smoking buckskin

[dogwood]

Last weekend, it finally stopped raining long enough in San Francisco for me to smoke a couple of deer hides that I've been making into buckskin.

Unfortunately there was a fair difference in size between them, so I had to work around that as I was making the bag. Also, because I got lazy I ended up stapling the hides rather than sewing them together.

For people who haven't made buckskin before, this is what you do after the fleshing, graining, bucking, egging (or braining) and softening.

The smoking takes the resins from the smoke of rotting wood and slowly penetrates the hide. This makes the leather water resistant and allows you to wash it and still have it be soft (you can't do this with chemically tanned leather).

Here are the hides after they're in made into a bag attached over my smoker. Nice and soft and white. If you get them wet now, they'll dry hard. So by smoking them, I'll make that problem go away.

The idea here is to smoke the hides until the color from the resin begins to show through the outside of the hide bag. That tells you that you've got good penetration.

I'm using rotten tanoak (native to northern california) for the punk. You can see the color come through here.

Now it's darker -- ready to turn inside out and smoke the other side.

Ah, now this is getting nice looking. Tanoak punk gives you a color range from a deep reddish brown to a tan/orange. I like it.... I've got to do a few more hides and then I'll have enough for my secret project...

 

[Toddy]

Interesting, and interested to see what you make with the buckskin when you're done

Tanoak isn't native here, what else could be used successfully, and does it need to be punk ?

Thanks for posting,

cheers,
Toddy

 

[dogwood]

Toddy,

Almost any punky hardwood can be used. As long as it is rotten to the point where you can break up chunks with your hands, it's fine. All woods give slightly different colors, though.

Over the years I've used a lot of different hardwoods -- none are bad, just different.

I've heard of people using things like rotten douglas fir but I haven't tried it. The native Americans regularly used dried cow dung as well. Some people I know use cedar chips from the garden store, but I've never done that.

Part of the reason you want to use punk as opposed to regular wood is that the rotting process tend to do things to the wood that makes it harder to burn and so it just smokes. You want to avoid a flareup at all costs since a hide can burn really fast.

Get yourself a good bed of coals (you can use pure charcoal briquettes if you like, just be sure there are no chemicals in it) and toss on some punk and you're on your way.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Hiya Dogwood - this is the next stage for me - any tips?

I've seen two methods - one to sew a canvas skirt around the bottom of the bag, then put the skirt over a smudge fire. The other, you make a frame over the fire and drape the hides over it. I guess the second method might be better for more than one hide at once?

Also, the hides I've got have crusty edges - better to keep them on or cut them off before smoking?

And I guess my other question is about the smudge fire itself - can I use anything smokey? e.g. we've got a barn full of old straw...

Thanks!!

 

[dogwood]

Hiya Dogwood - this is the next stage for me - any tips?

I've seen two methods - one to sew a canvas skirt around the bottom of the bag, then put the skirt over a smudge fire. The other, you make a frame over the fire and drape the hides over it. I guess the second method might be better for more than one hide at once?

Also, the hides I've got have crusty edges - better to keep them on or cut them off before smoking?

And I guess my other question is about the smudge fire itself - can I use anything smokey? e.g. we've got a barn full of old straw...

Thanks!!

Before describing it, a warning: hides can catch on fire FAST and so no matter what your setup you've got to be really careful to make sure they're far enough away from the coals to be safe.

Now to the question. I wouldn't do the draping over a frame solution unless you want to build a whole miniature smokehouse. You've got to contain the smoke to increase the amount of time that the smoke is in contact with the hide.

Building a mini-smokehouse isn't too hard conceptually -- you can scrounge shipping palettes to use to build a structure, hang hides from in one end, smudge fire in the other, cover the whole structure in a tarp. But basically it's a hassle unless you're tanning all the time, it which case a smoke house makes smoking super convenient.

Even though you've got a bunch of hides to do, the better way at the moment is to use the hide bag/skirt approach described above. You can join the hides by sewing (easy if you've got a strong machine or you're fast by hand), gluing them (use white, water based glue) or even stapling them.

What you want in the bag is a good tight edge so not much smoke gets out. Then attach a canvas or denim skirt. Make sure there is NO POLYESTER content in the skirt or it will go up in flames. 100% cotton, hemp, etc. is what you want.

No matter what, you've got to keep a close eye on it to avoid flare ups.

Alternatively, if you've got access to a small sized woodburning stove (something you can drag outdoors) you can run some stovepipe into the skirt and get some real distance between your hide and the coals. I've used a barbeque for this purpose in the past, but just recently found the perfect sized wood stove to use for my next batch.

