Anybody got any dos and don'ts on making buckskins?
Which tanning kits are best? I'd rather not use brains and do have a Van Dykes catalog. Just don't know which kit is best.

Don't use your wifes blender for the brains(or at least don't let her find out).

There is a good book that you can get through Three Rivers Archery called "Deer Skins to Buck Skins".

if you look in Van Dykes, one of hte tans gives a blue green hue tot he leather side.  Just read the fine print, but any of the tans they sell work.  Make the tan fit your application is all I'm saying
Prepare to work-tanning is work if you'll get a decent product

Does anyone know the name of that place where you can send your hides to and they'll tan 'em for you?

Buckskin is bucked, brained, and smoked If you just wanna tan 'em thats not that difficult.
Making buckskins is a heap of work.
Theres a bunch of reading on the web about it.

NativeCraft,  one tannery is wbplace.com.  One thing to keep in mind with this tannery is that they make no effort to return to you the exact skin that you sent them.  Upon receipt of your hide, it is measured.....say it measures 9 square feet......and you will be returned 9 square feet of tanned leather, but not the same 9 square feet that you originally sent them.  Somewhere on the website they caution that if you have a very unique or special hide that you want back, you should probably find another tanner.  If this isn't a problem for you, let me say that I had excellent service and results from them.  I sent them a hide, purcased  a pair of lined deerskin gloves for my wife .......got these gloves at a reduced price because I had sent them hide.....
and asked for what was left over from my original sq ft of hide to be returned as tanned leather.  After several phone calls, which were handled by a very pleasant and knowledgable young lady, and payment for what I wanted, I received a very nice pair of lined gloves and enought soft, creamy white leather to make a nice back quiver.  It was slightly disappointing to me that my gloves and quiver are not made from the deer that I killed,  but since tanning my hide myself is beyond my abilities, I guess  this will have to do.  I would use them again without hesitation.  Hope  this helps.    dj

just do it the brain way

it works good

We send ours to Uber Glove and Tanning.  They do great work and make some neat produces out of your skins.  Last year I had a pair of pile lined mittens made for my wife and another pair for my daughter, from the hide of a deer I shot.  As a matter of fact, I have a hide salted down right now that is from a doe I shot last night, and as soon as it dries some, it will be headed to Uber.  This year is my year for gloves.

I made a bunch of buckskin a few years ago using the method from Deerskins to Buckskins, using eggs instead  of brains. They came out beautiful, but it is a lot of work. But I am glad I know how to do it now. Did I mention it was a lot of work? :-)