Bush Craft Field Craft Survivalist thread

[JJB11B]

Im hoping for a whole new community for this, so we can have separate threads for things related to bush craft. we can start here for now though and branch out. I don't know what it would take to add another category next to the trapping one,
 I have read a lot about brain tanning and never seem to take the time to do it. I think I am going to change that this year.

[JODakota]

This would be awesome!

[JJB11B]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,181331.25.html

I'd like to build one of these that is charcoal fired...

[cbond3318]

  I think this would be a great thread and inevitably be loaded with useful information. It may be helpful to do maybe a weekly or monthly topic of discussion to keep information pointed and organized. Either way, I will be tagging along and hopefully contributing.

[Blacktail Sniper]

Great idea, tagging to see what becomes of the idea.

[summertime blues]

Me likes

[dreamunelk]

Yup, I like the idea.  Just wish I could add to the discussion.  I have spent most of my life playing and working in the woods and find it interesting that while I can understand more then most about the ecology I am really a neophyte when it comes to the traditional aspect.  Yet, I am confident that I can survive longer than many I am not sure I can not do it with out the technology.  When someone figures out how to light a fire after a solid week of a west end (op) rain with out lots of petroleum products I want to know the secret.

[JJB11B]

I think this would be a great thread and inevitably be loaded with useful information. It may be helpful to do maybe a weekly or monthly topic of discussion to keep information pointed and organized. Either way, I will be tagging along and hopefully contributing.

Im thinking of a whole new category so we can have threads under this subject

[jasnt]

I think this would be a great thread and inevitably be loaded with useful information. It may be helpful to do maybe a weekly or monthly topic of discussion to keep information pointed and organized. Either way, I will be tagging along and hopefully contributing.

Im thinking of a whole new category so we can have threads under this subject

I second that.

[NorseNW]

 

[KFhunter]

All you need is a slingshot

I was pretty good with wrist rockets and sling shots as a kid, but not in this guy's league!

[kellama2001]

Tagging.  Very cool idea

[Expedition Scout]

OK -- Leather tanning 101

First off you need to decide what you plan to use the leather for. Thickness of leather directly effects the stiffness once complete. Everything from Rabbit to Raccoon to Beaver or Deer, Elk or Moose. The thinner the hide, the softer you can make it, although you can make even an elk hide pretty soft. Also what part you plan to use... the belly is a lot thinner on most animals, where as the neck, back and butt is very thick, so when you dress out the animal, its good to know what your plans are.

I think the easiest skin to work with and procure is deer since most on here already hunts them and have buddies that do the same. Word of caution; if your buddy gives you his animal hides, copy down his Wild ID number and Name no different then if he was giving you meat. This way if someone questions why you have 15 deer hides this year, you can prove where they came from.

I like to clean the flesh side of the deer as soon as it comes off the animal. I built a simple fleshing beam and use a fleshing knife, although a draw knife or any type edge will work. I've even used a folding Army shovel before. Make sure the edge you are using isn't round, however not sharp either... sharp equals sewing later on. You should be able to run your hand over the edge without making a trip to the hospital. My fleshing beam is a half of a lodge pole tree. The end is rounded off and it's attached to a base with a hinge. This way I can lift up the beam and put the hide between the beam and base to hold it in place. It stands up so the front of the beam is at waist level on me, so I can scrape away from me by bending over it comfortably. If you can't flesh the hide right away or your getting them from a buddy, I just have them throw it into a garbage bag and freeze it. Works the same although it seems more difficult getting the meat and fascia (connecting tissue) off after it's been frozen.

I work from the middle of a hide to the outside. Basically you are scraping the meat, veins, fascia and anything else off the hide. You should be left with a clean (all most white) inside of the hide. Make sure you put down a drop cloth for easy cleanup! I also put a garbage bag around my waist to keep from having blood soaked clothing... your choice! 

Now, you can throw the cleaned hide back into the freezer, salt it, or just air dry it until you are ready to continue... or just keep going. I've been able to do an entire deer hide in one day; with hair on that is.

[Expedition Scout]

Next step is removing the hair! 

I like to use a wet scrape technique to take the hair off. That means once you have the inside clean, I soak it in water to swell the hide and basically give it "dish Pan hands". As the hide soaks up the water the hair and connective tissue will begin to slip off the leather. There are a couple of key items to discuss here!

1) Make sure you do this out side because soaking a hide in water, more so in the summer will begin to stink.

2) You will need to exchange the water approximately every 12 hours to avoid the hide going rancid on you. I've heard of folks weighting the hide down in a creek to complete the same step; however I don't have a creek to use so never tried it. Weight the hide down so it's completely submerged.

3) You can add pot ash (lye) from your stove to help decrease the amount of time this takes.

You want to be able to grab a hand full of fur and be able to pull it out of the hide, that is when you know it's ready. I like to grab the fur on a spot that is thicker leather (neck, back or butt) because then I know if it's slipping there, it's slipping everywhere.

Now it's back to the fleshing beam to pull off the fur. Work against the fur by pushing to out of the hide. For this step you need to get the connective tissue the fur is being held in by. Failure to get this connective tissue off will result in stiff spots on the finished product. The hair side should look the same as the meat side...

There is a dry scrape technique you can use. This requires the hide to be placed on a rack and stretched tight. As it drys, you can use a scrapper to scrap the hair and tissue off the hide. I don't like to use this technique because....

1) It always seams that you dig to much into the leather. Thinning it in places you don't want thin!

2) Dry hides are very brittle and punching holes through them is not funny 

3) This to me is harder work then the wet scrape! Also running cord through holes and constantly tightening them is very time consuming.

If you do punch a hole through a hide, dental floss works great for sewing it closed and normally will hold during the rest of the process.

[Expedition Scout]

I wish I had better pictures  -- When I'm tanning hides, I'm not thinking of taking pictures (SHOCKING)

OK - so now you should have a clean hide inside and out. Inspect it carefully and fix any area that might need more attention or sew up any holes. Its important prior to moving on to tanning the leather that you have cleaned it well or you run the risk of having hard spots on the final product.

Once again, you can stop here and freeze the hide, or dry it until you want to do more. As I'm sure a few of you are thinking, I work a few hides at a time moving through the steps.

Now it's time to tan the hide! Important that you wear gloves for this step! You can tan your own hide! 

Depending on how you left your hide from the last step, I get mine wet again to tan it.

I use brains to tan the hides I have. Now you can open the skull of your animal and scope the brains out when you make the kill and freeze them until this time, or most butcher shops will sell brains by the pound. Every animal (expect humans) have enough tannin in their brain to tan their own hide. I don't know who figured out humans don't and frankly I don't want to know!

I blend the brains until they are spaghetti sauce thick (pour easily) hopefully there are no Spaghetti lovers out there gagging at my reference, adding water to thin them out. About a 1/2 pound of brains per hide. Don't start this step until you are ready to go to work. Brains don't keep but a day, so you need to complete this step.

Now I take the wet hide and wring it out. I rap the hide around to sticks and wring it out good and then right into the brains. "WITH GLOVES ON" I work the hide as it wants to soak moisture back into itself around in the brains. Maybe 5 mins of stirring it around and then let sit for 30 mins. Then I'll pull it out and wring it again and repeat the process. Basically you want the brains to penetrate all the way through the hide and in every corner. It doesn't hurt to repeat this process a few times, however there comes a point when enough is enough. I simple wring the brains back into the container I'm using and use the brains left for other hides.

This is you last chance for a break, so if you need one, freeze the hide until you want to proceed.