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Tanning an otter hide, got a question

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Mo_coon-catcher:
I’m finally getting around to tanning the otter I caught in early December. I got it fleshed and boarded a couple days ago. So once it fully dries I’ll start the breaking process. I’d forgot how fishy an otter smells until I brought it inside to dry. But it is potent.But I’m wondering if otter hides need thinned to be a usable softness like beaver and raccoon hides need to be.
I do most of my tanning in the traditional brain tan method but with egg yokes and I cheat when thinning the hide by using an angle grinder with sanding disk. I can get the hides an even thinning much quicker than by scraping. And a second thing, would it be worth saving the powder from thinning to make into hide glue?
This hide will get me lots to play with and be a workout to break. It’s about 5.5’ long from tip to tip on a 6.25” wide board. Once this one is done I have 4 50+pound beaver to tan.

Thanks,
Kyle

aaron:
I have only done one braintan otter. I did not thin it...jist scraped. Came out pretty soft.

Hawkdancer:
That seems like a big otter!   Didn't even know they were in MO!  Have fun!
Hawkdancer

Mo_coon-catcher:
I’ll give this one a shot without thinning. If it’s still a bit stiff I can always thin it after tanning.
This one was a decent sized but not huge otter for the area. On the same area of property a friend that was trapping the duck pond ended up with 3or 5 and the largest was a decent bit larger. So in the same 10 day spell we removed about 5 otter and 5 beaver from a 1/4 mile stretch of river. I also had 1 pull out of an old 11 longspring I had setup on a 5’ chain for muskrat and mink at a pocket set. I think I need to switch out my trap arsenal for along rovers. He tore up that bank well before it got out.  We have lots of otter in Missouri along the rivers.

Kyle

BowEd:
Good observation and thoughts about the sanding.When sanding on deer hides after fleshing and dry scrape dehairing in a confined area I've saved the powder from sanding.It does'nt amount to a whole lot as far as making any amount of hide glue but breaks down quickly from heating.
Otters and beavers do make some very nice nifty useful items.Nice catch from the winter.

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