Curing & Using Hides & Skins

MANY a man has suffered untold privations, and many more have lost their lives, while surrounded with food and
all the necessities of life, merely through ignorance of the woods and wild life, or through inability to wrest a 
livelihood from nature.

There are few places in the north where a man can not manage to exist for months when deprived of every aid of 
civilization, provided he is skilled in woodcraft, possesses self reliance and determines not to be beaten. Of course 
no one goes into the woods or to camp expecting to be stranded without food, garments or the ordinary necessities
of life, but an upset canoe, a fire, or any one of a dozen other accidents, may leave a camper in such a plight and 
for that reason one should ever be prepared for any eventuality. Not only should you know how to find your way, 
how to signal and follow a trail, how to build a fire without matches and how to make a good camp, but in addition, 
you should be capable of getting a living from the woods and streams; you should know how to trap and fish, how to
tan skins and how to make rude but warm and serviceable garments from the hides of the creatures you kill.

A man or boy who is really skilled in woodcraft should be able to go into the wilderness with nothing but the 
garments he wears, a knife and his brains and yet live safely, even in comparative comfort, for at least a year. 
Several men and a few women have done more than this and have entered the forest naked and without a single 
tool, implement or appliance of any sort and yet have lived for months and have come forth to civilization, well, 
strong, clad in warm garments and armed with effective weapons. 

Few men are proficient enough to accomplish such feats, however, and seldom will it be necessary under ordinary
conditions; but the more you can rely upon yourself and the more capable you are of winning a livelihood from the 
woods the more you will enjoy your camping experiences and the less will be the chances of any serious casualty 
occurring.

Even if you are not obliged to use the skins of animals for garments or footwear they may often be used to good 
advantage when camping out and every camper should learn how to tan hides and skins and how to make 
moccasins.

Of course, if you merely wish to preserve the skins of any creatures you catch or kill, it is only necessary to skin the 
animals and dry the hides in the shade, for they can be sent to a tannery to be tanned and made into rugs, etc., 
when you return to the city. But it is much more satisfactory to tan your own skins, and by so doing you will have 
added to your knowledge of woodcraft, for woodcraft in its broadest sense should always include the ability to wrest 
a livelihood, and make oneself comfortable, in the woods.

For ordinary use the easiest and simplest way to skin any animal is to cut a straight line down the under side from 
chin to tail, with connecting incisions extending from this line to the sole of each of the four feet, and then peel off 
the skin. If the hide is intended for a rug or a trophy the feet and head should be carefully skinned and the claws 
and lips left on the hide. The skull should then be separated from the neck, carefully cleaned and scraped and 
dried so that, later on, it may be used in preparing the hide with mounted head.

The skin should then be stretched smoothly on a door, board or wall, with the skin side out, — or it may be 
stretched on a frame of poles lashed together, — and should be rubbed with a mixture of salt and alum, after which 
it should be dried in the shade. If the skins are valuable and are to be sold or used as furs they should be "cased.''
In other words, one incision should be made from the sole of one hind foot down the inside of the leg, and across 
the abdomen and up the other hind leg to the foot. The body should then be removed through this cut, turning the 
skin inside out like a glove, and the skin should be slipped (still inside out) over a board or shingle whittled down to 
the proper size to fit the skin snugly and of somewhat tapered, oblong form. After the hide is stretched on the board
it should be hung in the shade to dry without anything being rubbed upon it. On the other hand, if you expect to tan
your skins and wish them soft and pliable you should be prepared to use plenty of time and elbow grease, for the 
secret of tanning a skin soft is to roll, rub, beat, work and scrape it while drying until thoroughly soft and pliable.

