Post by Woody Williams on Mar 9, 2006 8:21:48 GMT -5
Using the noggin, Saginaw hunter masters brain-tanning
Duluth News Tribune ^ | 3-8-06 | SAM COOK
Posted on 03/08/2006 8:57:49 PM EST by SJackson
SAGINAW, Minn. - Dave Risdon picks up a palmful of deer brain and plops it in a blender. He adds a little warm water and caps the blender. Then he fires it up. "I start with 'stir' and then I do 'liquefy,'" Risdon says.
The brains and water churn into a frothy pink slurry. "Looks like a strawberry shake," says Risdon, 43, of Saginaw.
Risdon, a high school orchestra teacher by day, has plans for the brainy shake. He'll work it into a deer hide, let the hide dry, then smoke it until it turns a creamy brown. Buckskin. It's the same stuff that served Davey Crockett, Daniel Boone and thousands of indigenous people across North America for thousands of years. The process is called brain-tanning. Most animal skins these days are tanned using chemicals. But when Risdon, a bear and deer hunter, decided four or five years ago to begin tanning his own hides, he didn't want to use chemicals. He bought a couple of books. He started collecting brains.
"I've probably got a hundred brains in my freezer," he says on this February evening. Deer brains are easy to come by. Risdon gets them from road-killed deer, drilling through their skulls and scooping out the pink gelatinous globs. Or he gets the heads that would otherwise go to waste at deer processing businesses.
It doesn't take a lot of brains to tan a deer hide. Brain-tanners have an expression about that. "Every animal has enough brains to tan its own hide," Risdon says.
Most people don't want to go to the effort to brain-tan their hides. There may be other brain-tanners around northern Minnesota, but Risdon doesn't know of any. If you want to talk to other brain-tanners, you go - where else? - to www.braintan.com. At that unlikely commingling of technology and tradition, you can pick up tips for brain-tanning everything from buffaloes to hamsters.
"I swear I check that twice a day," Risdon says. Most people who want a tanned deer hide send it off to a commercial tannery and wait for it to come back in the mail. A 10-square-foot commercially tanned deer hide might cost from $30 to $50. Risdon sells a 10-square-foot brain-tanned deer hide for about $180.
The difference between a chemically tanned and brain-tanned deer hide is like the difference between a TV dinner and supper at your grandmother's. Commercially tanned hides are thick and nappy, uniform in color. They are nice enough, but have a store-bought look about them. Brain-tanned and smoked hides are supple and lovely to look at, with a soft patina that varies from one part of the hide to another. Depending on how long they're smoked, they can be a yellowish cream, golden brown or deep brown. Long after they're folded and put away, they retain a faint smoky scent, something that calls to mind a low fire that has burned down to coals.
"There's nothing quite like smoke-tanned hides," says Patti Steger, owner of Steger Mukluks in Ely. Steger became familiar with them when encountering native people on expeditions in Canada's Northwest Territories. "It doesn't feel like leather. It feels like felt, but it's an incredibly strong felt. The best smoke-tanned hides are the most soft, cozy, comfortable, wonderful things."
In addition, a brain-tanned hide breathes, allowing perspiration to escape far better than a commercially tanned hide. That's important in the making of items such as mukluks, moccasins and shirts. "It feels much better," says Risdon, who has made himself two buckskin shirts. "It's like wearing a chamois shirt."
But getting a hide to that point is a lot of work in several specific steps. Learning to brain-tan has been a laborious process for Risdon.
"At first, you really don't know what you're doing," he says, "especially since there's nobody around here who does this to learn from. There was a lot of trial and error."
Risdon tans mostly deer, but also has tanned a skunk, raccoon and a bear. He's at work on a moose. From his deer hides, he has fashioned the shirts, a purse, small pouches, a wallet, moccasins, a sport coat and mukluks. Risdon hopes to begin selling the hides he tans. But he isn't thinking about quitting his teaching job yet.
Duluth News Tribune ^ | 3-8-06 | SAM COOK
Posted on 03/08/2006 8:57:49 PM EST by SJackson
SAGINAW, Minn. - Dave Risdon picks up a palmful of deer brain and plops it in a blender. He adds a little warm water and caps the blender. Then he fires it up. "I start with 'stir' and then I do 'liquefy,'" Risdon says.
The brains and water churn into a frothy pink slurry. "Looks like a strawberry shake," says Risdon, 43, of Saginaw.
Risdon, a high school orchestra teacher by day, has plans for the brainy shake. He'll work it into a deer hide, let the hide dry, then smoke it until it turns a creamy brown. Buckskin. It's the same stuff that served Davey Crockett, Daniel Boone and thousands of indigenous people across North America for thousands of years. The process is called brain-tanning. Most animal skins these days are tanned using chemicals. But when Risdon, a bear and deer hunter, decided four or five years ago to begin tanning his own hides, he didn't want to use chemicals. He bought a couple of books. He started collecting brains.
"I've probably got a hundred brains in my freezer," he says on this February evening. Deer brains are easy to come by. Risdon gets them from road-killed deer, drilling through their skulls and scooping out the pink gelatinous globs. Or he gets the heads that would otherwise go to waste at deer processing businesses.
It doesn't take a lot of brains to tan a deer hide. Brain-tanners have an expression about that. "Every animal has enough brains to tan its own hide," Risdon says.
Most people don't want to go to the effort to brain-tan their hides. There may be other brain-tanners around northern Minnesota, but Risdon doesn't know of any. If you want to talk to other brain-tanners, you go - where else? - to www.braintan.com. At that unlikely commingling of technology and tradition, you can pick up tips for brain-tanning everything from buffaloes to hamsters.
"I swear I check that twice a day," Risdon says. Most people who want a tanned deer hide send it off to a commercial tannery and wait for it to come back in the mail. A 10-square-foot commercially tanned deer hide might cost from $30 to $50. Risdon sells a 10-square-foot brain-tanned deer hide for about $180.
The difference between a chemically tanned and brain-tanned deer hide is like the difference between a TV dinner and supper at your grandmother's. Commercially tanned hides are thick and nappy, uniform in color. They are nice enough, but have a store-bought look about them. Brain-tanned and smoked hides are supple and lovely to look at, with a soft patina that varies from one part of the hide to another. Depending on how long they're smoked, they can be a yellowish cream, golden brown or deep brown. Long after they're folded and put away, they retain a faint smoky scent, something that calls to mind a low fire that has burned down to coals.
"There's nothing quite like smoke-tanned hides," says Patti Steger, owner of Steger Mukluks in Ely. Steger became familiar with them when encountering native people on expeditions in Canada's Northwest Territories. "It doesn't feel like leather. It feels like felt, but it's an incredibly strong felt. The best smoke-tanned hides are the most soft, cozy, comfortable, wonderful things."
In addition, a brain-tanned hide breathes, allowing perspiration to escape far better than a commercially tanned hide. That's important in the making of items such as mukluks, moccasins and shirts. "It feels much better," says Risdon, who has made himself two buckskin shirts. "It's like wearing a chamois shirt."
But getting a hide to that point is a lot of work in several specific steps. Learning to brain-tan has been a laborious process for Risdon.
"At first, you really don't know what you're doing," he says, "especially since there's nobody around here who does this to learn from. There was a lot of trial and error."
Risdon tans mostly deer, but also has tanned a skunk, raccoon and a bear. He's at work on a moose. From his deer hides, he has fashioned the shirts, a purse, small pouches, a wallet, moccasins, a sport coat and mukluks. Risdon hopes to begin selling the hides he tans. But he isn't thinking about quitting his teaching job yet.
