How to Brain Tan Leather

Leather is tanned to preserve it.

Leather is tanned to keep it from rotting -- and throughout history, leather was so commonly tanned with tannins leached from oak leaves -- that the chemical became the name of the process. An alternative was to treat leather with fat to make it soft before preserving it with smoke. This kind of tanning was called "brain tanning" because a brain was used to make the tanning solution. Today, most soft leathers are tanned in factories using chromium solutions; but some of this leather is still called "brain tanned."

Things You'll Need

• Fleshed, hairless, fresh animal hide
• Tap water
• Washtub
• Three pounds of pig brains
• Blender or food processor
• Six gallons of distilled water
• Large pot
• Wooden spoon
• Plastic garbage bag
• Freezer
• Four-by-eight foot sheet of plywood
• Claw hammer
• Nails
• Wooden baseball bat
• Smoke house
• Dry, semi-rotten firewood

Instructions

1. Soak a fleshed, hairless, fresh animal hide in tap water in a washtub to remove any drying preparation, if the hide has been salted. Change the water in the tub four times.

2. Empty the tub. Wring out the hide and return the hide to the washtub.

3. Cream one pound of pig brains in a blender or food processor. Warm two gallons of distilled water in a large pot.

4. Add the creamed pig brains to the warm water. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.

5. Prepare three or more batches of pig brains and warm, distilled water and pour all of the solution into the washtub on top of the hide. You may have to prepare more or less of this solution depending on the size of your hide. Buffalo and elk hides will require more solution than squirrel and rabbit hides.

6. Immerse the hide in the brain solution and soak for 24 hours. Roll the soaked hide and place it in a plastic garbage bag. Seal the bag and place the bag in a freezer for one week. Discard the pig brain solution.

7. Thaw the hide. Nail the thawed hide to a four-by-eight foot sheet of plywood using a claw hammer and nails. Nail the hide to the plywood, so the hide is stretched tight over the wood.

8. Stroke the hide with a wooden baseball bat using approximately the same motions you would use to thin dough with a rolling pin. Continue to stroke the hide until the hide is dry.

9. Smoke the dry hide in a smokehouse using dry, semi-rotten fire wood to produce the smoke. Smoke the hide for eight hours. Check the hide frequently, to ensure that the hide does not overheat and catch fire.

10. Pull the nails from the plywood with a claw hammer. Remove the hide from the plywood.

References

• Murphy Library, Univeristy of Wisconsin La Crosse; "Experiments in Hide Brain-Tanning"; Matthew Richter and Darby Dettloff; 2001
• Tennessee Wildlife resources Agency; "Tanning Deer Hides and Small Fur Skins"; Jon Boren et al.; October 2009