I've tanned hides before but always recieved the brain in a bag ready to use. This time they brought me the entire head.
Any suggestions for extracting the brain, or should I toss the head and just buy some cow brains at the grocery?
Any suggestions for extracting the brain, or should I toss the head and just buy some cow brains at the grocery?
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Missouri
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Unsu...
Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 9:50 AMi use a hacksaw to cut the cranium just below the antlers. heres a tip to flesh the hide. i seperate the flesh from the hide just enough to insert a garden hose end between them. clamp the hide aroung the hose end with a hose clamp. turn on the water and the hide will blow up like a ballon seperating the flesh from the hide cleanly, quickly and easily. i quit using brains long ago. i use wood ash from the wood burner, i disolves as much as possible in a five gallon bucket of water. loosely roll up the hide and stuff it in the bucket. leave it untill the hair is loose. remove and stretch the hide out and use a garden sprayer on the hose to blow the hair off with water pressure. the hide comes out WHITE and super soft. although i've never tried it with deerskin i have used colloidal silver to tan SNAKESKIN which you know is very difficult to tan. it comes out like FRESH skin.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 10:05 AMband saw? well, not many folks have a bandsaw nevermind one they are cool with feeding carcass through. Flesh it then a rotary tool with a fine cut off wheel. or a skilsaw with a plywood/veneer blade should do the trick: you can set the depth too so you can cut neatly, just through the cranium.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 10:24 AMamy, find some man and get him to do it for you. works for me. i keep tellin' ya. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 10:29 AMSuch great suggestions. I wish I had posted about this before I spent four hours fleshing the hide.
As for getting a guy, or anyone else to do it for me... I'm not holding my breath.
I burned some wood in the burn barrel last week, can I use that ash? -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sat, March 15, 2008 - 8:43 PMre ashes, hardwood ashes are best. depilatory. basically. loosens hair and eats some of the subcutaneus fat (you'll still need to scrape it.). water and ash solution is a weak, dirty lye solution. you can use storebought lye, but it is more hazardous to use because it is more concentrated. serious chemical burns can result from misuse, so use concentrated lye with care, and initially some experienced help. if you leave the hide in too long, it will weaken/ disintegrate. hide needs to be rinsed/ PH neutralized after it reaches the desired state. end product is rawhide, still needs to be tanned to become leather. buckskin was brain-dehaired, scraped, scarfskin removed, smoked over pine needles (tannic acid/pitch/hydrocarbons in smoke?)
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 12:06 PMPeel it and crack it with any thing heavy and hard.
It's not like you care about the integrity of the brains.
it is said that St Brenden crossed the Atlantic in a Lath and hide covered boat of which he made from hided boiled in Acorns and oak bark and leaves. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 1:40 PMLeave it to an Irishman to do everything the hard way. hahaha.
Its too wet to deal with this today. I have a gobload of oak leaves in the back yard. Perhaps if I burned them.... -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 1:48 PM" Leave it to an Irishman to do everything the hard way. hahaha. "
You could run it over wlith a car at about 20 mph and scoop whatever is left out of the wheelwell.
But that would be just be my Scottish solution. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, November 25, 2007 - 2:03 PMOkay, I laughed out loud at that one. Thanks.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Tue, November 27, 2007 - 9:14 AMWell the "native way" is to use a stone and bash the skull in.
Does that help -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Tue, November 27, 2007 - 10:40 AMCan anybody explain me why using the brains work? I looked online and I found many how-to, but no explanation of why.
I mean, brains will rot, right? I know mine did... :-)
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Tue, November 27, 2007 - 11:11 AMYes... they rot, they smell bad, they have tannic acids. You need to work with the stuff before the brains get "too" ripe but there is no real way to avoid the smelliness... Brains in a bucket with wet hide for a few days... just smells. There is much chemistry going on that is explained on various tanning sites. There are many types of tanning agents used in the commercial world (Usually Alum based). Brain tanning, when done right, gives some of the softest and easiest to use leather. It is strong, yet can easily be cut or pierced by needles for sewing and beadwork. It is the ONLY real choice for doing authentic craftwork. I have never seen a commercial leather or suede that matches good brain-tan for these qualities. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Tue, November 27, 2007 - 12:26 PM"good brain-tan"
I can't stop thinking of rolling the top back of my skull now and catching a few rays.
So I got that going for me the rest of the work day -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 6:22 AMWhat level sun screen do I use to prevent "brain burn" ? Or, does the fact that I asked this, indacate that it's too late ?
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 8:18 AM> There is much chemistry going on that is explained on various tanning sites.
Can you point me to one?
A site that explains the chemistry of tanning with brains.
