Tan your own hide?!?

[little_leaf177]

Hi, I'm looking to have a bit of a play with some furs, skins & leathers. However I am a bit of stinger when it comes to money... I don't like spending it if I don't have to.
Im after curing/tanning a few furs without spending the money on soaps etc. I was told by a female bushcraft instructor at the bushcraft show back in 2011 that every animal has enough brains to tan it's own hide.
So can anyone help me with this? Is it tue & has anyone done it / give me directions on how to do it... (I'm looking to start on a bunny)
also is it gory?

oh and when it comes to an urea deer hide (none silicone type) could I say it with th jack yoke spray and waterproof the base?

regards leaf 177

 

[Toddy]

Firstly, yes, there's usually enough brain to tan a hide of the beast it came from. If you're short, use eggs.

Secondly, not really gory once you've got the skull broken open and the brain out. It's fatty, gets mushed down, doesn't smell bad if you're prompt and work in the cold. It used to be considered very good food, and was still eaten until the advent of bse

Sorry, I don't know about the urea deer hide.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[little_leaf177]

Thanks cry much, do you know where I can find the correct mix for the mixture to tan the hides?

 

[Niels]

I'd be very interested in these mixtures too. My brain tanning experiments on rabbit and roe deer so far ended up with the hide going stiff again. You can use a hacksaw to open up the head btw. It sounds bad but it's really the easiest way

 

[calgarychef]

I've brain tanned a lot of hides but they were hair off hides. You can easily use a bit of mayonnaise if you don't want to mess with brains. Egg yolks also work as does heats foot oil mixed with some real soap and warm water. Just google brain tanning and you'll be on your way, there's no sense my explaining the process when so many have alread done so on the net. I've never found one animals brains to be enough for its hide though, think about a moose or elk, big animals with brains not much bigger than a deer. That's where the mayo or other emulsified oils will help you out.

 

[crosslandkelly]

When I was kid, my dad was always tanning my hide and threatening to brain me. But then I was a little sod Lol.

 

[santaman2000]

My parents often made me get my own switch. But they always tanned my hide for me.

 

[crosslandkelly]

My parents often made me get my own switch. But they always tanned my hide for me.

 

[youngbushcrafter]

All deer hides apart from reindeer should have the hair scraped off, over time they turn brittle and are horrible to sleep on when this happens.

Many things can be used to tan hides: Brain, egg yolks, liver (blended), marrow, oil+liquid soap (ratio 60/40 or 70/30)

Scraping the hide must be done with care, any epidermis (densely packed stuff on hair side of hide) left will create hard spots, Hypodermis (loosely packed stuff on flesh side of hide) must be scraped away also to leave you with just the dermis.

Niels- Your hides probably went stiff because you may not have stretched it for long enough - it must be done until the hide is completely dry - this can take hours so the hide can be put into a ziplock bag if you are going to have a short break, once the stretching has started you cannot stop or the hide will turn stiff!

Those are just a few tips. Usually rabbit hides aren't worth it. Usually anything bigger than a roe deer or a small fallow will require a frame for stretching, small hides can be done by hand on the knee, be sure to get right to the edges to stop them going hard

Harry

 

[Skaukraft]

http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/tanninghides.pdf

 

[Gray]

There was a thing on the telly a few weeks ago where this fella used dog poo. Its a series where this guy who I think is a mechanic of some sort uses traditional methods to restore old things. One week he restored an old narrow boat/barge, in an other episode he restored an old water wheel. Cant remember what its called.

 

[Gray]

SWMBO just said, its called How Britain Worked. Very cool series on C4