Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

312 CAMPING AND WOODCRAf'TaThe hide is now turned over and fleshed with asharp knife, by removing all superfluous tissue andworking the skin down to an even thickness throughout.This operation must be performed with extremecare or the buckskin will have thick and stiffspotsi which make it comparatively worthless—point to be considered in buying buckskin. Inolden times, when a squaw wanted to make somethingparticularly nice, she would patiently workdown a deerskin until it was almost as thin andpliable as a piece of cotton cloth. After cleaningin this manner the skin is allowed to dry and thenis re-soaked overnight.Softening the Skin.—Now comes the job ofstretching and softening the hide. There is onlyone recipe for this: elbow-grease and plenty of it.The skin is pulled, twisted, and worked in everydirection until it becomes white and soft, afterwhich the operator rubs into it the brains of theanimal, which have been removed by splitting theskull lengthwise half in two. Sometimes the brainsare first dissolved in tepid water, being allowed tosimmer over a slow fire while the lumps are rolledbetween the fingers till they form a paste whichwill dissolve more freely. This solution is thenrubbed into the hide on the hair side, which iscoarser than the flesh side. The brains act as asort of dubbing; if there is not likely to be enoughfor the job, the macerated liver of the animal isadded to the brains. Deer brains may be preservedby mixing them with moss so as to make themass adhere enough to be formed into a cake whichis hung by the fire to dry. Such a Cc^ke will keepfor years. When wanted for dressing a hide, itis dissolved in hot water and the moss is removed.A skin may be treated by soaking it in the solution,wringing out, drying and re-soaking till it isthoroughly penetrated. After this process the skinmust again be pulled, stretched, kneaded, and rubbed,until the fiber is thoroughly loosened and