Deerskin clothing?

[gio tundo]

Has anyone ever made deerskin clothing? How many regular sized deer would it take to make a shirt? Does any one know where to find a pattern?

brain tan .com

[cjgregory]

Generally 20-30 sq ft.  3 deer hides.  Two if one is large enough to do a warshirt.  If you can get one with the dew claws on is best.

Buckskin is not a warm weather shirt.  You can overheat easily.  If you want one for warm weather I recommend antelope.  That would be 4 hides if your a large or larger.  I have a about six of them but are still wet salted in a barrel and havent gotten around to brain tanning them.

[tradtusker]

if you want a shirt with long sleeves and tassels you'l need 4 deer hides  
lots of good info on the web
i used an old shirt as a pattern

here's one i made

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=069562;p=1

here's the master's work

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=040745#000000

Enjoy...makes for a good winter project

[BowPlinker]

I wear brain tanned leggings year round.. In cold weather I wear wool stockings under them.. REAL brain tan breaths and dries fast... anything else does not..

[wapitimike1]

Confusios say: "He who wears deer skin in fall in for short season"!!

[cacciatore]

Andy,very nice.i remember those pics of you in Colorado drwing that old Shrew in the snow with your shirt on.Way cool.take care in AUS.Felix

[Kapellmeister]

Originally posted by BowPlinker:
I wear brain tanned leggings year round.. In cold weather I wear wool stockings under them.. REAL brain tan breaths and dries fast... anything else does not..

BowPlinker speaketh truth.  If you're set on wearing skins, real brain tan is the only way to go.  Be prepared, though... 'tis not cheap!

For me, personally, I would only consider wearing brain tan leggings... for all other garments, I find linen and wool to be much more practical as well as more comfortable in all seasons.  YMMV.  

[Keith Zimmerman]

Brain tan hides are worth the money.  But, they are not cheap.  They are waterproof when smoked properly, Comfortable to wear, and are authentic.  Try  www.trackofthewolf.com

[GreyGhost83]

Originally posted by tradtusker:
if you want a shirt with long sleeves and tassels you'l need 4 deer hides  
lots of good info on the web
i used an old shirt as a pattern

here's one i made

  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=069562;p=1  

here's the master's work

  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=040745#000000  

Enjoy...makes for a good winter project

Great looking shirts man. I wish I had the skill to do that!

[Skipmaster1]

I have a few buddies that brain tan and am planning on doing a bunch of deer hides myself this winter. It's a little labor intensive, but not nearly as much as you'd think. They make all sorts of clothing for themselves. The best part is that it's REALLY cheap to do. Even if you don't shoot a bunch of deer during the season, many deer processors will give you hides or at worst sell them for a few dollars each.

[cjgregory]

Actually braintan is not waterproof.  It's replent to a degree.  Once its wet enough to promote osmosis it will.
Smoking braintan actually "sets" the hide.  The tanin in the smoke coats the fibers and prevents the hide from hardning back up to a form of rawhide with stiff areas.

It won't completely harden back up as the fats from brain matter are coating the fibers and has displaced the hide glue during the tanning process.  When your briantan is dry just buff it across the back of a chair or the edge of a table and it will soften right back up.  If it hasn't been smoked you have to keep stretching and buffing it until it dries. All unsmoked hides are white.

I smoke my hides with aeromatic cedar.  Basically 50+ year old fence posts from my cousins place in Cisco, Utah.  It will come out a light color about the color of an elk's rump.

You can go to Matt Richards site braintan.com and get all the help you want with different styles and types of tanning.  I use the presmoke method and learned from Joe and Vicki Dinsmore.

[Skipmaster1]

Originally posted by cjgregory:
Actually braintan is not waterproof.  It's replent to a degree.  Once its wet enough to promote osmosis it will.
Smoking braintan actually "sets" the hide.  The tanin in the smoke coats the fibers and prevents the hide from hardning back up to a form of rawhide with stiff areas.

It won't completely harden back up as the fats from brain matter are coating the fibers and has displaced the hide glue during the tanning process.  When your briantan is dry just buff it across the back of a chair or the edge of a table and it will soften right back up.  If it hasn't been smoked you have to keep stretching and buffing it until it dries.

I smoke my hides with aeromatic cedar.  Basically 50+ year old fence posts from my cousins place in Cisco, Utah.  It will come out a light color about the color of an elk's rump.

You can go to Matt Richards site braintan.com and get all the help you want with different styles and types of tanning.  I use the presmoke method and learned from Joe and Vicki Dinsmore.

Good point on "waterproofing", many people think Gortex when they hear that!

[cjgregory]

True, Skipmaster.

The process is labor instensive when you do the scraping.  About 12 years ago I was the only guy doing elk exclusively.  A 20 Sq. Ft. elk hide has to be managed or it will kick your butt.  I recommend deer or antelope to someone starting out.  
I personally wouldn't do just one hide.  Like Andy mentioned, depending on the size of the hide it's going to take a few.  If I'm going to set up to tan I'm going to do 10 or more.  This allows an assembly line process.  Ten hides are less labor instensive per hide than doing just one. The avergage deer will net you 8-12 Sq. Ft. and the average shirt takes 30 Sq. Ft.

I've sold my elk for as much as 14-18 dollars a sq. ft. the average elk hide is 15-20 Sq. Ft. I use to buy them from meat processing places but they are just concerned with getting the hide of and will score the hide with a knife too much.  Nothing worse than working hard and getting down to the end and having a 4" knife score opening up.  Some processors will start the skinning and hook it to a winch and pull them off.  This is best.  Then you only have an entry and exit hole to sew up.  I sew the holes up with real sinew.  You want to sew the holes prior to tanning it once it's scraped or it will pucker when you try to sew it after it's tanned.

[Skipmaster1]

I wasn't saying it wasn't labor intensive but once you are set up and get to doing a bunch it isn't as bad as I thought. I haven't done any myself but have helped with a few. Right now we have a shop all set up and ready to go. I have about 10 hides of my own and he collected over 30 from the hunters in the county control hunt he runs. a few of us are gonna bust out as many as we can! The one guy has done a few Buffalo and he said that was a real chore.

[cjgregory]

Oh no offense Skipmaster, didn't mean it that way.     You will have a lot of fun doing hides.  I remember paying for christmas more than once with my hides so my kids could have presents.  
I have a couple of hide companies that have the buffalo already run through a salt bath and fleshed with the machine Skip.  It will cut your work a third.  He want's $50.00 a hide because he can't move them.  He has lots of elk too.

[tradtusker]

Thats awesome Cloyde
I wanted to do a Buffalo when i was in CO for my tipi but with the fur still on.

have you ever kept unprocessed hide's in a freezer, how long can you keep them for?

[wapitimike1]

Who was that Patrick somebody said"Give me the Tannery or Give me Death" I think!!  

[dhaverstick]

I've been doing quite a bit of buckskin sewing as of late and I get most of my leather from Kentucky Leather and Hide (www.kentuckyleatherandhides.com). Penny Wayne is a wealth of information there and she can help you determine the number of hides you will need.

Patterns for shirts and pants can be found all over the internet. Eagle's View and Missouri River are two pattern brands that are popular.

You might also want to talk to SparrowHawk at Yatahai.com. She gave me a lot of good tips on sewing my buckskin pants and mocs.

Here is a picture of a set of buckskins I made to hunt in last fall. The shirt and pants are deerhide and the moccasins are elkhide with moosehide used on the outer sole.  

[BowPlinker]

I dont have the time to do my own anymore so im always buying some here and there or swapping them for labor or a quiver or bag I can make someone etc...