Spike Camp
Hunting with Weatherby => Predator => Topic started by: BigBronz215 on September 25, 2012, 10:22:20 PM
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I am doing a project for school on tanning hides and I was wondering what methods you guys do? I asked my mom if I could do the brain technique and she said no? I don't really know much about tanning hides, so if one of you guys can explain how to do it and how you guys tan your own hides that would be much appreciated. Thanks s much!!
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I tried that two years ago on my first buck by soaking it in water then scraping it. I spent an hour dry heaving because of the smell :'(. My dad tried to help but the smell was unbearable. I would just plank it, salt it and let it sit for a wile in till its firm then work it with your hands to soften it. Save your self and don't do it the Indian way please. Hope this helped.
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With the skin side up, we used short nails, about the size of thumb tacks, to hold down a freshly-skinned deer hide on a 4x8' piece of wafer board. . Starting with the tail, working L and R in equal amounts around the hide and stretching the hid just a bit as we go has given the hides a good starting shape.
After all the tacking is done, the entire exposed skins is scrapped of fat, as much as possilbe. The edges are the hardest to clean, but you can always sharpen a knife and give it another try. Finally, coat the whole hide with a generous amount of salt. It doesn't have to be iodine-enriched salt. It takes about 2lbs to cover the skin. Put another piece of plywood, plexiglass, or something fairly rigid over the hide so the salt is not easily blown off or otherwise removed.
Recoat the hide in two or three days if you see any wet spots on the hide. Give it all about two or three weeks and the hide will almost be done. Go back and scrape more tissue / fat off and give it another coating.
Last of all, sprinkle some sevan powder on it to help keep insects and other things off the coat. Since a coyote coat is smaller than a deer, you may only need a pound of salt. Good luck.
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I worked part time for a taxidermist in high school and I will tell you that all the flesh,(meat) needs to be removed before you start any knd of drying process,any flesh left on the hide will attract moisture and cause hair to slip whether or not you have salt on it or not.what are you going to do with the hide ? Is it just going to be nailed to the side of the barn or are you wanting something for in the house such as a rug or something,if your doing it for fun,after you flesh it,the salt will do the job,if you want something nice,after you flesh it it needs to be wash in a soap solution and hang it to dry and then you can salt it or use dry preservative and then freeze it until you can tan it professionally,if you want it to feel like a quality piece of leather,you have to use tanninng solutions and a whole lot of rubbin,the last time I looked you can have something like a coyote done for about 30 bucks !
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The reason why I asked the question is because my SAE project is tanning hides for AG Science and it would be fun to mount them!! Ya where I come from taxidermy in California is so expensive!!! A European antler mount is $200+, and a hide mount is close to $150+. But I think I made a solution for tanning hides, please if anyone thinks of something better please comment.
1.flesh hide really really really good!!!!!
2.rub non iodized salt in supper good
3.shake out salt, and check for any flesh I missed
4.odor killer solution, put in 5 gallon bucket of water, agitate for 3 min., rinse in water,dry good
5.hide degreaser, put in 5 gallon bucket of water,agitate 3 minutes, rinse in water, dry really good
6.apply tanning cream, put in garbage bag for 1 day not in sun.
7.take out of bag, dap left over cream with towel, and then put on softening oil, and let it sit
8.rub it on something for a long long time to make it really soft
9. if I want to I can wash it again but with dawn detergent.
What do you guys think? please if anyone wants to correct please do.
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If you want to tan it properly go buy a tanning kit,they come with instructions and the best ones are mixed with water and salt and the hide is soaked until tanned through,i've tanned hides since i was a kid starting with a kit i was successful from the start and once you gain experience you can try various other methods once you understand the basic principles,beware some of the methods described are for curing not tanning and the hides will not last as tanning of any sort needs an acid the best being tannic acid,chrome tanning kits are the simplest i've used namely "ledreters" i think that's how it's spelled and a coyote skin will tan in a couple days and last forever,vegetable tanning makes a higher quality pelt or leather but can take up to several months to completely tan, salt is your friend and will keep a hide for months before tanning if done properly so use plenty of fine salt then fold the hide,the next day shake all the excess salt of and resalt with new salt fold and store dry till ready to tan,never reuse salt as it will carry bacteria destroying the hide but a good kit will tell you this in the instructions
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(http://s3.amazonaws.com/weatherbynation/56490-400x400.jpg) (http://www.weatherbynation.com/image/tid/33091?startId=56490)They look and feel really good when they are done. These were sent to a tannery. All the best in your endeavor to learn to tan hides. Fewer people do it so you may become a welcome addition to the profession. The one on the left is from a 53 pound male and the other is from a 40 pound male.