There are many different ways of tanning skins and every tanner has his own favorite, — and often secret, — 
methods and liquors, but a skin may be tanned by merely rubbing with brains, grease or butter and working and 
rubbing until soft. This is a favorite Indian method which is followed by smoking, but it is far easier to use chemicals
of some sort. The old fashioned alum, salt and salt-peter solution; the improved liquor of salt, alum and sulphuric 
acid and the various extracts of oak, sumac, mangrove, etc., are all good; but they all require care and time and a 
bulky supply of chemicals or liquor. Quite recently I accidentally discovered an entirely new and far better process. 

This consists of simply soaking the raw, freshly removed skin in a 10% to 15% solution of formalin. This will 
thoroughly tan a small deer skin in twelve hours and all fat, grease, bits of flesh, etc., may easily be removed after 
soaking. As soon as the skin turns white and leathery, rinse and wash it thoroughly in fresh water; let it drain; 
scrape and pull off the bits of meat and grease; work the skin dry by stretching first one way and then another by 
rolling and beating, and you will have a beautifully soft, kid-like piece of leather. If you do not wish to spend the time
and labor to work the hide dry you can let it dry flat and will have no difficulty in making it flexible by working it and 
pounding it afterwards.

Even old dried skins may be tanned to perfection in this way if first softened by soaking in water. Moreover, skins 
tanned in this way are quite free from attacks by moths and other pests; they never become stiff or hard from 
wetting, and the method is equally good for hides with the hair on or with the hair removed. As a small bottle of full
strength formalin will make enough solution to tan a large number of good sized skins, one may always go prepared
to tan any hides obtained.

If you should wish to tan skins without the hair on you must first remove the hair by soaking the fresh skins in a 
solution of wood ashes and water, or by burying them in mud for a few hours. As soon as the hair starts to come 
away, rinse the skins in fresh water, lay them over a log or rounded beam and with a smooth-edged piece of 
hardwood, or the back of a large knife, scrape off all the hair. Then wash and tan as described.

Of course many skins obtained by hunting or trapping are useless for garments or footwear, but there are many 
others which make excellent leggings, pouches, belts and moccasins. Deer and woodchuck, all the carnivorous 
animals, and squirrels, have tough skins which make strong leather, but only the larger species furnish enough
leather to make moccasins or garments of any sort, unless a number of skins are sewed together. If you ever find 
yourself in such a predicament that it is necessary to fashion skin garments you will have to use your own ingenuity 
and get along as best you may, for it is impossible to describe the method of making clothing from skins in a volume
of this size. 

On the other hand, it is a very different matter to make moccasins and as these are the easiest and most useful of 
footgear for the woods I advise every camper to practice until proficient in the art of making moccasins for himself. 
It's far cheaper and more satisfactory than buying them, even if you have to purchase the leather or buckskin, and 
are not fortunate enough to have hides obtained and tanned by your own hands.

Among the Indians, every tribe had its own distinctive form of moccasin, but many of these were so similar that they 
were scarcely more than variations of a common type. To describe them all would require a treatise, but there are 
three distinct types which are all good and are easily made and each of which is best adapted to certain localities 
and purposes. For convenience these may be called the Algonquin Moccasin, the Sioux Moccasin and the 
Seminole Moccasin, for the three forms were distinctive of these tribes, although other tribes used moccasins of 
very similar appearance and construction. 

As these three nations lived in widely separated parts of the country, and under very different conditions, the three 
types of moccasins offer a choice of footgear suited to almost any portion of the United States and to almost any 
purpose, for you may be sure the Red man, through countless ages of primitive life and experience, has evolved 
the moccasin best adapted to his surroundings and purposes.

Thus the Algonquin moccasin is soft and flexible and is high cut and is specially adapted to use in the woods and in 
canoes, for trailing and stalking game and, if well made, is almost waterproof except by long immersion and is warm
in winter or cool in summer, depending upon whether it is made of thin or thick hide, or of hide with or without hair 
left on it. 

