What is buckskin?
Buckskin is the name given to skins "tanned" with the use of brains, eggs, natural oils etc. Buckskin is luxuriously soft, breathable, cuts the wind, insulating, and extremely durable.

What is braintanning?
It is the art of turning raw skin into buckskin, using the oils in brains to lubricate the fibers that make up the skin, thereby creating a soft finished product.

Is this a primitive skill?
Skins are one of the oldest materials man has put into use, and Buckskin has been used universally all over the world, from South Africa to Siberia, from Japan to North America. We all have ancestors who made, and wore buckskin, and not as long ago as we'd think. The industrial revolution is realy what took buckskin "out of style", as producing cloth became faster and cheaper. Buckskin is still as practical, useful, and beautiful as it ever was and the items made from it can fit any style - from Cave man to Business woman. That being said, the methods of making it havent changed in thousands of years, only the tools have. Though we teach the use of "primitive" tools in our workshops, in our day-to-day work we use metal instead of bone tools, and plastic instead of wood. The techniques however, are the same.

How is braintanned buckskin different than regular leather?
Most leather we buy today is chemically tanned. The skins are dipped into chemicals that weaken the fibers to create a soft finished product. It is not as breathable or as durable as braintan and the process is very harmful for the environment. Buckskin is also washable, and should be treated like wool and other high quality materials.

How long does it take to tan a hide?
The timing varies with the method, the hide, and the weather, but it takes approximately one and a half weeks from start to finish.

Is it waterproof?
No, but the process of smoking the hide makes it safe to get wet.

Where do you get your hides?
They come mostly from butchers who are butchering deer during hunting season. Most of those hides would either get thrown out or sent to China to be chemically tanned. A small percentage of our hides come from roadkill.

Why is buckskin so expensive?

"The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" - M. L. Leddy

We feel this saying reflects our standards. Though our prices are not the highest, quality certainly does not come cheap. Our prices are not the cheapest out there, but nor are they the most expensive (Prices from other tanners range from $12 to $20 per square foot). We strive to provide the best quality product at an affordable price. If you've made brain tanned buckskin before, you know its worth the cost. With approximately 10-15 hours of work invested in every hide, when its all said and done, we dont make much for our time.

The process of making buckskin is extremely labor intensive, and the quality of the material is very high. All items are hand made out of our own brain tanned buckskin, and your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed.

What is your return policy?
If you are not 100% satisfied with your item, return it to us in its original condition within 14 days of receiving it, for either a replacement or a full refund. Let us know what the problem is, and we'll do everything in our power to fix it.

Can I make my own, and how can I learn?
Though the process of making Brain Tanned Buckskin is labour intensive, with the right adaptations and some will power, anyone can do it. The resources are available almost anywhere, and the costs near nothing. There are some good books out there on the process, or you can take a workshop with someone who teaches the skill... like us!

Check out our Workshops or Mentoring page for more information on learning how.