I've been using rittel's saftee acid as a pickle for a while now (normally, a tan is not called a pickle, a pickle is a separate step, to prep a pelt for tanning). I've also used citric acid with fine results. Time to try another, right?
Lets go with, cheap vinegar (acetic acid), and rittels qwik-n-eze tan. It's a syn-oil tan. http://www.fntpost.com/Products/Tanning ... Kwik-N-Eze
It would do at least couple deer, or a whole bunch of rabbits. It's a brush-on, it tans and oils the at the same time. Seems to work especially well on rabbits. If it's wetted after breaking, it will need to be re-broken though.
Some litmus strips, to make sure acidity remains stable, and a big bag of cheap stock salt.
Hey, the bottle in the pic on the website says it can work with just salt. My bottle doesn't say that, but I'm sure it can be done by skipping the pickle step altogether, fleshing the raw or salted pelt, and brushing on the tan right after the salt is rinsed away.
Ah well, pickling still has it's uses, for example making 100% sure that the fur stays on the pelt. Letting me drag out the process for 2 weeks if I'm too busy to get to it, making fleshing a bit easier, and stopping slip if it's already begun.
It's important to learn a lot of different ways and chose what is best for your situation.
There's as many ways to tan as there are tanners, after all
Time to see if cheap store bought vinegar can be used to replace one of chemicals I normally buy.
My process will go:
1. Skin (and rough flesh)
2. salt (overnight, or I'll store them salted and use whenever)
2. pickle(acid) for three days.
3. final flesh (a thicker hide you would return to the pickle for a day, but rabbits are so thin-skinned, I've never found it necessary.)
4. neutralize (20 minutes in water with baking soda) then drain (I use towels to absorb extra water from the pelt...cause ...why not?)
5. brush on the tan and leave overnight.
6. rinse off the pelt one last time
7 break(stretch and soften) pelt while drying.
I chose a pretty gold tipped blue steel rabbit pelt for this experiment. It's already been rough fleshed and salted.
I checked the acidity. Looks good to me. between 1 and 3 is fine for pelts. The pickle plumps the pelt, makes fleshing a bit easier and MOST IMPORTANTLY, prevents bacterial growth. If slip has already set in, the pickle will stabilize the pelt, if it hasn't, it will prevent it from happening.
Most of the ingredients, and the salted pelt.
For tonight, I'll just place the pelt directly in the vinegar. (lets toss some salt in with it)
Expect an update in about 3 days. (I checked the acidity again in the morning, to make sure it was still strong enough. It hadn't changed)
Actually...it looked pickled in less than 24 hours. Maybe because it's a fryer and really thin? The non-greasy quality of rabbits makes them pickle faster as well. A deer or heaver pelt would take longer.
Lets flesh!
All I'll be using are my trusty old carpet knife, and a scalpel (for the nipples, and other random bits that need cut instead of scraped).
Working from the tail towards the middle.
Careful not to overdo it. All done. Lets put it back in the pickle for a hour, then, I'll tan it tonight.
Hour later I removed it from the vinegar, let it drain for a minute and neutralized it in a solution of baking soda and water. Used towels to remove excess moisture. Warmed up my tanning agent 20 seconds in the microwave. Brushed it on.
Folded it up to set over night.
Here it is about 95% broken (stretching and pulling the leather as it dries.)
I might use it as it is, or oil it a bit and re-break, just to have an ultra supple pelt.
I need to redo the process with my ez-100 immersion tan and a new pelt, of course, it does require a pickle, and I need to try leaving a pelt in a lot longer, with a "control pelt" left unpickled so that I can check for long term preservation ability and colorfastness. I've never heard of color loss in a pickle until someone noticed it with sulphuric acid on here, but It's worth checking for. Oh and I need to do the process with the same tan and no pickle, to see if there is any difference in the leather.
Well, the fur is pretty, but that was hardly any kind of useful test. I determined it didn't DESTROY the pelt at least. If I had a slipping pelt I really wanted to save...and I didn't have my usual supplies on me, I'd take a chance on the vinegar.
