Written by Josh Smallwood (Cherokee)
While I stood at the kitchen counter with my wife’s blender set on high, I watched the deer brains being blended into a thick strawberry-colored milkshake consistency and wondered how this must have been done by my Native ancestors. As a kid, my dad was the first to pique my interest in tanning hides. He took me hunting when I was 8 years old, and with his gun he made a perfect shot to the head of a running rabbit, making sure not to damage the meat we would later eat. When we came home to skin it, he took some blood from that rabbit on his finger, and he put it in my mouth and told me I would always be a good hunter from then on. He gave me the rabbit skin and showed me how to stretch it out to dry, then scrape it and rub some oil on it to make it soft. When I asked my dad how he knew all this stuff, he said to me, “well my dad was Cherokee and he was very proud of it, and I’m Cherokee, and that makes you Cherokee.” He only knew the basics about hide preservation, and he didn’t know how to brain-tan. While I kept that hide for a long time, it was never as soft and pliable as I would have liked. When I got older and started brain-tanning deer skins, he showed me how to make hide glue from the hide scrapings. He also showed me the basics of bow making. I asked him, “How do you know how to do this?” He said to me, “well, I grew up in the Great Depression, and we were poor, so if you wanted something you had to make it yourself.” Because we had a good source of white clay in Georgia, I also made clay pots.
As a kid, the bows, arrows, animal skins and clay pots that I made were never that great. They were very primitive at best and looked like something a kid made. But as I grew older, I continued my interest in making stick bows, tanning hides, and making pottery. I had to do a lot of research and trial-and-error, and of course other life obstacles were always in the way, but I kept at it. I followed the teachings of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee as I learned, so that I would learn the traditional ways of the Cherokee as much as possible. But I also looked across cultures to see how other people did things. Sometimes this knowledge filled in the gaps of other teachings. And over time I got better at each thing I did. Today, I still don’t consider myself to be a master at any one thing, but I am pretty good at making brain-tan leather, traditional archery, and clay pots, among other things, to the point that I can now share that knowledge with others.
Deer are plentiful here in the Chumash Nation, and deer hunting was and still is important to Chumash culture. A lot of you hunt or have family members who hunt. Being outdoors is a wonderful way to spend time with friends and family, whether you are hunting, fishing, hiking, or just taking a walk or having a picnic. I’m hoping I can help revive or stimulate an interest in hide tanning the traditional way. The Chumash, of course, have been passed down their ancestors’ knowledge of brain-tanning in written recipes, oral history, and ethnographic accounts, so I am not teaching anything the Chumash don’t already know. I wish to merely stimulate interest and possibly help fill in gaps in traditional knowledge which may have been lost over time.
Why brain-tan?
The brain-tan method is the oldest method in the world. The basic principles are the same, whether you are Chumash or Cherokee, Assiniboine or Apache, Zacateca or Zuni. Brain-tanned leather is the highest quality leather used for garments. It is beautiful, strong, durable, long-lasting, soft as flannel, all-natural, and smells delightful. Brain-tan is unlike any other leather you have ever felt or seen or smelled. It also represents true indigenous culture, as opposed to the commercial-tanned leather that is so commonly used today. Don’t be fooled by imitation brain-tan; it looks and feels and smells nothing like real brain-tan leather.
Our Native ancestors knew the science which was involved in brain-tanning hides; a so-called “primitive” technology. In actuality, the technology is not so primitive. The process involves chemistry and engineering, as there are natural chemical processes which take place in the soaking, tanning, and smoking, and engineering involved in the tools and equipment used to process the hide. Of course, the science of anatomy is also important knowledge in the process, as you must be familiar with the anatomy of a deer to skin it, and anatomy of skin to tan it. The skin is primarily made up of three layers. The upper layer is the epidermis, the layer below the epidermis is the dermis, and the third and deepest layer is the subcutaneous tissue (National Library of Medicine 2023). The epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, provides a waterproof barrier and holds the hair follicles. When brain-tanning, the epidermis must be scraped off the hair side of the hide, while the subcutaneous layer must be scraped off the flesh side of the hide, leaving only the dermis layer for tanning. The differences in these three layers are evident to the tanner.
