Buckskin, leather craft

[BarG]

I like to learn how to make deerskins supple enough for use . I experiment with braintan and now bark tan. so far I have had good results with both making hides that are so supple that that they just fold and relax in your hands. ! out of 3 . the 2 out of 3 are great but not as supple. I lose patience or do something different in the process,

My goal is to make me some buckskin shirt and pants when I get it down. I am about there on the leather for the shirt using my bark tan. I like the color using the white oak.
Smoking the hide helps alot, It is more supple and suppossedly if it gets wet it won't turn back to bucksin .

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Pictures?????????????
I know you will do a fantastic job!

 

[USHOG]

That is awesome.

 

[Smokin Harley]

I like to learn how to make deerskins supple enough for use . I experiment with braintan and now bark tan. so far I have had good results with both making hides that are so supple that that they just fold and relax in your hands. ! out of 3 . the 2 out of 3 are great but not as supple. I lose patience or do something different in the process,

My goal is to make me some buckskin shirt and pants when I get it down. I am about there on the leather for the shirt using my bark tan. I like the color using the white oak.
Smoking the hide helps alot, It is more supple and suppossedly if it gets wet it won't turn back to bucksin .

I've done both . braintan is probably going to be better suited for making a shirt whereas the bark(Vegetable Tan) is probably going to be better for things like light footwear ,possibles bags,or as I made with mine , a hawken rifle case. did you do a dry scrape for the brain tan or did you do more of a wet ash hair removal ? Its hard work to get it from rawhide to usable garment leather.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I've done both . braintan is probably going to be better suited for making a shirt whereas the bark(Vegetable Tan) is probably going to be better for things like light footwear ,possibles bags,or as I made with mine , a hawken rifle case. did you do a dry scrape for the brain tan or did you do more of a wet ash hair removal ? Its hard work to get it from rawhide to usable garment leather.

I have some suede and just a little top leather here, but haven't done any leather work since high school.

 

[Smokin Harley]

If you havent got one yet, look for a book called Blue Mountain Buckskin ,I've owned it for years.. http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Mountain-Buckskin-Dry-Scrape-Brain-Tan/dp/0965867218
very good instructional with a few simple illustrations.

 

[istanbulin]

Liming (using lime) or bucking (using lye/wood ash) which includes wet dehairing is always better than dry scrapping if your aim is a full-grain leather, it also makes the pelt swell and remove some unwanted stuff. So the finished product becomes softer. For a softer product you may also use enzymes (protease and lipase) but it's hard to obtain them naturally unless you're volunteer to use some dung. Brain tanning and bark tanning are nice sounding traditional methods but I'd recommend alum tanning for amateurs/enthusiasts. It's easier and gives you nice light colored soft leathers. I found an e-book explaining the stages of it, it may attract your attention.

http://books.google.com.tr/books?id...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

You may download the pdf file of the book by clicking the "gear image" (on the upper right corner) and "Download PDF".

 

[BarG]

I am using hydrated lime on the 2 hides I am soaking now, Preiously I used wood ash whish is about 30% lime. They are about ready after 4 days. The barktan hide I softened with neatsfoot oil came out very supple especialy after smoking it. The other 2 lesser quality hides I used mineral oil since I was out of neatsfoot and they can be used for quivers or bags. I have one more about ready to come out of the barktan barrel and about 3-4 more in the freezer to be fleshed. I don't dry scrape much except for touch up with a little light sandind on the flesh side.

 

[BarG]

I am going to rehydrate the 2 hides that weren't soft enough, Some of the grain came off of one of them so I am going to scrape all the grain from both and when I am done they should be good quality like suede. I have made the natural color hides before and I am like the way these barktan dye out. I think they will suit my needs better. In my latest research It is recommended to remove the grain so the fibers can breathe better for staying cool or warm and quiter in the woods. Its much more work by at least a couple hours probably.
I found a really cool website located in Georgetown just next to austin while looking for shirt styles. They sell a cool variety of native and western reproductions and there are a lot of pictures and styles to explore.

http://www.indianvillagemall.com/wshirts/leatherlace.html

I could not access the website Istanbulin but my internet has been cutting in and out all night due to storms. I will give it a look, I have a drawnife like one in the diagrahm but I found a design I like better I need to make.Also a neat tool to make for breaking the hide I need to make.

