hide tanning advice

[bjrogg]

Yes Ed, I followed your tan along with from beginning to end. I can see you know what your doing and have been doing it for along time. I also really like the projects I've seen made from them by you and several others on this site. 
Pappy I understand that what I'm making is hair on rawhide. I have tanned a few fox myself with mixed results. I have put up thousands of muskrat hides and hundreds of fox, coyote, raccoon and mink. I have taken some to a taxidermist buddy of mine skinned, scraped and ready for him to chemically tan. I get them back from him fresh out of the vat. I usually just make wall hangers out of them so I put them back on stretchers to shape the heads and ears. Sometimes I break the hide lower to soften them but really for hanging case skinned on the wall I at least want the head kinda stiff. I'm getting to the point I'm really thinking about making stuff from them now and probably going to take the next step soon. I really do appreciate the info passed on here and understand the work and mess involved that's a big reason I respect what you guys have done. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

bjrogg...Fox hats are cool!!!!Warm flannel lined.Sounds like you got a good handle on what you want to do.Same with me about acquiring hides from coon hunting.Like you say hundreds and probably thousands.Proper fur handling to send to Canada takes experience to make them look the best they can.Sewing holes properly too.Mostly fox though.Worth the effort if the numbers are big enough.Made my own cob grit tumbler too for the grease.
Trailwalker....Good luck with your cow hide.

[trail walker]

hey everyone thanks for all the awesome advice. I think that brain tanning may be a little ambitious at this point i think we are going to try to get our hands on some tannin and try using that. Any way, we finally got to the hide here are some update pics. It is about 50 square feet and like a 1/2 in thick at the neck. what is your guys thoughts about jumping on the hide like a trampoline to soften it?

[BowEd]

Good job of lacing the hide in.Here's what I did with a cow hide someone gave me.I think only 30 square feet worth though.Made it into rawhide.Used some of it to make 3 cat quivers with it for different people.Hip and back pocket quivers too.Other things too out of it too many to mention.

[GlisGlis]

I did a build-a-long called [big fella into buckskin/smoking/lots of pics under Beadman] in the primitive skills thread.Think it's at page 5 by now.Mind you it's just my way but a tried and true common method.

it should be pinned on top as permanent interesting thread

[bjrogg]

Trailwalker, that's looking real good so far. I love how you got the youngster right in there getting his hands dirty.
Ed awesome job as always
GlisGlis I agree. That was definitely one of my all time favorite posts on this site
Bjrogg
PS hopefully I'll finish my tanning job today or at least get it real close. Did two batches Lutan.
6 mink, 1 beaver, 1 coon, 5 red fox, 19 muskrats. I'll post when I get them all cleaned up and completely finished

[BowEd]

Jeepers bjrogg your gonna get a bunch of projects out of all of those.I always liked my muskrat mounty style hat I made long ago.Lutan????Is that the method or the chemical?

[bjrogg]

Ed I've  always wanted one of those hats too. You made  one yourself? I'd love to know how.
I might have spelled it wrong but lutan was a kit tan I bought from one of the taxidermy supplies companies. It is a Chemical tan kit and after working hide it's nice a soft. I think everything is going to come out great. Probably going to have to rehydrate beaver and stretch it after I'm done thinning it just a little more.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

bjrogg....First you take a string.Put it around your head just in the crotch of your ears and an inch above your eye brows.Put the string to the tension you like.Now take your fur and cut two 4" wide by half the length of your string.A little over to allow for both seams.You'll have to allow for flannel padding inside too so maybe the string should fit a little loose.Not tight at all.
Now cut a kinda egg shape circle from a hide for the top the same circumference length as your two strips.Look at a hat that fits you right and copy that.Hope I said that understanding enough.Now sew that round piece to your two 4" bands.You should end up with a 4" deep bowl kinds.A muskrat of good size fits perfect for that round top.You'll probably only get one strip per muskrat.You can sew on ear flaps connected to a band that goes around the back of the hat  to the bottom edge of your hat.It might take 2 more rats to get the ear flaps and back piece.So a total of 5 rats to make a mounty style hat usually depending on the size of the rats.
Put some flannel interior into it and you've got a very very warm hat.You'll have to place the grain of the fur accordingly to give it a nice look.Usually the grain of the hair is flowing backwards.
It takes a while with a bit of hand sewing.About 4 hours worth I'd say.I use artificial sinew half thickness with a glovers needle.Whip stitch it around with a shade under 1/4" spaced stitching.

[bjrogg]

Thanks Ed you make it sound easy lol. Sometimes I wish my wife sewed so I could just prepare the hide and she could sew them but if there's any buttons missing I'm the one who has to sew them on lol. I'm going to give it a whirl when I catch up on projects. Thanks again. I would like to have a good book about making things from tanned hides.
Bjrogg

[mullet]

If anybody has some brains I'll be glad to trade for some.

[bjrogg]

lol. Not sure if anybody's got any brains on here Eddie. Either that they don't want to give them up yet.
Other than the ones I got in my head, the only ones I have are from my primitive bow buck and I still plan on tanning his hide with them.
Bjrogg

[Stringman]

I've used farm eggs without any noticeable difference.

[bjrogg]

Here's what I've been doing today. Breaking hides.
First group 2 mink for quivers, one beaver I laid on my desk to put my stuff on.
Second group 5 red fox and a coon.
Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Red Fox