The Sioux moccasin, on the other hand, is low cut with a stout hard sole and is just the sort of footgear one would 
expect to find among a race inhabiting the plains and mountains of the west, where sharp pebbles, sand and rough 
rocks necessitate a protection for the soles of the wearer's feet, but where silent stalking in forests, the use of 
canoes and the necessity of waterproof moccasins are unknown. 

Very different from either of the above are the moccasins of the Seminoles, a tribe whose hunting grounds and 
homes were the deep swamps and everglades of Florida ; a tribe whose journeys were nearly all made by dug-out 
canoes and where cold winters were unknown. To make moccasins which would remain dry after continual soaking
in the Florida swamps was impossible; the only requisite was protection for the feet. Warmth was unnecessary, and, 
as a result, the Seminoles evolved moccasins of thin, soft leather; high cut and close fitting as a glove; in effect, an 
extra thickness of skin to guard against thorns, sawgrass, insect and snake bites; but not intended to withstand long
tramping nor to keep the feet dry.

For the white man, however, either or all of these three types of moccasins will be found useful. The Algonquin is 
very neat, it is comfortable and is simple to make; the Sioux requires more time in making, but has the advantage of 
a thick sole to protect your feet, while the Seminole is made from a single piece of leather; it may be made without 
tools of any sort, other than a knife, and it is the simplest of all. An Indian can make a pair of Seminole moccasins in 
less than half an hour, but you will find a great deal of practice necessary before you can make a pair readily and
quickly and yet secure a good fit.

To make a pair of Algonquin moccasins (Fig.17) select a good-sized piece of soft tough leather or buckskin, and 
from this cut two pieces of the form shown in Fig. 18 and two others of the form shown in Fig. 19. The sizes of these 
pieces must be calculated by the size of your shoe or foot, or by a shoe last, taking one and one-third times the 
length of your foot for the distance from A to B and the circumference around your foot at the instep for the distance
from C to D, Thus if you stand upon the leather, the sides C and D should just meet, when drawn up over your 
instep. The side flaps E and F may be either long or short, according to whether you wish a high or low-cut 
moccasin. 

When the four pieces are ready you should cut a number of strips, or strings, from the leather. These may be cut 
from the edges of the hide, or a small scrap may be used by cutting around and around in spiral form, as shown in
Fig. 20. At the point marked G (Fig. 19 and 21) make holes with an awl and sew the two pieces together with a strip of
leather, with tough sinew or with strong waxed thread. Make each stitch short on the tongue (19) and long in the 
edge of the other piece (21 ) and thus gather the edges in neat folds or tucks as shown in Figs. 22 and
23. 

It will take some little time and several trials in order to learn just how long to make the stitches in order to have the 
sides of the moccasin and the edges of the tongue join evenly and symmetrically, but the only way to judge of this is
to try over and over again and if you have to pull out the stitches a half dozen times don't be discouraged. In case
the leather is stiff or very thick, the edges should be well wet until soft and flexible and, moreover, if the edges are 
thus dampened and the tongue is left dry the moccasin edges will pucker readily without gathering the tongue. 

A very good method is to make the moccasins over wooden shoe lasts, for in this way a much neater job and a 
better fit may be obtained. When the tongue is at last sewed neatly into place cut two little notches in the heel end 
of the moccasin, as shown at H.H, and stitch up the back in the manner illustrated in Fig. 23, sewing over and over 
through both edges of the moccasin until the little tab H is reached. This should then be sewed tightly and neatly to
the moccasin, as indicated in the illustration. Finally tie a leather thong at the lower edge of the side pieces, or, 
better still, pass the string through a hole in one edge and then around the back and out through a hole in the other
edge.

