"Traditional" hide tanning. (Fat/smoke tanning.)

Traditional in the sense that the end product is identical to the historical. The techniques are a hodgepodge of various traditions mixed with some stuff that I just made up.
It's important to find a technique that works for you.
If anything requires clarification, I'm always happy to answer questions.

[@TAITheAsian]

That outfit at the end, lol! Pretty great video like usual although I'm surprised people came to realize the brain was useable for tanning. I mean its one thing to look at the stuff as a collection of fats and emulsifiers in the modern day but I've never heard of it used for such until now. At most maybe to be eaten like Tripe like in Dwarf Fortress.

[@MalcolmPL]

I’m honestly surprised tanning was invented at all. Even knowing the process, my first three hides ended in abject failure. As for the brain, It was considered good eating before prion diseases became common.

[@feywerfolevado6286]

Interesting!

[@dooleyfussle8634]

Most likely, early folks tried everything, although the proximity of brains to hides made this a "no brainer"! Yuck yuck...(literally).

[@cassyhandy499]

Pretty cool I never knew about the trick with the antler spike great video

[@MalcolmPL]

Some bits of old technology can still hold their ground.

[@KK-xz4rk]

Here, over the pond in old northern europe we have 2 main methods for traditional tanning. Veg tan with many different plants and sourdough tanning. You can smear a slurry of rye flour and water on both sides hides and keep it there for some days. No smoking needed afterward. Can you really make ashwater so strong that it will ruin the skin? We use couple of handfuls of pure lye in water and then it will take about 2-3 days for hairs to come loose.

[@MalcolmPL]

Interesting, I'd never heard of sourdough tanning, I'll have to experiment. Re, ashwater. Back when I was starting out, I made a very strong lye, with the idea that a stronger lye would do the same work quicker. There was one hide that I left in the lye for a couple days too long. It burned it full of holes like swiss cheese. For another example, I've heard of mobsters using lye to dissolve bodies.

[@KK-xz4rk]

@@MalcolmPL It was mainly used to tan sheephides with wool to make wintercoats. Old receipt is take about 10 liters of warm water and add 1 kg of flour (wheat, rye or any other kind should do). Let the slurry rest in warm place until it starts to ferment properly. Then add 2 liters of strong saltwater (without salt hairs will come loose) then put hides in the mixture and let them be in a warm place for a while. Stir them every day. Depending on the thickness of the hides and temperature it can take up to 1 month in the mixture. Every some time add 1 kg of flour and handfull of salt into mixture to keep it alive and bubbly. Fermenting makes finished hides soft and loose. Strong lye solution makes tissues loose and separates all connections between tissuefibers. It just makes flesh soluble in water. Wood ash should be pretty safe, Its not that alkaline.

[@MalcolmPL]

@@KK-xz4rk Weird. How's the smell?

[@KK-xz4rk]

@@MalcolmPL while tanning it should smell more like brewing beer or sourdough with a hint of flesh but not rotten. All the yeast and lactobacterias + salt should not let the mixture rot.

[@MalcolmPL]

@@KK-xz4rk Okay, interesting.

[@bern1228]

Thank you. I always wondered how that was done.

[@MalcolmPL]

Cheers.

[@daopaleo]

This was very useful, thank you. I knew about the brain and egg use, but the antler spike was new. And last shot... LOL :)

[@MalcolmPL]

Cheers, the more techniques you have in your arsenal, the better your chances are.

[@samuelprice2461]

Great video. Just recently found your channel and subscribed. I recently acquired my first Kentucky/Pennsylvania longrifle, and have decided I want to begin the journey of making my own buckskin clothing.

[@itzocelotlbocanegra5986]

Not the rez dogs 😂

[@vociferonheraldofthewinter2284]

I have never related to a youtuber more in my life. This dude is my childhood. Even down to the damn dogs and emergency hide cleaning. smh

[@c.a.mcdivitt9722]

That antler spike is really useful. I may have to make myself one next time I find a shed antler.

[@HAYAOLEONE]

😂 the last shot.. 👍

[@MalcolmPL]

Clothes for the man who hates sewing.

[@HAYAOLEONE]

@@MalcolmPL 🤫 from a man spending too much time half naked or wrapped in blankets/towels.. Hey one question for you. Would the simple sewing (strictly utilitarian, not partly decorative) be done by men or even children in your region? Or only by expert women? Again, nice video. 👍

[@MalcolmPL]

@@HAYAOLEONE Sewing is women's work and most clothes were made by women, but men would also be taught the basics, as sometimes there aren't any women around to do your repairs, or sometimes they're too busy to make something you need in a hurry. On a related note, while making clothes was women's work, beading said clothes was men's work. Oddly enough.

[@HAYAOLEONE]

@@MalcolmPL Interesting. Thanks.

