Aluminum sulfate/pickling salt tan for fur on hides

[BowEd]

Just for curious first time self tanners here....If any out there wants to see I've got a nice big old coon I shot out of my neighbors garage a while back that I can show an easy way to make a soft/pliable/durable/long shelf life type fur out of for a number of different projects.Something someone can do even inside a small apartment & at a very low cost overall.Keep in mind some of the expense for tools etc. are kind of an investment for future tans or hide work & will get cheaper as more hides are tanned,but really a person can make their own tools for nothing also.My tools and equipment are pretty old I quess.A good 40 years I suppose.I invested into mine because I wanted to send & sell hides to Canada for a premium price opposed to selling them locally cheaper.Mainly coon/fox/& coyote.They have paid for themselves many many times over.Along the way I can show the fleshing and tools used and a good method of sewing up a holes and the measurements used of chemicals.
I've seen a couple of U tubes on this done by individuals and frankly,I would'nt be satisfied with the results.I'll get back to this thread when done to show results.

[JEB]

I would be interested in learning this.  Looking forward to the "how to".

[bjrogg]

Ed I'm sure you'll have intest in this one. I think I've seen those same videos and that was my thought to. I'll be watching even though I've tanned stuff before. I'd like to see one on what you create from the big old coon to.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Need a Daniel Boone fur hat?.......lol.Just joking!!!I have a slick way I think of just using a length of string for making them.Custom fit!!Used to be when I got called on to make one for someone that's all I would have to ask them to grab to measure their head and tell me on the phone.
Takes a good sized close to 25 pound or close to 36" nose to a$$hole/XXL form dried length coon to make one though for an average sized fellas head.
A person never throws away spare parts like the face and tail.I did not skin out the feet on this one though.

[bjrogg]

Ed I'd watch whatever you'd make.  I like trying to make stuff but I'm pretty crude yet. Would like to refine my stuff a little more. I really should get a book or something that shows how to make hats, coats, quivers, bags etc. and some  better tools for sewing.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

A few sizes of glovers' needles/a speedy stitch gadget for double sewing seams/and a spool of artificial sinew is about all that's needed for hand sewing.

[bjrogg]

Thanks for the shopping list Ed. Then a few lessons on how to use em. Do you use a thimble? Or pliers? Some of the hides  get though to push a needle through.
Bjrogg

[Hawkdancer]

Send me in, Coach!! .  I'd like to see the process, but don't get on utube often.  I read better than I hear!  Got some hides to process.
Hawkdancer

[BowEd]

OK here we go with some pics and commentary.
From a frozen let to thawed state and before starting to flesh on a fleshing beam I make sure all mud,blood clots,or burs are removed from the hair with a stiff comb.


A look at the flesh side before fleshing.

The fleshing knife I use.There are better but it has served me well.I've worn the wood handles off but still works great.Cost 40 years ago of $12.00.A free worn out lawn mower blade curved a bit can be used too

The fleshing beam I use.A fiberglass cove over a tapered 2"by6".A 6 to 8 inch log beam can be used too.

Lets get started to fleshing.I slip the tubed hide over the beam.Start on the face a bit fleshing and work my way down.It will be grissly and tough here but will get easier as I go down.

Keep a pocket knife handy to trim grissle from around the ears.


At first I generally go all the way down the backside to the tail with a good 4 to 5 inch wide band of flesh and fat removal.

I make that band a little wider as I go.You can see that at a little above the base of the tail the color of the hides' leather is still a very light shade of blue.This hide is not quite completely into it's prime yet but for the purpose I have for it it is close enough.A few more weeks and it would have been.A totally prime hides' leather will be white all the way down to the base of the tail.With coon this is the last area on it's hide that gets prime.If it's prime there you know for sure it is prime every where else.With experience a person can see this from the hair side long before skinning it.It's an eye a person gets for them to be able to buy and sell fur.

I then fit the hide over beam on the front legs to clean those areas up nicely.

Then fit hide back to nose to clean up around neck nicely.

I now work my way down all around.


I will hike the hide up to fit shorter for easier fleshing.

A good amount of fat on most winter coons.I sometimes burn that inside my wood stove.It burns pretty hot.

All fleshed.

Since I want to make this hide for a bag/hat/pouch project I will slit this hide up the belly length wise.Other wise the hide could be left in a tube for a possible quiver also.

With the temperature in the shed around close to freezing I will salt the hide with pickling salt for a while before tanning it.I put the hide on a sheet of wood on a slant so it drains nicely.The salt will help to remove oil and if left to flint dry will set the hair so it does'nt slip.

The salt gets massaged in well.Put plenty on.It will be a couple days till I get it ready for tanning.That process involves rinsing well.Then washing in warm water with dawn dish soap to remove oilyness.

A closer look at the book by Phyliss Hobson that got me started close to 40 years ago tanning hides.

Contents of interest for this project along with the formula of aluminum sulfate and salt tan.Simple and easy.I will include 100% neats foot oil too in the finishing and softening.There are probably at least 30 different ways to tan hides.This is one way I settled in on for myself.What I like about it is that there are no harmful toxic chemicals used and as you can see I don't wear gloves.