Lets go with, cheap vinegar (acetic acid), and rittels qwik-n-eze tan. It's a syn-oil tan. http://www.fntpost.com/Products/Tanning ... Kwik-N-Eze
It would do at least couple deer, or a whole bunch of rabbits. It's a brush-on, it tans and oils the at the same time. Seems to work especially well on rabbits. If it's wetted after breaking, it will need to be re-broken though.
Some litmus strips, to make sure acidity remains stable, and a big bag of cheap stock salt.
Hey, the bottle in the pic on the website says it can work with just salt. My bottle doesn't say that, but I'm sure it can be done by skipping the pickle step altogether, fleshing the raw or salted pelt, and brushing on the tan right after the salt is rinsed away.
Ah well, pickling still has it's uses, for example making 100% sure that the fur stays on the pelt. Letting me drag out the process for 2 weeks if I'm too busy to get to it, making fleshing a bit easier, and stopping slip if it's already begun.
It's important to learn a lot of different ways and chose what is best for your situation.
There's as many ways to tan as there are tanners, after all
Time to see if cheap store bought vinegar can be used to replace one of chemicals I normally buy.
My process will go:
1. Skin (and rough flesh)
2. salt (overnight, or I'll store them salted and use whenever)
2. pickle(acid) for three days.
3. final flesh (a thicker hide you would return to the pickle for a day, but rabbits are so thin-skinned, I've never found it necessary.)
4. neutralize (20 minutes in water with baking soda) then drain (I use towels to absorb extra water from the pelt...cause ...why not?)
5. brush on the tan and leave overnight.
6. rinse off the pelt one last time
7 break(stretch and soften) pelt while drying.
I chose a pretty gold tipped blue steel rabbit pelt for this experiment. It's already been rough fleshed and salted.
I checked the acidity. Looks good to me. between 1 and 3 is fine for pelts. The pickle plumps the pelt, makes fleshing a bit easier and MOST IMPORTANTLY, prevents bacterial growth. If slip has already set in, the pickle will stabilize the pelt, if it hasn't, it will prevent it from happening.
Most of the ingredients, and the salted pelt.
For tonight, I'll just place the pelt directly in the vinegar. (lets toss some salt in with it)
Expect an update in about 3 days. (I checked the acidity again in the morning, to make sure it was still strong enough. It hadn't changed)
Actually...it looked pickled in less than 24 hours. Maybe because it's a fryer and really thin? The non-greasy quality of rabbits makes them pickle faster as well. A deer or heaver pelt would take longer.
Lets flesh!
All I'll be using are my trusty old carpet knife, and a scalpel (for the nipples, and other random bits that need cut instead of scraped).
Working from the tail towards the middle.
Careful not to overdo it. All done. Lets put it back in the pickle for a hour, then, I'll tan it tonight.
Hour later I removed it from the vinegar, let it drain for a minute and neutralized it in a solution of baking soda and water. Used towels to remove excess moisture. Warmed up my tanning agent 20 seconds in the microwave. Brushed it on.
Folded it up to set over night.
Here it is about 95% broken (stretching and pulling the leather as it dries.)
I might use it as it is, or oil it a bit and re-break, just to have an ultra supple pelt.
I need to redo the process with my ez-100 immersion tan and a new pelt, of course, it does require a pickle, and I need to try leaving a pelt in a lot longer, with a "control pelt" left unpickled so that I can check for long term preservation ability and colorfastness. I've never heard of color loss in a pickle until someone noticed it with sulphuric acid on here, but It's worth checking for. Oh and I need to do the process with the same tan and no pickle, to see if there is any difference in the leather.
Well, the fur is pretty, but that was hardly any kind of useful test. I determined it didn't DESTROY the pelt at least. If I had a slipping pelt I really wanted to save...and I didn't have my usual supplies on me, I'd take a chance on the vinegar.