The vast majority of commercially tanned leather is tanned with trivalent chromium (Chromium-3). Modern tanning employs a chemical tanning process that is the product of Industrialized nations using hazardous chemicals to tan more quickly and efficiently, often at the expense of poorer nations. The method uses toxic chemicals, it is disconnected from Native traditions, and the leather is not a true representation of Indigenous craftsmanship. Hexavalent chromium (Chrome-6) can emerge in manufactured leather tanned with Chromium-3 (Leather Dictionary 2023a). Sun drying and heat can oxidize and convert the chromium-3 used in the tanning process into the highly toxic Chrome-6 (Mahi Leather 2023).
Chromium-3 is much less toxic than chromium-6. The respiratory tract is the major target organ for chromium-3 toxicity (EPA 2023). Chrome-6 is a compound that is extremely toxic, a known carcinogen which can affect the lungs, eyes, heart, kidneys and blood. Ever heard of Erin Brockovich and the town of Hinkley, California whose water was poisoned by Chrome-6 used at the PG&E gas plant? That’s the same Chrome-6 that is found in commercial tanned leather. I did a lot of work in Hinkley during the early 2000s. It used to be a successful farming community with schools, market, post office, and neighborhoods, but all the schools have since been shut-down and whole neighborhoods have been demolished. You cannot drink the water there. Hundreds of people in that community were poisoned, and the Chrome-6 plume keeps spreading.
The European Union banned the use of chrome-tanned leather in automobiles because of environmental health risks associated with chrome tanneries (AltaAndina 2023). Chromium-6 shows up in all leather garments as a result of Chrome-3 tanning methods. This should spark some concern, especially since chrome tanned leather still accounts for about 80 percent of the world’s leather supply. Chrome tanning puts the health of millions of leatherworkers and ordinary people at risk. Developing countries such as Bangladesh, India, and China, with lax environmental regulations and safety protocols for workers, account for the majority of chrome tanneries.
Half of the chrome-3 employed in the chrome tanning process actually remains in the leather; the other half ends up in solid and liquid waste. If this waste winds up in the environment, it can contaminate water sources where it can lead to infertility and birth defects, and cancers. Chrome tanners are also at risk of inhalation of chromium-laden dust particles which can lead to chronic respiratory problems. If chrome-tanned leather is incinerated, the burning leather can release the toxic chromium 6 into the atmosphere and lungs of persons nearby.
The amount of chromium in waste is strictly regulated in most countries and reducing agents are added to effluent to reduce any chromium-6 that might be present to the less-harmful chromium-3. However, those environmental laws are not always well enforced in some developing countries, where most leather production occurs.
Around 80% of the world’s global leather production is chrome tanned leather, with the other 20% being vegetable tanned leather; almost 100% of the leather used in clothing is chrome-tanned (Leather Dictionary.com 2023a; 2023b). Many companies selling vegetable-tanned leather are actually selling a combination chrome and veg-tanned leather, because true, 100 percent veg tanned leather is very expensive. Vegetable-tanned leather is processed using vegetable tannins such as found in oak and other tree barks. The hides are de-haired, fleshed, soaked in different vats of tannin solution for several months at a time, and then treated with lubricants to make it pliable. The vegetable tanning method originated in the Middle East more than two thousand years ago and was the method used by the Spanish missions in California in their cattle hide-and-tallow industry. The missions used crushed oak bark, high in tannic acid, for the tanning solution. The cow hides marinate in the tanning solution for 3 to 6 months, then they are taken out and lathered with oil cooked down from tallow. The missions used forced Indian labor to tan the cow hides, and it was a task most often done by men. The leather that was produced was used at the missions and shipped all over the world for use in making shoes, furniture, saddles, and other accessories.
What is brain-tanning?
