Buckskin Reflections

So, in typical fashion, what I began in the middle of the summer now nears its end with the arrival of the solstice. Thanks to the guidance of a patient and good friend, this summer I started tanning my first deer hide. Now having softened the hide last week, I just need to smoke it and it's finished.


When I started I really didn't know what to expect. Would I be able to work a dead animal's skin after years of veganism? Would the smell repulse me much like parmesan cheese? Would I be covered in blood? Would my clothes be ruined?

I benefited from the fact that I didn't have to kill and skin the deer. I'm probably not ready for that yet, though I'm psyching myself up for it. I should probably take some responsibility for killing the animal. Though there are so many wasted hides that hunters leave behind you almost don't have to.

I don't actually remember all the steps in great detail but I'm going to do my best from memory. My first job was to scrape off the remaining flesh from the hide. When any animal is skinned there are pieces of muscle left behind. Naturally you don't want this on your finished hide. It didn't take me that long to do. I was also fortunate to be dealing with a younger deer so I didn't have much surface area to deal with. Some mature male deer are monsters. Start small.

Then the hide was submerged in a solution of water and lye which helps to dissolve a couple of layers of skin on the hair side of the animal. It's left there for a few days including time in a water barrel to neutralize the solution.

I returned to scrape off the grain and hair from the outside of the hide. It came off really easily without much effort. At the time I was a little disappointed to lose the hair. Isn't that the whole point of wearing animal skins, to benefit from their evolutionary success and our evolutionary denial? I later found out that you can leave the hair on and its wonderful insulating properties. It just takes a slightly different process. I'm probably going to work on a rabbit skin next and save the hair.

The next step was to treat the hide with an acidic solution to break down the last layer of skin before focusing on the buckskin. It didn't take long and then I had to scrape off the membrane. At that point, conveniently I could stop and store the hide dried out. There it sat patiently for me to return.

To finish the job I had to purchase a dozen eggs to dress the hide. Essentially you are introducing oil to the hide which opens up the fibres in the skin. You can also use soap and oil or brains. Brains is the dressing of choice of most of my friends. I was glad for the eggs because I'm not up for squishing brains between my fingers just yet. Though I am amazed by the fact that the deer contains all the parts necessary to make buckskin from brains to skin to bones for scraping. It's actually perfect.

Essentially you dunk your hide and let the egg solution penetrate every inch of the hide. You can leave it overnight then take it out and wring it out, catching all the eggs back into the bucket. The wringing is an effort. I was wimpy though, imagine if I'd had a large buck instead. But there's no way that you can tear the buckskin. Amazing. Then you redress the hide and repeat.

The next step took just over a half day and really blew me away. You have this sopping wet hide and you turn it into a chamois. All you have to do is stretch it with your hands and keep the fibres moving so they can't set as the hide dries. If they are moving then they become soft and smooth. So I was stretching it apart with my hands, pulling it over my knees and using random pieces of furniture to keep it moving. We also put up a cable to buff the edges of the skin. Very useful tool.

I had my doubts that it would work but in the end I was left with a beautifully soft buckskin. I think I'm going to make some moccasins out of it. The other day I was on the Internet and I noticed an ad for boots and I scoffed that in time I could make that.

But seriously, it's not as hard as we might think. Once you actually do something you take your power back. You don't need to rely on a destructive system to provide all the things you need. That's the operative word, “need”. The system tells us that we can and should only do one or two things and that we should trade those things for little pieces of paper that we can then trade for all the things (food, clothing, shelter) that we need. Why not just make those things ourselves? We are amazing. It's time we recognized it.

And my new buckskin moccasins will last almost forever. That's quality, unlike the crap that we get from China that falls apart when it gets wet. And if I don't need them anymore, I just have to throw them in the forest and they will be gone in no time. No pollution along the whole process, no out of sight out of mind. Composted to become deer food.

Long term I want to tan a hide with the hair on to use as a blanket. There's apparently someone nearby who raises buffalo. That would be cozy.

Sorry if I missed any of the intricacies of tanning buckskin. I'll keep learning and one day this will be second nature.