Whys my brain tan stiff

[Thenihilist]

I just finished tanning my first deer hide following John mcphersons guide, now I've finished smoking it its a lot stiffer than i thought it would be, not horrendous by any means but not as nice as i expected, i rolled it about and worked it trying to increase its flexibility but to no avail.What could have went wrong? I'm thinking i didn't stretch it enough but im not sure. Going to start work on another skin tommorow so need to know what could make it like thisCheers

 

[lannyman8]

not sure, how hot did it get???that might have cooked the leather a bit causing it to shrink a little and become hard......

 

[Thenihilist]

Wasn't hot at all, I hung it up at the top of my wikiup and made a smoky fire inside, tonnes of smoke but it was cool inside the wikiup.

 

[youngbushcrafter]

how long did you stretch it for mate?

 

[calgarychef]

You should know before you smoke it if its going to be soft or not....it already should be soft actually. What you can do is rebrain it, it should take up the solution easily. Pull it as you soak it to allow the fivers to open up and the brains will really get in deep and coat all th fivers. Then, rework it as it dries. I usually work deer over my knees and just pull it out as it dries using my hands. You have to make sure it's absolutely dry when you work it especially check the thicker areas on the neck and hips. If its even a bit damp it will toughen up again when it dries. Then smoke it when it's convenient to you. Also hanging it in smoke seems to jest get smoke on the outer layer, if you make it into a tube and tie it around a smoke stack it seems to "pump" the smoke right into the fibres. You'll see the hide puff up like a balloon if you do it properly.

All is not lost just do it again and it'll be fine.

 

[Thenihilist]

Before I smoked it it was beautifally soft.

Just gave it a stretching round a pole and its back to being supersoft. Is there such a thing as over smoking? It was left to smoke for 36 hours, with me there sovit never got hot.