Am I going to tan a brain? No. I am going to mash up animal brains to make a paste or solution that will be used to soften a hide. It has been said that an animal has enough brains to tan its own hide. This is true, but it is just enough to tan a hide. Some tanners would also add other things like the liver, spinal cord, and fat to the braining solution, to make use of their chemical constituents such as oils and beneficial proteins, in the tanning process. One can also use eggs, or a mixture of white bar soap and vegetable oil with just as good of success. I am sure across Indian nations there are numerous different recipes for tanning. What I am sharing with you is just one of those recipes, tried and true.
Why brains? The brains contain emulsified oils. What are emulsified oils? Oil and water do not mix freely; they displace each other. That’s not good for tanning because the oils will not penetrate the fibers in the hide, and you will end up with a greasy, stiff hide. Emulsified oils will mix with water. Emulsified oil can be found in animal brains, spinal fluid, and eggs, or you can emulsify oil by mixing soap with oil. Think about how a greasy pan washes clean in soapy water. This is because the soap breaks up or dissolves the oil. It becomes emulsified.
Not all soap will work. Deodorant soaps should be avoided. I’ve never used liquid soaps or dishwashing soaps. The best is a traditional white bar soap. Now the soap is a good alternative to brains, but the soap/oil mixture does influence the color of the hide once it is smoked. It can come out a darker brown color than brain-tanned hide which is a golden tan color when smoked. When I brain-tan, I usually mix brains with a soap/oil solution so that I have enough solution to tan the hide thoroughly the first try, and I have enough solution to tan 2-3 hides. The hide turns out a nice golden tan color because of the brain proteins, and flannel soft. Sometimes I get brains from the deer a hunter has killed, and sometimes I must go to the carnecería to buy beef brains. A deer has about a half cup of brains, so if you buy brains from the carnecería, it’s usually frozen and you’ll need to cut off a half cup worth for tanning a single hide.
I first started brain-tanning in the 1990s when I was in my 20s. At that time, I was still deer hunting and so, if I was lucky, I might get one or two deer skins a year. I was learning mostly from books and by experimentation, and my hides didn’t turn out the best. There was no one around who could mentor me in how to brain-tan, and I could not afford to travel to some distant class which cost a lot of money. When I finally did have a hide turn out pretty good, I wasn’t quite sure why it did when other hides had not. I was not able to produce the same results every time like I can today. If you cannot produce the same results every time, that means you are missing something in your recipe. I eventually figured out what that was.
In more recent decades, with the help of the internet, I was able to learn much more. Brain-tanning has become more popular, and now there are probably hundreds of instructional videos found online. However, I no longer had access to the great deer-hunting land that I did in my 20s. So, I ended up having to order deer hides online, and that was expensive. I put aside brain-tanning for a while because I didn’t have access to deer hides. Once I got a job at Vandenberg AFB a few years ago, I finally had access to a great number of deer hides that were being thrown in the dumpster every year during deer season. I thought I hit the big-time. So now I get a steady supply of hides each year, and my brain-tanning skills have greatly improved.
The Rod-n-Gun Club at Vandenberg has a game-processing area where hunters take their deer, and I usually show up and offer to skin their deer for them in exchange for their deer hide, or I’ll dumpster-dive to find a decently skinned deer hide. Most hunters don’t care about the skin, so some of them do a terrible job skinning a deer themselves. Some do a decent job, but there’s often a few nicks in the hide that I must sew up, or the hide was skinned in a way that it is not symmetrical. When I skin a deer, I try to remove the skin with no nicks or cuts, and so that the hide is perfectly symmetrical. The hunters appreciate that I show up to skin their deer because they are tired from hunting all day. Of course, I also take greater care in skinning the deer than most hunters would, because they are not using the hide. Much of the skin can be separated from the deer with your bare hands, and you only need to use a knife at the toughest attachment areas, which are on the rump, chest, and fore-legs. The hide pulls off the rest of the body pretty easily. This is because deer, like other herd animals, have loose skin on their backs and ribs that can shake off bothersome flies. Perhaps you’ve seen a horse do this with their skin. There are very thin sheets of muscle on the skin that control this.
