Braintanning pelts the easy way
Ok, maybe some of you remember me asking about the black squirrel.
I finally finished it yesterday. It's Oh-So-soft and very nice to look at.
Most likely it will be a scope cover for my gun, or a pouch to carry little stuff in. Here goes.
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I did a good job while skinning so there was 0 meat left on the hide, only a small amount of connective tissues. Gotta get that stuff off there to get good brain penetration. No, the vice grips were for something else I was doing lol.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN2773.jpg
after that bit of work, next step is to get him in the frame without drying out too much.. wanna keep it damp. I have a solution of our home-made laundry powders in the little spritzer. the borax in the solution will change the pH just enough to get really good brain penetration.
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now the fun / gross part. mixing the brains. It makes your hands really soft ladies. give it a try next time you run out of lotion!
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as the skin soaks up the brain slurry, it relaxes. this is a great indication that the brains are penetrating the hide.
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tighten up your strings and continue braining and softening
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Once you are satisfied that the hide is thoroughly saturated with brains, allow it to start drying. Check it often to make sure it doesn't need stretching. If it does, stretch it. you want to keep the hide wide open (whitish color is a good indicator that the hide is opened)
as the excess brains dry on the outside of the skin a crust forms. I felt the need to make a tool for more efficient scraping of this crust, so the next bit will be making the tool from a spoon with a hand file.
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then scrape off the crusties
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and the scraped hide. wide open.
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Once it's dry it's time to buff it with my sandstone, take it out of the frame and smoke it. There is a pecan tree in the yard with some rotten wood near the bottom. I mean really rotten. almost crumbles to powder. good stuff for smoking. I just use elmers glue to attach the edges to themselves to make a sort of "pillowcase" of the hide.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN2843.jpg
Now it can be washed without worry of it becoming stiff again. After that, it's up to you what it becomes.
Don't hate me Ken!!
Eggs as a brain alternative
I mentioned before that eggs and brains were very similar in composition. If you don't want to use brains, just take a dozen eggs, yolk and all, and beat them like you were making scrambled eggs, then proceed. According to what I've read, it often takes several eggings to achieve the softness we want, but if you don't have brains, it's a good alternative.
I have not used eggs, so my only experience with that is what I've read and nothing more.
Soap and oil is another alternative, but I suggest you try your best to find brains. Water is our medium and oil doesn't like to mix evenly with water. The way we counter this, is to emulsify the oil using soap. Dove dish liquid, about half a cup or so, mixed with half a cup or so of neatsfoot or similar oil, mixed with a gallon of water will do.
These oils are not like brains at all.. these are very heavy and greasy oils and will not leave you with the light, airy, breathable chamois we want. These oils will make your buckskin rather clammy and very heavy and it reminds me of commercial suede like you buy at the craft stores.. Not really something I'd want to wear.
I tried soap and oil on a very small scrap of hide and I did not like the results at all. Seriously, try to find brains as they will give you the super-soft product you are looking for.