118 
March, 1922 } 
FOREST AND STREAM 
TANNING BUCKSKIN 
I N thumbing the pages of an old Journal 
kept hy me wliile spending a year 
among the Indians and trappers of 
Northern Ontario in 18Q9-1000 I came 
across the following directions, given 
me at the time by the Indians, for tan- 
ning huckskin "indian fashion,” and 
which I used with great success. It 
may lie of interest to the readers of 
Fokest .\Nn Stre.am : 
Put the hide hair side up in a basin of 
milk warm water ; nothing else ; cover, 
and allow to stand at this temperature 
(not warmer) for three days. This is to 
raise the grain and loosen the hair. 
■After this, grain the hide. The Indians 
use a white birch pole about eight feet 
long and six to eight inches in diam- 
eter ; they remove the bark for two 
feet or so, leaving the wood perfectly 
smootli. The hide is stretched tight over 
this pole: then with one end of pole on 
the ground and the other agains*- the 
breast, they shave from them, with a 
graining knife, running the knife under 
both hair and grain. This is a slow and 
particular piece of work. 
After graining, put hack in basin flesh 
side up, and cover with the suds of 
yellow' soap, hike or milk warm as be- 
fore and leave for two or three days 
longer. You are then enabled to remove 
all flesh from the hide, with ease. Then 
pull and stretch the hide until it is dry. 
Put back in a fresh suds at same tenpier- 
■ Lture for two or three days longer. Ihill 
and work the hide at intervals for a 
Txr E are depending upon the 
r friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to 
make this department worthy of 
his name. No 'man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or lurote of 
them with giiainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camp- 
ing and “going light’’ have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
ivill contribute to, this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances. — [Editor.] 
couple days, until it is dry and soft. 
Then dip in tanners’ f)il, and put it back 
in the suds again for two days. Re- 
move the hide, and pull and work 
until it is dry and soft. If hard spots 
are left, ml) oil on them and put back in 
the suds and repeat the process of pul- 
ling and working until soft. 
After the tanning is completed and 
the hide is thoroughly dry, smoke it to 
give it the color desired; this is done 
by sewing it up into the form of a bag, 
with one end open. Burn rotten birch 
or dry cedar punk, and direct the fairly- 
cooled smoke into the hide. 
A rather tedious process, hut well jus- 
tified by the superior results obtained. 
C. C. Boak, 
Nevada. 
A SNOWSHOE KINK 
1 NOTE an article in Nessmuk’s Camp 
Fire regarding the use of snowshocs 
in which the writer advises against the 
use of heels on footwear. 
If one must use shoes with heels in 
snowshoeing let him try this plan ; 
Get a piece of leather from the har- 
ness shop, five inches by six inches, 
round the comers off, have the harness 
man punch three holes on each side and 
three on each end large enough to draw 
a rawhide thong through and lace it on 
to the snow shoe, smooth side up, length- 
ways of the shoe, so that your heel will 
strike about the middle of the leather. 
I have had these kind of leathc'-s on 
my snowshoes for ten years and have 
worn all kinds of heels and no heels, 
and my snowshoes do not sag under 
the heels now. F. G. Thom,\s, 
New York. 
LOCK FOR CAMP DOOR 
T here arc thousands of campers 
who leave their camps and cabins, 
as they believe, securely locked for the 
winter only to find in the spring that J 
the doors and windows have been forced J 
during their absence and the contents 
stolen or badly injured. It is a simple j| 
matter to bar the windows, but to sue- I 
cessfully bar the door and yet be able to ' 
admit yourself when you wish to is 
another matter. With that in mind a 
camper of the writer’s acquaintance de- I 
vised this secret lock herein described. 1 
All the locking is done on the inside | 
of the house, and he alone knows the ‘I 
secret of unlocking it from the outside. I 
The only w’ay for an outsider to gain ,n 
admittance is to smash down the door | 
entirely — a thing not likely to be done. II 
The first requis’te is a heavy iron bar 
about 10 inches longer than the width 
of the door. Something about 2 inches ' 
wide by ->4 inches thick should stand the I 
strain of any assault. Drill a Jd-inch | 
hole in one end and saw a slot inch 
long by Ys inch wide in the other. Pivot 
the bar to the left side of the door i 
\ jyerA/i. 
. _ »/»/ T- 
lARSe 
/t£AD 
frame so that when it lies horizontally 
across the door the lock will be hidden 
behind it. Use a long bolt for the pivot 
which will go clear through the frame 
"nd bolt on the inside. 
Lav the hasp horizontally across the 
door and mark the shape o? the slot on 
the opposite door frame. Then drill two > 
^-inch holes through the frame and | 
ream out, making a flat hole about 1]4 , 
inches wide by Y i”ch higb. 
Next — ha\’c your hlacksinitli make 
a bolt of j4-inch round iron with a large 
flat head on one end and an eye welded I 
