Woniya's Intro to Brain Tanning Buckskin Part 3

Dressing hides (spoiler- I'm not actually using brains for this video, go figure!), Wringing, and Softening. Ooo! These are some of my favorite parts! Going from slimy wet deer skins to fluffy white soft hides is fabulous. Just a few more steps to go in the final episode, and then we'll have amazing finished buckskin! Woohoo!
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[@juliankeller5030]

Woniya, you don't know how helpful this has been for me. You are so detailed oriented and make it very easy to digest the different paths one can take with tanning as well as the reasons for doing things. I love you!

[@jessicabertram9401]

Woniya, thank you so much. city girl here, but grew up in the country (dad showed me how to tan a hide when i was a kiddo). I appreciate all the effort you put into all these videos, and the obvious care and love and joy you possess for what you do. Thank you. Be well.

[@MissDashwood1]

Congratulations on doing so well on Alone. There aren't words to express how much I admire you. Your strength, intelligence, intuitiveness, skill set, positive attitude and all around beautiful personality were a genuine privilege to watch each week. I so wanted you to collect the prize, but you're a winner regardless. Thanks for being on the show and for being such a wonderful person in this world. Wishing you all the best.

[@AmiFriendsStudio]

Exactly what I wanted to say! Woniya, you are awesome!

[@liceous]

What I wanted to say too! Your deep appreciation and love for the land were absolutely radiant in the finale.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

Thanks so much!

[@phillipschris2274]

This is by far the best series I've seen on tanning. The entire process was so informative. Amazing job and thank you so much.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

thanks phillip

[@BuckskinRevolution]

or maybe its chris?

[@Stickyburrs]

This is all spot on, all the essential elements of this process are stressed. My new go-to recommendation for learning this process. If you mess up, it's from not paying attention :)

[@lorenstallsmith5785]

Nobody uses brains anymore, except me! Good explanation of the process. I'm a staker guy, only cable now and then and finish on the frame, most times.

[@WildBearFoot]

I use the brains if I get them with the hide. If I have to redress I'll use egg.

[@inthewoodswithbigfoot3941]

Great stuff! You seem to be anticipating my questions and answering them as they come up. Thanks!

[@creativekoala9721]

Thank you for your information! I am learning to brain tan, mostly trial and error, and your videos have the most helpful information.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

that's great to hear! Very happy to be a support for someone starting their journey with brain tanning!

[@travisreynoldsmusic]

Your intelligence is intimidating but very appreciated. Keep it up. I've been reminded of a few things I had forgotten🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️👍👍

[@uiop545]

always a very thorough and detailed info/instructions; very practical; many thanks again lady :)

[@RestlessWonderer]

Great video... two of my sons are wanting to tan small game hides this year, and now I know where to start them :) Thanks for sharing!

[@BuckskinRevolution]

awesome!

[@maryelizabeth2788]

Thanks for the video. I'm currently doing my first brain tanning along with the Wild Abundance online hide tanning class, but I'm always looking for insights and advice from other brain tanners especially women tanners. I fleshed 48 hides in deer season and now I have lots of work to do and lots of materials to practice with.

[@superalam22]

Hey Mary could you tell me have you made soft leather yet?? I m also trying but unable to soften it and it's dry any advise for me?

[@creativekoala9721]

@@superalam22 Wringing it multiple times, and resoaking helps. I also get my husband to help, and together we stretch it easier than alone. When it is close to dry, I also bring it inside to a clean floor surface, stand on it, and pull upwards.

[@jerretwiens26]

Very helpful vids, you have answered so many of my questions. Thank you!

[@281covfefe5]

Thank you for uploading and sharing this detailed info on #BrainTanning !! 👍🏻🇺🇸

[@jaalacuno8500]

You are a great teacher! Thank you!

[@raykemry954]

Good way to explain it , also love the body expressions and gestures you reall made the best buck skins videos I have watched . To bad ladys of to day don't use this as a form of exercise and workout sessions. And this method pays you back ya get the workout benefits and end up with a very wonderfull hide to make things of value . Maybe covic 19 will get a few more doing it men and woman both.kids can help also. Thanks I always watch as a refresher course, your methods are great I have used many of them. Never hurts to try something a little different. There are so many methods and styles. Every time I do a hide it reveals it's own characters and ya some times have to recreate. Hides are amazingly strong and take a lot of abuse. I found out this year by accident that those round balls of pummi stone the ones that float in water. Work wonderfully on the fuzzy areas that ya don't want so fuzzy it sands them out so fast. Mother natures sand paper. I wonder if the natives used it, also cleanest up rust on your old cast iron pots and pans. Heading out to diamond lake area soon to stock up on some this spring. Soon as they let us out of stay home lock down mode.

