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Tan-A-Long

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HoBow:
Thanks Broken Hand.  Kship- that will work just fine.

Ohio John:
where did you come up with the aluminum sulfate?

HoBow:
Ohio John- any chemical distribution company will have it....bulk food places may have it as it is added to pickling jars to keep the food crunchy.  Wal Mart sells it but only in very small quantities and it is very expensive compared to buying a 50 lb bag from a chemical company.  I have some if you'd be up for a trade...I'm moving and don't want to take all my tanning chemicals with me.  ;)

KShip85:
Ok, well my first endeavor did not fare so well...not really sure what happened but I had some unexpected results.  For starters when I first mixed the ingredients for the tan itself I ended up with a chemical reaction that caused water and foam to come rolling out of the top of my bucket and down the sides of the cabinet and onto the carpet in my parents laundry room ( was at their house to do all this as they have much more room for such things than I do).  Best way I can describe it is the reaction you get from doing the elementary science experiment with the volcano from vinegar and baking soda.  I'm wondering if anyone else has had this happen or if perhaps it was just me and a problem from the aluminum sulfate I used.  I do not believe it was vinegar from the hides as I am fairly certain it happened before I put the hides into the bath.  Plus after I thought it was over I stirred the water some to make sure everything had dissolved and it had the reaction again but this time even more than before.  I'm not a chemist by profession but do enjoy it some and best I can figure is the aluminum sulfate mixed with water created an acid that reacted with the baking soda like vinegar would.  Pretty sure there was a large release of CO2.  Anyway enough about that...after I finally got it all settled down I put the hide pieces in and left them in there for a week.  After a week I took them out and left them to dry out.  Upon drying I went to start working a piece and it just snapped in half, stuff was SUPER brittle.  So I am fairly certain I did something very wrong.  Any advice on what happened would be awesome as I would really love to try this again but do not want to ruin the hides I get.  Thanks a ton!

Kip

HoBow:
I should have put the warning about the chemical reaction  O:)  When I get in a hurry, it happens to me.  You do have to mix the alum slowly as it will  bubble up.  As far as being brittle.  It sounds like it dried out to much before you started working it.  I wring the hide out really well and depending on my timing and schedule either start working it immediately or set it to the side, but not for too long.  The more you stretch it and work it, the softer it will be.  I've let them set to long and had them come out as hard as rawhide.  Simply wet them again and work them really good.   Hope this helps!

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