Brain Tanning Buffalo Hides: page 6

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Contents
Introduction
Native American Use
Getting Ready to Tan
Fleshing, Thinning, Braining
Softening
Smoking & Conclusion

Finishing

After both halves have been softened, I cut a section off from each half along the spine. This helps me to control the size of the finished product and also takes away the somewhat uneven and not completely tanned edge. Then I sew the two halves together to make the finished robe. The leftover pieces of hide can be used for various smaller projects. Boller for example writes of these segments: "When a sufficient number accumulates, these pieces are sewed together and used as beds". The lacing/stake holes around the skin can be cut off but I leave them intact. On some hides, native people cut the somewhat un-tanned edges at intervals to maximize flexibility. This method can be seen on many paintings of Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, who during his travels in 1833/4, made drawings of tribes people. These are among the most detailed and accurate representations available for study.

Photo on the left: Buffalo hide set up
for smoking at the Rattlesnake
Rendezvous in Sunol, California.

Smoking the hide

As with any brain-tanned product, the hide should be smoked. This process keeps it from becoming stiff should the robe get wet and will also help to keep dermis-eating bugs out of it. A lot of the hides in museums do not seem to be smoked as tanner Wes Housler also observed. (Editor's note: but native people's lived around camp-fires and no doubt their hides got functionally smoked in the regular process of daily life, as it doesn't take all that much smoke to effect the change). Check out his article on tanning bison hides at Braintan.com.

I lace up my hide like a sleeping bag through the lacing holes, hair side out. Then I suspend it from a tree, hanging about 1 1/2 feet above a smoldering fire and tie a cloth around the bottom to funnel the smoke into it. To keep the sides of the hide from touching I arrange sticks in the interior, so that the smoke can circulate freely. I smoke the hide from 6 to 8 hours. For more detail on the smoking of brain-tanned hides, see "The Ancient Art of Tanning Buckskin" by Steve Edholm and Tamara Wilder. The smoking is the final step in the tanning process, so once that has been finished, the item is ready for use.

Parting Thoughts

If, after prolonged use, it seems necessary to clean the robe, various sources state that moist white clay was used for this purpose. It was rubbed into the flesh side of the robe to absorb dirt and grease and was then shaken out after the clay had dried. To clean the hair side, Jim Miller for example simply leaves his robes out in a light rain. The finished product is a great "keep me warm" item for the house (if you do not object to the somewhat "wild natural" smell) or for camping trips. Unfortunately, the hides are somewhat too bulky for backpacking, unless you find someone to carry them for you.

For additional information, comments or inquiries about my robes, please contact me, Markus Klek at: markusklek@hotmail.com

In addition, I would especially like to thank Jim Miller for introducing me to the art of tanning buffalo hides, my friend Travis Dietz for his patience with the editing, and my wife Tamara for putting up with my "hobbies". Thanks also to all the other people that helped me in creating this article.

References and books of interest:

For the most complete guide to tanning Buffalo robes, we recommend How To Brain-Tan a Buffalo Hide by
Wes Housler.

- "Braintan Buffalo Robes Skins and Pelts" by Jim Miller
- "Among the Indians" by Henry A. Boller
- "Memories of a White Crow Indian" told by Thomas B. Marquis
- "The Cheyenne Indians Vol. 1" by George Bird Grinnell
- "The Ancient Art of Tanning Buckskin" by Steven Edholm and Tamara Wilder
- "Leather" by Lotha Rahme
- "The Ecological Indian" by Shepard Krech
- "Karl Bodmers America" by University of Nebraska Press
- "Robes of Splendor" by New York Press
- "Seeing the White Buffalo" by Robert B. Pickering
- "Buckskin and Buffalo" by Colin F. Taylor
- "The Cheyenne in Plains Indians Trade Relations" by Joseph Jablow
- "Buffalo Nation" by Valarius Geist
- "Sacred Buffalo" by Sycamore Island Books
- "Blackfeet and Buffalo" by James W. Schultz
- "Andele, the Mexican-Kiowa captive" by J.J. Methvin
- "The Sacred Pipe" by Joseph Epes Brown
- "Women of the Earth Lodges" by Virginia Peters