Hide Tanning the Woods Cree Way 

I've watched quite a few tanning videos, but this one takes the cake. Every other one I've seen they use salt, chemicals and modern tools. But I wondered: how did the natives do it without all these modern resources? And this video showed me. I'm very thankful to the people who made this video, for now I know how to do it. I will recommend it to anyone I know who asks. Thank You!

This is my great grandmother she was a very kind an loving person. I had no idea these videos existed its wild to see her again.

Proud to say Aunty Elsie gave my girl her first wrap around boots when she was born. They were worn til she of course grew out of them ♥️

This is the simplest procedure anyone can understand. All people involved in this poured not just labor but all their hearts - loving of the arts and tradition. Love you all, all the way from the Philippines.

I am so impressed and amazed by the amount of work that goes into tanning hides traditionally. It sure makes you appreciate it!

The video was produced on VHS in 1992 by an Edmonton production company and the updated DVD version was uploaded to RU-vid 22 years later on April 24th, 2014. Elder Elsie's knowledge was passed to her from her mother and she passed it on to the students at the college. Mrs. Quintal passed away August 24, 2013 at the age of 97.

I was lucky enough to learn this from Elsie. It was a special experience. She also taught us birch bark biting. She had one tooth and could create intricate pieces of art. She was a good teacher.

Respect is Due. Thank you for this wonderful video with Elder Elsie Quintal. Whole lotta LOVE

Thank you. I appreciate the skills and knowledge you pass forward. Honor and respect to Métis Elder Elsie Quintal. May you be proud. May you be strong. May you be blessed.

I love this. Thank you for posting. I miss bot my late parents as I watched this. My parents tanned many moose hides. They were an awesome team. Watching this bought back so many memories of hard work my parents, grand parents and aunts did. My mom enjoyed it. Shee took pride in her work. I too am so proud of my late parents hard work in doing this to help provide for our family. Thanks again. 🙂

Seeing this older lady go back and forth over the steel wring to soften the hides reminds me the workout bands. The rubber resistance bands that have a handle on each end where you step on the middle and pull up for a workout. Lolol. This lady gets her workout AND has something to show for it. Hahaha. Thanks for the good info on the video

When I was a child in Africa, we would use urine for tanning the hide. We use the same technique as in this video except for tanning and softening. There were no chemicals used. I now have a farm in Puerto Rico with cattle and other livestock. I am getting back into making my own clothes. Because I was taught that no part of the animal should be wasted. Thank you for posting this very informative video.

What a process! We people are so lucky to have such an easy lavish lifestyle. We really take things for granted, without even knowing it.

During this whole video (which I've watched several times) I kept thinking of how beautiful this lady's hands were. They were tanned and rugged and you can see that she's worked with her hands a lot in her life and can only imagine the wisdom she received in doing so. Thank you so much for sharing this video, knowledge and work that we all take for granted.

Brain tanned hides or Buckskin is exceptional material. I've Brain tanned Deer skins, which is quite a bit of work, and I can just imagine how much more work a moose hide would be. Great video.

Thank you for passing the knowledge forward I am honored to learn it.

sharing the 13 steps in public is important. the industry in my contry doesnt publish any videos.

Beautiful human beings doing beautiful work.

Never knew all the work. My back hurts just from watching this video.

I have been brain tanning deer hides for several years now. It took a few years of making mistakes to actually learn all the tricks of the trade. I had several failures early on with hides that turned out stiff, spots where it was not fleshed or de-haired properly/completely, and the biggest failure....not stretching the hide until COMPLETELY dry. The slightest bit of dampness left in the hide during the final stretching after braining and wringing, will make it dry with stiff or hard spots in it. Instead of using a frame, for deer hides I use a "fleshing beam" made out of either 8 inch PVC or some bigger pieces of polyurethane gas pipe. Even a wood beam will work. A single deer hide can take up to 8 hours of stretching and softening after the braining/wringing step. For deer hides, I used a frame to lace the hide and stretch it, but I have found (for me) the easier way is to just stretch it in my lap. Brain tanning any hide is a LOT of work, work that involves a lot of skill, and many people who do not understand the whole process don't realize how much work goes into it. The end result is a beautiful, soft hide that you become proud of once it is finished. The end result is worth all the work.

damn, now I understand why those items are so sacredI never understood before and all I was ever told was "allot of work goes into making these" but I wasn't shown just *how much*

Thank you very much for making this video. I am watching as many as I can each evening after working a deer Hide I am brain tanning. My wife and I harvest several White Tail deer each hunting season and are just now starting to tan our harvests too. This one I am working on will be a rug for my smudge ceremonies.

It is interesting to see it done this way. The way it is done around here is the hide is soaked in wood ash lye, the hair is removed by pulling on it, and the rest is the same except that instead of a barrel hoop, we use a peeled log set in the ground.

wow, we take all this work for granted

Thank You Elsie Quintal.. I am completely in awe of what you are able to do with only your two hands and a fresh skin! Perhaps the hardest working woman I have ever heard of, it has been my great pleasure to watch you practicing your considerable skill! We would all do well to remember the "old practices" regardless of the culture from which they originate, for they are dwindling resources, in danger of being lost forever..

how has this channel only got 956 subs - hidden gem of a channel thank you for sharing your skills and knowledge.I really enjoyed learning this process.

Pure genius I never would have taught about recreating clothes, moccasin, drum heads..etc. How did they ever think of making these items from an animal 😮?✔️💚

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing.

Wonderful craftsmanship

lotta work, beautiful.

What a lovely video. Very informative.

Amazing process, thank you for sharing

This video left me feeling nostalgic about the history of humans. Life was very hard but it must have kept us focused on the important things.

i never realised so much effort was put in to it. good vid! :D

How strong are elders were❤️ to see an old woman do such a tough task is beyond Breathtaking. I am proud to come from such people.

