A buckskin i am working on. After scraping it and stretching it and scraping it even more, i soaked it in hardwood ash lye and then softened it with fat. What people call brain-tanning, basically, although it might be more right to call it bucking and oil finishing. The lye preserved the hide and the lipids made it more supple. . . After that i tanned it for real with walnut hulls. They contain gallic acid, tannic acid, and conjugated tannins, which are like a small medium and large version of the same molecular theme. They sort of cook or digest the proteins, chemically changing the substance from skin to leather. Because of the way that it was wadded up in the tanning solution, some parts take more color than others, which creates a nice visual effect and will probably serve to break up my outline if i am wearing it in the woods. . . #buckskin #tanning #braintanning #shibori #sortof #primitiveskills #lexingtonky #deer #hunting #survival #clothing
