First Smoked Buckskin!

Was finally able to set up a smoker for my hides! Super happy with the result! One more Buckskin to go and a hair on hide I’ll be trying, then on to my critters!. Excited for hunting/trapping seasons to start!

Nice! Is the smoke just for color?

It’s for waterproofing/resisting. It binds the fibers in place after the stretching so now when it gets wet I won’t have to rebreak/stretch it. If you don’t smoke a hide after tanning it will turn to rawhide if it gets wet.

Nice work. Takes skill.

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Nice work, Mrs! Nothing quite like braintan buckskin.

Thank you. Just started last year but hope to make it a trade

Great job something to be proud of for sure! Do you smoke both sides of it? Love the wood stove set up, I smoke my fish with a small wood stove piped into a small wooden she'd.

Thank you! I agree. This one was an egg yolk tan which turned out quite well but my other is brain tanned and it definitely makes a beautiful buckskin. Wanted to try both ways to compare and in case I get a hide from elsewhere. I’ll end up doing braintan for my deer for sure though.

Thank you! I really am proud. yes you smoke both sides, grain side first 30 mins to an hour then flip inside out and do flesh side for 20 mins or so. We’ve had the stove for years just sitting and it worked surprisingly well! I may use it with a shed to smoke some venison this year.

It' very good to see a young lady doing stuff like this. Keep up the good work!

Hello, thank you very much! I will certainly try.

Great work. Thanks for sharing!

Chris

Thank you, I shall. This has definitely become my obsession lol. Hope to maybe do some workshops someday. Hair-on tanning as well.

Thank you.

Good job. I have only tanned a couple smaller critters. Mostly with the orange bottle stuff. What do you plan to make with them?

BTW, I see you have the same hairdresser as my wife!

looks great , which way did you like better ,

Thanks, I’m hoping to tan a few small critters that I have with the orange bottle stuff lol. I plan on making some clothes and maybe a bag or two with the buckskins. Once I finally get some coyotes and more deer hides I’m hoping to make a coyote fur lined buckskin jacket, probably full length.
BTW you wife has good taste in a hair dresser! I do my own but still. Lol

Thanks! The brain tan definitely makes a softer skin but it smells funky for a bit. The egg yolks worked great. So I’ll probably still do both depending on how many brains I can get ahold of. Lol

I brain tanned a few hides many years ago and used hog brains. The hog brains came in 1 lb packages (frozen) but I had to order a case of 12 to get them. A few of my hides came out OK but from the looks of your hides I'd say yours came out better than any of my attempts. Getting them scraped is plenty of work, then braining and stretching continuously until completely dry. After that you have one last (and your best) chance to mess up all your hard work with the smoking by getting the hide too hot. It looks like you have a great set up with that long stove pipe to help keep the smoke temperature down. Nice job!

Pretty sure tonight I will be seeing my wife with a bag or tin foil around her head. Not sure what color or colors to expect. Lol.

pretty much how it goes. Every 3-4 weeks mines a different color! Lol good times!

Thank you. I have heard of getting frozen pig brains just haven’t gone that far lol. There is definitely an art to it! Scraping is key! A lot of work but I really enjoyed the whole process. I researched over a month, read a lot and watch tons of videos to figure out what would work best for me, I used a very dull homemade fleshing knife that made removing the grain layer so much more work lol which is why there are some lighter stripes in it, have a real fleshing knife now so I’m hoping for even better results this year! The braining and stretching is definitely painstaking but so rewarding when it was done( my dad told me he had tried when he was younger and it didn’t turn out as well) the smoking was the scariest part and it took me almost 9 months to actually do it. Lol. I had a squirt bottle just in case the punk wood actually caught fire, the long pipe definitely helped and the “skirt” (I used denim) kept the hide from touching anything. Ironically that was actually the easiest part! I’m excited to smoke my other 2 hide now lol. Thanks again.

Nice job MrsFord ! I've got a batch ready to smoke , just have to make the time lol .

Wow! That’s quite the stack!!!! I’m a little jealous! Lol. How do you close yours to smoke? Glue,sew? I tried sewing but it took forever so I ended up using my hot glue gun! it actually worked beautifully and stayed together well as long as the hide didn’t get too hot, which it didn’t during the smoking.

Glue and or staples . Quick and easy , for the most part lol

Right on! Thanks. Forgot about staples! The one I’m trying to sack now is crazy edged! It was really thin so I had a Few issues.. Lol but I’m my defense it was my first ever Buckskin but also the braintanned and softest. Lol

If you have access to them, corn cobs are good for smoking hides. Lots of smoke and not much heat. I would think in Indiana there would be plenty to be picked up in the fields after harvest.

The brains don't smell much if you boil them first...

That’s good to know, thank you. I’m in brown co, more punk wood than corn in my area but still good to know

Didn’t know that! May give that a try. thankfully the smell dissipated after a couple weeks but if I can avoid I will.

That's Awesome!!!

I'd Trade for that...Beautiful work

www.backroadsrevised.etsy.com

They look good. Did you dry scrape or wet scrape them?

Very nice!

Looks like it was a successful venture!
Enjoy!

Loos like ya might a spilled a little tanning solution on your hair. (It won’t let me post a smiley face)

Thank you! Really means a lot.

Thanks, I wet scrape them.

Hahahaha! That would be some awesome tanning solution!

Outstanding work!!

Thank you kindly.