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Bill Kaczor, Ancestral Knowledge. -- What follows is a short step-by-step explaination of hide tanning using primitive methods vice modern. Of course you can use modern tools and methods for hide tanning, especially with your first hide, but then you would be cheating yourself out of the true experience and miss out on come really valuable lessons. |
Let's assume you already used a chip of flint, obsidian or sharp stone to separate the hide from the animal.
Step 1. Fleshing - With a rib bone, leg bone or hardwood stick that has been carved and burnished, push all the flesh off of the hide. you need a smooth beam (log). You can either lean it against a tree pinning the hide with the beam or lay it across the log pinning it with your body.
Racking - Two ways to flesh the hide, on the rack or off the rack.
On the rack - Rack the hide by poking a hole every 4 inches completely around the edge of the hide. Ensure the holes are 1/2 inch from the edge running parallel to the edge. Stretch the hide tight enough using string or hide thongs laced through the holes. Pull the hide evenly so it will dry out on the rack without any wrinkles.
Off-the-rack - Soak the hide in a stream until the neck hair starts to slip off, then use the same pushing technique as fleshing step. This technique, if applied correctly, will remove the grain as well and will allow skipping the next step. Sometime soaking in a lye solution (made from hardwood ashes) is necessary to raise the grain enough for complete removal.
Step 2. Dehair - This can be completed on or off the rack. Once the hide is dry use a bone or stone scraper to remove the hair, which leads into the next step... scraping to remove the grain.
 
Step 3. Scraping to remove the grain - When the hair is remove you will usually notice a peppery look to the hide. These are the hair follicles embedded in the epidermis (outer) layer of the skin left behind after dehairing that are showing through. This epidermal layer (the grain) must be removed.
Scrape carefully until the dermis layer is exposed. The skin will appear slightly fluffy like suede. It is best to work in small sections or blocks 4 to 6 inches square.
On your first hide you will probably scrape so lightly that this will take hours or scrape so hard that you poke holes through it. Either way, don’t give up, its all part of the learning process. You can always tan another hide, right?
Be careful along the belly and inner thigh areas as they tend to be the thinnest and easiest to burst through.
Step 4. Remove the membrane - Once the dermis layer is reached turn the hide over and scrape the flesh side till it appears fluffy as well. This side doesn’t require as much scraping as the hair side. In both steps 3 and 4 work the center of the hide first and then do the edges. One good technique is to Keep a two inch buffer around holes and the edges, then come back and scrape those areas last.
Step 5. Sew up the holes - Use the animal's sinew to sew up the holes made from your arrow or when you burst through the hide while scraping.
Step 6. Brain the hide - Place the animal brain (if you have it) in arm water and smash it up. About 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon is all that is needed. If you do not have any animal brains you can substitute egg yolks (minus the whites). DO NOT USE HOT WATER.
Soak your hide in the brain solution either by taking the hide off the rack and placing it in a container with the solution or use some something to apply the solution saturate the hide while it is racked.
Step 7. Soften the hide - Once the hide is saturated and let sit overnight without drying out, you can begin to soften the hide the next day. Rerack the hide (if not on-the-rack) and use a stick with a rounded smooth end to push and stretch the hide in the rack. The fibers in the dermis layer must be kept moving until the hide is completely dry.
Take the smooth end of the stick and push on the hide while sliding the stick across the surface of the hide. When the hide is no longer cool to the touch then it should be dry. You can soften the hide off-the-rack as well but besides being more difficult it usually doesn’t turn out as flat and smooth as one softened on-the-rack.
The end result of all this work is a milky white soft and fluffy skin. However, be careful not to get it wet before completing the next and last step or it will turn back into rawhide.
Step 8. Smoking the hide - First fashion the hides into a bag by either sewing or gluing the edges together. Leave a neck area opening about 6 inches in diameter.
Dig a hole about 6 -8 inches across and 1 foot deep. Hang the hide bag upside down over the hole. Connect a skirt made of cloth or other hides to the neck.
Prepare a hardwood fire with many red hot coals and collect punky dead wood.
Place hot coals only in the hole--no burning sticks. Break up punky wood into small pieces and cover the coals. It should begin to smoke immediately.
Stake or use rocks to hold the skirt down around the hole to keep the skin away from the hot coals or potential flare ups. Add punky wood as needed to maintain a heavy smoke flowing through the hide.
Once the outside of the hide bag starts to change color (about 1 hour) turn the hide bag inside-out and repeat.
When the second side is complete you can wash the hide and let it dry and you will have a beautiful piece of buckskin.
This process can be completed in just a few of days.
Step 9. Make something - Make a shirt or possibles bag. It's up to you.
Happy Tanning!
The Step by Step Hide Tanning by Bill Kaczor, Copyright © 2009 Ancestral Knowledge Blog post, Used here with permission.
Ancestral Knowledge provides hands-on experience in hide tanning and other nature and primitive skills programs and workshops for youth and adults.
ALL TEXT, PHOTOS, AND GRAPHICS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. NO PART OF THIS ARTICLE MAY BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF ANCESTRAL KNOWLEDGE, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
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