smelly buck skin

[JPK]

I got some German tanned buck skin that I intend to make a shirt out of. I like every thing about the hides except they smell fishy. The sells lady says that is normale due to the process they use. I tryed washing one (soap and in the machine then dryer on low) to no effect, it's still soft and such but the smell didn't change. I'd like to not try covering the smell but at least reduce it a lot. Any one dealt with this befor?

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Try smoking it, which may mask the scent with a stronger, but more pleasant smell.

Coryjoe

[John Archer]

About fifteen years ago I bought a very expensive leather jacket that reeked to high heaven absolutely unwearable...it only cost me 10 bucks at a yard sale. I took it to a local leather cleaner and asked if they could do something with it. They put it in their ozone room and it came out with no odor at all. I've still got it and it still has no odor. It cost about 25 dollars and took a month or so for the procedure.

John.

[Chuck Burrows]

I use German Tan quite a bit and if you cant' smoke them and since you're going to need to stretch it first before cutting up anyway so I so dampen it, and then stretch it to dry (I just nail it on the side of the shed facing the sun) - leave in the sun and air for a day or two and most of the odor will have disappeared.

That will stiffen ti a bit but just working it with your hands or over the edge of a board will soften it right back up.

[Hungry Horse]

 Buy Merican' Nuff Sed!


                   Hungry Horse

[LRB]

  German-tan is a specific type of tan. I don't think any American tannerys do it. German-tan has many properties of brain-tan, but is cheaper, and I believe stronger or at the least as strong as BT. Chuck may correct me, but I think it is a type of fish oil tan, much like or the same as Europe tanned our exported deer hides in the 18th c. I could be all wrong, but at any rate it is very excellent leather for clothing and many other items. Last I saw it was about 1/3 the cost of BT.

[Chuck Burrows]

Wick is correct - the German Tan is a type of fish oil (mostly cod) tan used during the 18-19th centuries for tanning the milllions of buckskins collected by longhunters and others. It is not made anywhere else but in Germany at this time. So yep if you want to make PC/HC buckskin breeches, pantaloons, or trousers this is in fact the correct leather to use.

As to strength - it's mostly from red deer, the Euro version of our wapiti (elk) so is generally a bit heavier than the deerskin used so often for brain tanning here in the USA, but it is not too heavy for clothes. Strength depends on several factors but basically a GOOD brain tan (lots of crappy out there unfortunately) and the German tan are comparable.

It's also as Wick noted about 1/3 to 1/2 less than most brain tan - the seconds are a great deal - what makes them seconds is the thick neck section, but this section is great for added on moccasin soles.

[Luke MacGillie]

Buy Merican' Nuff Sed!


                   Hungry Horse

"There are approximately 111 leather tanning facilities in the United States. However, not every
facility may perform the entire tanning or finishing process. Leather tanning and finishing facilities are most
prevalent in the northeast and midwest states; Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin
account for almost half of the facilities. The number of tanneries in the United States has significantly
decreased in the last 40 years due to the development of synthetic substitutes for leather, increased leather
imports, and environmental regulation"

http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/ch09/final/c9s15.pdf

[JPK]

Thanks for all your suggestions and information. I'll see what I can do with these and other tips I have gathered.
My life style ensures they will get some smoke on them but that will be after the shirt is made.

[Chuck Burrows]

Buy Merican' Nuff Sed!


                   Hungry Horse

"There are approximately 111 leather tanning facilities in the United States. However, not every
facility may perform the entire tanning or finishing process. Leather tanning and finishing facilities are most
prevalent in the northeast and midwest states; Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin
account for almost half of the facilities. The number of tanneries in the United States has significantly
decreased in the last 40 years due to the development of synthetic substitutes for leather, increased leather
imports, and environmental regulation"

http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/ch09/final/c9s15.pdf

IIRC there are now only 3 or 4 tanneries left in the USA and they only do veg tan or chrome tan - and when talking with the owner of Herman Oak they have had to completely revise their methods due to the EPA
Yes there are many who do brain tan and a fe who do bark tan on a small scale, but again not all brain tan is good and the good stuff is expensive so for a good less expensive alternative the German Tan is it...

[RoaringBull]

Chuck, and others, what is a good online source of this German tan?

[JPK]

I  got mine threw crazycrow.com Phone 800-786-9059 Helpful fokes to talk to and quick to ship.

[Majorjoel]

A few years ago I bought a pair of high end leather shoes that had the same problem JPK is going through with his buckskin. They had a stink that would turn the stomach of a slotter house meat cutter! I didn't notice it when I purchased them until they got wet once. The smell would fill a room or the tight space of a car and gave me the label of a "lepper" to be around. Being a frugal man, and what I had paid for those shoes, tossing them out in the trash was not an option. I put them in the vented generator compartment of my motor home and forgot about them for two years. Ran across em by accident some time ago and the foul smell was no longer an issue. All I can say about this is that the products we find available to us in our local market come from God knows where. Some corner in broomstick Egypt or most likely the mysterious orient. The items in our shopping carts have been to more places in the world than we have. It is really a shame upon us.

[Hungry Horse]

 I am an advisor for a B.S.A. Order of the Arrow chapter. We have had excellent quality, and service, from Moscow Hide and Fur. Their chrome tanned version, of brain tanned buckskin, is very convincing if you give it a little real smoke, after you have run it through the washing machine, with cold water, and a little Woolite. This treatment makes any fringe much more convincing,especially if you can do the washing, and smoking, after the garment is made.
 I have a pair of legging I made years ago, from some of that bright yellow buckskin, that was so popular back in the day. Luckily I made them rough side out. I soaked them in warm water and Rit dye remover, and then did the Woolite wash, and smoke. I have had to show fellow buck skinners many times the shiny inside of these leggings, to prove they aren't braintanned.

                     Hungry Horse

[Chuck Burrows]

Like JPK I get mine from Crazy Crow - if you've got a business license they offer a discount as well.