Smith Buffalo Tanning

The rain

2010-06-02T09:34:00.000-06:00

We are going to finish scarping the buffalo this week. The reason we are finishing it this week because the membrane is coming off. The rain made it soaked the hid. Now that the is wet it is easier to scarp.

Umbrellas Out !!!

2010-06-02T09:33:00.000-06:00

Wow! Lots of rain. Having all that rain has been good, but bad ! Good because, all of the rain has also fallen on the buffalo, because of that the buffalo has been soaking wet. The soaked buffalo is now easy to scrape. The bad thing is that the can tear easier. And if the buffalo does tear then we will sew them. We are working really hard!! Cant wait till we get to the next step!

The brain..... Ewww!!

2010-06-01T12:58:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we will be getting the cow brain. Talk about gross!!! Some people have decided to bring gloves, while others are being tough and not wearing them. The class will have the buffalo in a spare room in our school. We made sure that the buffalo hide is ready for the processes of the braining. Wish us luck, we hope for an excellent hide!

About Tipi's and...More About Tipi's

2010-05-21T11:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went into a Indian council lodge. We learned about how the LINER has special features, like the insulation it gives in the winter, plus when you start a fire you don't suffocate. How that works is the lining drives the smoke from the fire up words out the top, also it will serve as a rack for hanging clothes. There was a buffalo hide, with a skull, in the middle of the tepee. It looked so cool! Some tribes would just leave the tanned buffalo hide white for their tepee, but some tribes would paint symbols and paintings on their tepee.

The Tepee

2010-05-21T11:01:00.000-06:00

There are 15 poles in a tepee. The tepee our class was in was a tribe council size tepee and the tepee is also called a three pole tepee. The tepee also smells bad because of the buffalo that is on the ground. The buffalo hide in the tepee is a different one from the one we are tanning. When it is raining they fold the smoke flaps closed. The reason they fold the flaps is so the rain or snow can't get in.

THE TANNING PROCESS

2010-05-20T13:00:00.002-06:00

We are scraping the hide. We only have a week to finish scraping and braining. We have to do lots of hard work. The class love's doing this. We've scraped in rain, the hot sun and even when it is freezing cold! We can't wait to be done. We are doing great work!!! We hope that we can start braining soon.

Almost Done!!!

2010-05-20T12:42:00.004-06:00

It has been at least 2 weeks now that we've been scraping the hide! The buffalo hide is now flattening down, now that most of the membrane's off. Along with the hide turning softer and whiter by the day!! YA! Next week, or possibly this week we are getting the gross, slimy, and totally nasty cow brain. Till then this is just an update on the buffalo hide!!!!

Pemmican Taste

2010-05-19T12:24:00.000-06:00

Today our class made pemmican.We used fresh raspberries,dried cranberries, and dried cranberries with cherry flavoring.The raspberries tasted sweet and felt slimy. The cranberries were hard to mash and tasted sweeter than the raspberries.My favorite was the dried cranberries,because I like things that are sweet.

Info. about Buffalos!

2010-05-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Buffalos are huge cow-like animals. They look like a cow but harrier and bigger! People hunt buffalos for there meet and hide...poor buffalo. A hide is like the hair and skin hooked together. Our class right now is scrapping the hide.It's very hard but if you get used to it, it's easy! Sometimes if you live in or near plains you could get a real view of a real live buffalo! During winter they don't hibernate like bears, but their warm fur keeps them warm all winter. Oh, did you know their babies are called a calf just like a cow's baby? Cows, bulls, and oxen are all realated to the buffalo.

Buffalo Scraping

2010-05-14T08:54:00.000-06:00

Right now we are scraping the membrane off the hide. We got the scrapers from the Helena High School, who made them. We found that if the hide is wet, it's easier to scrape. The hardest parts to scrape are the legs. They have lots of membrane. If you scrape to hard and to much, it gets holes. It already has holes from stretching it.

Experiments we did!

2010-05-13T08:57:00.000-06:00

We tried an experiment of making Pemmican ourselves. Pemmican is buffalo meat, and dried, with berries. We got some raspberries,or cranberries and smashed them. Then some people smashed beef jerky. Then our teacher added fat, and some other meat, then we put it all together and ate it.

Buffalo, What Great Smell You Have!

2010-05-11T20:39:00.000-06:00

Last Friday, with the Buffalo, EWWWW! It was disgusting! Literally it smelled like the Penguin section at the Zoo! That day we had to get it in the middle of the frame you stretch it out on, as I said, it reeked! We also dumped the water out of the 100 gallon tub, it was like a river going down to the playground. Gross. I laughed when a classmate said "can we go swimming." Talk about funny!

Buffalo Parts

2010-05-11T18:43:00.007-06:00

American Indians used almost every part of a buffalo. They used brains for tanning hides. Meat was eaten. The dung was good fuel for fire. Cups and spoons were made out of horns. Almost nothing was wasted.

Stretchin It.

2010-05-11T13:46:00.005-06:00

Today we had to make a 12 by 12 frame so we could stretch the hide. We used very strong string. We had to put 60 to 80 holes in it.

Native American Woman

2010-05-10T08:58:00.001-06:00

In early times Native American woman were sent to do all the work.While men were looking for food and enemy's, the woman stayed back caring for the children,making food,and making clothes. They often used deer and buffalo hide to make the clothing. The woman would treat the children very nicely, the children were thought to be sacred.

things we learned about the buffalo!

2010-05-10T08:56:00.000-06:00

We learn about the buffalo, and how Indians use them. The Indians would dry the meat and add some choke cherries or some other berries and make them into patties. They often killed the buffalo by leading them off the cliff where they are killed by the Indians.

starting with the buffalo

2010-05-06T13:07:00.002-06:00

So far we have got a 100 gallon tub and the hide has been soaking for about five days now. It gets cold every night so every day we refill it with hot water. Every day it gets softer and softer. We had to put rocks in it so the buffalo stays under the water.And thats pretty much all with the buffalo today.

The Process has Begun!!

2010-05-05T12:41:00.000-06:00

Through the month of May, my 4th graders will be tanning a buffalo hide using traditional methods. Every couple of days there will be new posts from the class talking about the process and other things we learn through the month. We are hoping to have lots of questions and comments about our posts!