Post by longtrail on Jan 30, 2009 14:29:01 GMT -5
Needless to say, my trip to Africa and my stay with our friend Hannes was incredible. I have to admit that is all seems like a dream now that I am back home in the frozen north.
I have to come right out and say that my tanning experience did not go well. I was working with animals whose hides were so unlike the hides of the elk, deer and antelope Joe and I work with here in Montana.
When the classes first started I had five or so students. A couple of the men had come from different areas of Africa and some were regulars on the Donkey Valley Farm.
Hannes's on site handyman and amazing tool builder had constructed two very nice scraping beams. When I first saw them I thought they would fall forward when pressure was applied but that was not the case.
Here's Pete playing the saw !!!
Joe and I are thinking about building us a couple just like these. The PVC pipe is left unsecured to the wood so it is easy to turn the pipe slightly. Really nice, lightweight construction ! Go Pete !!
We started out doing three hides. Marius, who is a leather worker and oxen team driver from Elizabeth S.A. started one, as well as Conner a young Scottish boy and one more was started.
Those hides were from an animal whose name I can not recall but as I said, the hides were nothing like what we work with here. When the epidermis was scraped off, most of the hide remained feeling like nothing had been done to it. The back part of the hide, or the whole area from mid back to hips, resembled a cuticle or soft fingernail in texture. Not only the outsides of the hide but also all the way through. Our hides when fleshed and dehaird, feel like damp leather, where as these hides felt like damp Samsonite luggage. Onward !!! Think positive! So we got them fleshed, dehaired, opened before prebraining, pre-brained and on the line to dry. Only drying them was not easy. The weather did not cooperated much as it rained and rained. Marius, had to leave with his hide in the pre-stretched phase but said he was happy with what he has learned, all being new to him.
He took time to show us how to do some basic braiding for the reins he makes for his oxen team.
He made a give of a very nice lampshade with the "big five"(five most popular animals) He did some very nice leather braiding, which made me think of Paulette right off.
After the remaining hides were pre-stretched, it was time for them to be smoked. Hannes had built a very nice smoker, but it was a bit larger than ours so I had a tent within a tent constructed as to less the amount of area to be smoked.
The first hide we smoked and then brained, did not go into the brain solution very well, not like ours that literally feel they are melting into the solution. I knew at this point, well actually before, that we would be very fortunate if this hide did actually soften. It didn't.
The second hide I smoked and then brained went into the solution much easier, and I thought there might be a chance it would soften. Even when it was put on the frame to soften, it felt nice and stretchy, but as it dried, even from the very edges to the whole hide, the inner layer hardened. The outsides were soft to the touch, lots of texture on the hair side, but it would not soften.
The third hide that made it to the smoker, was a very small, thin, deer hide. Hannes said that this hide was from and animal who shed its horns, where as the other two hides were from animals who did not shed their horns. This little hide felt more like ours and I was confident it would soften like ours do. During the process of soaking three times, it began to fall apart. I asked Hannes if he knew how it was handled before he got it, and he said he got it soon after it had been skinned, but that it had been in the freezer for over a year. I suspected freezer burn may have been an issue since it was thin and small. At any rate out of the three hides, I failed miserably on all three. Pretty depressing actually, go all the way there, and then not have even one hide come out like ours do. I did take samples of our elk for everyone to see how our hides come out.
Hannes has decided that he likes wet scraping the hides more than bucking them, and plans on using a mixture of methods to see if he can get those particular breed of hides to soften.
I am sure that many of you think you could have softened them, and perhaps you could have. But then again maybe not. Someone said I should have dry scraped them. Well that is not in the method we use and I was not going to experiment with that aspect of tanning. Our method works extremely well with the Elk, deer and antelope we have here, so I guess if you plan on moving to Africa, and brain tanning the hides there, you will need to experiment too. Anyway, here are some random photos of the tanning and some other photos of Donkey Valley Farm. Enjoy.
Hannes and I drove quite a ways from DVF to pick up some dried hides. I had to take a photo of the welcome we got. Never have I gotten tea and biscuits when I went to pick up hides !!! I'm totally spoiled now!!!!!!
