This is a blog/forum for anyone who has questions about anything related to braintanning, whether you are  trying to brain tan your own hides or just want to know how we tan without losing our brains...ask away! We don't know it all, but we'll do our best to answer or find someone who can.

 

I also plan to post braintanning tips now and then that will be useful no matter which methods you use.

The first tip is fast framing. A homemade needle, a roll or two of plastic baling twine, a little practice and presto, five minute framing! (Click for video) Remember, speed comes with practice, expect more like 20 minutes the first few times you frame a hide. But this method is much faster for me than others I have used.

 

I make my lacing needles out of wood drill bits. It takes a bit of grinding and drilling, but they already have a nice point on them and hold it better than some softer metals.

Ok, we'll try smaller pics so they won't take too long to load. Here is a hide that has been brained once and pre-stretched well, and ready for the second braining.

 

 

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Last Updated (Thursday, 04 August 2011 21:10)

 

Comments  

 
0 #11 oldwood 2011-08-04 18:36
Thanks Loren, that is helpful info. Looking forward to the pictures.
 
 
0 #10 admin 2011-08-04 08:20
Oldwood,
Yes, I typically hand work them for awhile before framing. My hides are also usually "pre-stretched", that is, brained once and worked open until white-with no wet spots and then brained again. I do most of this work over my hand staker. A lot of times they are allowed to dry completely before the second braining. This pre-stretching makes for great brain penetration and eliminates most problems with hides coming out with stiff spots. On big, thick hides, I sometimes do the pre-stretch on the frame. Since I do a lot of hides, I need them to soften pretty easy- as I'm usually softening two or more at a time.

You want to leave some slack as you frame the hide. I'll try to get a pic of how much slack my hides have, as it's easier to show then to explain. It's possible to have too much slack, but I think people are more likely to frame them too tight-- I'd rather tighten the hide a bit during softening than try to loosen it up.
 
 
0 #9 oldwood 2011-08-03 14:50
Now I am assuming that you are framing for softening, and I think that you told me that you usually soften the edges by hand and cable first, then frame to soften the main body of the hide. If that is correct, then those edges are nice and soft for the needle to go right through easily? I am mostly hand softening, but have done a few on the frame, and the framed ones seem to end up with a spot or two, that just isn't quite soft enough. I end up smoking them some and back into the brains, then they come out nice, but it would be nice to get them soft the first time without having to go through the extra work, any suggestions. Also wonder about how tight they should be in the frame for softening?
 
 
0 #8 admin 2011-08-02 20:50
I make the holes as I put it on the frame. If you have a hide that's been framed before, it's actually slower to find the same holes and thread through them. If you look at the frame picture used for the back round on the site, you can see how I used to frame them on nails, Mike Searl style. Mike could frame those huge hides of his in about 7 minutes with the needle and nails.
 
 
0 #7 oldwood 2011-08-02 16:21
That drill bit needle is a cleaver idea. Do you punch holes ahead of time, or just make holes with the needle as you are lacing hide in frame?
 
 
0 #6 oldwood 2011-07-31 17:20
Ok, I'm not smarter than a 5th grader! Once I "logged-in", I got to see the video. :-) That is cool, what does your homemade needle look like. I have pictured one of those old sacking needles we used to sew gunny sacks closed when I was a kid, way back yonder.
oldwood
 
 
0 #5 oldwood 2011-07-31 15:31
I am clicking on the picture, but still no video that I can find Loren.
oldwood
 
 
0 #4 admin 2011-07-31 07:39
Ok, I changed the access level on Picasso, is it there now? It always shows up on my end, logged in or not.
 
 
0 #3 oldwood 2011-07-30 22:42
Loren, I can't find the video on lacing the hide in the frame.
oldwood
 
 
0 #2 Melvin Beattie 2011-07-25 21:08
Looks like the hide drapes over the staker very nicely. Nothing like hands on to understand how it feels to walk a mile in some else's moccasins.
 

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