Homemade Buckskin/Hunting Jacket A-long Finally Done! WHEW!!!

[Little Tree]

Great idea tecum-tha. This is what I did this morning.  Time to smoke. This important step is what makes the hide able to get wet without it getting stiff when it dries, if you were to get a white hide wet, it would turn back into rawhide. The smoke protects the dermis fibers and allows the hide to be washed. It also adds a lovely color and smell to help with camoflaging your smell when hunting in a buckskin garment. So,  get an old canning pot, and collect some dry punky wood from a standing dead tree. (I used poplar). Fold the hide lengthwise and with a tiny glue bead on the edge, glue it into a big long tube. Glue the top and sides. Leave the bottom open and staple a "skirt" made of a thick material like canvas or denim to the bottom to prevent the hide from making contact with the smoking vessle. Put some coals from the wood stove into the pot covering the bottom. Throw in a thick layer of punk, and you have smoke...and alot of it. Rig up the hide over the smoker like so.
 

[Little Tree]

Make the tube as tight as possible(clothes pins to seal leaking smoke) to prevent the smoke from escaping, thus creating pressure in the tube and blowing it up. This both keeps surfaces from touching and forces the smoke through the hide. After about 15 minutes with good smoke and pressure, open up the glue bead to check your color, if it is where you want it, great, if not, use clothes pins to close it back up, and give it some more time. When the side is done, turn it inside out, and smoke the other side.
 

[Little Tree]

Soon, you will be done!!!! Take the skirt off, trim the edge where the little glue line and staples were, and rejoice! Rub it all over yourself, then let your friends admire it and watch them rub it all over themselves! Then take it back and make something out of it! This will be my hunting shirt....Time to get out the sewing machine!
 

[Little Tree]

A couple tips to remember...
1. Make sure your scraping beam is nice and smooth, and hard. With no checks or other voids on the surface.
2. Make sure you slightly acidify the hide before you dress to help the penetration.
3. Get yourself a copy of Deerskins to Buckskins by Matt Richards!
4. Remember the importance of an Even moisture content for dressing penetration, and even softening.
5. Get a pumace stone!!!!!!!!!invaluable!
6. During the entire process, keep in mind that  most tanning societies in the past had the women in the tribe do this challanging and knuckle busting work. Considering that the same women were also responsible for both childbirth and child rearing.......while all we had to do was hunt. mate, and occasionally fight.......We had it pretty damn easy fellas!!!
Thanks for coming along on the journey, hope this thread spread some light on the subject. Until next time. Keep on keepin' on.....Peace, LittleTree
   

[coaltroll]

Thanks for the ride. Hope they put this one in the How-to section so we can refer to it later.

[Tom Leemans]

         

Thanks Brad

[JStark]

Amazing job.  I hope to tan as well as you, though not judging by the pic. of your bare legs!

[loyd]

good job brad. you going to have it on it at mo-jam this year?

[snag]

Good thing the hole in the hide you were standing behind, while naked, wasn't over to your right a little more....that hole would have been positioned about right for exposing something none of us would want to see! It wouldn't have been buckskin...unless your name is Buck!

[Dano]

Nice job Brad!!!

[Shaun]

Good stuff, I echo the to the how-to section move.

This year I sent two large buck hides in to be modern tanned. Maybe next year I'll go for the home made plan. Thanks for showing us how.

[formerbutcher]

Thanks Brad ! That was very good !!

[Seeking Trad Deer]

       

[Little Tree]

Hey SNAG...........my knickname is Buck!.....really, I'm not kidding!

[whitebuffalo]

Very nice. I would like to see it make it to the how to section also. Jason

[tecum-tha]

Little Tree, before you pack out the sewing machine please dye the hide first and wash it. If you won`t dye it, and you will wash it later on,the color of the smoke fades real fast. I am referring to a chapter in the book "Traditional clothing of the native americans" by E.H.Gibby here.Since you want to use your shirt for hunting, I guess you will wear it quite often. If you wash it every 2 weeks (one week is more realistic) after 20 washings it should be close to white. The least favorable color in the woods!
I really like thes static tip recurves, they look awesome!

[TimBow2]

great build a long ========thanks

[TimberBound]

Nice!
On almost all deer I or my brother have killed we've wanted to tan them...but it always seemed to fall through 'cause we didn't exactly know how to do it. Thanks for the real detailed and well documented journey. Mods please put this into the How-to section, it is a worthy addition!!!

Timberbound

[Little Tree]

Thanks TiberBound, if any of you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to P.M. me. Love to be able to help. Take Care.

[mmgrode]

Brad,
   Thanks for the informative how-to. Couldn't the softening step that takes so long and so much work just be supplemented through the use of a fan to dry it faster and thus less muscle power to soften it till it dried? Just a thought. Take care, Matt