Often the hide would be soaked in water and ash before this process to help loosen the hair. To tan the hide, the Algonquians removed the brains from the deer and made them into a watery paste, smearing the concoction onto the hide. This transformed the skin into workable leather.
The Native Americans use the brain tanning process to tan the hide. It was commonly said that every animal has enough brains to tan its own hide. The brains of the buffalo were placed in a pot of water and boiled until it was turned into a watery paste. This watery paste or solution was then applied to the hide.
Work the hide over a horizontal pole on both sides and different directions. Then, stretch the skin by hand by hooking the holes along one side of the skin on a vertical pole or peg and pulling the skin (total of 4 pulls), soak for 1 hour. Repeat 3 more times, soak it each night.
First, the hide's layer of fat was removed with clay and it was then covered with a mixture of animal brain, liver, fat, and salt. The hides were then sewn together into a round tent with needles made from bone or horn and smoked over an open fire—present in the smoke was phenol, an active tanning ingredient.
At a tannery near Vaniyambadi, Tamil Nadu, India, workers handle hides that have been soaking in buckets filled with a chromium solution. The chromium bath produces a tanned leather known at this stage of the process as “wet blue.” Tanned hides are softened and stretched at India's Kolkata Leather Complex.
Once the hair, fat and flesh had been removed, the hide was laid out in pits with water and the crushed bark from oak trees. This ensured that the leather did not perish. The process is called 'tanning', and it could take months depending on the thickness of the hide.
Chamois leather is tanned with cod liver oils. Eskimos used a paste made from brains, liver, and hot water to tan leather.
Create the tan bath by mixing 1/2 cup of Pickle Tan A-21 and 3/4 cup of salt to EACH gallon of HOT water in the same plastic or rubber container you used for your rehydration bath, making sure to mix enough solution to fully submerge your hide.
Chromium(III) sulfate ([Cr(H 2O) 6] 2(SO 4) 3) has long been regarded as the most efficient and effective tanning agent. Chromium(III) compounds of the sort used in tanning are significantly less toxic than hexavalent chromium, although the latter arises in inadequate waste treatment.
All human ancestry can be traced back to African populations, which were dark-skinned to protect them from the intense UV rays of the sun. Over time, humans spread to other parts of the world, and people in the northern latitudes with lower UV developed lighter skin through natural selection.
Any hide-tanning oil you buy will likely have its own instructions on this process, but the basic premise is that you submerge your hide in a “pickling” solution of an acid and salt. We use white distilled vinegar in a 1:1 ratio with water (usually about 4 gallons total is enough to cover a single deer hide).
As no metal tools were available, the natives used bone, stone, and oyster shells to scrape the fleshy parts away from the hide. Next, the hair needed to be removed. Turning the skin over, the same tools were used to scrape the hair away.
Salting is one of the most important steps in tanning. Salting is what sets the hair and keeps the hide from decaying.
In the first century AD, the Roman's so valued the use of urine in the tanning industry that they imposed a tax upon it (the Roman Pee Tax. Most cultures never went that far in acclaiming it's worth. However vast numbers of cultures did discover the value of urine in tanning animal skins.
Native American tribes used sunflower oil and pine needles to protect their skin. In addition, these natural ingredients were used to treat bad sunburns.
Buckskin is the soft, pliable, porous preserved hide of an animal – usually deer – tanned in the same way as deerskin clothing worn by Native Americans. Some leather sold as "buckskin" may now be sheepskin tanned with modern chromate tanning chemicals and dyed to resemble real buckskin.
From ancient times leather makers have used tannin derived from tree bark and certain plant leaves. In some variations of the process, alum or cedar oil were applied to the skin as a tanning agent and, as the skin was stretched, it would absorb the agent. Leftover leather could be used to make adhesive.
It is common knowledge that some types of leather are tanned with chemicals and they can be a detriment to the environment. Vegetable-tanned leather, however, is crafted through a more natural process, without any toxic chemicals.
Smells arising from tanneries usually result from mistakes in the process, but issues with the hides can also cause unpleasant smells. Hides and skins that haven't been stored properly and have allowed to start decompose (rot) can be a source of foul odours.
Use 1/2 lb of table salt per gallon of water and extremely hot water to dissolve the salt. Mix thoroughly until salt is dissolved and let the water cool. Immerse the hide in the solution and leave for six to eight hours. Overnight is fine, but if you leave it too long, the hair will start falling off the hide.
With BuckTan Softening Oil, taxidermy tanning has never been easier. The water-based oil extends the “life” of a deer hide and other animal hides while assisting in a tan that is more workable for the taxidermist. BuckTan Hide Softening Oil is fully synthetic yet compatible with a water rinse.
A common misconception is that a skin can be stabilized using just salt or Borax. Borax is one of the worst things you can put on a skin to "preserve" it - it does nothing to preserve the skin and can prevent a proper tanning in the future.
As humans migrated to colder climates with less sun exposure, their skin became fairer, adapting to this change in environment. Inuit and other similar groups have kept darker skin because they get most of their vitamin D from the food they eat- specifically lots of fatty fish, which is very rich in vitamin D.
Brain tanning: Soaking your hide in brains, and Softening
The fat and lecithin in brains make them ideal for creating your “tanning” solution. If you don't have brains, you can always use egg yolks. They also have fat and lecithin, but don't quite have the magic or grossness of brains.
Though Vegetable Tanning is perhaps the oldest method of tanning, using tannins from organic matter such as tree bark, leaves, and nuts, it is now a specialty type of tanning.