Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide.

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Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide.
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Barefoot Andrew
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Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 09 12:26 pm Post subject:
The post at the head of this thread has now been articlified here. A.

unlacedgecko

Joined: 21 Nov 2009
Posts: 32

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 09 3:51 pm Post subject:
i have recently been tanning some fox pelts with a battery acid and table salt reicipe i found on the internet. i will publish photos once i finish. so far i have done two pelts, they are a little dry and stiff at the moment tho. but i do have some neats foot oil to massage into them. hopefully this will soften them up and make them more flexible.

kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 12:27 pm Post subject:
I have two fairly small sheep skins which I want to try. They are very mucky though and it´s freezing outside! Any reason they couldn´t be put through the washing machine? For the first stage.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 12:31 pm Post subject:

Might make them a bit cloggy? I have washed sheepskin rugs in the machine though and they come oiut fine.

I am still annoyed that the ill tempered abbatoir owner could not be bothered to keep mine. Even when asked nicely and reminded.

We hadn't shorn the lambs with this is in mind and one was a nice Jacob. We shan't be using him again. He might be a good butcher but aside from that he has nothing to recommend him.

sally_in_wales
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Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 12:31 pm Post subject:
I'd worry about felting the hair side in the washing machine, but if you felt a 'wool wash' cycle would be gentle enough, aand that the machine could cope with the amount of dirt that might come off, then it could be worth a go. I might be more tempted to wash in the bath and put through a spin cycle in the machine to get it dry enough to deal with?

kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 12:40 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

I'd worry about felting the hair side in the washing machine, but if you felt a 'wool wash' cycle would be gentle enough, aand that the machine could cope with the amount of dirt that might come off, then it could be worth a go.

I might be more tempted to wash in the bath and put through a spin cycle in the machine to get it dry enough to deal with?

Ok will try the smallest first, nothing vetured

and if it doesn´t work try the bath method. Thanks Sally.

kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 5:59 pm Post subject:
Just a quick update. I ended up putting both through the washing machine. On the wool setting 30 degrees extra rinse and 1000 rpm spin. Came out much cleaner, still a few bits of poo but uch better.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46192
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 09 9:39 pm Post subject:
a wire dog brush works wonders on fur/dags less wriggling with a skin as well

Stormcrow

Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 33
Location: Lincolnshire

Posted: Thu Aug 12, 10 2:11 pm Post subject: sheepskin
We have just started working on our first sheepskin and are following your 10 point plan. The scraping is now done and we have put it in the pickle. However, we noticed that after scraping the wool was peeling from the skin in patches. Have we done something wrong?

Pea

Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 960
Location: Rugby

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 11 4:53 pm Post subject:

I have used Sally's recipe on a sheep skin which worked really well but I have since been told that the salt and alum only preserve it and not to get it wet. It is on the bedroom floor so will never get wet.

With this in mind I spoke to Snowdonia Taxidermists as I want to use the next skins (rabbit and fox) for a hat and boot liners, which may get wet. They advised me that I would need a process that is irreversible, so getting the pelt wet then would not be a problem.

There are so many different processes it is a minefield. I am finding the rabbit skins very difficult to scrape as they are so thin.

Welshy

Joined: 25 Jun 2011
Posts: 38
Location: North Wales

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 11 6:16 pm Post subject:
Thanks for sharing how to do that as I am in the process of getting some meat rabbits for breeding for an continues supply of meat ...and come to think of it the fur I could use to make a throw for my sofa

regan

Joined: 06 Aug 2013
Posts: 1

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 13 11:09 am Post subject: tanning

ive used this method for a couple years, have done bobby calves, possums, deer skins and have currently started a cattle hide, i think it works good. when im doing small skins i stretch it and nail it to a board, i make a mixture and add flour to make a paste and brush a layer on every day for a week then wash it off, i find this works better then soaking it in a barrel especially on small game skins. i also sand the skin with fine sandpaper before i oil it, brings it up real good. im hoping this cattle hide turns out, its the biggest skin ive done.

id love to know a quicker way to remove fat then using a knife as this process sucks.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 13 11:29 am Post subject:
what an interesting variation, I'll give that a try sometime. Does ambient humidity affect the flour based process? Round here its so soggy I can imagine a flour paste absorbing a lot of moisture even under cover?

SteveP

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 155
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 16 8:41 am Post subject:

Sorry about re-awakening an old thread but how do you safely dispose of the salt and alum mix when you have a septic tank instead of mains drainage?

Tipping it onto the ground will kill it and the salts will leach out further than where it was tipped. There is no disposal tank at the council tip for that stuff. An unscrupulous person would use the road drain but there must be a legal safe method.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 16 9:08 am Post subject:

We have this problem as well. Having tried to do the right thing and take old car coolant to the tip and then see the tip personnel throw it into the landfill skip it would seem most stuff will end up in landfill.

With that in mind I've mixed small amounts of stuff with fire ash and other absorbent material and put it in the rubbish.

Longer term I'll sort out some form of solar drier to evaporate as much water as possible first.

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