Survival hinges primarily on observing your surroundings and accurately determining the seriousness of your situation, then taking the proper action to SURVIVE!
Tips
Put trick birthday candles that won't blow out in your survival kit!
Practice survival skills in ALL weather conditions! Fire building and shelter construction could be and should be challenging, but in a safe environment.
Thistle down and puff ball spores are nearly explosive as a tinder...mix with dry grasses, inner bark fibers, etc. Add fireweed down, old man's beard, scraped birch bark with dried grasses.
Cut up an old bicycle inner tube into 1-2" squares (5-10 should suffice) and keep them handy in your fire-building kit for something that burns long and hot, like a candle!
Dried fiber plants (fireweed, milkweed, grasses, nettles, dogbane, yucca, cattail, and the inner barks of cedars, linden, elm, walnut, hickory, aspen, cottonwood) make great cordage AND tinders!!
Cutting an old inner tube into small loops or bands enable you to use them like rubber bands, recycling the inner tube. Of course, an auto inner tube will give larger bands. Use the bands to secure gear to a pack strap, to other gear, or whatever your ideas can yield!
The old pitch stick, knot, or burl from a Douglas fir, balsam fir, or pitch pine will burn wet or dry. So will birch bark. And you thought there were no ready tinders out there!
How to Brain-tan Buckskin
Over the years, brain-tanning has run several ways. The purist believes in doing it just like some of our native brethren. Some such methods were crude and the tools were not very productive or precise, but granted, they did produce useable, wearable buckskins.
Jim Riggs wrote of his method in his book "Blue Mountain Buckskin". He makes a fine skin. Several tanners have bypassed brain tanning altogether and stuck to chemical tans that simply do not allow one to wash the skins in the washing machine.
"Bovine Scatology!" you cry. (B.S.)
Not at all. Once you have seen the finished product, and realized what kind of transformation has taken place, you are able to see, to understand, the reasoning why washing leather buckskins in the washing machine is a very real possibility.
STEP 1: Obtain a brain. (The scarecrow's quest!)
Be it cow, pig, elk, caribou, moose, mule deer, whitetail, whatever. I wouldn't suggest the morgue unless that alternative is legal. Just a joke, folks! Some humans don't have enough brains to tan their OWN hides! (Tanner's Joke)
Handling brains can make some people queasy. There is a distinctive odor to tanning. Some call it death. NOT SO! Only around where trappers or hunters dress out their game. A hunter's first big game kill is unforgettable. Like my first experience at the slaughter of beef for the Waynesville, Ohio, Shrack freezer in 1966.
True death is not something for the weak of heart or stomach. The stench is ungodly. It still hangs around the ovens in the concentration camps. Once you've smelled it, maybe that fragrant roadkill, it's something akin to riding a bicycle. The smell of death is distinctive.
Tanning a hide is just not the same odor at all!
Basically, each mammal is considered to have enough brains to tan itself. Freezing it till you're ready to use it will suffice. DO NOT SALT THE BRAIN! (Of course, if you fry them with eggs, salt and pepper may make them taste better. Hee-hee!) One brain can actually tan two large hides, sometimes more, sometimes less. Say you find a pig brain, similar to a deer in size. It could do about two deer hides, maybe three, but only one moose or large elk, possibly a small bear, etc. Get the idea?
STEP 2: Obtain the hide(s).
Trust your source, though. Most hunters do not know how to preserve hides because they usually intend to throw it away. If you know of such people, take advantage of them. Offer to throw the hide away for them, provided it isn't chopped up, shot up, or scarred badly.
Desperate? Go hunting with them and offer to skin the bugger yourself by "fisting" it off the carcass. This is a method of removing the hide from the animal with the skin intact...not cut up!
Salt it and roll it up, salt side inside. Do not skimp on the salt...it may take two containers. Or, better yet, place it in a trash bag and put it in the freezer. Get the boss's (wife or mom) permission first or just hide it under the liver till needed.
STEP 3: Frame the hide. (See Fig. 1 below)
Before framing, allow the hide to receive at least 24 (and up to 72) hours of being weighted down in a creek, the current counter to the way the hair grew. This encourages the hair to loosen, or "slip", allowing it to be "shaved off" easier, along with the "grain", that layer that holds the follicles.
Two-by-four studs will work fine except for the larger moose, elk, or bear hides. Nice spruce or pine poles (10-footers) lashed to make a sizable frame will do just fine. Two-by-fours work well when you're basically doing the suburban thing. If the largest hide you'll tan is a mule deer, studs with two to three nails at the corners will make a great frame. Leave the nail heads up in case you need to tear down the frame for that project you forgot to make for momma. She'll love you for it.
A nice addition I like is the placement of screw-eyes every 3-4 inches on the inside of the frame. Use some large enough to allow the passage of baler's twine or whatever you choose to attach the hide in the frame. Baler's twine is relatively cheap, so that when (not if) you cut through the twine, using more won't cost so much. Think of the time saved when you accidentally cut the lacing, then tying the two ends off at nearby eyes would really be quite handy.