For the smoky material, you really want to use punky wood. Straw has too little of the chemicals you want and it runs a high risk of flame ups.

The easiest way to get punk is to go to the woods, find a downed tree that has portions rotting --- anything that you can crumble with your hands is perfect -- and bring a couple of garbage bags of that home. Spread it out on a tarp to let it dry for a couple of days. You can do it indoors, punk has a nice loamy smell that doesn't even bother my wife, who is generally somewhat alarmed at the things I do.

The reason you want punk is that as the wood rots, it loses the pitch and the cellulose that burns deteriorates. But what you have left behind is filled with wood chemicals that will permeate your hide and make it perfect.

When you burn punk, these chemicals bind to the fibers of the hide and permanently change it. Even though we call it egg tanning or brain tanning, the brains or the eggs don't actually do the tanning. The ACTUAL tanning that happens is with the smoke. Some people correctly call this "smoke tanning" but I go with common parlance and say "brain tanning".

Some people have reported good results using woodland mulch purchased from the garden store, but I've never done it and can't vouch for it. You can almost always find rotten wood nearby anyway...

Make a good bed of coals, smother it with punk, attach the skirt and get ready for the magic to happen...

If you use charcoal briquettes for your coals, be sure to use 100% natural hardwood charcoal -- it will be clearly marked on the bag and might even say "good for smoking meat.." The typical little self lighting briquettes are filled with petroleum based chemicals that will make your leather toxic. If you just build a fire, hardwood coals last longer, so try to find some hardwood for the fire.

Also, if you want to throw some sage on punk, it imparts a nice scent to the leather.

Once you've got color on both sides and you're done smoking, leave the hides hanging outdoors for a couple of days. Depending on the punk, the hides might feel sticky to the touch from creosote (this is really dependent on the wood in the punk). If they are sticky, hang them out to dry and air out.

After a couple of days take a five gallon bucket filled with 2 gallons of warm water and give the leather a good soak and wring out the results. The water will turn the color of tea. SAVE the smokey water!!! You'll use it next time with your egg mixture for extra good results on the next batch of hides you egg.

You might want to repeat the rinsing a couple of times, depending on how smokey the leather smells.

If you've done your egging/softening/smoking right, as the leather dries, all you have to do is stretch it a little or rub it over the edge of the table to keep it soft. It's no work at all. Let it dry, tug on it a little and it's good as new.

(If you find that some part comes out stiff after rinsing, let me know. There still something you can do about that to rescue the situation.)

Hope that helps, S. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Oh, on the crinkly edges: if you're gluing or stapling your bag closed, no need to trim the edges now -- you can get them later. If you're sewing your bag closed, those crinkly edges make sewing harder, so you'll want to trim them.

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Wow - thanks for all that info, it's incredibly helpful! :You_Rock_

I've been out and foraged a load of punk - there aren't many hardwood trees near here, though, so I've got willow and hawthorn punk atm. Hawthorn is fairly hard, but willow...??

Interesting that it's the smoke does the tanning - I didn't know that. My friend James was saying he thought it was called tanning because of using tannins, but then we wondered if it was because the hides go tan in colour. Thinking about it again, maybe the colour "tan" gets its name from the leather...

Are tannins the active ingredient in the smoke? Do you still smoke hides you've bark-tanned? Well, maybe I'll find out when you put your bark-tanning tute up, but I'm curious

You can do it indoors, punk has a nice loamy smell that doesn't even bother my wife, who is generally somewhat alarmed at the things I do.

I can understand that. I'm staying with my parents at the moment - they aren't too keen either. Tanning was alright in theory. Then I filled a chest freezer with fresh skins and they started to protest. Followed by filling the wheely bin with lye solution - that was ok for a while, but they asked for that back this week too. Now I've got a room full of slightly odourful skins waiting to be smoked, they're starting to protest even more. I think they'll be pleased when I get a job and move out again

Ooo - quick edit - I forgot to ask, what do you do about smoking then washing the wool-on skins? I've got two, and I don't want the wool to slip if I get them wet and have to dry them again...

 

[Shewie]

I tried smoking buckskin once but it gave me a really bad chest.




:sulkoff:

 

[dogwood]

I've been out and foraged a load of punk - there aren't many hardwood trees near here, though, so I've got willow and hawthorn punk atm. Hawthorn is fairly hard, but willow...??

The willow should be fine. I know of some people who use conifer punk and get OK results too. Overall, I feel hardwood is better, but I'm sure you'll be fine.

