Tanned my first hide! Sort of..

Uh.. yeah.
I had this hide of that 4 week old kit I had to put down (it got sick) and figured I could try tanning it.
I left it in an alum bath for 5 hours, after that it was easy to pull the...what'sitcalled? The whole fleshing process?

Anyhow, then I let it dry a bit, rubbed in some canola oil, egg yolk and soap. Stretched and pulled while it dried. Ripped it a bit ny accident..

Then noticed the furside was pretty oily so I washed the fur-side and as it dried again I stretched and so. And done

It's sooooo soft.. and sooooooo thin! I can't use it for anything (perhaps glue it onto something more durable) but it was a first attempt at tanning and I cncider it somewhat successful, at least.

A question - if I start with a hide and don't have time to finish it straight away.. what to do? How long can it stay in the alum bath? I have a larger/older hide in the bath now and I have school for two more days. I intend to use the fat method once it's fleshed since it's supposed to be more durable.

Of course, pictures of the leaf-thin little thing :lol:

Fur still looks a bit oilish but... better..

Looks nice, Zab!

I haven't tanned any yet, so can't be of any help. All of my pelts are still in the freezer. :roll:

Wow, congrats Zab, that's the earliest I've ever seen anyone tan a hide without it coming out in pieces. As far as how long it can stay in the pickle, I THINK, and I'm sure plenty of people will correct me if I'm wrong, but I THINK they can stay in there a very long time as long as you keep the PH correct. If someone says I'm wrong I'll try to look it up but I'm fairly sure I read that.

MSD - GET TO TANNING! :gettowork:<br /><br />__________ Wed May 15, 2013 1:05 pm __________<br /><br />HAH! :dance7: Go bad memory, go bad memory, :cheerleader: go bad...er...what was I saying? :wheelcha:

http://www.taxidermy.net/forums/TanningArticles/03/l/0312863CA2.html

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Typical-Scenario-for-Tanning-a-Hide-W52.aspx
Go to "j" in part 3

MamaSheepdog":2ukv1grn said:

I haven't tanned any yet, so can't be of any help. All of my pelts are still in the freezer. :roll:

Click to expand...

:yeahthat: :lol:

You did a great job, Zab! I can't imagine trying to tan a hide that young!

Maybe you could use fabric glue to attach it to some muslin, or light interfacing. Some interfacing is iron-on.

Zab":j6vf5kcg said:

A question - if I start with a hide and don't have time to finish it straight away.. what to do? How long can it stay in the alum bath? I have a larger/older hide in the bath now and I have school for two more days. I intend to use the fat method once it's fleshed since it's supposed to be more durable.

Click to expand...

I've left them in the bath for two weeks or longer. I've taken them out, let them dry and did not stretch them properly, and put them back in the solution.

Thanks

mystang: I wonder if this alum method is the same as those I read about here.. in the swedish version I've never, ever heard of meassuring ph or even about ph at all. it's 25g salt, 50gr alun, 3 litres of water. However this bath is only to help the fleshing process although I know some people add more alum later to tan with it..
I'm concidering to leave it in the bath or to freeze it...
Thanks for the links, I löike reading about different methods
__________

Thanks, Skysthelimit
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As for the kits skin.. it was really easy. Well, I did rip it in the stretching process, as you see :lol: there's a sem in the shadowed area (sneaky me ) But the fleshing was sooooo easy.. only took a minute to pull the membranes after 5 hours in the alum bath. I squeezed it as dry as possible, and since it was so thin it quickly dried to ''sausage-moist'' (yeeees.. that is the term I've learnt to describe when to start greasing it up..).. then I just rubbed it with grease and stretched and played with it with my hands while watching TV. I looked for the white spots to start appearing, teling me it was a good time to stretch more seriously.

I have thought about glueing it to something..

The pickle isn't just for fleshing but also for killing the bacteria which can cause two things: rot and hair slippage. Yes before anyone gets all argumentative there are other things that can cause hair slippage but bacteria is on of them.

I suppose what would make my decision on whether or not to take the hide out if I didn't have time to get to it would be the amount of time I'd be away from it. I personally would leave it in there 3 weeks without worrying. Longer and I may start thinking of the freezer.

I meant that for me this is just for fleshing, as I know that people add more alum and stuff to the bath after a while, doing second baths and stuff, when they use it as the full tanning method. I'm not doing that (and I don't have the recepies) And I have no idea what ph this bath is... But the idea of just pulling alkl the membranes off easily seemed nicer than trying to get them off with dull knives or whatnot.

The skin I have left was tougher to flesh, there's still a few thin membranes there. I'll leave it in a while more, happy that at least most of that part of the job is done.

__________ Fri May 17, 2013 7:34 am __________

Working on the second hide.. a bit tougher and bigger

It's fleshed, washed with a mild shampoo and I'm waiting for the furside to dry and the other side to get the right moisture.. I spray the bttom side with water when t gets too dry.



_____________

So..I feel it's finished. I've been stretching it throughout the drying process and oiling it while it was a bit moist, but it feels a bit like paper, not very soft. Any advice for the next one?

It'll be nice to sit on in the viking market at least

I put wrap it in oil just before stretching and let it soak in.

I know stretching properly will really help with getting a soft pelt but I can't really help with that area as I find that to be my hardest area. I know sanding it down a bit with a pumice stone or even sandpaper will help it get to a smooth finish as well but the stretching is definitely a large part of it.

If you are still at the pickle stage, you can leave it in that. If you're in the drying and stretching stage, you can let it dry out and store, then later just wet it as needed and start stretching again.

Ive let it soak in oil over night but that havnt helped. :/

I only use the pickle solution to flesh it. Its not strong enough to tan with.

Thanks. Ill try something else for next piece

Zab, have you seen this guy's youtube video? I find his demostration and discussion quite straight forward:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NtlN1KqtoE

This good old boy is from Louisiana, so if you have trouble with his accent, let me know and I'll help you out

He also has a fleshing video, but it is mostly on a big old raccoon pelt and using a draw knife, but he does show doing a squirrel pelt using a metal putty knife which I think that might be better for younger rabbit pelts

He also goes through the oiling stage and talks about washing the oil out with shampoo in the comments section. He says that a properly tanned hide, oiled then washed does not usually need to be re-worked.

That's a new one for me I'll watch the rest of it later tonight and see what else he has done. Thanks for sharing!

And no problem with the accent, it's sort of cute.

Thanks Ann, it's always nice to see different ways of doing things.

You're welcome ... I think this family is fun to watch The daughter has AMAZING eyes! And I guess she has a pretty solid following that think her lisp is adorable :groooan:

Also, in the tanning video comments, someone posts an online supply link for the alum that has just about the best price per pound I have found ... and as someone that has 20+ pelts in the freezer, I am gonna need a lot of alum

I also cleared the spot today for the drain board ... then I need to set up the stretching board :cheesysmile:

Stretching is the part I have the hardest time with, I really dread doing that part since I don't ever think I do it correctly.

After watching that video it makes me want to get some of my hides out of the freezer and start on them again. A..l..m..o..s..t..

Watching different videos and attempting different ways to tan is the best way to learn