I couldn't find any
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 12:05 PMI don't remember which one, but either the HIST or DISC channel ran a documentary on it a couple of months back. It should be fairly easy to get a copy of the video from them. It seemed to be mostly a layman's point of view, but it did talk about the effects of tannins and colloidal compounds on the natural fibers in leather. It had some pretty spiffy graphics to go with it as well. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 1:44 PMOne of the reasons I am asking is that I found this link that explains that brains are not actually tanning, just dressing:
www.xmission.com/~drudy/hi...00461.html
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 3:00 PMThe video I'm referring to goes into all of that. It does give (as I recall) a pretty decent explanation of what the brains actually do.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 4:36 PMwww.rsc.org/ej/CS/1997/CS9972600111.pdf
may help look under oil tan leather about half way down -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, November 28, 2007 - 4:56 PMThanks :-)
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sat, March 15, 2008 - 12:29 PMI know I'm a little late on this thread, but for the archives: A bone, or meat saw (two names for the same thing) is really nice. A hacksaw is similar, but usually finer teeth and a lot smaller. Another method is to use a hatchet and follow right down the center of the skull from nose tip down the bi-frontal suture to the back and open the head in two halves. Use a sharp hatchet. This works fine without too many bone shards. Smashing with a rock is nasty. It's very messy and you end up with bone shards which are WICKED SHARP! For more, see an article from my braintanning book at this URL.
www.paleotechnics.com/articlesindex.html
I think it's called "hides brains and so on" or something like that. Happy squishing!
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sun, March 16, 2008 - 7:24 AMThen of course there is the Egyptian method.
They got the brains out of mummies by shoving some thing in one of the cavities ( I think nose) that ran into the brain and twizzled it around till the brains all ran out. They were all about getting all the fluids out of the body. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, March 17, 2008 - 8:40 AMI've tried getting them out with a stick through the hole at the base of the skull. It works, but you don't get all of it. There is probably some specialized tool for that. Have also used a compressor. That works well. Put an air tube into the hole and blow.. careful! -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, March 17, 2008 - 11:47 AMHA HA HA HA HA ohh that's hideous.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, March 17, 2008 - 3:15 PM>>I've tried getting them out with a stick through the hole at the base of the skull. It works, but you don't get all of it. There is probably some specialized tool for that. Have also used a compressor. That works well. Put an air tube into the hole and blow.. careful! <<
MAN !........ them is some stuborn boogers ! -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, March 17, 2008 - 9:52 PMYeah, we'll they're made to stay in there! -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Thu, May 8, 2008 - 2:34 AMWell, I looked because I did try brain tanning back when, but now I'm wasting all this time Googgling for colloidal silver tanning a snakeskin. And the person that posted that has unsubscribed.
Please, someone MUST have a clue how that is done? It's going to make me nuts! I GOTTA KNOW!
This really is an evil, evil tribe. Every time I come in here, I get sucked in and inspired to do a billion things I don't have time to do.... grr.... -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, May 14, 2008 - 2:42 PMok can someone just confirm- to tan a hide you use the BRain?
wow. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Wed, May 14, 2008 - 11:07 PMThere are other ways to tan hides, but the brain can be used as part of the process. What is usually referred to as braintanning involves using the fatty acids in the brain to lubricate the fiber structure of the skin which then allows it to be softened by manual manipulation. Often the skin is smoked as well which further increases it's utility by making it more resistant to water. Not water proofing, but allowing the skin to dry soft after wetting. Egg yolks contain similar substances and can be used as a substitute. This type of leather, if well made, is not surpassed in quality by any other similar leather. The well known buckskin of the American Indians, and subsequently frontiersmen, was braintanned. it was also used in some other parts of the world and egg yolks have continued a much longer use into industrial tanning scenarios. Chemical Aldehydes have replaced the natural aldehydes in smoke. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Fri, May 16, 2008 - 3:23 PMI thought I read somewhere that human urine can be used to tan a hide. It just takes a long time. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Sat, May 17, 2008 - 5:51 AMI'm sure urine has been used in tanning, probably stale as it becomes very alkaline after it sits for a while producing ammonia. It also stinks like hell after it sits a while, so I'll pass on the urine tanning. It makes a great soluble fertilizer though. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, May 19, 2008 - 7:11 AMif you let your urine sit for several days it develops amonia, which can be used to tan/soften and bleach leather. -
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, May 19, 2008 - 9:47 AM""if you let your urine sit for several days it develops amonia, which can be used to tan/soften and bleach leather.""
But have you actually used urine to do those things? If so, let's hear about it.
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, May 19, 2008 - 7:39 PMantifreeze works nicely for snakeskin
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Re: tanning a hide-gross-read at own risk
Mon, May 19, 2008 - 7:37 PMre hole, "foramen magna", i believe.
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