Braintanned possibles bag

John M Cohea

John M Cohea

Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
2,655
At least that's what it was going to be until my daughter pleaded it away for use as a purse! Made from braintanned buckskin, the decorations include aged tin cones, horsehair,quilled medicine wheel,antique trade beads, and lots of twisted fringe. An antler button serves as a closure, and all cut edges are reinforced with lace. I know, it's not a sheath, but it does fall under "Such"!!
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Neat little possibles pouch, John. I can see why daughter had to have it. Now get ready to make one for each of her many friends.!!!

Paul
 
Looks great John. Did you smoke it after tanning?? Grandma used to smoke up the old pit fire with dead wood and let the smoke roll over the hides after they were tanned, stretched, and wringed out repeateadly using her old clothes wringer on the long dead washer. The only thing that worked on that thing was the wringer and she used it every deer season using the deer brains and hot hot hot water to soak the skins.

STR
 
Thanks guys. I did'nt tan the hide STR.I have a friend in Michigan who is a tanner, and this skin is some of hers.I trade her knives for skins and furs, and she lightly smoked this one for me per my request. When I got it it smelled like bacon!
 
John M Cohea said:
Thanks guys. I did'nt tan the hide STR.I have a friend in Michigan who is a tanner, and this skin is some of hers.I trade her knives for skins and furs, and she lightly smoked this one for me per my request. When I got it it smelled like bacon!
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I thought it may be smoked. Most do that after tanning but all I've seen got much darker than yours. If you don't smoke it after the brain tan it must never be allowed to get wet or it turns back to like rawhide. Smoke it and it dries and gets soft again. Not sure why. I doubt grandma did either. All she knew was that it worked.

STR
 
You can smoke it as dark as you want, I wanted this to be more of a light tan than a dark brown. I don't think that smoking is a must do thing, I think it is more for coloring than anything else, but I'm sure my friend would know more about this than me.
 
Thank you Stacy. It was my first attempt at something like this, and I was pleased with the way it turned out.
 
I don't think that smoking is a must do thing, I think it is more for coloring than anything else, but I'm sure my friend would know more about this than me.
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John - as STR noted smoking is ESSENTIAL - the smoking is actually what does the tanning - the braining just oils/softens it. Also if this bag was originally designed for shooting, then technically you'd be making a shooting pouch. FWIW the term possibles bag should only be used for larger bags in which clothing, etc - your possibles - were carried..

Now down off my podium LOL! - Paulette does some nice tanning and you turned it into a nice bag by whatever name! :D ;) :D
 
Thanks for the info Chuck.Paulette does do some first rate work, and I'm looking forward to getting my next trade box, in which I think will include some fur,more braintan, and other assorted goodies!
 
John, tell your daughter that if she ever tires of that bag, I have a daughter that would go ape over it!! You did a splendid job, friend!! ---Sandy---
 
Thanks Sandy! Compliements from such master craftsmen the likes of you, Paul, Chuck, Dave, and others here means more than ya'll know!.I don't think she'll be letting it go anytime soon. A lady tried to buy it from her right after I gave it to her, and she would'nt budge one bit!!
 
Nice bag. I used to do some braintanning and it's lots of work. I would dry scrape the hide both sides, soak overnite in water, stretch it around by hand then cook my pork brains after throwing them into a blender. Soak the hide in the brains then twist and wring the brains through it. Did that lots of times then restrung it to the frame and worked it dry all day. The wringer is a great idea to work the oils from the brains through the fibers. Smoking was another day process. Then there was making something. A lot of unseen work went into that nice bag. Keep it away from any dogs or cats. Don't ask me how I know. Didn't mean to ramble. Regards Loosearrow
 
Meant to answer the question about smoking the hide. The smoking seems to coat the individual fibers of the hide with creasote in the smoke. This keeps them from sticking back together and back to rawhide as mentioned correctly before. When you braintain and if you work it right you can feel the fibers moving back and forth like a cotton gauze would do. Depending on what you smoke with, no bacon grease, will determine the color, also how long you smoke it. Loosearrow
 
Thanks Loosearrow. Since I was corrected on my comment about not knowing if smoking was needed by Chuck, I spoke with Paulette, and she confirmed that you do have to smoke.As you stated, she puts a lot of work into her hides, and the finished hides reflect that work. Thanks again for the comments and info.
 
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