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Hide Tanning Books

Blue Mountain Buckskin
by Jim Riggs

Jim Riggs was one of a small handful of people practicing primitive skills in this country twenty-five years ago. Jim learned the art of braintanning from old-timers Slim Schaefer and Sonny Sherman, and went on to produce Blue Mountain Buckskin as the classic book on dry-scrape tanning. First printed in 1979, Blue Mountain Buckskin remains the most comprehensive text available today on dry-scrape braintan. Jim's book includes an in-depth section on manufacturing buckskin clothing, plus good braintan humor and fun illustrations.

Second Edition, Paperback, 137 pages. Old Price - $15.00 NOW $9
Wet Scrape Brain Tanned Buckskin
by Steve Edholm and Tamara Wilder

A practical Guide to Home Tanning and Use

Ever though about making your own leather?

Used for thousands of years by American Natives, and later by American colonists, buckskin has long served the vital needs of people, in clothing and other useful items. It is velvety soft, supple, durable, washable, beautiful, and is made without the use of dangerous or polluting chemicals.

This book is a detailed step-by-step guide to tanning: from locating hides to skinning to using the finished product.

Additional chapters cover:
- the structure of skin
- the orgins and history of buckskin
- comparison of wet and dry-scrape processes
- tool shapening skills
- care and storage of skins prior to tanning
- making buckskin clothing
- care of buckskin
- making buckskin with stone and bone tools
- dyeing buckskin
- tanning deer skins with the hair on
- making hide glue
- using sinew
- and more
This first full length book on the wet-scrape process, it is written both as an easy to use practical guide for the beginning home tanner and as a long term reference. Each step is covered in its own chapter by a total of 148 photos and illustrations. Chapter summeries, trouble shooting sections, index, and glossary are also included.

Braintanning is a very rewarding undertaking, in terms of both the finished product and the feeling of self reliance and accomplishment that come with covering a skin into the infinitely useful and beautiful material - buckskin. This book is a practical guide to this ancient and intriguing art.

Counterpart to the above book, this is the most thorough coverage of wet-scrape method.

OUT OF STOCK!
336 pages, 148 photos and illustrations. $18.00
Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan with Natural Materials
by Matt Richards

A Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers

All kinds of people enjoy making and wearing their own buckskin...and so can you, with this easy to use guide.

Over 130 photos and illustrations bring you step by step from raw skin to velvety soft buckskin and then show you how to create beautiful garments and useful goods. Designed to be easily understood by the beginner yet rich with details for the experienced, this book teaches tanning as a natural process. No chemicals are needed! All the tools and materials are waiting around your home and land. While the tools are simple, having a great method is key. This book has the bethod.

Buckskin is durable, soft, washable and warm. A hand-made garment for people all over the world for millennia, it breathes and stretches with your body, cuts the wind and won't tear on briars. It is excellent to wear hiking, hunting or around the house. Plus you don't need to hunt. Deerskins that would otherwise go to waste are available every fall from neighbors, locals and butcher shops.

"Get this book. You'll be amazed at the unexpected ease of the process and more importantly, your results. Deerskins Into Buckskins is excellently researched and presented in a clearly explained, step by step process. What's more, should you desire, you can accomplish all this using only bones, rocks and sticks. It might just change your life." - Jim Riggs, author of Blue Mountain Buckskin

"I have sucessfully completed dozens of buckskins under the mentoring of numerous experts. It is obvious that Matt has created a 'quantum leap' in the art. His process dramatically reduces the time and work, resulting in the nicest buckskin I have ever made. The revolution has begun." - Jeff "Roadkill" Damm, engineer and backyard tanner

Paperback, 160 pages. Old Price - $20.00 NOW $12

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