I took advantage of the perfect weather we had yesterday and "broke" another deerskin. I tried out a new dressing solution on this one. I had been using eggs, instead of brains, and got decent results. Reading about other options, I found out that lecithin is the "active ingredient" in most dressing solutions (eggs, brains, etc). I ordered some powdered lecithin. 3 tblsp of lecithin, 2 tbsp olive oil blended into a gallon of hot water. Soaked and wrung the hide 3 times, then started softening. The new dressing worked very well. The hide took about 4 hours to soften and dry, but took less physical work than egg dressed hides.

Here's my "breaking" setup. 1/4" cable stretched tight.


A repaired hole in the softened hide.

So... you said it took 4 hours and showed your cable. What do you do for those 4 hours? Rub the pelt back and forth against the cable.... for 4 hours? Leather out of course, I would assume?

Pretty much, yes. I start at the neck, and pull, then work down the hide, pulling it to stretch it. Then I rub the hide back and forth, first concentrating on the edges, as they dry out first. The key is to keep the hide fibers stretched as the hide dries. If it dries without stretching, it gets stiff. The first hour is more pulling then "sawing." The next hour or so is pretty busy as the hide really starts drying out. The last spots are the flanks and neck, those are the thickest spots and take a while to dry out.
Both sides get worked, the cable also abrades the hide, making it really fluffy and removing any bloom that may have been missed during fleshing.

The lecithin is a good tip, thanks

According to the info I could find, its what does the "tanning." And you don't have all the extra stuff that brains and eggs have.

I am looking forward trying another one. It sure seemed to soften with less effort. And I never got any stiff spots that I really had to work to soften up.

The lecithin I used is sunflower lecithin.

A start to finish thread on your process would be interesting K Snow.

This is the link to the lecithin I used.

Lecithin Powder

Here's a brief summary.

Start with fleshing the hide, just like doing any fur. Don't have to do a perfect job, as you can go over the flesh side again during hair removal.
To remove the hair, I soak the hide in a potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution until the hair slips easily. Traditionally this was done with wood ash. When the hair slips easy, use the fleshing knife and push off the hair, and the first layer of skin, the grain. This is the layer that modern leather has, but brain tan doesnt.
Once all the hair and grain are off, I go over the flesh side again.
Then the hide gets rinsed. I put it in the creek for two days, this rinses out the KOH solution.
The hide is now rawhide. Often I stretch it in a frame and let it dry until the weather is warmer.
To dress the hide, start by dehydrating it, a day in the creek does the job. Then wring out thoroughly. You want the hide just damp, no real wet spots. Then into the dressing solution it goes. I'll dress the hide for 18 hours or so. I'll wring it out and resoak 3 times in that 18 hours. Then comes the real work, as described above, to soften the hide.
Once dry and soft, the hide is smoked over a smudge fir to color it, and so it stays soft if it gets wet.
There's a lot more detail in each step, much of it learned by feel. Its a physical process for sure, but very rewarding.
I haven't done any fur yet, but that's on my list to try.

And some pics.

Fleshing


Fleshed


Stretched and dried rawhide, the staining is from my creek.


Smoking a pair of hides

Beautiful job I bet you and Bentley are very tired!!

Excellent write up and good work K Snow! Thank you

You're welcome.

If you are really interested in learning, I highly recommend Matt Richards book and DVD, deerskins to buckskin. That helped me tremendously.