[@quintond.7888]

Thanks Woniya!

[@robertr2731]

6:20 Okay your putting it back in the same dressing again for an hour. That's cool.

[@WestTennessee]

I use brains and warm water. Great video and thanks for sharing.😊

[@BuckskinRevolution]

I use brains when I have them too, and they are my preference. I just filmed a short video making up a dressing with brains. Eggs are a lot easier to come by though, so it common for me to use them instead

[@rosalee33]

@@BuckskinRevolution may i ask the name of that video, i have brains for the first time and wondering best ratio to dress my hide with... Thank you! ❤️

[@TheSchmidt62]

@@BuckskinRevolution Woniya- what type of oil? And soap?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

@@rosalee33 The video isnt actually up yet, but there is no real recipe, just a brain ( one deer brain for a deer hide, or half a pig brain), boiled and then blended with water, then that added to enough warm water (}not hot! 105 degrees farenheit or less) to soak your hide well in, usually 1-2 gallons of water.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

@@TheSchmidt62 any lighweight veegtable or neats foot oil, and any natural soap that is true soap, not detergent like dish or laundry liquid. I like dr bronners unscented liquid castile soap

[@AndrevanTonder67]

Great series of videos. I could never understand why this technique of processing skins never found a foot hold in South Africa. I am sure going to try this Is it possible to treat conventionally tanned leather like this ... more specifically to remove the outer skin to get the leather soft and pliable?

[@katdobvines]

I didn't catch the third ingredient. Yolks, oil and what? Thank you, excellent videos.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

The third ingredient is soap, to keep the oil dissolved in the water. All three get added to warm water.

[@katdobvines]

@@BuckskinRevolution Thank you!

[@heronblue7932]

Hi, wonderful video series, thanks much for making the effort to produce these! One question; after the second dressing soak, was the hide wring and squeegy-d a second time? or did you start working it immediately after the second soak?

[@timothylongmore7325]

I'd bet she wrung it out again because she went right into the softening process which you do till it's dry and fluffy.

[@indiopeltier9758]

what an inspirational human

[@dubbie001]

Hi mate great videos I'm a hobby home tanner from New Zealand mostly work on possums just wondering what soap you use ef: dish soap, or like hand soap? What's the main ingredient that binds the oil and yolks , cheers love your park by the way so dope

[@BuckskinRevolution]

hi there, i don't like either dish soap or hand soap, as both are generally detergents that strip oils from things. Natural soaps made of fat saponified with lye suspends fat in solution in tiny droplets, that is what you want for your solution. I like a liquid castile soap or a grated natural bar soap. the oil and yolks are not bound together at all. they are both their for their fat content as well as the glycerin and lecithin in the case of the eggs. the soap is to emulsify them in the water so they can travel through the hide and deposit the oils in the inner protein fibers

[@dubbie001]

@@BuckskinRevolution really appreciate you taking the time to reply woynia, side note watched ur alone season and really appreciated your way of being and also jordans for that sake, I'm going to use an all natural soap from eco store in New Zealand see if that produces the suspension otherwise I'll track down that soap you use, cheers again keep up the great inspiring mahi

[@bluecypressschoolofholism]

Is it possible to use this method of brain tanning on a goat hide as well? I love your videos. They are very straightforward and it is apparent that this is your life’s passion. Thank you.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

absolutely, goat skin makes great braintan- it is thin yet very strong

[@bluecypressschoolofholism]

@@BuckskinRevolution Sweeeet! Thank you!

[@healthygreenbrave]

Hello! I used your methods for an elk hide. Its not as solid as the rawhide (how I stored it) and it did turn white as it dried, but it didn't stay supple. I must have done something wrong. Can you over-stretch it?

[@dustinnorth6603]

Is there a way to fix some spots that hardened or are not as buttery soft as others? I’ve tried re-wetting those spots and reworking but they don’t seem to get as soft as the properly worked/dried spots.

[@laurienorthland5052]

Did the overnight egg solution stink the next day?I retted,it stank.I egged overnight and that stank(so I didn’t soak 2nd).I smoked and helped,stinks like smoke lol.Can’t smell good?

[@kilenlkr1400]

How long do I need to keep soaking the hide in the egg solution

[@raykemry954]

So tell me what do ya do with your skins on laundry day. Surely ya can't put them in the Maytag with your other laundry and for sure ya can't throw them in the dryer. How do ya wash them.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

I wash them by hand in warm water, usually in a 5 gallon bucket, and wrong them by hand and lay them out to dry where they have fooled sun and good air circulation. there's a whole chapter on caring for your buckskins in my book as yes, it is different than other clothes

[@raykemry954]

So do you ever have to resmoke your skin clothes, and they won't need manipulated while drieing,after laundry has been done ,due to the smoking , this is cool I never looked at it this way, thanks your a good teacher young lady. Love how ya explain it so even us lamen Raymond can get it . Thanks again here we go going to try it your way more less.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

@@raykemry954 No, I have never had to resmoke my clothes. my feeling is that is only necessary if they werent tanned well the first time. I do pull and stretch them a bit as they get close to dry, otherwise they will get a little stiff just as clothes do on a laundry line- but more so as they are thicker and more substantial than cloth.