I have been so successful at getting hides from Base that one year I got well over 20 hides from local deer hunters, and now I get calls requesting me to come skin their deer for them, or they call to let me know they have a hide for me. For me, the ability to get deer hides for free from hunters on Base was key to improving my tanning skills and output. If you are interested in tanning, I highly recommend you take advantage of that opportunity. Hunters are generally happy that someone is doing something with the hide because they see it going to waste otherwise.
It is reported that hide tanning among most indigenous people was traditionally done by women. For example, Kroeber reported that Ishi, a northern California Indian who was captured in the 1910s, did not know how to brain-tan hides, although he knew the basic concept. You have probably seen old photos or portraits of native women on the Plains tanning buffalo hides, and in old documentaries women are usually the ones portrayed tanning hides. This is not to say that only women ever tanned hides, it’s just that the traditional knowledge of tanning hides was likely more suited to a woman’s intuition. What I mean by that is that women are nurturing, life-giving, and know how to care for their skin. They are also more familiar with fiber care. Hide tanning requires nurturing, a sense of skin care, and an understanding of fibers. Traditionally, men were generally busy with hunting, house-building, and other construction.
That said, whenever I tan hides, I honor the grandmothers and I try to evoke my grandmother spirit to help me. That might sound odd, but I literally think about an old lady with a wash tub and apron washing out the hide and getting ready to tan it. I think about how at one time long ago it was important to tan hides to clothe your family to protect them from the sun, wind, and cold. Women spent a lot of their time doing this to clothe and protect their families. I think about the connection to brother deer, to mother earth, and how I am going to bring life back to this skin. When I look at a hide, I think about the fibers that it is made from, the glues that I need to remove from those fibers, that I need the fibers to open and accept the beneficial oils, and that once the hide has been saturated it needs to be wrung and softened, then be covered with smoke to protect it. I think about the beauty of the finished leather, and about the things that it will be made into.
What tools are required in tanning? Tools required for tanning include a deer rib or similar bone or metal implement for scraping off the hair and flesh, a stone or metal scraper for dry-scraping, a rack or stakes for stretching the hide, hardwood ashes or commercial lye for lye-soaking, a container for water soaking, either vinegar, urine, or animal dung for neutralizing the pH of the hide, a wood beam and a cord for wringing and stretching, dry weather for drying, and willow or alder wood for smoking. Brain-tanning requires time, attention, dedication, and some hard work, but the end result, giving new life to a deer hide, and then making clothing out of it, honoring brother deer, is pretty amazing.
Now I will discuss the different stages of hide tanning. Each of these stages can be done separately, and some can be done right after the preceding stage, but they don’t have to be done right away. I usually break up the work into stages so that I don’t get overwhelmed with too much at once. I prefer to work at my leisure.
First Stage: Soak, Dehair/flesh, and rack hide
Begin with a fresh or frozen deer hide. Soak the deer hide in a lye solution in a 5-gallon bucket for 7 days. Remove the hide from the solution and wash it in several changes of water in the 5-gallon bucket. Once rinsed, place on a beam to de-hair and de-flesh. I use a 6-foot-long log that is about 6-8 inches thick for a fleshing beam. Use a rib bone to scrape off the hair side then the flesh side. Rinse often. Wash off the hide and stretch onto a frame to dry flat. Use a large awl to punch the holes to string up the hide on the frame. I use an old screwdriver that I sharpened to a point for an awl. I make a frame from willow or eucalyptus poles that are 5 to 6 feet in length and 1.5-2 inches thick. I use a roll of twine to tie the corners of the frame and to tie up the hide to the stretching frame. I make sure to have a water source next to me to rinse the hide repeatedly to remove the lye and hair. I use scissors to shape the hide and cut off any excess skin, and to cut the twine. I use water-proof gloves to handle the hide while it is in the solution and while I am fleshing and de-hairing the hide. You’ll need trash bags for hair and flesh removal and refuse disposal, and a partially shaded outdoor area to work in.
