In this first video I show how to flesh the hide; that is, how to remove all the flesh and fat sticking to the skin after the animal has been skinned.
In the first part below I cover the basic tools and set up necessary to be able to scrape the hide. I talk about how to soak the hide to get it ready to be scraped and I show you how to scrape both the grain layer and the membrane layer. After this stage, the hide will be ready to be brained.
In this next section we'll take a hide that was dried after being scraped and we'll rehydrate it in a brain solution. I'll talk about what state the hide should be in before being brained, how to get and store brains, and I'll show you how to stretch and work the hide so that it absorbs the brains most effectively. After this stage we'll wring and reopen the hide so that we can brain it some more.
In this next section I'll show you my set up for a wringing beam and an opening beam. After the first braining of the hide, we'll wring the hide very well so as to get the hide to its "perfect moisture" state, which is the point when it's just moist. We'll use the opening beam to stretch the hide open, turning it from a dark color (scrunched fibers) to a white color (open fibers). We'll then return the hide to the warmed up brain solution for a second braining, followed by another round of wringing and opening. Finally, the hide will go back to the brain solution overnight before being wrung the next morning, at which point it will be ready for the softening stage.
In this next section the hide is ready to be softened. We'll use both the opening beam and a steel cable in order to open, stretch, and abrade the hide until it is completely dry. I'll talk quite a bit about the variables to be aware of, like ideal weather, what parts of the hide will dry faster, how much to work the hide, when to take breaks while the hide is hanging, and how to tell when the hide is done. At the end, we'll trim up the stiffer edges so that the hide is ready to be prepared for the smoking stage.
In this next section we have our beautifully soft hide and we want to get it ready to be smoked so that it can withstand getting wet without having to resoften it. To that end, I'll show you how to fix the holes in your hide and how to sew two hides together to form a bag that will be hung over a smoker, which we'll see in the next video.
In this last section we'll smoke the hide so that it can withstand getting wet without having to be resoftened. We'll sew a skirt to the bag of hides to serve as a buffer against the source of the smoke and I'll show you my whole smoking process, from my set up, to the kind of punky wood to use, to how to keep your hide bag open so that the hides are smoked effectively and efficiently.
If you're interested in making projects with your hides, browse this blog to find out how to make various pieces of clothing or bags out of buckskin:
- Making Buckskin Pants
- Making a Buckskin Pullover
- Making a Buckskin Purse
- Making a Buckskin Wallet
- How to Wash Buckskin
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