[@DSesignD]

That last shot had me dying laughing

[@oso8146]

Here on the Navajo reservation we don't stretch it out we lay the skin on the log and start scraping then we soak the skin in a bucket of water with Ash and then remove the fur after that we use brain and cover the whole skin and soak it all night then we rinse it really good after that we leave it in white clay overnight the next day we stretch it and pull it and rub it together until it's dry that's how we soften it but I like what you do it's pretty cool good job

[@MalcolmPL]

I’m always amazed at how many different techniques there are. It seems like not just every region, but every person has their own method.

[@YoMan751]

Just a big thank you for your “experimental research”. As far as I know, I don’t have first nation heritage but I have the chance to live a mile away from the Wendake community in Quebec city. You have all my respect for your passion on the subject.

[@billthebold]

I really enjoy your work.

[@Hobgoblin1975]

Wow lotta work

[@funwithmadness]

And this is why leather is so expensive.... It's soooooo much work.

[@MalcolmPL]

2 hours a square foot. Plus lots of waiting.

[@quackgoestheduck5477]

Great video, you have put great effort for us so i just wanted to thank you in advance, but man , your sarcasm made my day. Take my thumbs up! (one question though, is it possible to smoke tan a hide without removing the hair/fur ?)

[@MalcolmPL]

Yes, but it's a lot more difficult. I haven't figured out a technique that works reliably.

[@derskalde4973]

Out of curiosity: couldn't you dampen the curtain a bit to lessen the chance of it starting to smolder and/or catching fire during the smoking? Or would the possibility of this moisture ruining the leather be too high and therefore not worth the risk?

[@MalcolmPL]

Yes, you don’t want moisture to get into the bag as it can stiffen the leather.

[@cinnabar-1]

Could one tie two things together with rawhide when it's wet so that when the hide dries it creates a strong bond?

[@MalcolmPL]

Yeah, rawhide shrinks as it dries so it would draw the two things together.

[@KartarNighthawk]

I've got a Berber recipe for manufacturing leather shields; watching this proved a useful way of working out what each of the ingredients was for.

[@MalcolmPL]

Glad it could be useful.

[@Paulsinke]

I tanned my first goat skin with a bottle of vegetable oil and a wire brush, but it took three days to get the leather soft. After ten years it still smells weird. Your high tech method looks way better, I'll try it if some person will hurry up and hit a dear close to my house

[@Del350K4]

What a labour-intensive process!

[@MalcolmPL]

And then some.

[@Del350K4]

@@MalcolmPL If we were to put a price on the time taken to produce leather by this mean, say by allocating a cost per square foot at mimimum wage, How to Make Everything-style, I suspect that a First Nation person's clothing would have represented a fair part of their wealth a couple of hundred years ago.

[@MalcolmPL]

Yep, hides were valuable even before the European fur trade.

[@BubuH-cq6km]

"Rez Dogs"🤣 😂 😅 🤣 So True, Damn Vultures will chew the 💩 out of your hides

[@MalcolmPL]

In this case they worked in my favor, if not for them the skins would have rotted in the bush where the hunters left them.

[@thealmightypommel2699]

Mr. Malcolm, do you by chance know how to make water skins from animal organs, or some other uses of for the organs of game? I haven't had much luck finding information on how water would have been carried about in antiquity.

[@MalcolmPL]

I’ve never tried this, so take it with a pinch of salt, but the method I’ve read is to take an animal’s bladder and tie the lower end shut, then inflate it, fill it with sand and let it dry out into a bottle. The logic being that a bladder is already waterproof, so you don’t need to do much to it. You wouldn’t want to tan it like I have done in the video, as this method is much less waterproof than rawhide. On the subject of other methods of carrying water, a hollowed out gourd makes a decent bottle.

[@1lobster]

Dose this method also work with cow hide? I want to start an artisanal tannery in the near future.

[@MalcolmPL]

It works, but the final drying is a lot more work due to the thickness.

[@graysuka]

Forgive my ignorance but what is a res dog? Do they often bring in animal hides?

[@MalcolmPL]

Rez dogs are packs of wild dogs that wander the rez. They’re hardcore as heck. I’ve never heard of this happening before, but in this case, they must have found some skins that a hunter had left in the bush, and they just so happened to drag them onto my acquaintance’s lawn.

[@Luziferrum]

Wow, your deer are way fluffier than ours in central europe. Do you plan on doing any hair-on tanning in the future?

[@MalcolmPL]

These were winter coats. Summer coats are thinner. I would like to tan some furs, but I haven’t quite figured out the process yet, as it takes a lot more skill to keep the fur. Because you’re keeping the epidermis, the tanning solution can only absorb from one side, which means it doesn’t penetrate very well. And the hair makes the final drying take forever.

[@dancing_odie]

The first step is kill a deer. The second step is skin the deer. The THIRD step is take stock of your materials. Now that my pedant rant is over; great video as always.