HUN Chapter 26: Tanning Beaver Pelts

Lin Yu'an's participation undoubtedly injected new vitality and attention points into the vast potential Chinese market.

While the broadcast of the first episode sparked heated discussions in the civilized world thousands of miles away, Lin Yu'an knew nothing about it.

At this moment, sunlight at Chilko Lake was filtering through the sparse coniferous forest, shining on his stone shelter with its natural style.

Two fresh beaver pelts were drying on a simple wooden frame outside the shelter.

He now devoted his full attention to these two precious beaver pelts.

"Today's main work is processing these two precious beaver pelts," he said.

"Beaver fur is thick and has excellent insulation properties. If we can successfully tan them, whether made into hats or used to pad bedding, they can greatly improve my quality of life."

He picked up one of the beaver pelts that still had some fat and gleamed in the sunlight, displaying it to the camera.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to start working."

Lin Yu'an placed one beaver pelt flesh-side up, stretching it out forcefully and laying it on a birch log with a relatively flat surface that was positioned at a certain angle.

This angle helped the scraped fat and meat scraps slide off.

He didn't have a professional fleshing knife, but the tools in his hand were sufficient. A piece of shale chipped from stone and carefully sharpened was adequate as a scraping knife.

While roughly scraping the large chunks of fat from the hide with the stone blade, he explained, "The first step of tanning, and also the most labor-intensive step, requires thoroughly scraping clean the fat, meat scraps, and that tough inner membrane from the inside of the hide."

"If these things aren't removed, the hide will stink and become hard, making it impossible to tan."

Lin Yu'an started from the tail end of the beaver pelt, leaning his body forward and using his upper body weight to assist, pushing and scraping forward steadily, stroke by stroke.

"When scraping, the angle is very important, about 30 to 45 degrees, and the force must be even."

"Our goal is to scrape until the white dermis layer is exposed, but without damaging it."

"I learned this skill from a neighbor who slaughtered sheep when I was young. It's barely adequate for scraping a beaver pelt."

He scraped very intently, especially near the edges and irregular areas, being extra careful.

The sticky white fat, red meat fibers, and translucent fascia continuously curled up and fell off under the scraping of the stone blade.

Just the initial cleaning of one beaver pelt took him nearly two hours.

When he finished processing both pelts, it was already afternoon.

At this point, the inside of the hide showed a clean white or pale yellow color and no longer felt greasy to the touch.

Lin Yu'an then took the cleaned beaver pelts to the stream and thoroughly washed away the surface dirt with the cold stream water.

He didn't perform complex "rotting" or alkali treatment, but simply soaked the pelts in clean water for an hour or two, allowing the hides to fully absorb water and expand.

"Now comes the most crucial step, making natural tanning agent using materials the beaver has already prepared for us: its brain!"

"In wilderness hide tanning, one of the most traditional and effective methods is using the animal's own brain matter."

"This might sound primitive, but it's very effective. This method has been passed down globally for thousands of years."

Lin Yu'an completely extracted the brain matter from those two beaver skulls he had carefully preserved.

He placed the brain matter in a small clay bowl and added approximately the same amount of warm water.

Then using a smoothly whittled wooden stick, he began forcefully mashing and stirring.

"We need to thoroughly mash the brain matter into paste, mixing it fully with water to form a brain soup like thin porridge."

He patiently mashed for a long time until the mixture in the clay bowl became uniform, milky white, slightly foamy brain solution.

When the brain tanning agent was ready, Lin Yu'an again laid a moist beaver pelt on the fallen log, hide-side up.

Wearing gloves, he scooped up the warm brain solution. The fishy stench hit his nose immediately! But he still endured the smell and evenly applied it to the entire inside surface of the hide.

"Although it looks disgusting, it smells even more disgusting! Every inch of the hide must be covered, especially the edges and thicker areas."

Lin Yu'an carefully worked the brain solution into the hide's fibers.

Then he folded the brain-coated beaver pelt, fur-side to fur-side. This "brain soaking" process continued for several hours.

When Lin Yu'an judged that the brain solution had fully penetrated, he entered the most labor-intensive part of the entire tanning process: "breaking" the hide.

"Now we need to use continuous physical action to break down the fiber structure inside the hide, keeping it soft even after drying."

He unfolded the brain-soaked beaver pelt and began a series of high-intensity rubbing and stretching movements.

Coming to a hardwood stake he had smoothed to perfection, he draped the flesh side of the hide over the top of the stake, then grasped both sides of the hide with his hands and forcefully pulled and rubbed back and forth.

He also rolled the hide up like wringing a towel and twisted it forcefully in opposite directions with both hands.

For particularly thick or difficult-to-stretch areas, he would knead them repeatedly with both hands like kneading dough.

This "hide breaking" process was continuous. Once started, the hide couldn't be allowed to dry completely.

Lin Yu'an alternated between processing the two beaver pelts, his arms aching so much he could barely lift them. This process occupied most of his day.

When the "hide breaking" reached a satisfactory degree, Lin Yu'an thoroughly dried the hides in a cool, ventilated place.

After another day, in the afternoon, the completely dried beaver pelts became very soft, like thick velvet cloth, with colors showing the characteristic milky white or pale yellow of brain tanning.

To make the tanned beaver pelts more durable and prevent rot and insect damage, Lin Yu'an performed smoking.

The waterproof tarp smokehouse was restarted once again.

He still lit a pile of "smoldering fire" consisting mainly of birch wood and moist pine needles.

He wrapped the fur side of the tanned, dry, soft beaver pelts around wooden segments, secured them with steel fishing line, forming cylindrical shapes, and carefully suspended them above the smoldering fire.

"Smoking not only gives the leather a beautiful, glossy color, but more importantly, the chemical substances in the smoke make the fur more durable."

The smoking process continued for most of the day until the leather showed an attractive golden color and carried a unique smoky scent.

When the two smoked beaver pelts were finally taken down from the smoking rack, they gave off a faint smoky aroma and the characteristic suppleness of leather.

Lin Yu'an's face finally showed a smile of task completion and relief.

He caressed the soft and elastic hide and the still bright and thick beaver fur.

"Hey, look at this!" A completed tanned beaver pelt was fully displayed before the camera.

"Pure handmade, pure natural brain-tanned beaver pelt! Although the process was arduous, the result is absolutely worth it!"

"I haven't decided what to make with it yet, so I'll store it for now!"

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