To make a pair of moccasins of the Seminole type, illustrated in Figs. 24, 25, cut two pieces of the shape illustrated 
in Fig. 26, and also two strings of tough leather of the form shown in Fig. 27. The size of the two pieces {26) must 
be determined in the same way as already described for the Algonquin moccasin, with the difference that in the 
present case the width should be a little greater than distance around your instep. Make a hole at the toe A (Fig. 26) 
and through this, from the under side, insert the piece (Fig. 27), The large triangular end of this string (B) will 
prevent the thong from pulling through and should be left as shown in the cut. Next, with this leather thong, sew over
and under, as illustrated in Fig. 28, making holes with a small awl or punch and pulling the stitches tightly each time
until neat folds or tucks are made along the seam, and gradually decreasing the length of the stitches and making 
the folds looser and looser as you proceed, until at the instep there are no folds on the seam. By wetting the edges 
near the toe and leaving the edges near the instep dry this method of gathering may easily be accomplished, but 
you will no doubt find several trials necessary before you are able to gather the seam in just the right way to form a 
neatly fitting moccasin with the seam straight and true along the top. When at last the two sides are properly sewed 
together, knot the thong so it cannot slip back, and let the long free end remain for a tie-string to wrap about the
leg. The back and heel are next sewn up in exactly the same manner as described for the Algonquin moccasin; but 
using a thong of leather instead of thread or sinew and leaving a long loose end of the thong at the top as in Fig. 24,
In the genuine Seminole-made moccasins the heel is made in a different manner by gathering the leather in a circle 
but this is difficult to describe, and, moreover, it does not give as tight and neat a finish as the method 
recommended above. When the moccasin is worn the string C is wrapped about the leg and tied to the thong D 
which holds the flaps neatly in place.

To make the Sioux moccasin (Fig, 29) you will need some thin tough leather as well as some very thick heavy, but 
soft, hide, such as elk skin, soft tanned horse hide, or, if preferred, some heavy rawhide. To cut the soles from this 
place your foot upon it and mark around in the form shown in Fig. 30, but allowing about quarter of an inch larger 
than your foot all around. Cut this out and using it for a pattern cut another piece like it, but be sure and turn the 
first piece upside down when using it as a pattern so that the two soles will be opposites or right and left. In cutting
these soles see that the hair side of the skin is the bottom, and in every case when making moccasins,
this rule should be followed, unless you are using hide with the fur or hair on for warmth; in that case make the 
moccasins with hair on the inside. After the soles are ready, measure the length from toe to heel, add one inch over, 
and mark this length on the thin leather. Next measure from one side across the instep of your foot to the opposite
side where your foot touches the ground and mark this distance on the thin leather at one end of the first mark and 
at right angles to it as shown in Fig, 31. From one end of this last line draw a curved line around the end of the
length line and back to the cross line, as shown by the dotted line in Fig, 31, and cut out neatly along this line. Place 
this piece upside down on another part of the thin leather and cut out a second piece of the same size and form. In 
each of these, make cuts as shown by C.C and D,D, and make two holes close together at E.E, Fig, 32,

These are the uppers of the moccasins and should be attached to the soles by stitching through the edges of the 
soles and the edges of the uppers in the manner shown in Fig, 33, for if the stitches are run straight through the
thread, or sinew, will soon wear off. Always commence sewing at the heel of the sole and where one of the corners 
of the uppers join it as at G, Fig. 32, and work around the toe and back towards the heel on the other side. When 
the soles are sewed firmly to the uppers, and if the soles are rawhide or thick leather you will probably have to soak
them in water to sew them, sew up the heel seams. A tongue of soft leather should then be fastened in place as 
shown at H, Fig, 34, 

The only difficulties which you may have in making these moccasins is to prevent the uppers from puckering, but
this is readily overcome with practice. Before sewing up the heels, and while working at the moccasins, you will find 
that it may be more convenient to turn the moccasins inside out, but they must be turned back before sewing up the 
heels. When the moccasins are finished a soft leather thong should be passed through the holes in the uppers (E.E,
Fig. 34) to serve as a lacing. If high moccasins of this type are desired leg-pieces may be sewn onto the uppers after
the moccasins are otherwise complete.

End of Excerpt.
This (complete) title is available in the SSRsi Survival Library

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