Since I was playing with oil soap, I decided I might as well try the brain tanning it's supposed to be an alternative for. And egg yolk too, since I'd heard it mentioned a few times.
Let me be strait out here, and say that I'm not any kind of authority on this.
I'm a spoiled modern hobby tanner who likes my new-fangled chemicals and what I consider much more guaranteed results.
For pelts that are important to me, I treat them with salt, saftee acid, a syn-tan, and a neatsfoot oil based tanning oil. Every tanner has different preferences. It's to be expected.
My understanding is that brain-tans or oil tans aren't as suited for hair-on pelts as they are for hair-off buckskin leather. The danger of slip is greater with this method than a method that uses salt and an acid pickle.
That disclaimer aside. There is a lot of environmental concern over harsher chemicals and even the salt used in tanning, and I feel it's certainly worth it to explore alternative methods.
I was able to get these pelts to come out OK. Each one broke supple. All were very thin doeling pelts. There was only one patch of slip on the blue pelt I brained, the problem seemingly grease burn from too much brains on too thin of a pelt.
All were treated exactly the same. Simply fleshed from a raw state, "oiled" with the substance marked, and broken soft.
I guess I just wanted to list my thoughts about the whole thing.
The actual brained pelt has the softest leather and the best stretch of the three. It does however, smell weird. I do not appreciate the aroma at all. I used VERY fresh brains so I know that is not the problem.. There is also a good amount of grease that was left in the fur from the whole process, brains getting on my hands, etc.
My overall opinion: Brains are greasy and smelly and I don't like using them on furs. I'll probably try making a properly de-haired, brained, and smoked buckskin in the future. Maybe the smoke helps neutralize the odor some?
The egg is an interesting in-between. Reminds me of the oil soap in stretch and suppleness. The smell is a lot like raw meat and egg. It's better than brains but I still wouldn't want to make a pillow out of it. Also some concern for attracting insects and hungry pets. I had to cut away good bit of dried egg that had gotten into the fur around the edges. Well, now that I think about it, it has all the disadvantages of the other two substances, and none of the strengths!
I do feel that the Murpy brand oil soaped pelt was the nicest to work with. It's pretty supple. Poor stretch. No greasy mess or dried stuff left in the fur which really surprised me. It has a citronella-like smell.
It's the only one of the three that I'd toss on my pillow. (mainly because of the odors on the other two)
Let me be strait out here, and say that I'm not any kind of authority on this.
I'm a spoiled modern hobby tanner who likes my new-fangled chemicals and what I consider much more guaranteed results.
For pelts that are important to me, I treat them with salt, saftee acid, a syn-tan, and a neatsfoot oil based tanning oil. Every tanner has different preferences. It's to be expected.
My understanding is that brain-tans or oil tans aren't as suited for hair-on pelts as they are for hair-off buckskin leather. The danger of slip is greater with this method than a method that uses salt and an acid pickle.
That disclaimer aside. There is a lot of environmental concern over harsher chemicals and even the salt used in tanning, and I feel it's certainly worth it to explore alternative methods.
I was able to get these pelts to come out OK. Each one broke supple. All were very thin doeling pelts. There was only one patch of slip on the blue pelt I brained, the problem seemingly grease burn from too much brains on too thin of a pelt.
All were treated exactly the same. Simply fleshed from a raw state, "oiled" with the substance marked, and broken soft.
I guess I just wanted to list my thoughts about the whole thing.
The actual brained pelt has the softest leather and the best stretch of the three. It does however, smell weird. I do not appreciate the aroma at all. I used VERY fresh brains so I know that is not the problem.. There is also a good amount of grease that was left in the fur from the whole process, brains getting on my hands, etc.
My overall opinion: Brains are greasy and smelly and I don't like using them on furs. I'll probably try making a properly de-haired, brained, and smoked buckskin in the future. Maybe the smoke helps neutralize the odor some?
The egg is an interesting in-between. Reminds me of the oil soap in stretch and suppleness. The smell is a lot like raw meat and egg. It's better than brains but I still wouldn't want to make a pillow out of it. Also some concern for attracting insects and hungry pets. I had to cut away good bit of dried egg that had gotten into the fur around the edges. Well, now that I think about it, it has all the disadvantages of the other two substances, and none of the strengths!
I do feel that the Murpy brand oil soaped pelt was the nicest to work with. It's pretty supple. Poor stretch. No greasy mess or dried stuff left in the fur which really surprised me. It has a citronella-like smell.
It's the only one of the three that I'd toss on my pillow. (mainly because of the odors on the other two)