Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills
hide tanning advice
bjrogg:
4 more mink and 19 muskrats
BowEd:
Really nice bunch of fur there.If you want to tan all of them.I'd divide up the numbers to be able to handle all of it.To tan them all at once will be a bit overwhelming.You've got a bunch there.That's a lot of fleshing and tanning I'd say for a while.You need willow hoops to lace your beaver in to hang in your man cave maybe.Takes about a 13' willow for a blanket beaver to go into.Otherwise they make good hats too.Those fox are nice too.I see a lined quiver there maybe.Maybe not....or another hat.
After tanning all of them you'll have the routine down I'd say....lol.
chamookman:
Two thumbs up BJ ! Bob
bjrogg:
Thanks Bob, they turned out nice.
Ed, these are all tanned and broke now. I just hung the rats back on stretchers for a place to temporarily store them. I did them in 2 groups or batches. They were already skinned, scraped and air dried on stretchers. First I put them in relaxer degreaser to rehydrate and get grease out of hides. I left them in relaxing bath all day. Some of these hides where air dried over a year ago. They still weren't completely relaxed so I put so degreaser relaxer in the pickle bath to. The pickle bath was salt and acid. You bring ph down to range of 1-2. I removed the hides after two days and scrapped them some more then put them back in pickle bath. Hides need to stay in this bath for minimum of 72 hours and ph maintained. I left them in 4 days, that worked out for me time wise. Then rinse several times and a neutralizing bath in baking soda for 30 minutes. Next rinse again then hang for 30 minutes to drip dry. Next lutan and salt bath. This needs a ph of 3.5 and for smaller hides 12-24 hours no longer than 48 for any hides. Next rinse completely and drip dry for 30 minutes. Then rub in the softening oils. The stuff I used was concentrated and you mixed one part oil two part warm water. I rubbed it into leather turned hide fur out rolled them up in rags and put them in plastic bag over night. Next I put them on stretchers and put belly boards in to really stretch them. As they dried in took them off stretchers and worked them stretching them in all directions. I also turned them fur in and put a couple hand fulls of fine sawdust mixed with minerals spirts inside hide and as I worked leather side rubbed sawdust into fur to get tanning oils out. Then I turned back fur out and gave them several quick snaps to get dust out. Then I shaped ears the way I wanted them on fox. I like to leave face a little stiff so it holds shape better hanging on wall. It can be softened later if that's what is wanted.
Ed you are right. This needs to be done in batches. Even with skinning and scrapping done this is still a pretty big job. Of course the big job is the End steps of breaking and cleaning the hides. Especially that beaver. I've got him thinned pretty good now he really needs to be rehydrated and put back on stretcher. I hope I didn't highjack this post probably should have started another.
Bjrogg
trail walker:
its all good bjrogg keep posting! i love reading your stuff. I'm only 17 you guys are taking years off my learning curve. : ;)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version