How can I darken brain tan hides

[voyageur1688]

 Them critters is smarter than me much of the time but I do get one every now and then. I could get them more often but I dont like the meat of them big ol swamp bucks. Wont take a deer over 180# dressed. They taste like #%&  n are tough as leather.
Voy

[jack404]

G'day folks ,  now because you have brain tanned, you have a lot of options open to you to give the hide some colour again

here in Australia we use a lot of woods as they have a great natural tanins   in them  and extracting it all 100% natural like aint hard either

small parts of the wood or bark , hammer to break up the fibres , into a sack and  into clean water , after a few dayd the bag is twisted tight to press out the  stains and left to evaporate down , more water and bark or wood in the bag is added and  repeated until you get the darkness you want

evaporate the water off until its a oily mess  pretty thick , some oils dont release water well , so dont push it if it wont get thin , we can allow for that  due to the nature of the hide and brain tanning ..  ,  add to this a 1/4 of the tannin amount you have a mix of 50/50  rendered clean fat and bee's wax  and a teaspoon of glycerine or two added dont hurt neither , mix it all well over a low heat  and mix well ,  when mixed  rub in well , let dry and if you wish darker  go again.. 



walnut oil  is a nice one , now a little walnut oil slowly heated and  slightly burned will darken to a nice dark walnut furniture  type brown real easy ,  but watch it is it can go to black in a few mins if you get it too hot .. 

[DandJofAZ]

Sounds like boiled down stump water....nice tan to brown color..

Doug