HOW I TAN ANIMAL HIDES (the easy way) for Bushcraft / Survival / Camping trips. Caveman Carpet! 

Lol…

That's hilarious! I'm gonna laugh all night thinking of my dad now!

So blessed! I never knew my father. ☹

@@dragoszmoartescu5518 did he go get milk?

@@solovino861 he didn't want to risk having to tan any hides. He knew how much work was involved in that.

They used anything from bark to eggs to tan hides

Sheep brains have a decent chemical in then to help tan hides. But apparently it's extremely petrid smelling.

it's a little rough on the teeth

use the brain with in the animal mash up with water each animals has the right amount of brains to tan it s hide

@@saraskold9631 are you serious?

Idk, he is hammering in screws. He might not actually understand the point of using the fresh cut natural stuff. 😬

Hmmm, drill, bolts, string…..but no hammer.

@John Duquette bolt, screw, tomatoe tomato. The point of the original comment was to draw attention to nature and being natural and how "that," whatever you wanna call it, despite what it is or isn't, isn't natural. Its basically like you focused on the grammar instead of the point With that said, thanks for the info-mato. Bah duh chhh

lets not forget when we hit the wood to do bushcrafting and hunting bring your pressure washer lol

@@NinjaOnANinja I might agree with the other points you made, but bolts and screws are not a "tomato tomatoe" difference.

Can you tell more about the flat beater paddle? I have several cow hides salted, and they are way heavier than I can lift when wet. I quartered one. I took the dry salted house and used a drill with a wire brush attachment and scraped the salt and any fat and membrane of pretty well while it was dry. Then I wetted it and put it on a frame ( still pretty doggone heavy) and worked it with a wire brush. Then I rubbed pig lard in because I had plenty of that. I dunno what that did it if I'm done or what. It repelled the rain pretty well, bc I laid it over a bench and forgot about it and then suddenly summer was over and the rains came. It's in a possibly ruined heap on my back porch right now. Dried out again.

@@beggsnachin and did it shrink after drying

You touch on something that I tracked down further. This method shown is technically not tanning. It dehydrates the skin but it doesn’t preserve and permanently soften the skin the way tanning does. So it matters, a lot, how you plan on using the skin. Straight up tanning using brains or chemicals is much better way to go for all the trouble it takes to prep the hide.

@@beggsnachin : I just came across your 10 month old comment and wondered if you were able to salvage the hide after. And if so, how you accomplished it. I had that happen a few years ago myself. The hide was manually scraped and dehaired with a draw knife, soaked in lye solution, well-wrung, soaked in the brain solution, and ready to stretch. And then a storm front moved in. The low pressure trough just couldn’t seem to move out for three weeks or more. Needless to say, the hide started to get stinky. Sacrificing it just wasn’t an option. So I was absolutely blessed to be able to scrounge up a bit of borax.(Hard to find locally). As I recall, I made the solution slightly stronger than normal, and soaked the hide in it overnight. I had a pH meter to use. It’s been a few years now for that hide, but as memory serves, I believe I had to change the dilution the next morning. There was a marked improvement in it, so I just made up a new batch if borax solution and soaked it all day, and then do the same thing again before going to bed that night. Problem solved. Except for the weather. There was no freezer space, so salting and freezing it until the rain passed wasn’t an option. So I brained it again with fresh lamb brain from a local farmer, and hung it in the greenhouse to dry as rawhide. I figured I could always rehydrate and stretch it properly on a frame to work it soft and dry whenever the weather decides to cooperate later. The greenhouse is pretty small; there was no room to dry it on a frame in there, so it essentially curled a little, but that’s it. It dried really nicely, no smell. I sure hope you were able to save yours. What a heartbreak it would be to lose an entire cowhide! I hope you don’t mind if I ask about your method. Up until today, I had no idea that a person didn’t have to remove the fat from the skin by hand with a draw knife. So you can only imagine how delighted I am to see that you’ve got a method for doing that by salting the hide and using a wire brush. If you would say if you more words about that, I’d appreciate that. It seems like something a person might have to do in the heat of the summer, in order for the Salt to be able to dry the fat enough to remove with a brush. But I’d sure like to know before trying it myself, so as not to ruin a good hide experimenting, when an experienced person like you knows the answer. Assuming that you’re mounting the hide on the frame to do this so that you don’t tear up the hide with the brush, do you take your hide back down then to do the ringing type step, or do you leave it up there and just go ahead and brain work it dry on the same frame?

They probably aren't allowed to use the brain method in Britain or the Isles.

I'm Native American and i have to avoid this vid because my people can tell if i used chemicals by performing the "needle poke"..hide looks good but the chemicals prevent people sewing with it because it would still be too thick

The brain works just fine.

@@sgt1terrence but if it’s too thick that would be handling the hide not the actual chemicals or materials used to tan the hide right?

if im not completely mistaken it is extremely gross

@@malaciousmark3903 normally if I am not mistaken, the more traditional non chemical way involves scraping that thins the hide some then the “breaking” of the hide to make it supple also stretches it making a bit thinner also. I could be mistaken though so please some one if I am wrong correct me!! 😁

Same

I thought the same, but then was like that's a pretty ingenious way to flesh. Easier on the back

Bush craft scale too

I was always taught to not use tap water because the chlorine can ruin the roots of the hair, so I'd recommend not using his method if you want yours to last.

He never said he'd do it the bushcraft way, he said he'd do it the easy way :)

how did it turn out?

How'd it go!!?

Thanks Eric

Definitely.. Especially if it uses natural materials like what we could use in a survival situation.

@@werewolfbishop5465 I know it can be a little disgusting. But still valuable knowledge.

Thanks rusty

Alum is perfectly safe but probably a lot harder to find than vinegar.

