Buckskin is the soft, pliable, porous preserved hide of an animal,
usually deer, moose or elk, but potentially any animal's hide.
Modern leather labeled "buckskin" may be made of sheepskin
tanned with modern chromate tanning chemicals and dyed to resemble
real buckskin. Leather is another product made from animal hide,
but with a different chemical process to preserve the hide. Buckskin
is preserved with a dressing of some kind of lubricant, physically
manipulated to make it soft and pliable, and usually smoked with
woodsmoke. Smoking gives buckskin its typical dark honey color,
but is not required. Smoking prevents the tanned hide from becoming
stiff if it gets wet, and deters insects from eating it as well.
Unsmoked buckskin is lighter, even white, in color. Though it
might be tempting to think that the name comes from buck, a male
deer, the name buckskin comes from the alkali soaking process,
called bucking. Clothing made of buckskin is referred to as buckskins.
There are many ways to make buckskin, but most can probably be
lumped into two categories: "dry-scraping" and "wet-scraping".
Before a hide can be tanned, any flesh remaining on the hide from
the skinning process must be removed, usually with a scraper.
Care must be taken when skinning, fleshing, and scraping a hide
to prevent leaving any cuts or nicks in it which will be visible
in the finished buckskin.
The dry-scrape method involves taking a wet deer hide and stretching
it on a rack to dry flat. A scraping tool is then dragged perpendicular
to the blade along the hair side, scraping off the epidermis and
hair, including all the hair follicles. The flesh side should
be scraped as well. When the entire hide is scraped, it is taken
off the rack, rehydrated, and dressed.
The wet-scrape method involves scraping the wet hide on a smooth
horizontal log, at stomach or sternum level. A steel blade or
split leg bone can be used for a scraper. The hide is draped on
the log, the person leans into it, holding the hide in place with
their body and pushing the scraper away with both hands. The epidermis
is scraped off, and the flesh side is scraped as well, to remove
the membrane. If the hide is more than a day or two old, it should
be bucked first. "Bucking" can be done in a solution
of hardwood ashes in water, or simply lye in water. Bucking causes
the grain layer (epidermis) to swell, making it more visible and
easier to scrape off. If a small part is left on the skin it will
poorly affect the finished product, so bucking is quite helpful.
Bucking will also cause the hair to slip and fall off, if the
hide is left in long enough. This is also valuable for some processes.
Once the hide has been scraped it must be dressed in a dressing
solution. This can be made from the animals brain mixed into water,
or from another emulsified fat. Egg yolks are an example of a
commonly used, naturally-occurring emulsified fat. Another option
is an oil and a soap mixed in water. Typically the wet hide is
wrung out, then left in the dressing solution for 15 minutes or
more, then wrung out and dressed again. Repeating this a third
time ensures that the dressing reaches the middle of the hide.
The next step is stretching/drying. This is time sensitive, and
has to be done from start to finish without stopping. The drying
hide is continuously pulled and stretched in all directions, which
lubricates the fibers of the hide with the oil of the dressing,
and ensures that the fibers stay lubricated. This may be done
on a rack with a stretching tool, or by hand. Often the hide is
stretched against a steel cable or a rounded steel or wooden blade
(with care not to cut the hide). This must be done until the hide
is completely dry and no longer cool to the touch or else the
finished buckskin will be stiff, and will have to be dressed and
stretched over again.
The dry skin should now be totally supple and soft. If it gets
wet at this stage it must be stretched again until dry, or it
will revert to being a stiff piece of scraped rawhide. The water-soluble
oils in the dressing will wash out with water. To waterproof the
hide it must be smoked. When a hide is smoked, the non-water-soluble
oil in the smoke bonds with the water-soluble oil in the dressing,
making all of it non-water-soluble. Thus, a smoked hide can be
washed, even with soap.
To smoke a buckskin it is folded in half and glued or sewn into
a bag with an opening on one end. A pant leg or other cloth tube
is attached to the opening of the buckskin bag. The smoking fire
can either be in a woodstove or a hole in the earth. Either way
a bed of coals is prepared, and the other end of the pant leg
is roughly sealed over the opening of the smoker. The buckskin
bag is suspended above the smoker, and sticks can be placed inside
of it to prevent the sides of the bag from touching each other.
A handful of dry, rotten ("punk") wood is thrown on
the coals, and begins smoldering. Care is taken to prevent the
cloth from catching fire, as the hide can be burned in seconds.
Ideally most or all of the smoke is forced through the bucksin.
All holes must be sealed or taped to force the smoke through.
The hide is smoked until the smoke color penetrates through to
the other side, then the hide is turned inside out and it is smoked
again until it reaches a desired color.
The finished buckskin will shrink slightly after the first washing,
so it should be washed or at least wet and dried before making
clothing. Buckskin should be washed in cold water, and air dried.
Hot water will destroy it. After drying it can be stretched or
cabled for a short time to re-soften it.
