Making Buckskin

[Red leaf 67]

Any braintanners or tanners in general have any thoughts on hair removal? Dry scrape vs wet scrape? Ideas for scraping tools( will an ulu work for scraping?).  I have used wood ashes & water & wet scraped, it works but is messy! How about hydrated lime & H2O or lye & H2O ?  Any recomendations on books, dvd's, or web instructions? I have succesfully brain tanned & bark tanned  deer, it is the hair removal I have trouble with . How does Elk compare from a tanning stand point to deer? I have used commercial elk for moccasins, & like the weight but never tanned any. Any one want to part with a small piece of raw salted back skin(behind cape) so I can give it a try? Would probably work well for rawhide moccasin soles too.  I'm from Vermont, & really like the Hunting Washington forum!!!! Thanks Red Leaf

[Kuduman]

Buckskin tanning is messy business. Most hides are soaked in a lye mix to slip the hair. minimal scraping needed if allowed to soak long enough. then tan with your preferred method. I use lutan F after a safety acid pickle. as far as availability of elk in Vermont.... good luck.
I will be tanning several elk capes for shoulder mounts later this month along with Bison, Deer and Moose. your welcome to the trimmings.

Contact me if interested.

Jeff Monyak
Trails End Taxidermy
Dayton, WA
(509) 382-2813

[Claymore15]

There is a book by Matt Richards called Deerskins to Buckskins, which is a really good book, on how to do it, all the way from primitive to using modern techniques.  Still alot of work. I use the wet scrape method, and when finishing use brains, I used pig brain.