Brain-Tanning a Deer Hide: Day 1

On day one I went to Home Depot to purchase the following supplies: tarp, sawhorse, PVC pipe, 5 gallon bucket, 16 gallon tub, screws, 3 2x4s, and rubber gloves. Next I went to Walmart to purchase a machete...did I mention this took place on Christmas Eve?

Then I went to Drew's to pick up the hide.

When I got home, I set up shop in my basement. I spread out the tarp, assembled the fleshing unit (sawhorse, 2 1/2' of PVC pipe ducktaped to the top), made myself a trash bag apron and slid on my rubber gloves.

After Slack helped my assemble the drying rack and before he went upstairs he said, "Maybe after this we can watch, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' because that's pretty much what you're doing!"

What is important to remember that what I am doing is not only an ancient art form but also a way of honoring the animal, otherwise its' hide would go to waste.

I pulled the hide out of the bag and gave thanks. Then I removed the head from the hide and froze the head in a cooler (I will be extracting the brains for the brain-tanning step later on, but in the mean time I need to keep it cold).

I draped the hide (flesh-side up) over the fleshing unit leaned my belly against the hide and used the machete to scrape away the fat, flesh and meat. This took about 3 hours to complete! I hold the machete perpendicular to the hides surface and scrape away from my body while leaning against the hide so that it does not slide.

Fleshing the deer hide.

I then flipped the hide over (hair-side up) and began the Hair-Removal process. This takes a lot longer (especially if you haven't prepped the hide with chemicals) and at 12:30 am Slack came down to snap a picture and to tell me that it was time for bed.

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.

A Little Treet

So this is how I've decided to cope with the sedentary life in a cubicle...I spend my breaks identifying trees outside my work using, "Bark; A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast," by Michael Wojtech.

I know, you're thinking, what a nerd, but it's actually pretty fun.

It's an interesting guide because it focuses on identifying trees by their bark. Since a lot of trees in NE are deciduous-meaning they loose their leaves at the end of their growing season- after the leaves fall it is hard to identify them. This guide allows you to identify trees during any point of the year.

The forest looks a whole lot more interesting once you become aware of bark. Is it smooth, furrowed, scale-like, does it have curly strips? Did you know that trees have pores just like our skin? They are called lenticles and they can been circular, diamond shaped or rectangular.

Being able to identify trees is important because you can use them for materials, food and to locate animals. One of my favorite trees is a black birch. It has smooth grey bark and horizontal lenticels. When you scratch the bark it smells like wintergreen and root beer.

Trees are cool. Why not go out on a limb and try and identify some?