Customer Reviews

Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been involved in primitive skills, like hide tanning, for over a decade and tanned my first hide while I was still in high school. My weekly outdoors column regularly features primitive skills which people seem to enjoy, even if they don't spend any time in the woods.

When I got word that Steve & Tamara had finished their book, I sent for it and was pleasantly surprised at its bulk when it showed up in my mail box.

This is undoubtedly the finest book on the subject as it covers everything you could want to know about tanning, caring for your skins, sewing skins together and making your own tools. Steve & Tamara have anticipated every concievable problem you might face and offer solutions to them at the end of every chapter.

Going beyond just tanning, these fine tanners show you how to sew the skins together into garments with several seams and types of stitches and then go on to show you uses for the other parts of the deer that are usually discarded. There's even an interesting method of turning a tuna can, some sand, melted fat and a bit of cattail fluff into an simple lamp.

Undoubtedly, the finest aspect of this book, and one that shows the care and thoroughness of its writers, is the artwork. In books of this nature, those concerned with the simpler ways, I have always found the pictures to be too dark or out of focus, and the drawings nothing more than crude stick figures. In Wet-Scrape..., I found the complete opposite. The photographs are clear and well-balanced, and the drawings are superb. In fact, they could have easily done without the pictures, such is the clarity and expressiveness of the drawings. I would never have imagined a human hand could draw so precisely and even if you don't want to know how to tan leather, I would suggest you get this book just to look at the artwork.

I have tanned a lot of hides and spoked with hundreds of tanners in the course of my career but never would I have thought that a book like this would come along. For the beginner or expert, there is something here to learn; I'm on my fifth read.

I recommend it without hesitation or reserve.

There is a lot of information contained within these pages...written by two excellent brain tanners and experienced teachers. It is the kind of book that you can go back to time and time again and find new and valuable information that you missed the first time. I do think its a little hard for the beginner to find the simple and straightforward how-to do it information in, but it is there, and it will teach you what you need to know, and then some.

"Wetscrape Braintanned Buckskin" has a particularly good bibliography, section on tool sharpening, troubleshooting, museum quality illustrations, good humor and a whole lot of excellent information. I've been brain tanning for a living for 11 years, teach it regularly and have written a book on it myself, and all I can say is that if you are considering getting this book, just do it!

This book is not really "out of print", but has been reissued under a different title and ISBN #. The new title is "Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning" ISBN# 0-9654965-5-4 and is available on Amazon.com. This new reprint edition features a more attractive title & cover and some minor revisions, but is essentially still the same great book. Thanks for your interest.

This new reprint edition keeps in print all the great information found in the previous edition "Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin", but adds some new minor revision, some new illustrations, and a new more attractive title and cover. We hope you will like it, we do!

Got this for my sister, haven't heard anything back about it. It arrived in good time and I had a quick scan of it, seemed detailed and informative.

This book is a very good book, but I think it is better suited to the more experienced tanner. I think Matt Richard's book is better suited for beginners, but I did learn some new things from this book.

This is the a very good job of writing on the topic. It's easy for the reader to know what it is all about.