Lace the hide into the frame with the baler's twine, slitting a small (about 1 inch) hole a quarter inch inside the edge every 3-4 inches along the outer edge with a very sharp knife. A utility knife with a fresh razor blade may be used, but be careful not to slit the wrong way. Cut the hole just large enough to allow the twine to pass through, parallel to the edge, NOT perpendicular!
Before the next step, go over the hide and remove as much fat as you possibly can. Grease can permeate the skin and ruin it. This is called "fat-burning". Keep the hide out of the sun as much as possible, as fat-burning is accelerated by the sun.
Remember: Grease is an enemy to a skin intended for buckskin!
STEP 4: Scrape the Hide (Fig. 2 shows a sample of a scraper)
Once dried in the frame, the hide can be scraped of its hair and grain (an epidermal layer with a grayish or yellowish-tinge). The tool used is called a wahintke, usually made with a deer or elk antler, a large thigh bone, or anything which can be used to successfully remove hair, grain, and membrane.
My personal homemade scraper(s) with a 45-degree cutting edge was made from old 1 inch pipe with an old lawnmower blade welded to it. All burrs and sharp edges MUST be removed. The handle should be at an obtuse angle, about 135 degrees, to prevent the handle from coming in contact with the hide. Usually, if the hair is gone (including the telltale dots of the hair follicles retained in the skin), the grain will be, too.
Scraping is accomplished with downward strokes, the longer, the better. The blade may need sharpened from time to time, as the scraping is especially hard on a blade. Alternatives haven't really surfaced to counter this arduous, elbow-grease style of work. Some electric shavers with beard trimmers might help, but they cannot remove any grain at the same time. Therefore they are inferior and will take more time. Electric sanders may prove too damaging except for touching up a hide that has already been scraped. Sometimes good old elbow grease, the tried-and-true method, is best.
Inside, any meat should be carefully removed, hopefully by the fisting method. This is done with the skinner's fist when taking the hide off the animal minimizing any damage to the hide. Any remaining meat must be removed before scraping away of the membrane.
KEY: This innermost layer is what prevents the hide from receiving the tanning solution if it isn't removed. It is the only layer that is removed if the hair or fur is wanted left on. Great for staying warm in a survival situation or making a rug, etc.
Once the hide is denuded of hair, stripped of grain and membrane, it becomes rawhide, a white-colored, somewhat stiff product. In this state, it is ready to be tanned, that is, to receive or soak in the tanning solution.
STEP 5: Adding Brains
My favorite container for this operation is a five-gallon plastic bucket... usually obtained for free from a restaurant's garbage container or from their back door (with permission, of course!). Make sure that the bucket is CLEAN. Wash with detergent to ensure no grease or residues remain. (Remember, grease is a big enemy for a hide! It weakens the hide, making it susceptible to being pierced more easily.)
A partially frozen brain is nice because the ice crystals aid in the decimation of the material. A potato masher works well for this operation, but so does a hand-cranked mixer. If you promise to clean it, use momma's electric mixer!
Start with approximately a quart of hot water. NOT BOILING! It must be safe enough to immerse your hand! Why? Any hotter would cook the hide (and your hands!)...the next enemy of a hide!
KEY: Too much heat will make the hide fall apart!
Mash/mix the brains vigorously. Throughout the process a stringy connective tissue can be removed and discarded. (Your dog might like it!) The water turns to an off-white, tannish/grey color with minute "floaties". As the solution thickens, add more hot (NOT boiling!) water till you have about two gallons of the solution.
Immerse the stiff rawhide into the slurry and squeeze the entire hide. This helps force the brain solution into the hide, tanning it more completely. Our native brethren usually just rubbed the hide with the brain to do this, but this method is far more thorough. I've seen authentic Blackfoot buckskins, and there were lots of stiff areas due to overlooked membrane, grain, or any area impermeable by the brain, say, from grease-burns.
Once wet, the hide displays any remaining membrane as a clear, cellophane-like tissue. The grain usually is appears as a yellowish characteristic and may even show the telltale black dots of the remaining hair follicles. A pocketknife may be sufficient to do the job of scraping, or, if left to dry in the frame, sandpaper or a rough rock can suffice, or even your scraper tool.
This is a good time to repair any holes, be they bullet or other types. Use strong, fine thread, preferably a light colored cotton/polyester or nylon, or sinew for you purists. A whip stitch is great, or whatever gets the job done! Just pull the two sides of the hole together. Check which way causes the least stretch on the hole by pulling the hide in several directions before stitching. Or leave the bullet holes alone for an authentic "warrior" look!
Once these areas are discovered and removed, and the holes are repaired, put the hide back into the slurry for its final immersion to get that "nearly 100%" tan!