Until later into the tanning bath in a few days.

[BowEd]

Here is the formula I use from the book.There are corresponding hide weight to amount of chemical used too but for the part time tanner of a few hides it's not important to be exact. I'll explain later why.It makes a soft supple leather if it is worked as it drys.The mistake I see many make is to let it dry too far and hard before working it.Work and stretch while damp till dry.This basically just involves periodic stretching in between periods of rest laying around.Putting it into a plastic bag and in the frig if it will be longer than a few hours in between stretching.Not near the intense type work of stretching for brain tan leather.This type finished tan will come back out soft if it gets wet too with a little scuffing.
The upside of this type of tanning and formula is that you don't need to worry if you overdose the amount of aluminum sulfate or salt.It won't hurt anything.Making it too light would require more soaking time though for chemical penetration and I would'nt reccomend that.A plastic container should be used because of the salt.Hides with hair like a coon in the solution don't need to be weighted down.A hair on deer hide would though and a larger container of around 30 gallons[trash can] used too.The hide gets repositioned at least a few times a day so chemicals can get to everywhere in the leather.Also this solution has never been irritable to my hands any at all.
To be exact and precise a PH reading of the solution by some is reccomended but I usually eye ball it.Does'nt hurt to have some borax around though for rinsing after hide is tanned.You can't overdose using this either.I've never done the PH testing yet and hav'nt gotten into trouble for it even after dozens and dozens of hides,but can see the importance of it.

[osage outlaw]

Great follow along Ed.  Thanks for posting this.  I've got a freezer full of hides that need done. 

[bjrogg]

Looks real good Ed. Nice to have someone taking pictures for you while your doing this.
A couple tips if you've never scrapped a hide. Skin coon warm if you can but chill it good before scrapping it. The knife will bite into the fat and meat better when it's cold. Very messy if fat is warm.
Also belly is much thinner on most animals and be careful around teats very easy to cut through them.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Great follow along Ed.  Thanks for posting this.  I've got a freezer full of hides that need done. 

Clint I used to have a lot of hides that needed a tanning myself.The way I'm showing is about as mistake free and cheap as possible with tools and containers everyone can have laying around.With the way Robin and me live here I needed more room for meat/vegetables/berries etc. in the large chest freezer we got so I don't let the hide numbers get built up too much any more.Got 1 nice doe hide in there yet at the moment.I plan to just make regular old rawhide out of her in the frame dry scraping.

Looks real good Ed. Nice to have someone taking pictures for you while your doing this.
A couple tips if you've never scrapped a hide. Skin coon warm if you can but chill it good before scrapping it. The knife will bite into the fat and meat better when it's cold. Very messy if fat is warm.
Also belly is much thinner on most animals and be careful around teats very easy to cut through them.
Bjrogg

Yes Robin helped out a bit with some camera shots after chores this morning.Good points BJ,that's correct.There are ways to make things easier and less messy for yourself.A rubber apron is nice to have around and a towel or rags too.I was never one to freeze whole coon in a freezer.I always skinned immediately after killing when it's the easiest.Skinned out coon in the fat takes less room in the freezer too till a person can get to them to flesh/frame or flesh/tan later.
Fall and winter coon have quite a bit of fat so it still is marginally messy,but that's when the fur is at it's best.When doing these things the goal of a tanned hide and things to be made need to be kept in mind.This is a sow coon so teats are a bit larger than boar coons.Since this coon I knew was going to be ripped up the belly the concern was minmal,but if I was to be putting coon up for the fur sale being careful would be more of a concern.Keeping the hide flat and taught on a smooth surface without any folds avoids any holes.Your right most all animals skins are thinner on the belly so there is a learning curve for that for first time fleshers.Less pressure is needed to flesh those areas.Thickest areas are on the back side of neck and spine.
It's a learning curve for anyone who wants to do this will learn.Techniques using a fleshing knife correspond with techniques using a draw knife.Only in reverse.I push to flesh and pull to chase rings.My fleshing knife is actually rather dull the middle 10" with the outside 2" on either end sharpened for grissly areas like the back of the neck.Just like my draw knife actually,but would'nt reccomend using a draw knife for a flesher.My draw knifes' edge is slightly convex and my fleshers' edge is slightly concave.

[Hawkdancer]

Got the recipe, but the rest of the pics went to limbo!  What book is the from, btw?
Hawkdancer

[BowEd]

Got the recipe, but the rest of the pics went to limbo!  What book is the from, btw?
Hawkdancer

The book was written by Phyliss Hobson called "Tan Your Hide"/Garden Way Publishing,Charlotte,Vermont.Other tanning methods shown are bark tanning,vegetable tanning,chrome tanning,alum carbolic acid,sulphuric,and acid oil, chemical wise.Also snake skin & indian buckskin.There are many other books out there really.This one is pretty straight forward and easy to digest.It's for sale on Amazon for $11.00.Pretty cheap I'd say too for the amount of knowledge gotten.

Too bad the pics disappeared.They were transferred from Imgur site.I see them here on this thread.