A dried hide question : Rabbits for Fur

[GBov]

Everything I read about vegetable tanning is talking about green or wet hides. Well, I DRY my hides for storage.

Will a dry hide, placed into a strong veg. tan solution, get tanned on the outside and not on the inside? Forget teh name of it right now, case hardened maybe?

Surely a dry hide will soak the solution all the way through.

[AnnClaire]

From what I have read, you should soak the dried hide in water until it rehydrates, then go with the tanning solution.

[GBov]

From what I have read, you should soak the dried hide in water until it rehydrates, then go with the tanning solution.

Why?

I am reminded of the story about the beef roast. One day grandaughter - who is cooking sunday dinner for her gran and mum - buys a roast, cuts a third off of it, puts the third back in the fridge and suddenly wonders WHY she learned from her mother to do that with a roast. So she goes in to ask her mum. Mum says she doesnt know really why, lets ask gran. When asked, her gran laughed and said that when she got married her pan was too small to fit an entire roast so she would cut of a third adn save it for later. She just got in the habit and never thought about it afterwards.

Just because its teh way its done doesnt make it the right way to do something.

[FourRingCircus]

From what I have read, you should soak the dried hide in water until it rehydrates, then go with the tanning solution.

Why?

I am reminded of the story about the beef roast. One day grandaughter - who is cooking sunday dinner for her gran and mum - buys a roast, cuts a third off of it, puts the third back in the fridge and suddenly wonders WHY she learned from her mother to do that with a roast. So she goes in to ask her mum. Mum says she doesnt know really why, lets ask gran. When asked, her gran laughed and said that when she got married her pan was too small to fit an entire roast so she would cut of a third adn save it for later. She just got in the habit and never thought about it afterwards.

Just because its teh way its done doesnt make it the right way to do something.

That is one of my favorite stories!

[bigfoot_158]

From what I have read, you should soak the dried hide in water until it rehydrates, then go with the tanning solution.

Why?

Think of a hide like a sponge. A used sponge that has dried on the edge of the sink until its fully dried will not soak in water right away. But a sponge that is slightly damped and rang out will soak up what ever right away. The slightly damp hide allows the tannins to soak in and do there job. It only takes a few minutes for a hide to rehydrate in 75 degree water I would not use burning or straight hot water but warm water is good. You can use cold water but it will take longer for the hide to soak it in. Hope this helps.

[Zass]

I'd be afraid that case hardening would be more likely with a dried hide VS a damp one, especially a larger animals skin.

Rabbit hides are kind of another story though, since they are so thin and rehydrate so readily. I'm not sure they are actually thick enough to case harden. Plenty of room for experimentation.

[GBov]

I just saw a clip of a Laplander woman working a dry reindeer hide with handfulls of tannin rich water, well rubbed in. Couldnt find the end of it so dont know how it turned out but, as they have been doing it that way for a while (like hundreds of years) my guess is it turned out fine.

The sponge analogy is a good one but, while a dry sponge takes longer to fully get wet, it is then totally full of the new water while as the wetted sponge already has liquid in it so has to share space with the new water.

I dont think a dried hide could become case hardened because its re-hydrating with tanning rich water, the tannins cant NOT get to teh middle.

Well, that is my thinking anyway.

Only time will tell and, as time is in short supply right now, I might never find out!