Second Stage: Dry-scrape/remove from rack
Begin with stretched, dry deer hide. Use scraping tool to remove the cuticle layer from the dry hide. Save scrapings to make hide glue. The scraping tool I use is a broken file with a 45-degree beveled edge that is sharp, but a stone flake with a sharp beveled edge will work. It’s best to work in a partially shaded outdoor area. Sometimes I scrape the hide while it is on the rack, and sometimes I scrape the hide while it is laying on the concrete patio. If it’s on a concrete slab, the slab must be smooth, clean and free of any granules, or else the scraper will hit that spot and tear the skin.
Third Stage: Soak, Acidify, Wring, Brain
Begin with a dry, scraped deer hide. Soak the hide in a 5-gallon bucket. Once soaked, put the hide on the wringer and wring it out, then place it back in the bucket with fresh water and rinse. Change the water a couple of times. Then fill the bucket halfway with fresh water and add ½ cup white vinegar. I prefer to use vinegar rather than urine or dung, for obvious reasons. The purpose of this step is to adjust the pH balance of the skin so that it will more easily release the mucous and glues between the fibers of the hide, which makes it easier to tan. You stir the hide and let it soak for no more than 30 minutes. The hide should be slippery and slightly swollen after acidifying it. Then toss the water, rinse off the hide, and wring it out. Stretch the hide out and hang in the shade to let it dry a little while you get the brain/oil/soap solution ready and heated up. I use a small metal pot to cook the solution. I make the solution using 1 pound of animal brains, or ½ bar white bar soap and ½ cup vegetable oil, or both brains and oil/soap mixture. I grate the soap, mash the brains, and then pour in the oil and add just enough water that a whole hide can be completely submerged in the solution when it is ready. I bring the solution to a boil then pour it into a clean 5-gallon bucket. I add a small amount of cold water to bring the temperature down a little and stir. Then you use your bare hands to dunk the hide into the solution quickly and only as long as your own skin can handle. If the solution is too hot for your own skin, then it is too hot for the hide. Keep dunking the hide repeatedly until the entire hide is saturated. Once the solution has cooled down, then submerge the entire hide into the solution and let it sit. You can start tanning the hide now, or you can let it soak in the solution overnight, or keep it refrigerated for a week or two.
Fourth Stage: Tanning Hide
For this stage, you will need to have constructed a horizontal beam, much like a chin-up bar but at waist height, as well as a 6-foot-tall cabling post which is a post in the ground with a length of cable attached, one end at the top and one end at the center. My horizontal beam is a 2-inch-diameter, 3-foot-long stick attached at the ends to two posts. One of the posts serves as my cabling post. Also, a 2-foot-long, 1-inch-diameter stick will be used as a leverage stick.
Begin this process with a brain-soaked deer hide. I wring the hide on the beam and catch the liquid being wrung out of the hide in a 5-gallon bucket. The wringing is a special method. Drape the neck end of the hide over the beam, then drape the tail end of the hide over the neck so that the hide creates a large circle. Then fold the two ends of the circle toward the center so the hide creates a dough-nut shape. Take the leverage stick and run it through the center of the “dough-nut” then twist the hide using the stick as a lever. Twist the hide tight in one direction, then the other. Then rotate the dough-nut and twist the hide again in the same manner until the hide has been wrung of all its liquid.
I then air-dry the hide to the point it is soft but still damp, then I stretch the hide using the cable. Stretch all parts of the hide on the cable, including the edges and the center. Stretch the hide the opposite direction and then let it air-dry some more. I repeat the cable and stretching until the hide is completely dry. This is done in a partially shaded outdoor area. I never leave the hide to dry in full sun. It’s better to dry it in a cool, shady place so that it doesn’t dry too fast. If it dries too fast, it will dry stiff, and you won’t be able to stretch or soften it. Once you have reached the point where your hide is completely dry, is fluffy white, and as soft as flannel then you have successfully brained your hide.
Fifth Stage: Re-tanning Hard Spots, Stitching Holes)
At this stage I have tanned the hide and I’m just checking for stiff spots that need re-braining. The tanning solution can be applied and rubbed into any stiff spots that dried hard. I then wring and stretch the hide on the cable until it’s dry. Then I stitch up any holes in the hide using a needle and thread. I use either white or tan thread, with a regular sewing needle. If there is a hole too large to sew, then it can be patched with a cut out piece of hide and some hide glue.