I caught a cold from the gal I sat next to on the plane! Gag, wheeze, cough. Will add more photos later. lt
I have to come right out and say that my tanning experience did not go well. I was working with animals whose hides were so unlike the hides of the elk, deer and antelope Joe and I work with here in Montana.
When the classes first started I had five or so students. A couple of the men had come from different areas of Africa and some were regulars on the Donkey Valley Farm.
Hannes's on site handyman and amazing tool builder had constructed two very nice scraping beams. When I first saw them I thought they would fall forward when pressure was applied but that was not the case.
Here's Pete playing the saw !!!
Joe and I are thinking about building us a couple just like these. The PVC pipe is left unsecured to the wood so it is easy to turn the pipe slightly. Really nice, lightweight construction ! Go Pete !!
We started out doing three hides. Marius, who is a leather worker and oxen team driver from Elizabeth S.A. started one, as well as Conner a young Scottish boy and one more was started.
Those hides were from an animal whose name I can not recall but as I said, the hides were nothing like what we work with here. When the epidermis was scraped off, most of the hide remained feeling like nothing had been done to it. The back part of the hide, or the whole area from mid back to hips, resembled a cuticle or soft fingernail in texture. Not only the outsides of the hide but also all the way through. Our hides when fleshed and dehaird, feel like damp leather, where as these hides felt like damp Samsonite luggage. Onward !!! Think positive! So we got them fleshed, dehaired, opened before prebraining, pre-brained and on the line to dry. Only drying them was not easy. The weather did not cooperated much as it rained and rained. Marius, had to leave with his hide in the pre-stretched phase but said he was happy with what he has learned, all being new to him.
He took time to show us how to do some basic braiding for the reins he makes for his oxen team.
He made a give of a very nice lampshade with the "big five"(five most popular animals) He did some very nice leather braiding, which made me think of Paulette right off.
After the remaining hides were pre-stretched, it was time for them to be smoked. Hannes had built a very nice smoker, but it was a bit larger than ours so I had a tent within a tent constructed as to less the amount of area to be smoked.
The first hide we smoked and then brained, did not go into the brain solution very well, not like ours that literally feel they are melting into the solution. I knew at this point, well actually before, that we would be very fortunate if this hide did actually soften. It didn't.
The second hide I smoked and then brained went into the solution much easier, and I thought there might be a chance it would soften. Even when it was put on the frame to soften, it felt nice and stretchy, but as it dried, even from the very edges to the whole hide, the inner layer hardened. The outsides were soft to the touch, lots of texture on the hair side, but it would not soften.
The third hide that made it to the smoker, was a very small, thin, deer hide. Hannes said that this hide was from and animal who shed its horns, where as the other two hides were from animals who did not shed their horns. This little hide felt more like ours and I was confident it would soften like ours do. During the process of soaking three times, it began to fall apart. I asked Hannes if he knew how it was handled before he got it, and he said he got it soon after it had been skinned, but that it had been in the freezer for over a year. I suspected freezer burn may have been an issue since it was thin and small. At any rate out of the three hides, I failed miserably on all three. Pretty depressing actually, go all the way there, and then not have even one hide come out like ours do. I did take samples of our elk for everyone to see how our hides come out.
Hannes has decided that he likes wet scraping the hides more than bucking them, and plans on using a mixture of methods to see if he can get those particular breed of hides to soften.
I am sure that many of you think you could have softened them, and perhaps you could have. But then again maybe not. Someone said I should have dry scraped them. Well that is not in the method we use and I was not going to experiment with that aspect of tanning. Our method works extremely well with the Elk, deer and antelope we have here, so I guess if you plan on moving to Africa, and brain tanning the hides there, you will need to experiment too. Anyway, here are some random photos of the tanning and some other photos of Donkey Valley Farm. Enjoy.
Hannes and I drove quite a ways from DVF to pick up some dried hides. I had to take a photo of the welcome we got. Never have I gotten tea and biscuits when I went to pick up hides !!! I'm totally spoiled now!!!!!!
I caught a cold from the gal I sat next to on the plane! Gag, wheeze, cough. Will add more photos later. lt