Brain/ egg tanning

[Sinners121]

so i thought i would share this method and what i learnt. after the skin is fleshed and semi-dried, you want it dry enough that it will take the mixture, i found mixing eggs yolk with mayonaise worked best as you can keep it in one place without it moving to another area. after a few days of changing the mixture i lit a fire outside, as it was burning down to embers i started cleaning the flesh side removing any gunk that was left on. I used a children's knife for this as it has no sharp edges and it makes it easy to clean, this process also helped stretch the skin. i then used a tree with strong ridged bark to help stretch it as well. I then went over to the fire that was embers now and put a ton of green plants mainly nasturtiums and kept enough on it so that he smoke was fairly cool and just put the hide straight on top. i pulled it off every minute or so to stretch the hide, add more green and keep the hide cool.
i now have a hide that is fairly soft but absolutely reeks of smoke but it is getting better as it airs.
all up it only took me an hour of stretching/cleaning and smoking to get it to a very soft pliable state that it is currently in.
if i get another hide i will do a tutorial but i hope this helps someone.

[hazard]

Good Stuff mate, I am always keen to see other methods of tanning.

I have only tanned with the Leidretta tanning solutions, considered bark but this sounds interesting.

Hazard

[Stickbow Hunter]

Sounds rather messy. Have you got any photos of the finished product?

Jeff

[Sinners121]

i cannot recommend this process enough! it is a little dirty but for the results i am really happy. i have ended up with a velvet soft pelt and even when i wet it it went back to being the way it was before no hardening that i could notice. i did give a light sanding to the final product and i regret using such a rough sandpaper but the sandpaper has made it nicer.





also sorry about the quality just used my phone

[woodie]

I think I will have to give this a go one day.
Very interesting.
woodie

[Keith Lee]

Good work if you can get a cope of a book called Knives Skinning and Tanning, it has a few different traditional ways of tanning that may interest some people.

[Sinners121]

Good work if you can get a cope of a book called Knives Skinning and Tanning, it has a few different traditional ways of tanning that may interest some people.

if its the one that came up on amazon its is selling for 159$ just a little bit out of my price range!

[Stickbow Hunter]

It certainly gives the underside of the skin a different look to other tanning methods I've seen used. Well done!

Jeff

[Sinners121]

thanks
ive just washed the fur with shampoo so that it might stop smelling of smoke so it will be interesting to see if it goes stiff or stays soft

[hazard]

thanks
ive just washed the fur with shampoo so that it might stop smelling of smoke so it will be interesting to see if it goes stiff or stays soft

Thanks for sharing this, I reckon in the fullness of time I will give it a go. I really believe trying it for yourself in real life has far more merit than bagging it because you were told it doesn't work!

Hazard

[Sinners121]

well as i had hoped and this tanning method promised it didn't go as stiff as a board once dried. it went slightly stiffer but with only a minuscule amount of tanning it is back being very soft. i hope this helps some people and i really cannot recommend this tanning method enough, it has made my first time tanning very easy

[Gringa Bows]

Looks good....did you salt the skin when it was fresh to help stop future hair slip

[Sinners121]

yep i salted it while i was out there and then froze it when i got back to perth so i could have some time to figure what to do

[Gringa Bows]

Ok good one

[Keith Lee]

$159 holy smoke my copy was by John Leidreiter back in the old days it was $10-95.

[Sinners121]

$159 holy smoke my copy was by John Leidreiter back in the old days it was $10-95.

give you 20$ for it

[jonow]

Where did you get the idea of egg tanning from? Interesting!
Might have to give it a go.....

[Sinners121]

i found out about brain tanning, from there i found many people use eggs instead as they are much easier to get hold of. i really cannot encourage people enough about this method as it worked amazingly for me.