Interesting that it's the smoke does the tanning - I didn't know that. My friend James was saying he thought it was called tanning because of using tannins, but then we wondered if it was because the hides go tan in colour. Thinking about it again, maybe the colour "tan" gets its name from the leather...

Are tannins the active ingredient in the smoke? Do you still smoke hides you've bark-tanned? Well, maybe I'll find out when you put your bark-tanning tute up, but I'm curious

Actually, the active ingredients in smoke tanning are aldehydes, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde. Also, the heat allows a portion of the fats to polymerize a little.

Tannins dissolve in water and they're long gone by the time the wood turns to punk.

Tannins ARE the active ingredient in bark tanning -- and in tea tanning, which I'll also describe soon. I figure tea tanning will be especially amusing for you Brits

I can understand that. I'm staying with my parents at the moment - they aren't too keen either. Tanning was alright in theory. Then I filled a chest freezer with fresh skins and they started to protest.

Followed by filling the wheely bin with lye solution - that was ok for a while, but they asked for that back this week too.

S, your parents REALLY love you! We have to appreciate family members who put up with tanning...

Now I've got a room full of slightly odourful skins waiting to be smoked, they're starting to protest even more. I think they'll be pleased when I get a job and move out again

I'm a little troubled by the odorful part -- egged, softened and dried hair-off skins shouldn't really have much of a smell. You don't see any signs of rot on them, do you? They haven't gotten wet by accident, have they?

Ooo - quick edit - I forgot to ask, what do you do about smoking then washing the wool-on skins? I've got two, and I don't want the wool to slip if I get them wet and have to dry them again...

On the wool-on hides, you only smoke the flesh side and don't have to bother smoking the wool side. As you smoke the hide, separate the hair and keep checking to see if some color has come all the way through from the flesh side to the wool side. It doesn't have to be super uniform color, but you want to see *some* color come through from the flesh side to the grain (wool) side. Once that happens, you're done with hair on tanning.

When you rinse it, wring it out -- hang it wool side up in the sun (to help the wool dry faster) -- and you shouldn't have any problems with the hair slipping. The tanning will prevent bacterial growth from coming back (unless it stays wet for a really long time.)

By the way, I've been thinking about the wool slipping on these hides and I'll send you a PM over the weekend with some more thoughts for the next batch you do.

 

[dogwood]

I tried smoking buckskin once but it gave me a really bad chest.
:sulkoff:

Rich, if you smoke enough of it, you see herds of bison all around you

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Thanks again B,

I actually can't smell anything from the skins in my bedroom beyond a slight musty vanilla smell. My parents insist they smell strongly of rotten eggs. I was assuming it's my sense of smell (which is a little odd - I can't smell fuchsia's nor bay leaves), but it's possible they are exaggerating. I can't see any problems with the skins - they feel nice, dry, soft and fluffy.

Sounds like I better leave wool-on until it gets a bit drier, probably April/May. Anything we put in the outhouses tends to get damp, rather than drying out. Cornwall is really wet. Hope the aged Ps can put up with the smell a bit longer

Looking forward to your PM,

S

 

[forestwalker]

I tried smoking buckskin once but it gave me a really bad chest.

There is a good illustration on the proper way to smoke a deerhide in Jim Riggs "Blue Mountain Buckskin". Unfortunately (?) no one has put it up on the web AFAICT.

 

[dogwood]

I actually can't smell anything from the skins in my bedroom beyond a slight musty vanilla smell.

Perfect! That's *exactly* how it should smell. For some reason unsmoked egged hides have a slight vanilla scent. It's quite nice, I think.

My parents insist they smell strongly of rotten eggs. I was assuming it's my sense of smell (which is a little odd - I can't smell fuchsia's nor bay leaves), but it's possible they are exaggerating.

Yeah, that's the mind working on them. Because they were sure they *should* smell rotten eggs, they think they *are* smelling rotten eggs.

Remind them that the process only keeps the oils from the eggs, nothing else, and that eggs have been used as a base for all kinds of permanent things (paint, etc.) for years.

I can't see any problems with the skins - they feel nice, dry, soft and fluffy.

That's so fantastic and exactly what you want.

You've done such a great job the first time out. You should be really proud of yourself.

And for what it's worth, when you tan your first hide you are taking part in a human craft that goes back hundreds of thousands of years. You have now formed a link in knowledge and skills with our earliest ancestors. It's a good thing.

By the way, because they're so thin, the sheepskin should smoke fast, so it might not take more than 30 minute or so. I'm really excited for you as you get ready for the last step.