[@lordhelix1458]

For the solution in the bucket, does the soap and oil counteract one another when the hide comes in to contact with water? I'm no chemistry whiz but I thought that soaps work by emulsifying the oil such that it will dissolve in water and then just wash away. I'm sure you're doing it the right way. Just curious how the liquids are interacting inside the skin.

[@creativekoala9721]

I think it works to emulsify the liquids, as you need the fat and oil to break down to penetrate the hide. I have also used lecithin (which egg yolk and brain both have in them) as an emulsifier.

[@jaalacuno8500]

If I were to tan a deer hide and I couldn't finish getting the membrane and grain off in one session, what would I do? Put it back into water or whichever solution I had it in? To return to in a few hours or even within 24 hours.

[@creativekoala9721]

Yes, and use a fridge or freezer if you need to. I put it in a plastic bag and try to get all the air out, put it in the freezer and keep working on hides when I get time.

[@juliablandford5211]

Hi! Do you ever use the animal brains for tanning, or always just egg yolks?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

Hi Julia! Yes, I definitely also use brains and they are my preference, but they are a lot harder to come by and don't keep it travel as well as eggs, so I use eggs more often and showed them on the video as I figure most folks have access to eggs but very few have access to brains

[@melodyannduke1849]

what type of soap would you suggest

[@RaspberryRockOffGridCabin]

What kind of cable are you using? Looked like airplane cable.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

Yes, it's standard multi ply cable you can get by the foot at most hardware stores, with fittings to make a secure loop on each end

[@randybeeson3424]

Awesome! Your my kind of gal.

[@superalam22]

Hey mam i hope you are good. I don't know whether you reply me or not but i tried a goat hide with brain tanning. I tried my best but it's 2 days and it's totally dry and still i didn't get it soft. Now is my hide waste or is there is any chance to get it softer or goat hide is usually little hard after complete process i will be thankful to you if you help me out.

[@mommamintz]

So when using Brains I've read from on book you blend them with water? What's the recipe with that? Also is it something you have to do immediately or how long can you keep a brain.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

there is no specific recipe, but I generally use 1 deer brain or 1/2 pigs brain per medium sized hide, wo tu enough water for it the hide to swim around in a bit, usually 1 to 1 1/2 gallons water depending on e size of the hide. Brains rot quickly, so you want to store them in the fridge or better yet, frozen, until you are ready to use them

[@dooleyfussle8634]

Sounds right to me. I usually use a blender to chop up the raw brains (don't tell my wife!) and add that to enough water to cover the hide well. I've also used liquid soap (real soap, like Dr. Bonner's), about 6-8 ounces to a gallon of water. Works well and smells a bit nicer. One word of warning, the tanning solution will also soften skin and you will develop blisters on the knuckles of your hands. I used to tell my students that you could tell when you were stretching the hide adequately when you started to get those blisters. They were always so proud when it happened...

[@royhudson8416]

I need advice. Currently working on my first buckskin. I fleshed it twice….used s lime to loose the hair…..washed it out good (soaked in fresh water and wrung it out 3x) then I boiled hardwood leaves for my tannin solution…..soaked about a week, wrung it out and back in solution about another week and half. Wrung it out and stretched it good and hung it up. My problem is that thing dried a lot faster than I thought it would. Now the whole thing is stiff as a board…lol. Can I save it by soaking it till it is saturated and work it till its dry completely as you are doing? Btw…the hide is a dark chocolate color about every where except a few wringing marks….guest I squeezed the color out in those areas

[@BuckskinRevolution]

Hi Roy, What you are describing here is a totally different tanning process than what these videos are about- these are brain tanned buckskin and you are doing bark tanning. There are far less tannins in leaves than in inner bark. It is difficult to say with this kilted information and not seeing it myself, but I suspect your hide is dyed but not actually tanned through. What you have is dyed rawhide; and that is why it dried stiff

[@royhudson8416]

@@BuckskinRevolution Hi Thanks for your reply….and I obviously dont know nearly as much about all this as you….I did trim some edge pieces….appeared to have tannin color all the way thru but again….my first hide…lol. The leaves I boiled and let set over night to steep over night and cool….I was really surprised how dark colored it was….and I added some fresh after first week, so hopefully enough. Basically I didnt get to work it any like I should have. I thought about boiling up some solution to soak it in but I was thinking it had enough as dark as the dried skin is…??? First thing Ill have to do is get it wet enough to limber it up. So I watched one you videos where you talked about oiling the hide…..so at what moisture content point do you do that and how can I tell? I plan on making some flat spring closure coin /card purses so semi soft but not limp soft

[@royhudson8416]

I kind like doing this stuff…even though it can get messy. I would like trying compressed air to get the hide loose from the deer or what ever..

