![]() Fontenelle asserted this evening, to knowing ones, that the American Fur company at their posts on the Miss. Moving up in time to the early 1800’s we find a commercial use for tanned robes. With hide tipis, and the tanning of buffalo hides in process Obviously this style of life and dwelling didn’t come about over night, so we can assume that the history of buffalo tanning is lost to antiquity and is probably quite old.Ī drawing by George Catlin from the late 1830’s of Plains Indians He further goes on to describe a buffalo hide tipi and its framework of poles. In Coronado’s expedition through the Great Plains of 1540-42, he claimed to have seen buffalo hunter’s living in skin tents. Starting somewhere near the beginning, indigenous people of North America were tanning buffalo in all probability before Columbus. Maybe a little history of the buffalo trade would be of interest. Funny that should come up, since I just so happen to have a tape available called of all things “How to Brain-Tan a Buffalo Hide” History This article will cover some of my insights into the nuances while working with these hides, rather than the step by step process of tanning one, it would take a book or video tape to do that (shameless plug). Not to brag (maybe a little) but to justify Matt’s trust in me and because of the credence people put on numbers, I will tell you that I have tanned well over 500 buffalo hides, and built 3 buffalo hide tipis. Wes’s excellent video is one of the few items we’ve chosen to sell in the Store I hope most that from this, new people will emerge with new ideas concerning the tanning of buffalo hides and my learning line will start resembling a curve. My path has been one way and narrow-minded (anyone who knows me will attest to that) since I lacked support from fellow tanners and had no one to give me fresh insights. Please remember as I lay down the rest of this article that I have learned to tan through trial and error. After I had finished 50 or so hides, I finally started getting a feeling for what to do and what was happening. With little in the way of help from like minded peer’s (thank goodness for sites like this today) I continued forward. Even so I could see definite progress and my results were improving. To make a long story short I’ll pass by the first ten robes and just say my learning curve was more similar to a horizontal line than a curve. Looking for information I researched any old account I could find, and armed with a couple paragraphs I set out to tan a robe. ![]() I started with deer as most do and progressed to elk…but on the horizon loomed the buffalo robe I saw behind the museum glass, elusive like a rainbow. ![]() I started tanning in ’73 or ’74 the dark ages compared with the availability of today’s information. I would like to introduce myself and give you some of my background. I’m honored that Matt has asked me to write an article for his buffalo page. Once you hazave one, you’ll very quickly learn how special of an item you have.Wrapped up in a Buffalo Robe tanned by Wes Housler with quillwork by Chris Ravenshead A buffalo hide is definitely a coveted item on the plains. One can clearly understand why this process is such a delicate work. It’s not a matter of hard work but an even distribution of time and patience. Once this is all done you can understand why such an outrages price is requested for the work on a buffalo hide. The purpose of smoking the hide is so that you get that brown beautiful color and for the purpose of weather proofing it. The hide needs to dry and then needs to be rehydrated with oil or fat, this process is repeated until you get the desired plush feel of the leather.Īfter that week of work on your buffalo hide, you’ll need to smoke it. Several treatments will be needed to be administered to the hide over a duration of a few days. Applying oil and, usually the brain of the animal in most cases for a buffalo hide. Once all of the membrane and excess has been removed from the hide, the next process is called tanning. You’re basically removing membrane, meat and skin excess off of the hide. Once the hide of the Buffalo has been removed, a process called “fleshing” needs to be done to the hide. ![]() When you think about it, ancestors of the plains needed to know where to cut and how deep they needed to cut for the purpose of the leather, raw hide or fur they would obtain with the hide. ![]() When removing the hide, it takes finesse and skilled personnel so they don’t cut or make any mistakes when they remove the animal skin. You better let your skinners know what you plan on doing with it. If you plan on tanning a buffalo robe, start with the harvest of a buffalo. The process begins with the skinning of the animal. ![]()
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