Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin: A Practical Guide to Home Tanning and Use [Paperback]

Steven Edholm (Author), Tamara Wilder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Try this easy to use field guide to braintanning -the same tanning method used for thousands of years by American Indians- and learn how to make your own velvety soft, durable and washable buckskin, all without the use of dangerous of polluting chemicals.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is not really "out of print", but has been reissued in a new and better form. The new reprint edition "Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning", ISBN# 0-9654965-5-4 is now widely available and features an improved title & cover, minor revisions and additional illustrations. Please check out the new title by searching for it now or simply click on the "other titles by this author" button. See you there. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Steven Edholm & Tamara Wilder are specialists in pre-metal technologies and regularly practice, teach, and demonstrate braintanning & other primitive living skills for museums, fairs, parks, and schools. Their work has also been published in the "Bulletin of Primitive Technology" (a biannual publication of the Society of Primitive Technology) and in the book "Woodsmoke: Collected Writings on Ancient Living Skills". They and their business, Paleotechics, are located in Northern California. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Paleotechnics (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965496546
• ISBN-13: 978-0965496544
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,976,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The DEFINITIVE Text., February 5, 1998

By 

Vaughn Terpack: [e-mail] (Hodges, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin: A Practical Guide to Home Tanning and Use (Paperback)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Encyclopedic Reference, February 27, 2000

By 

Matt Richards - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin: A Practical Guide to Home Tanning and Use (Paperback)

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!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin, April 30, 2001

By 

Paleotechnics -the publishers (Boonville, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin: A Practical Guide to Home Tanning and Use (Paperback)

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.