[@constanthonesty9937]

she is beautiful...and wicked smart!

[@mamamarsha]

Wonyia - I am working on a huge elk hide and I had a question. When you put your skin in the first dressing it appeared to be dry, but not raw hide. Could you explain how you got it to that consistency? Thanks.

[@mrs_artsyfart_ford2550]

It was “squeegeed” from when she was fleshing the hide. The scraping removes most of the moisture from the hide and it’s kind of tacky. Hope this helps

[@LifePrepared]

Am I missing something? Where did you use the brain to tan this?

[@thisishowwego907]

i missed it to...

[@jdhutchinson506]

She used 12 eggs in place, but it is exactly the same. The brain has cholesterol which is water soluble fat, same as egg yoke

[@RuneKlarskov]

Lotte Rahme from Sweden has written a little book about that Brain solutions

[@Jona7Fer]

Yea!!!

[@ТукоРамирес-ф8ь]

I don't understand what type of oil and what else added except oil?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

any lightweight oil that is liquid at low temperatures- olive oil, vegetable oil, neats foot oil, plus a bit if coastline soap to keep it in suspension, plus egg yolks, around a dozen per hide. the mic can vary, but the point is to have the fats in small particle, emulsified in water, so they can get into the middle of the hide and not just make it greasy on the surface

[@nearlyheavenfarms2966]

I’d like to know how to get a soft skin like that but with the hair still intact

[@BuckskinRevolution]

fur tanning is one of the classes in my current online gathering. You can brain tan furs too, it is just slightly different in some regards

[@kevintriola7959]

What type of oil do you recommend to use

[@BuckskinRevolution]

a lightweight oil- vegetable oil or Neat's foot oil. I always use vegetable oil

[@wayneburks5872]

Oh ok thank you.

[@tobiasolausson8085]

Is that Shasta behind you?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

No, that's Mt. Hood in Oregon

[@hatdak2889]

Mam i need i a leader that is not too soft and not too hard please make a Video on it

[@bowhuntingleprechaun5268]

What oil do you use

[@BuckskinRevolution]

usually olive oil, because it's what i have on hand. Any lightweight cooking oil will work

[@lostinkansasonasunnyday305]

What type of oil do you add to the yolks?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

i usually use olive as it is the lightest weight oil i tend to have on hand. Any very light weight oil will do- walnut, grapeseed, canola, neats foot, etc. Chamois is traditionally tanned with fish oil

[@shawn2045]

Will you be doing a smoking process video

[@BuckskinRevolution]

yep, that's part 4, the final part, in this series. Still finishing the editing process

[@robertr2731]

0:14 So the yokes only, no egg whites. Okay

[@maryreed2280]

This needs a mechanical process to accomplish the labor intensive parts. Then we could avoid chrome tanning altogether.

[@BuckskinRevolution]

While I am with you that abolishing chrome tanning is a noble goal, I also think it beautiful that there are some things, like this one; that cannot be (or haven't yet been) mechanized. Buckskin carries a special kind of magic because of the manual labor and close attention the process requires

[@cabbage1791]

Hi 😁

[@royhudson8416]

Kilted information….LOL

[@Ineptitude_RR]

I was really let down that she didn't win this season. Jordan was good, but we all wanted a women to win for a change.

[@johnygoodman6659]

What kind of soap are you using?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

I like to use either i scented of lavender castile soap, usually Dr. Browner's. The lavender seems to keep the bacteria from growing for a little longer than the i scented, but the other scents can be so strong they can damage the hide a bit under some conditions

[@johnygoodman6659]

@@BuckskinRevolution would Dawn dish soap will work? Or does it have to be an organic soap?

[@BuckskinRevolution]

@@johnygoodman6659 You want it to be a natural soap because what this does is dissolve the oils into smaller, water soluble particles. Dish soaps like Dawn and other non natural soaps contain detergents, which strip the oils from things, This is the opposite of what you want for tanning.

[@johnygoodman6659]

@@BuckskinRevolution awesome thx for the advice. I have 5 deer hides in the freezer and want to tan them. I've tanned hides with commercial products just never done it with natural materials. So at least I have 5 times to get it right haha

[@BuckskinRevolution]

@@johnygoodman6659 Hopefully it will only take one or two tries to make some lovely buckskin, and then the reset will be perfect!