 

[BarG]

I've done both . braintan is probably going to be better suited for making a shirt whereas the bark(Vegetable Tan) is probably going to be better for things like light footwear ,possibles bags,or as I made with mine , a hawken rifle case. did you do a dry scrape for the brain tan or did you do more of a wet ash hair removal ? Its hard work to get it from rawhide to usable garment leather.

The second pic is a hide That I actually used the brain to tan with no oils, It was almost pure white when I first made it 3 yrs ago, but I never got fully broken down the way I wanted it so I put in the bark tan with the other 2 hides I had made to rawhide the same year. Its very supple and soft wheras the hide in the first pic needs reworking. I have been learning that for higher quality garments you need to remove the grain which also prevents as much stretch in the finished product. Live and learn[The hard way usually]. I First deflesh and remove as much as possible on the inside then soak and dehair wet.

 

[Knucklehead]

I could not access the website Istanbulin but my internet has been cutting in and out all night due to storms.

It's not your internet, I couldn't access the site either.

 

[istanbulin]

Now, it's fixed. You may also download it.

 

[Knucklehead]

Now, it's fixed. You may also download it.

Also available for purchase from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...untainman+crafts+and+skills++david+montgomery

 

[Smokin Harley]

The second pic is a hide That I actually used the brain to tan with no oils, It was almost pure white when I first made it 3 yrs ago, but I never got fully broken down the way I wanted it so I put in the bark tan with the other 2 hides I had made to rawhide the same year. Its very supple and soft wheras the hide in the first pic needs reworking. I have been learning that for higher quality garments you need to remove the grain which also prevents as much stretch in the finished product. Live and learn[The hard way usually]. I First deflesh and remove as much as possible on the inside then soak and dehair wet.

the brain material is the only thing you need to tan a hide. No additional oils at all. The brain material/tissue already has the essential oils . What is required though for good braintan is the grain to be removed completely to the white layer. What happened with yours not getting supple enough is you probably didnt get all the way through the layer just under the grain , its a gray/yellowy layer and its where the hair roots are . It acts as sort of a barrier if its not removed. Your bark (veg)tan (which still has the grain)looks about like mine . It depends on your source of high tannins . I used oak leaves and crushed acorns , and water .I just put it all in a bucket and basically forgot about it for a month .I think I stirred it around about once a day for the first week , then once a week after that. removed it to reposition and when I took it out and went about stretching and drying it turned out a very nice, reddish brown. It does have some stretch but its durability is probably unmatched. If you stop stretching it before it is completely dry it will not be as stretchy or supple. BUT, in that state it will be very useful for semi rigid cases ,bags or footwear. In braintan the waterproofing comes from the low temp smoking of the hide once the tanning and stretching is done .

 

[BarG]

Now, it's fixed. You may also download it.

That was an interesting ebook istanbulin. I used the alum on a cowhide I did about 20 years ago. I am experimenting with different methods till I find the one I prefer.
I have several bottles of alum in a shed but have been trying more primitive methods with naturaly more readily available materials and methods [brains and oak bark]. I did buy lime for the first time instead of ash or just soaking till before rot starts for dehairing. And I will use vinegar to neutrilize the ph from the lime.

 

[BarG]

Pop Quiz! The grain is the brown layer under the hair [which I always remove] till white.
What is the layer under the grain called on the hair side ?

It is shiny after tanning and It would need to be removed for making suede.

 

[istanbulin]

Epidermis ?

 

[Smokin Harley]

The epidermis is the outermost layer aka the grain. The layer immediately under that which holds the hair follicle is the Dermis . for correct braintan both epidermis and dermis need to be removed.

 

[Smokin Harley]

http://www.leathernet.com/leather.htm

 

[deluxestogie]

for correct braintan both epidermis and dermis need to be removed.

Hmm. It seems, from my understanding of mammalian anatomy, that if you remove both the dermis and epidermis, then there is no longer any skin.

The subcutaneous layer is fat and blood vessels.

Bob