natural hide processing

[COJoe]

When I lived in Fairbanks, AK years ago, I shot a red fox and took my time to cut the complete hide off in hopes of preserving it myself then I placed the hide in my freezer until I was ready to buy a tanning kit. I spoke with my supervisor, who lived in Anchorage at the time, and who was a native from Fort Yukon and he told me that I didn't have to buy anything to tan a hide. He explained that in their village they would kill an animal and remove the brain matter, mix it with water to create a paste and use that on the hide. Apparently, the brain matter contains enzymes that would eat or dissolve any matter left on the hide. Unfortunately, I never got to try it as my freezer got unplugged and everything inside was ruined. Has anyone ever tried anything like that before?

 

[Legend]

When I lived in Fairbanks, AK years ago, I shot a red fox and took my time to cut the complete hide off in hopes of preserving it myself then I placed the hide in my freezer until I was ready to buy a tanning kit. I spoke with my supervisor, who lived in Anchorage at the time, and who was a native from Fort Yukon and he told me that I didn't have to buy anything to tan a hide. He explained that in their village they would kill an animal and remove the brain matter, mix it with water to create a paste and use that on the hide. Apparently, the brain matter contains enzymes that would eat or dissolve any matter left on the hide. Unfortunately, I never got to try it as my freezer got unplugged and everything inside was ruined. Has anyone ever tried anything like that before?

It is true. I have never tried it but brain tanning is the traditional method for tanning animal skins.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Brain Tanning Furs - Traditional Tanners

Brain Tanning Furs By George Michaud Editors Note: This article is adapted for the web from an article George originally wrote for Fur-Fish-Game Magazine. There is an assumption that the reader already has a basic knowledge of certain steps of

braintan.com

My brother has done this, he said it worked pretty good.

 

[EdP]

It is sort of true. You can't just skin an animal and rub on brain matter. The hide needs to be scraped clean to remove everything that is not hide and there are other steps that have to be taken in the brain tan process to get a supple end result. Research brain tanning. Most of what you will find will probably be for deer hides processed hair off, but hair on hides can also be brain tanned. You are more likely to get a good result using a more modern process using chemicals and process instructions from a taxidermy supplier like McKenzie.

 

[COJoe]

My brother has done this, he said it worked pretty good.

Back then I had much more time to do those kind of things but I never tried it. It would be really interesting to try this though. I have looked into how the natives tan moose hides and that's a whole lot of work and hours. My supervisor helped me out with a lot of questions I had about hunting when I first moved up there so I appreciated the knowledge of things like this that he had.

 

[COJoe]

The hide needs to be scraped clean to remove everything that is not hide and there are other steps that have to be taken in the brain tan process to get a supple end result.

I wonder how it would have worked out being my hide was already frozen with matter still on it. I guess I could have scraped it clean once it thawed out. It's interesting how things used to be done though, maybe not easier but they used what they had.

 

[mjh]

Tan Your Own - Traditional Tanners

Tan Your Own Go ahead and tan it yourself! It is amazing to watch this wet, sometimes unappealing, mass of skin transform into a beautiful and useful material — and do it in your own backyard with simple tools. You

braintan.com

I've brain tanned several deer hides, no hair. I used the wet scrape method. Use a 6 inch pvc pipe in a wood frame for my threshing beam and 2x4's for my drying stretching rack. Most challenging part for me in my location is the smoking of the softened hide, collection of suitable punk wood, smoky back yard. I use my ti tent stove with a couple of elbow angles to get the hide away from the heat and the smoke to the hide. I've singed a hide or two early on..

I've used brains only and brains & eggs mixed together. I wear durable gloves when doing the braining part.

I've also just make raw hide several times when I wasn't ready to go to the next step of braining then softening.

Brain tanning takes effort but makes a nice end product.

 

[EdP]

I've tanned deer hides hair on that were put in the freezer immediately after skinning. It's not a problem to scrape as it thaws and scraping off partially thawed meat and fat is actually easier. You can't let it get freezer burn though.