STEP 6: Wringing the Hide (see figure at right)
Once the hide is sufficiently immersed, it needs to get rid of the excess fluid. As indicated in the picture, roll the hide toward its center starting from both outer sides. The hide should look like two hand-rolled cigarettes when viewed from the end. On a smooth, stationary fixture (pipe, birch tree, debarked tree, etc.), wrap the elongated hide around it and reverse-wrap the ends so that the insertion of a pole, once twisted in the desired direction, will not loosen it.
Now twist the hide TIGHTLY. This procedure is arbitrary in that one can over-tighten, but the hide will take a LOT of abuse here, unless it has been fat-burned or weakened in some other fashion. Remember that the idea is to get rid of the excess fluid. The remainder will disappear during the staking process.
STEP 7: Staking (Below, a rough example of how staking can be accomplished)
Staking the hide involves one of two different styles. As pictured above, it is required to build a stationary stake that will not succumb to rigorous use. The cheaper, although more tedious, labor-intensive, method involves re-threading the hide into the frame tightly and using a suitable staking tool to force the water out of the hide.
It is this "staking process" that stretches the hide while it dries, fluffing up the fibers, also known as "bucking" the hide. With a stationary stake, one is able to exert more control on the hide, putting more of a concentrated effort onto one area rather than with the hand-held stake. Also, it is far easier to see defects (holes, thin areas, membrane, grain) to allow one to exert less force on that area, and to see any areas that did not get "de-grained" or "de-membraned".
You must choose which method is right for you. If you plan to do a lot of hides, it might be to your advantage to build the stationary stake. One set of buckskins does not require such an apparatus.
Once the hide is sufficiently stretched and dried, the holes can be sewn at this point, too, with sinew or a good nylon or polyester thread. By the way, don't try to scrape or tan the area around the holes used for framing the hide. Cut this portion away when you are certain you will no longer need to put it back into the frame! This is one reason that a stationary stake is handier, as you can cut away these useless holes much earlier.
STEP 8: Buffing the Hide
Once the hide is sufficiently dried and stretched, it will either stiffen in places, or shrink. Stiffening indicates that it had not dried enough or defective places (grain, membrane, or badly tanned areas) still exist. Hopefully none of these exist and the hide was only like a chamois cloth that has dried from drying your car!
To correct this, find a manila, nylon, or polypropylene rope that has been well used and has lots of "burrs" or tiny "needles" sticking out of it. The rope is best used when tied from an overhanging limb to a spot on the trunk below waist level. Use your imagination if you're on the tundra.
Make sure there is plenty of rope so that you can insert a stick or rod for tightening the rope. Tighten till taut enough to pull the hide around it and the rope will not "give" too much. The less "give", the better! Pull the hide back and forth around the rope vigorously. Make sure to manipulate the hide so that all areas of the hide are "buffed" or "bucked".
The drying process can be more fun if a strong friend helps pull and stretch the hide in opposite directions in a relatively warm environment, say a warm cabin (80 degrees plus). It is this stretching that helps dry the hide. The action stirs the molecules via friction and dries it, although imperceptibly at first. Once it no longer drips, lay the hide out till it dries a little more from the heat, but not totally dry, then stretch it again. This is a strenuous operation!
Usually, you know you are done when the hide no longer stiffens when it dries. Any moisture shows up as bluish-grey spots in the hide. Any hard, crusty areas need scraped with a knife and SHOULD be immersed again in the slurry for a complete tan! Fluff up on the rope again till fully dry and the hide should remain soft.
The result will be a white hide with the feel of heavy flannel...soft!
STEP 9: Smoking the Hide
Smoking the hide gives it color, fragrance, protection from insects, and enables the hide to resist hardening when it has been wet and then dried out. The different colors hides become are the result of various woods. Experiment! Often the desired color may yield a nasty odor.
Cedar seems to turn a hide amber to almost a gray. Hickory can give a hide nearly a black color. Pine, especially yellow pine, can provide a yellow hide. Cherry seems to give the "goldest" color we usually associate with buckskin. Rotten cottonwood does well, too. Sage and mint do well for fragrance.
Sew hide into a tube, leg to leg, belly to belly. Attach a thick, cotton skirt to your hide with thread to attach it or connect it to an up-side-down garbage can without its bottom. Positioned over the coals, this should be sufficient protection from the heat, provided one keeps the fire from flaming up. Keep the spray bottle handy and plenty of green wood for the smoke!
Smoke a hide a minimum of twenty minutes per side. An hour would be even better. After smoking , rebuff the hide to soften it from the tars that now inhabit the hide.
Cut to your pattern, sew and enjoy!
Wash your buckskins in Fels Naptha or Ivory Snow. Allow to drip-dry. Re-buff if any stiff areas reappear. If the whole skin or shirt/leggings are stiff, soften by buffing, then resmoke.
Once well-smoked, however, the clothing item should last a long time. If making moccasins from the hide, I recommend a deep, no less than two-hour smoke. If you have access to an old hide used in a teepee, they are the best for a pair of sandals, as they are not likely to ever shrink when wet.