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Tanning Beaver Tails

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cheapshot:
Paulette, looked at those beaver tails, I know nothing about them but they looked good and clean. When you scrap the meat off, that's the white slick underneath, correct? How difficult is it to do? I've done a deer hide and it would take some "abuse" in the scrapping if I did it wrong. But the beaver tails look as if they'd be sorta delicate to scrap out. I thought that handle looked really nice. And it shouldn't have any type of smell to it, if it's done right, correct? Would you need to oil it or just treat like you would a deer skin wrapped handle? Mrs. Cheapshot (Tomi) :)

paulette:
Hi Mrs. Cheapshot, (Tomi), It is a pleasure to meet you :-). I didn't scrape the tails at all. I had all three clean in at least 20 minutes with the powerwasher and turbo nozzle. I would have had nicer looking tails overall if I had used a new razor blade on the scalpel! Oh well will just have to buy some more supplies! I learn from my mistakes sometimes!

I want to make leather from the beaver's tails, did enjoy seeing the bow handle and I guess some more uses for the unthinned rawhide would be for a cover on like rawhide knife or gun sheaths possibly? I will try to make one with some of this skin. I love the looks of the beavers skin! I spent a wad this week on a professional fleshing machine. two of them really and it was on account of how lousy my bench grinder was doing to thin down these beaver skins.. 3rd pic.. oh man, what a laugh that was.. and smelly?? hhahaha.. I totally smelled like dead fish! so I have these really high hopes of actually making a nice soft useable beaver tail leather someday. I may use chemicals too..well everything's a chemical.. smoke, brains..hey sometimes one shouldn't drink the water or breathe the air! So I plan to use this smaller detail fleshing machine to thin down the skins and then I got some paint on tan here with the oils already in it.. I think it will really make a unique bag thinned and softened and maybe sewn together with some, oil tanned buckskin. anyway I ordered these new machines because braintanning or even chemical tanning hides and skins is just SO Much labor and if the skins are too thick they are next to impossible to penetrate with the oils needed to properly 'tan' them. If a skin isn't tanned well it can easily become brittle and prone to breakage.. ok for small applications like bow handles or knife sheaths or gun sheaths, I think. I could be wrong! Probably oil from your hands would be fine by itself. I don't really know! sounds reasonable to me! In any event I find hides and skins totally fascinating!

brian melton:

 I just skin them, and borax is added for preserving....

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