This video was amazing, I never knew how much work went into tanning to this degree. It is also wonderful to see this grandmother passing on her skills. Wonderful video, Thank you.

Possibly the coolest family to ever exist.

Thanks I love they are still doing these things wish you the best

Been curious about this. Thank you for showing me. Neat.

When I was little I always enjoyed watching my grandparents do this kind of work. Brings me back in time. Cool video!

Holy crap. It's crazy how far we have come in leather knowledge.

thank you...thank was amazing. very interested in trying it out.

Amazing video. Thank you for this lesson.

Excellent documentary! Thanks for showing us how this is done. This has been a truly educational video!

I’m a traditional tanner and follow almost the same exact steps, except the first smoke and the way they smoke theirs. So excited to try this method out! On another note, a hunter saved me his doe hide this past fall, but he salted it 😭

This is so excellently presented!! Thank you! I love my moccasin slippers and can now appreciate the effort it takes to make them!

Wow.... what a lot of effort and what a beautiful outcome.

loved it,great video.

Thanks to all who made and shared knowledge in this video...

AWESOME video!!!!

A work of art. So impressed with your native culture ! Amazing people !

Thank you so much for sharing your heritage and knowledge with us truly an art form your culture your college your heritage everybody involved should be extremely proud. Your presentation was excellent and I gained knowledge from the skills shown.

most comprehensive tanning video I have ever watched! Thank-you so much!👍👍

Very interesting thanks for sharing this

Thanks for sharing.

I never realized how much labor was needed to tan a hide, the way your ancesters did. This hide would be worth a fare bit of money, and anyone interested in buying some to make some clothing with should have to watch this program before asking the price. And now when I see a chief with their beautiful coats made of tanned hide I will surly value the the hide materials a-lot more and understand how talented the people who make these items are to be able to make the hide almost white or deep brown. This is a very well done video for people to understand the value of these hand made items, and what goes into making the hide the old traditional way.

Thank you. very informative.

Great job. Lot of hard work. Great result

Took a long time to figure out to do that!

Thanks for putting up this video. Very good info. I was looking for traditional methods so this was great. Thanks again.

That was so informative and fascinating too. The care and skill is amazing. thanks for sharing this.

That is amazing!

Pretty amazing!

What a great video! Thank you! I have some sheepskins i am tanning, and while i can't follow every step here, this helped me understand *why* certain steps are included...

TYVM for this AWESOME Vid

I am Ogala Soiux Indian and I am very impressed on the detail of this video Great Job guys and Gals Awesome!

Great video on tanning hide....

That's one hella of a lot of work, and those people should be commended for what they do. They were the people that first basically invented methods to tan these hides, and they did it with basic knowledge and trial and error methods, til they got it right. I would guess that modern technology and machines took the basic process and made it a lot easier today -- but I give these hard working people a lot of credit for all their hard work, and contribution to society going forward.

Great video i have shared this video to my facebook

This is amazing

incredible, so much work and knowledge. I'm blessed for this information. Thanks to all for this video and process.

Thanks so much! Learning some new methods..Starting to do a LOT & sell at fur auctions. Great video..Thank you! :)

Thank You so much !

Fantastic job by fantastic people who care for and love Mother Earth & thank the sprites of the animals & use every bit of them. Thank you so much for teaching us how to this so clearly.💖

great job.

wow that lady tough sure proud of her and this video

tanned my first moose hide and I love it .it tanned nicely after its final smoke and buff

Beautiful

Wow! Beautiful work. It gives me more respect for all the hard work that goes into making moose hide clothing. Thanks for posting this.

Fascinating

Amazing this is highly educational thank you for making this video looks like a lots of hard work. but im ready to do this with my moose hide.

Grandma is a hardworkin fit as a fiddle lady. Amazing. She did more than the youngin's. I would have had a hard time keeping up.

Fantastic

What wonderful information! Ive actually wondered about this since I was a child. We raised and harvested rabbit when I was young. I actually thought we were eating chicken!🤣 Anyways...we always had stacks of rabbit fur my dad sold, but they were stiff, and I always wondered about the actual steps. Ive read about it, but never seen it. Thank you whoever recorded this!! (Yes, I'm sure different animal skins vary in technique...but still.)

Wow thank you

Absolutely amazing and interesting

Amazing....thanks a lot...am watching from South Sudan..i want to do that nd btw i love the energy of that old woman

Wow that looks like a lot of hard work and must take a long time to master those techniques. It must be incredibly satisfying to see the finished product.

WOW, I HAVE A NEW RESPECT FOR HIDES.

Beautiful work for certain . Dedication , tradition , love , skill , and heritage all in one great video . I am a leather worker myself and would love the chance to do this , even if it is just once .

That is some major repetitive work. I have alot of respect for that. Imagine making clothes for an entire tribe. So much work went into the basics of it. No wonder the clothing makers added all the decoration to it. A true compliment to absolute craft.

There was - throw away,I’ll get another one- you appreciate things more when you put that much work into it.

Very interesting

I've done 2 hides it's not easy . But I love doing it. I'm working on a axis buckskin now . I have a great respect for the Indian way .

Very difficult proscess .good job

My auntie Elsie Quintal miss you auntie

GOD BLESS, wow what a great explanatory description in detail, just what beginners like us need. Insha'Allah (GOD WILLING) we will be able to use this information in practicality. Thank you.

I tanned a silver fox fur when I was 13. I used a wire stretching rack and salt. Learned how from a FoxFire book in the 70's

Cool, i'll give a try. Bring back the tradition.

That looks exhausting!