I scraped the flesh side of that hide and then spent 10 full days alternately applying brains to the flesh side and trying to soften it. After a weekend of butchering, my friends' family got a couple hundred pounds of prime meat, and I took home a prime hide. We treated the animal with respect and skinned it in the old way using a bone fleshing tool. The eerie fire-lit scene described above came together as we arrived and got set up to process the animal as quickly as possible with the help of Matt's brother. Other drivers changed speed on I-35 to try to figure out what we were carrying. The carcass didn't quite fit into the bed of Matt's Ford Ranger, so two buffalo legs rode on the side of the bed, bouncing up and down for the 350-mile trip to his family's place. When we got there, they had just put down a blind yearling and offered the whole thing to us for not much more than we had planned to spend on a few roasts. That morning, my friend Matt and I left school to go to the buffalo farm near Moberly, Missouri, to buy some meat to take to his family. ![]() Czech opera music (a friend's selection) blares out into the black stillness as a crackling bonfire flickers light onto the carcass of a yearling buffalo hung from a tree by one back foot - The bizarre setting where I skinned out my first buffalo robe is a scene that will probably never be repeated again should humanity last a billion years. As your sweat soaks into the hide, you become a part of it.ĭateline - a dark January night in rural Kansas, 2002. During the process, as your heart races and your breathing increases, you inhale the sweet, distinctive scent of the buffalo wool along with the tiny fibers of hide that shred off as you work. It takes hours and days of exertion to soften a buffalo hide. The traditional hide-tanning process connects the tanner with the animal in a way that little else could. This magic was perfected and passed down by 500+ generations of Native American people who lived on the prairie/Plains. The art of transforming the cold, slimy skin of a freshly butchered buffalo into a soft, warm, wonderful-smelling garment is nothing short of magic. Countless human stories have unfolded here with their main actors wearing buffalo robes, or at least with buffalo robes somewhere on the scene. For approximately 99% of the time that humans have been living on the American prairies, robes made out of hair-on buffalo hide were a ubiquitous item of clothing, worn by both men and women. ![]() As a cultural keystone species, it also provided resources needed by the region's Indigenous communities to thrive. As a keystone species, this animal helped to shape this landscape. The bison is part of the very essence of the American prairie. If any single thing can embody the connection between people, the prairie, and traditional culture, this is it. Each skull is unique and horns are not interchangeable.A traditionally tanned buffalo robe is something pretty special. Please DON'T ask us to find horns to fit a skull you already have. We just can't promise that we'll have horns that match your specifications. Please DO let us know your needs and we will certainly try to select appropriate horns. They may have gouges and other rough areas. If you are trying to purchase a horn for use as a powder horn, please be aware that these horns are not smooth. Buffalo are an aggressive animal and grind their horns regularly against trees and other objects. Also note that these are fairly rough on the outside. We buy them in bulk and get an assortment of sizes, lefts, rights, etc. Please note that we do not have these horns available in matched pairs. Just a helpful hint (we know this works because that's how we made a horned bonnet). It will take on a beautiful deep black luster. When it is completely smooth, apply a layer of animal fat or vegetable oil and polish into the horn. Once the outer layer is worn off, use successively finer grit until you are basically polishing the horn. ![]() A trick to make these really nice and shiny is to use sandpaper to smooth them down. The horn is split in half (almost quartered, really) and then shaped and polished. Note that most split-horned bonnets only require one horn. Buffalo horns were traditionally used to make spoons, ladles, and of course, for buffalo horn bonnets. They are not cleaned or polished and are in their natural state. These are great buffalo horn caps that average 14 inches long (measured on outside curve).
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