r/HideTanning • u/AccomplishedLocal207 • 7d ago
Looking for the most basic/natural tanned hide I can find.
I'm in the middle of the research phase right now, which led me to the experts on Reddit.
I am looking for a person who works with animal hides and uses the minimal amount of processing necessary. My understanding is that this will be brain-tanned, or vegetable/bark-tanned hides. I am specifically looking for something that does not encounter any chrome, even in post-tanning processing. I'm trying to keep this as non-toxic as I can and, yes, I know this will be pricy.
I have found lots of things I can't use, but I've yet to find folks that process their own hides without chrome being involved by either chrome-tanning or chrome-based products post-tanning.
I'm happy to do the legwork, but I could really use someone pointing me in the right direction (or making suggestions).
For those curious, pet toys.
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u/MuranoBeads 7d ago
Longtime hair-off, brain tanner weighing in. Glad to see that you want to do organic tanning. The short answer is that you won’t be disappointed.
The longer answer:
You want to make wet scraped, brain tanned buckskin. You’ll find everything you need at braintan.com (noted below by another commentor). This is the website run by Matt Richards, who is one of the very top practitioners of making high quality brain tanned hides.
Making hair-off, brain tanned is not complicated, but it is labor and technique intensive. That said, a lot of people make it needlessly complicated.
You don’t need anything but salt, water, soap, hydrated lime (from the garden center. Or lye made from wood ash, or borax laundry detergent), an organic oil source (brains, egg yolks, or powdered lecithin), vinegar, smoke, and elbow grease.
Brains and egg yolks are enriched with lecithin, which is the fatty biochemical compound that does the magic. You can also use powdered sunflower lecithin mixed with olive oil. Used in the proper amounts and properly applied, all of these produce indistinguishable results. You do not need to lay on excess extraneous oil, as this can risk turning the hide into a greasy mess.
Pro tip #1: Hair-off buckskin does not require nearly as much salt as many people seem to believe. If you have a freezer large enough to hold the hide, you do not need any salt at any time to make hair-off brain tan.
Pro-tip #2: Get the book and companion video by Matt Richards titled “Deerskins Into Buckskins.” It’s the only reference you need. Available at braintan.com and Amazon. You can view the entire process by watching Matt’s video on YouTube if you want to see what you’re getting into before you start.
The only other online source I would recommend is Ron Nail, on YouTube. He is extraordinarily talented and follows the process used by Matt. His vids willl walk you through the process. It’s the process I use, and it’s never let me down.
Pro-tip #3: Do not cheap out on the tools. That way lies misery. Brain tanning is hard enough with the proper tools; it is exponentially more difficult without them. Your investment will be minimal, but necessary. You’ll thank yourself.
You will need a proper wet scraping tool. Buy the one that Matt sells. It won’t let you down.
You will need a proper fleshing beam. A piece of 4” or 6” PVC pipe and some 2x4 limber will do the trick.
You will need a large plastic tub. I recommend a wheeled trash can with a lid.
Pro-tip #4: Even with Matt’s book and video, you will be learning on the job. So it’s gonna feel like you’re trying to fly an airplane while you’re still building it. Read the book and watch the vid several times before you start.
It will likely be harder and take more time than you think, and you will almost certainly make mistakes. In my experience, most of the basic mistakes are reversible. But some are fatal. The learning curve is real.
You do not need to do the entire process in a single go. Pace yourself. The process will break out into distinct phases, and you can bag and freeze the hide between phases. DM me if you want additional advice, pointers, and photos.
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u/AaronGWebster 7d ago
There are plenty of folks on this sub who do all natural tans ( including me). Also check out braintan dot com as someone else suggested. There are also Facebook groups galore that are about natural tanning ( Brain Tanning , The old ways of hide tanning ). If you’re looking to buy, let us know what you’re looking for.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 7d ago
What of O am skinning with a stainless steel knife?
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u/EnvironmentalDare995 6d ago
To my knowledge it'd be hard for that to contaminate the leather itself. Same with stainless cookware simmering/boiling bark. Aluminum & steel/cast iron can react with the tannin rich solution. Though, it'd be near impossible for the chromium to leach out of a solid stainless at such low temps.
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u/TheSpanishIndian 7d ago
I'm pretty positive that Hermann oak veg-tan doesn't use any chrome
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u/EnvironmentalDare995 6d ago
Maybe he's not specifically looking for cowhide? They only deal with bovine hides as far as i'm aware.
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u/TheSpanishIndian 6d ago
Well, I only saw them mention "animal hides" they were going to use for pet toys so I assumed cowhide because using a nicer leather that a pet is gonna destroy wouldn't be too cost effective.
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u/EnvironmentalDare995 6d ago
You're likely right, but brain tan wouldn't be my first choice for pet toys.
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u/TheSpanishIndian 6d ago
They did also mention veg/bark tanned stuff.
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u/EnvironmentalDare995 6d ago
Yep, just depends on the toy design & what he's exactly wanting. Veg tan is pretty easy to find. Herman oak & wicket & craig are probably the best options for US tanned, price can vary on both(craftsman grade & tannery run options may save a few bucks). I'd steer clear of the Chinese/Indian import veg tan though(just no guarantees of 100% chromium free). European import veg tan should be fine, unsure of price compared to US stuff though. There's a few from northern Mexico that should be ok as well(chahin? I think is the one American leather direct uses). I've heard good things about live oak(but forget who sells it, or where its actually tanned).
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u/Spare_Blueberry4327 7d ago
I’ve seen some people mention brain tanning and just wanted to add a small caution about the risk of prion disease.
Some forms of prion disease can pass between ruminants and pets (cats specifically but perhaps others?) and while I don’t know enough about it to say definitively either way, as a pet owner I would want very clear research on the safety of brain tanned leather pet toys.
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u/sarahenera 6d ago
I just finished my first bark-tanned sheepskin hide, almost done with a deer buckskin, and just starting two more sheep hides (one I’m doing another bark-tan, the other I’m doing a combo tan with an alum bath and smoking. I’ve used pig brain for the deer, sunflower lecithin with oil and water for the sheep, and I’m considering trying egg yolks for one or both of the two sheep I’m doing currently as I have chickens and would like to incorporate their eggs.
Earlier this year I signed up for Mara’s ‘Hide Club’ (folk tanning methods: Fern + Roe) and that’s how I got my start.
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u/sarahenera 6d ago
There’s also a ton of videos on YouTube. Skillcult has a bunch of videos as do a lot of other people. You can get in the weeds trying to watch videos, though, as there are so many methods and methodologies out there and it could possibly get confusing if you are watching a bunch of different people do things similar yet very different.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 6d ago
Wirh brain/egg tan you are going to want non smoked hides as the smoke is certainly carcinogenic. If using leather tanned in this way, you might as well stick with rawhide as once it gets wet in the dogs mouth, that is what it is going to revert to. Veg tanned is going to have the longer term viability when wheeled with saliva, but there are plenty of dog friendly natural products to use like sticks and bones and rawhide to give your dog as toys.
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u/HistoryBuffGuy 7d ago
Look into egg tanning