I have said that we used a basket made of the scrotum of a buffalo bull, for picking tobacco blossoms.
A fresh scrotum was taken, and a rim or hoop of choke-cherry wood was
bound around its mouth; choke-cherry limbs are flexible and easily bent.
The hoop was sewed in place with sinew passing through the skin and
around the hoop spirally.
A thong was bound at either end to opposite sides of the hoop, and the
whole was hung upon the drying stage, or at the entrance to the earth
lodge in the sun. The skin was then filled with sand until dry, when it
was emptied, the thong removed, and a band, or leather handle, was bound
on one side of the hoop, at places a few inches apart, and the basket
was ready for use.
The scrotum is the toughest part of the buffalo's hide. When dried it is as hard and rigid as wood.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html#XIII