Hello All,
I am brand new to leather/fur making and have been doing research for about a week now to try and get my facts in order, but am a little confused. I am going hunting this weekend and am hoping to bring home a deer hide to do something with. To start, I have gathered that any process you use can either be done with the fur on or removed from the hide. If this is not true, please let me know.
My confusion is, what is the difference between rawhide and leather? I read in a book that when people do things such as stretching, drying, not using salt, and applying the brain to the hide you will end up with rawhide, but then on other internet sites, they call the result of brain tanning leather. Also, I see many people use the process for brain tan, but instead of using the brain, they use something store bought. Is this just because they do not want to use the brain? Then there is the added step of smoking hide. Why do some people do it and some not. Is this process rawhide or leather, and how do you tell the difference?
Also, where doe the term buckskin come into this. Thank you so much for all of your help!!
