hide out, rinse & repeat. I find fallow hides only need 2 dressing/wringing sessions, where as larger red deer need a good 5-6 sessions.
Being able to pinch the skin that's fully moisturized in the brain solution, then lifting up the skin & sliding the other hand along the skin firmly to form a bubble with the hide should result in lots of bubbles coming out of the hide. If lots of bubbles come out, that's a great sign that the fibers are relaxing enough to allow air to pass through. If there are no bubbles coming out, collagen fibers are either still binding together due to not being dressed properly & it requires more dressing/wringing.
6: Once the hide has received it's final wringing & has been stretched out so that the yellow areas are turning white, it can now be strung up on a frame & frame softened. I much prefer frame softening as the final product comes out flat & it's easier to manage all areas of the hide at once. The downside is that once you start, you basically gotta keep going until it's done. Obviously you can have 5-10 minute breaks near the start, but as it's near the end you gotta really push.
I use a wide medal staking tool & a wooden staking tool. The wide one is to cover a large area of the hide in a short span of time, the wooden one is to really dig into tougher areas that need a bit more tension applied. I'll not only stake the hide to get it nice n soft, but I'll also use my hands to pull the hide from the edges. My frame is fixed into the ground, so I can do this very efficiently. I find I either need really good weather to be able to soften the hide, or to have the fire going on top of good weather. We're a bit more humid here, so it's quite important to have a fire to help dry the hide out. I'll sand with pumice on the grain side & gut side whilst softening the hide to ensure a clean gut side & grain side.
7: Once the hide is softened I'll make sure trip the edges to remove any dry areas & to get rid of the loops, sew the bag up either by hand or with a sewing machine, with 2 loops at the top to hang it for smoking. Then I'll make some embers/coals with smaller pieces of wood, throw them into a small fire place with a flue on top to create distance from the hide to the embers.
So far I've experienced multiple different things that have taught me a lot such as..
- Don't stake one area for too long as the friction can cause holes to form.
- Don't try to soften a hide when it's raining outside unless you're in a contained area with a consistent heat source, you won't get the hide dry otherwise. Or it will just take a long time.
- Soaking a hide in a diluted vinegar solution to a pH of 5.5 is a great way to relax the fibers so that it will soften first time round.
- If you've use a vinegar solution already with a few hides & it has turned cloudy I wouldn't recommend using it again. This "Cloudiness" is apparently fats & oils from the previous hides, which can change the pH of the solution, making it less affective at lowering the pH of the hide.
- Taking a slice from the hide, pressing a pH test strip onto the exposed area of internal skin is a good way of checking the pH of the skin itself.
- Don't be afraid to over do it with braining/wringing. No harm in making sure you've really
- Don't be afraid to have a break from softening for 5-10 minutes to allow the fibers to rebound. This will decrease the chances of grease burn where fibers let go of each other, forming a hole.
Thanks for reading. Please share your experiences or advice if you have any. Red Deer are definitely like a small Elk.
A Red Deer Hide with all the fur slipping off after being in lime, ready for grain to be scraped off. Could soaked for longer i reckon though, a good 5-10 more days. 
