Brain Tanning a Deer Hide: Overview

I am "fleshing" a deer hide. A great way to spend Christmas Eve.

So I am attempting to brain-tan a deer hide. It's exactly how it sounds. I'm going to use the animals' brains to to turn its' hide into buckskins. Thanks be to my friend Drew for his hunting skills and his generosity.

I did not think the opportunity to do so would have come so quickly but youtube is great for getting you up to speed on ancient skills.

There are 6 steps to brain-tanning a hide:
1. Fleshing- removal of all the flesh, fat and excess meat using a sharp blade.
2. Hair-Removal (optional)-Removal of the hair. (you can speed up the hair-removal process by first soaking the hide in a lyme or wood ash solution for a few days which loosens the hair follicles, but I skipped this step and opted for using a little more elbow grease.)
4. Racking-Once both the flesh and the hair has been removed you rack the hide so that it can dry out (this may take a few days depending on the humidity).
3. Scraping- Once the hide has dried the epidermis can be scraped away using sharp rounded blade so that you don't poke through the hide.
4. Brain-Tanning- it is just like it sounds. You make a solution of animals' brain and water (every animal has enough brains to tan its' own hide) in which you soak the hide. The proteins of the brain break down the proteins in the hide so that the hide loses its' elasticity.
5. Stretching-next you re-rack the hide and stretch it until it dries.
6. Smoking- finally you sew the hide into a skirt and hang it over smouldering coals. This weatherproofs the hide.

I will describe each of these steps in detail as I perform them each day.