Hide Tanning Basics

Intensive 3-day course. From raw hide to finished hide.
Keeping the ancient art of hide tanning alive.

The hunt is a central ritual for any woodsman, past or present. There is little more satisfying than stalking or trapping game, skinning it, cooking it over a fire, and feeding yourself with it. But even among us moderns who are bent towards self-reliance, the hunt usually stops there. For our ancestors, this wasn’t the case. The animals they killed were as much a general store for clothing and craft materials as they were a grocery store for food. Hides were almost as valuable as the meat, and tanning them was a critical skill, one that’s been nearly lost in modern times. Recovering that lost art is exactly what we’ll be covering in this 3-day course. We’ll go step-by-step, learning how to make natural clothing from deer hides, the way Native Americans did. Each deer contains enough brains to tan its hide, which preserves it and allows it to stay soft and pliable – a perfect fabric for making clothes. You’ll learn how to scrape the flesh from the hide, remove the hair, membrane and grain from the hide, and then finally brain tan and smoke the hide. You’ll leave with a beautiful buckskin hide that you can make clothing with or just hang on your wall and let you friends and family admire. This is a very labor intensive FULL 3 days… come prepared to work!

Cost: $349.00

Course Location: SARCRAFT Proving Ground, 650 Byrd Mountain Lane, Canton, GA 30114

Instructor(s): M. Stanger, J. Morris

Challenge level: Expert

What to Bring: Personal camping items (tent/hammock, sleeping bag, etc.), water bottle, belt knife, snacks. Meals and camping are complementary, all hides and necessary tools will be provided.

PROMO CODES:

Military/Veteran/Fire/EMS/LE/SAR: MIL1R1

Bring-A-Friend: FRIENDHTB