Want to learn how to make real buckskin.

I've been following that guy that travels in the southwest on horseback with pack horses. I've been interested in primitive skills and crafts for /quite/ a while, and I've processed plant fiber before, as well as I have extensive experience camping.

I'm about to buy a general use 20ga shotgun, and I'm interested in hunting deer, but haven't done it.  I have friends who hunt, and I'm looking forward to asking them for their hides while I learn how to shoot.

Naturally, if I'm able to successfully make buckskin, I would be able to expand that into other things as well. I am already a serial crafter (it's a common freebie in the neurodiverse package) and on the days I'm not working at a soul crushing job I want to work on soul feeding projects.

I'd love your favorite techniques that don't involve the brain (mother has Parkinson's, I don't want to potentially endanger her) thanks and props.

Hi Amanda,
That sounds like a great idea for a hobby. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with it. I do know that besides the brain, some people use alum (not sure I would recommend) and eggs for preserving the hide. I think eggs were used more on smaller animals, but google says it can be adapted to larger animals.

Hi Amanda
I attempted tanning leather many years ago.
I don't remember much of the process now, but it was a miserable failure.
I recall that using brains for tanning was just one option.
It produced a hide that was whiter and claimed to be softer than other methods.
I do remember salting and scraping the flesh off, then working the hide over a log to soften it.
Like I mentioned, I failed miserably. It takes a lot of work to prepare leather.

Where you live, are shotguns the only allowed firearm for hunting?
Shotgun slugs tend to create a rather large hole through your hide.

Since brain tanning is my preferred method, and I've learned through my nutritional and herbal pursuits that ingesting an organ from a healthy animal is generally beneficial for the same organ in the person consuming it,  I started researching - and failed. I can't find anything other than how chrome-tanning is bad(which I already knew). I also have had family members with Alzheimer's, so, I'm very curious to know how brain tanning is bad for Alzheimer's patients. This is important information and I hope you'll share, because as a direct descendent of a few people who have died of the disease, and already having lupus, I'm personally at risk. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction to find this information, please?

Sun flower lecithin is in the same vein as egg yolk and brain tan. But naturally just comes from the sunflower seed. If you have any qs on tanning feel free to reach out.

Amanda Barteck wrote:I've been following that guy that travels in the southwest on horseback with pack horses. I've been interested in primitive skills and crafts for /quite/ a while, and I've processed plant fiber before, as well as I have extensive experience camping.

I'm about to buy a general use 20ga shotgun, and I'm interested in hunting deer, but haven't done it.  I have friends who hunt, and I'm looking forward to asking them for their hides while I learn how to shoot.

Naturally, if I'm able to successfully make buckskin, I would be able to expand that into other things as well. I am already a serial crafter (it's a common freebie in the neurodiverse package) and on the days I'm not working at a soul crushing job I want to work on soul feeding projects.

I'd love your favorite techniques that don't involve the brain (mother has Parkinson's, I don't want to potentially endanger her) thanks and props.

Hello Amanda!

During hunting season, it is very easy to get hides, just asks around.  Most folks in my area throw the hide away.  Cattle farms are another great place to ask.  If they do on farm harvest, you can often get the hides on harvest day.  

I have made brain tan buckskin in the past, but these days I am mostly working with hair on sheep hides.  
You can do a bark tan.  It is really easy, you just leave the hide soaking in a tannic bark water solution until the solution has penetrated through the hide and caused it to darken.   This takes weeks or months depending on the weather and what kind of hide you are working with.   When the solution has turned the hide a dark color throughout, you are ready to take it out and start working it until it is soft and dry.  This method results in a stiffer product but with use, your hide will become more and more flexible.  

If you prefer the brain tan technique, egg yolks work really well as a substitute for brains.   You can do the same process as regular brain tanning and you will get a nice flexible hide.  


I also use a pickling technique for making hides into rugs.  I sprinkle the hide with salt and bakings soda and allow it to pickle slowly in cool temperatures.  This results in a hide that is more supple than raw hide but stiffer than something you would use for clothing.  They work great as floor coverings and can be hand washed and dried.  

Good luck!  

Let us know how your projects turn out.