Sixth Stage: Smoke Hide
All hides, no matter what color, must be smoked. If you want a white hide, you must first smoke the brained hide, then you dry-rub white earth into it to stain it white. The same process is followed for other colors. Smoking adds a protective barrier to the brained hide that will allow it to repel water and dry soft. Without smoke, the oils will wash out and the hide will return to hard rawhide.
I begin with two brain-tanned hides of similar size. I stitch or staple the two hides together leaving a hole at the bottom to make a large “sock”, making sure there are no air gaps or holes that would allow the smoke to escape from side seams. One end of the sock is open to accept the chimney pipe of the smoker. The idea is to have the smoke from the smoker come up the chimney and into the hide, penetrate the hide and effectively coat the fibers so that they are tinted brown and waterproof. Once smoked, the hide will smell smoky, have a nice tan color, and if it gets wet, it should dry soft. However, I do not recommend letting the hides get wet once they are made into clothing because it would be harder to stretch and soften where there are seams or beadwork. Once the two hides are stapled together, I then hang the sock by its corners and staple the open end of the socked hide to a 2-foot section of an old pant leg. The pant leg acts as an extension of the hide that will be attached to the smoker. The pant leg extension protects the hide from getting too hot, by allowing the smoke to cool before it gets to the hide. It also acts as a fire prevention, so that if there is a flare-up it will only burn the pants section and not your hide, hopefully. I attach the pant leg section to the hide smoker by wrapping duct tape around it, making an air-tight seal. The smoker can be an old clay pot or metal pot, or a small hole in the ground, with a chimney on top. I use the latter method. I dig a small hole in the ground for my smoker and I use a metal vent cap and dryer hose to make a chimney. I get a fire going in the smoke pit with some hardwood, then I add the willow or alder sticks and cover it with the chimney to smother out the flame and get it to smoke. I add more smoking wood as needed but you must always watch to make sure it keeps smoldering and does not light up. You should always see billowing smoke. If the smoke stops, that means the fuel has ignited, and you better smother it quickly. I smoke the hide at least one hour until I reach the desired color. Then I turn the hide inside out to smoke the other side to the desired color. Once done, you remove the hide from the smoker and from the pant section and pull out all the stitching/staples from the two hides. You drape the hides somewhere safe to let the hides breathe overnight and allow the color to settle. Then your hides are done!
I hope this essay inspires someone to get into brain-tanning deer hides. Brain-tanned deer hides will last a lifetime with the proper care, and they can be made into any number of traditional articles and regalia items. There are a lot of deer hides that go into the dumpster every year. Hunters are generally happy to give them to someone, and they are even happier when someone skins their deer for them! Don’t be afraid to give brain-tanning a try. It’s safer on the environment, and you will learn a little something about skin anatomy, chemistry, engineering, and Native technology.
If you are a Chumash tribal member or descendant who is interested in brain-tanning deer skins, feel free to reach out to Josh Smallwood, Installation Tribal Liaison Officer at Vandenberg Space Force Base; e-mail: stacy.smallwood.1@spaceforce.mil, or mobile: 760-419-0092.
References
AltaAndina
2023 Chrome Tanned Leather: The Hidden Cost of Cheap Hides. Found at: https://altaandina.com/chrome-tanned-leather-environmental-impact/.
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
2023 Chromium Compounds. Found at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-09/documents/chromium-compounds.pdf.
Leather Dictionary
2023a Chrome VI – Chromium VI. Found at: https://www.leather-dictionary.com/index.php/Chrome_VI_-_Chromium_VI.
2023b Chrome Tanned. Found at: https://www.leather-dictionary.com/index.php/Chrome_tanned.
Mahi Leather.com
2023 The Dangers of Chrome Tanning on the Environment. Found at: https://mahileather.com/blogs/news/the-dangers-of-chrome-tanning-on-the-environment.
National Library of Medicine
2023 Skin Anatomy. Found at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441980/.
Chumash Science Through Time 