tanning deer hide

[dorothyl]

I dont know if this is the right area for this question , but still hope to get some good info. I want to tan a deer hide for the first time this year. I found a kit at cabelas & the reviews were some thought it was ok & some didnt. Has anyone tanned with this kit & how hard is it ? If you dont use a kit how do you do it?thanks Dorothy

[flatwater]

There are about a hundred different ways to tan a hide from urin to brain tanning.The saying goes that god gave every animal just enough brains to tan their own hides.
flatwater

[Gallowglass]

The exception to that saying, is chickens and teenagers.

However, I brain tan using pork brains. Larger then deer, and saves a lot of work. Let's me work with a ratio of 2 brains to 5 gallons of water for a thicker soup.

As a heads up, this type of tanning should be done in cool to cold weather. Else the flies will eat you alive...

[MooseToo]

The exception to that saying, is chickens and teenagers.

However, I brain tan using pork brains. Larger then deer, and saves a lot of work. Let's me work with a ratio of 2 brains to 5 gallons of water for a thicker soup.

As a heads up, this type of tanning should be done in cool to cold weather. Else the flies will eat you alive...


i really do enjoy your legitimate posts !

[flatwater]

Gallowglass - not only will the flies eat you up in the warm weather but the stink can get to ya a little also. Years ago when people would go into tea ja wanna. and buy cheap leather goods , the first rain storm they were in , they would smell like the mens urinal in a public bathroom.
flatwater

[Mitch]

LOL! You all are reading too much "Firefox" :) We now have "Autozones" where you can buy a box of battery acid for about $3 and "Wallyworlds" where you can buy ice cream salt for about $1 and baking soda for less than a dollar. Just acid tan the thing, then neutralize it with baking soda, and iffin you won't pony up for some neatsfoot oil, use mineral oil. No muss, no fuss and no smell. Just look up how much acid/salt and soda to use in the tanning and neutralizing solutions. Deer hide is pretty thin and should tan in 3 or 4 days. A quick test is to clip a small piece with scissors and drop it in boiling water. If it stays soft and pliable, it is done and you can neutralize it. (I am assuming you know how to flesh that hide out properly and shave it if you want buckskin. You do have a proper fleshing beam and a $300 Sheffield fleshing knife don't you? Well, they sell a Necker for about $90, a "get by" but it will work. If you brain tan, don't forget you have to smoke that sucker for a day or two to get it to hold! That is why acid taned hides are grey and buckskin is brown.)

Check on ebay first. There use to be a couple of indians that would sell you finished buckskins for about $15 and one old man that would sell you finished lambskin for about the same! Now if you just got to get primative, start stripping white oak bark and burning it into ash for the tannin and make you a paste and start rubbing it in and then cover it in the paste. Hours and hours of labor later, and several washings and breakings over a breaking beam and you can have a nice piece of leather ;) (My old grandaddy insisted his cow hides be tanned by the white oak and ash method, but then again, we knew he was as crazy as a cut squirel!)

Mitch