Tanning fur?

[trapshooter255]

How hard is it to tan a pelt? And how do you do it?

[mmaxwell]

What I use

[mmaxwell]

Happy with the results I get, if you want the fur soft then that's where the work comes in.

[mmaxwell]

The directions --

Johnny Thorpe's Indian Tan Concentrate makes three gallons of tanning "liquor" which can be used again and again. When used as per the instructions produces a soft, tough, Indian style tan. Tans all types of furs up to mountain lion and wolf. (Not recommended for large deer, bear etc.) Instructions included.

CAUTION: Wear rubber gloves and some sort of eye protection as compound can cause skin and eye irritation.

Tanning Instructions: All tanning procedures should be performed at room temperature to assure the best results. To make the tanning "liquor" add one pack of Indian Tan to three gallons of hot water in a clean 5 or 6 gallon plastic bucket. Stir well and then ALLOW TO COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE.

Place pelt to be tanned in tanning liquor and allow to remain for 12 hours for furs such as rabbit, fox, bobcat, mink, muskrat, opossum, etc. stirring every few hours. Heavy pelts such as coyote, raccoon, beaver, otter, etc. require 24 hours. Dried pelts may require more time in the tanning liquor than green pelts.

Remove pelt and turn fur side out, wring out and dry fur with a fan before placing on a wire fur form (flesh side out). When pelt is half dry, remove from form and "break up" to make it soft. Light pelts (fox, rabbit, opossum, muskrat, etc.) can be broken up by twisting and wringing out by hand and by tumbling in a dryer on the lowest setting. Heavy hides such as beaver, coon, coyote, otter, etc. are best worked on a wooden beam with a dull fleshing knife.

The more time you put into working the pelt, the softer the finished product. Turn fur side out and replace on wire form until dry. "Open" furs such as beaver or furs to be made into rugs, should be stretched on plywood when half dry and worked with a dull knife.

Indian Tan is not recommended for heavy hides such as deer, cow, bear, etc. The tanning liquor can be used over and over until in becomes dirty.

[ozarkmountainman]

Nov 1, 2016 18:52:27 GMT -6 mmaxwell said:

What I use

We've used this for ten years. If you follow the relatively easy instructions, and PREP THE FUR PROPERLY, it works great.

Candi also brain tans with Lard. Maybe easier yet.

Dale

[tjm]

The lard method is in one of the Fox Fire Books, irrc.

brain tan with eggs and mayonaise; jpfinn.tripod.com/braintan.html

Article on tanning mentions several methods and has some reference material.

pdf from Tn. Wildlife Resources, good refereance material; www.tn.gov/assets/entities/twra/attachments/tanninghides.pdf

Most instructions are for hair off and that is the only way I have tanned.
The work is in making the skin pliable and that is a job.
I was taught to work the damp hide over a beam of wood until it was completly dry. (that is a loong time)
But I have seen pictures of natives working the hide on a loop of rope angled from tree trunk to a limb, and read that a snare cable in place of the rope works better. I thonght at the time that a cable from trunk to an earth anchor wouuld alow me to set the angle and height to a comfortable working position.

There is a reason that tanning was traditionaly a squaw's job; it takes much patience and quite a bit of back.

[trapshooter255]

Seems easy enough. Thank you

[krank]

Not easy at all. What you tan with is no big deal.....salt, lard, brains, soap........Preparing the hide to tan and breaking the hide after wards is most important.
If you prepare the hide right then anything will tan it and if you don't then nothing you can buy will tan it. That might not make sense now but will later.

[krank]

Looking at my previous comment.....I don't want to discourage anybody from tanning. Its just that people expect magic out of tanning solutions and that doesn't happen.
The way I learned was my making mistakes and doing better next time. I still mess up......

[tjm]

well, Mike, I mentioned that the breaking process could take a looog time and to me that's important for a first timer to know, it's the single most frustrating part of turning a hide into leather.
And I didn't realize the first time or two that I could quit and go back a nother day to resoak the hide and start the breaking process again.
That frustration could cause a person to chuck the project if unprepared. I guess the way to explain how long it might take depending on the thickness is a soaking wet pair of leather boots getting completely dry. Not a ten or fifteen minute process.
You tan any cow hides? Hair on?

[krank]

Tanning cowhides is quite the deal. I do it frontier style. Scrape it. Cure it in salt and alum and break it half ash. Hair on. I figure use will break it. I got two I sleep on at rondy and stomping on them breaks them a little.
Buffalo is the toughest critter to skin, scrape or break. Don't know how the squaws did it. A razor sharp knife barely works.
I get an attitude from bozos that put a hide in a trashbag until it would gag a maggot and then make a tanning solution. It doesn't work and they show me and they never even scraped the fat off the hide.