I was really impressed and I liked the way you went through the whole process step by step, so much so that I subscribed and even shared it with my brother, this stuff is so cool. Thank you 😊

You can use use the brain to tan it. It is free.

You can find alum at most bulk food stores, or on Amazon.

so basically you pickled those goats? try using some pepper and a bay leaf next time

Hunters eat their prey they don't waste a life

@@geraldtakala1721 exactly. That's why I don't hunt. I wouldn't eat it. Unless I was hunting some cows.

@@pinkgrognak your probably right. I'm just in credible picky eater. I hate it about my self.

I was wandering the same thing about the Alum, for some reason the kind I got made the paste sticky and grainy.

You’re too much 😂 10/10

I'm sure it is quite a site to look at you chew a moose hide to drive your saliva enzymes into the hide in the name of "respect" for the old days... as you text funny replies on a computer made by a samurai

This is a FILTHY method lol you will end up covered in bits of fat and meat.

Yes, me too. Hopefully you'll show us all how to do that method SOON ??

yah egg and mayo is what im using right now since i ran out of brains..eggs and mayo mixed with a bit of vegetable oil

@@sgt1terrence how’d it go?

Are you making wallhangers? How pliable can you get it

@@brendan6747 depends on how thin you get the leather. I make a lot of wall hangers but they are still pliable

😆 🤣 😂

@@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS Seriously, l admire you and the skills you have, in the UK we have nothing like this, we have no idea of killing animals etc, as far as the British are concerned meat comes from the supermarket.

@@symonrocks9847 I believe he is british.

@@rimmersbryggeri Did you work that out all by yourself, or by me saying about being in the UK and British

@@symonrocks9847 not all of us brits. While I don't hunt as often as I would like, I make a point of knowing where my meat comes from whether bought from my local farm shop or shot by my self. Although I would agree sadly some of our kids in the UK wouldn't know where a beef burger came from if you showed them the cow in a field first.

I am planning on doing it with oak bark, after I've boiled it in water do I just soak the skin in it before stringing it up? Because I'm guessing it will be a lot more liquidy than the paste he uses in the video

anything high in Tannins will do the trick of keeping the leather from being eaten by fungus and bacteria, making it stiffen and flake off into a million bits of pieces.@@kestrelscout7155

Dude YES!

It's super easy

Your uncle was/is a smart man.

@@davidcapps6111 Yes he was. Also part of payment he would keep some steaks or a roast. Whatever he and the hunter agreed on. Free clean protein.

@@beebob1279 That worked out well for both sides. Back in the early eighties I ran a slaughterhouse. I had a man who bought the hides but many times customers offered me meat. I occasionally accepted but was always grateful for the offer.

Same here. How did the end product go?

Same. Stretching it is looking like a major chore. Very stiff

How do you get hold of the hides? What do they cost before treating & processing?

What was that mix with Borax you use?

@@jaredtandle2596 alum and borax

@@motog4-75 speak to your local hunter and get them for free.

@@BUSHCRAFTTOOLS local hunter? Thanks. I live in a city🤓

So you changed the method, it didn't work, and you're blaming the method? 😂

Belo horizonte Uzi

Glad you enjoyed it!

For what it is worth, I submerged mine in a mixture of salt and Alum for a couple of days before pressure washing. This seemed to loosen the material that needed removing as well as setting the hair. Also I use the paint stripper attachment on the pressure washer, which can easily create a hole if left on an area too long.

This process worked well enough I think and I’m satisfied with the result for my first attempt. I’m not quitting my job any time soon to pursue a career as a taxidermist, but the hides are preserved and not left in the field with the gut pile. I have the nicer example on my wall and the other I cut part from to make a sheath for a homemade knife that was handled with part of a femur from the same deer. I’m thinking the rest will make a nice scabbard for my Winchester.

@@DrewEdwardBacklas I am on my second now but as the whole family looked at the first one and said, 'okay, what are you going to do with that now', there might not be a third.

@@goliver3846 my parents did the same

​@@goliver3846😂❤

Good question..I've used this same method to tan smaller game

So you can safely use a power washer on rabbit or bobcat?

They used the brains of the deer and liver mixture

I assure a deer hide is a good insulator if it is large enough. The only other thing I’d do is sew a smaller blanket of like felt or something to the skin side.

I assure a deer hide is a good insulator if it is large enough. The only other thing I’d do is sew a smaller blanket of like felt or something to the skin side.

The hides I tan are leftover from my bushcraft courses. Nothing goes to waste!!!

😂

Thanks bud

Is this how you do a coyote , seems the skin is thinner and will rip easy

Egg yolk is a slightly inferior and cheep alternate to brain tanning. And safe for sensitive skin

For wearables you wanna use commercial chemical tans, they make the hides super soft and washable, and also removes any of the variation that comes with using natural methods

You need to use a special tanning solution called a garment tan, easier on the skin. I believe the egg thing is considered a garment tan, however it will make the pelt stink at first.

@@robertford5050 lol. No. You don’t need any of that. Every animal has enough brain to tan it’s own hide. There is nothing superior to brain tan.

@@bnalive5077 I thought the saying was; every critter has just enough brains to preserve its own hide...😁

how are you guys getting fawn pelts are you hunting out of season?

the same procedure mentioned just use salt?

@@chrisflamion2283 Basically yes. Skin and stretch,clean excess fat and meat off the skin (making sure not to puncture the skin) lay it flat and rub salt on EVERY single inch of the inside of it. The salt not only dries out the moisture but it also prevents bacteria from rotting the skin. Use a nylon brush every day to wipe off old salt and reapply for 2-3 days until dry. Then use nylon brush and garden hose to rinse off the salt allowing to dry after all salt is removed. After that you can do what you want with the skin.

guayando