Home Tan

[krank]

Anybody here interested in a discussion about tanning furs?

[trkyslyr]

Nope..... hahahahaaaaa

[krank]

So you are no help......just pay somebody else

[trkyslyr]

Fine, I'll listen.

Whatcha know?

Never done it... thot salt drying was tanning as a kid. That didn't work out well for my squirrels, lol

[krank]

I have preached for years that a properly scraped hide will tan real easy. If you get her scraped down good then the hide tans well and if you only half scrape it then nothing will tan it. You guys that have stretched dried fur ready for auction are halfway through the process.

[trkyslyr]

So what's the process?

[krank]

You need a method and a recipe for a solution. I used to collect recipes when I was a kid. It is amazing that you can tan with kerosene and soap and battery acid and brains and salt and lard and oxalic acid and tree bark. You cannot mix all this together for a super solution. Each solution is its own process.

We have vegetable tan (my least favorite) which takes months and utilizes acids found in tree bark and various plants.

We have oil tan which is the oldest and most primitive. That uses ingredients like brains, kerosene, lard, eggs and laundry soap.

Then there is chemical tan. Lots of salt and acids. That is my favorite and the most fool proof.

When I get home I can post some pictures.

[trapper340]

What tanning I have done turned out fare I guess but how do you get the head done. There always stiff for me.

[krank]

I cheat on faces. I have a Dakota flesher. It shaves the hide.
Need to get all that gristle off the head. Sit there with a pocket knife and a piece of sand paper if you have to. You can skin the cartilage out of the ears if you are good but risk tearing the ear.
If you cant get it clean without destroying it then don't worry. When you are done tanning you can cram the head full of paper to hold its shape till it dries. Pin the ears the way you want them.

[bigjohn]

I've had great luck with Rittle's tanning supplies. They have different size kits which is pretty cost efficient.
On the faces, if your careful,you can use a wire wheel to flesh or break.

[Walleye Joe]

Rittel's Tanning at F&T  <------ Click Here

Rittel's EZ-100 Tanning Kit
Rittel's EZ-100 Tanning Kit is the complete kit for tanning all furs, hair-on skins and wool-on skins including muskrat, fox, calf, sheep and deerskins. It is non-discoloring, easy to use and produces a soft, stretchy, washable white leather. Tanned skins have an indefinite shelf life.

Each kit will fully tan 20 lbs. of wet skin weight. This is approximately 2 average sized deer skins or 10 - 14 fox or raccoon skins or 20 - 30 smaller skins such as muskrat or mink.

Rittel's EZ-100 Tanning Kit includes EZ-Tan, Saftee Acid and ProPlus Oil. EZ-Tan is one of the newest and best tannages available. It's a Phenolic Syntan that's extremely easy to use and one of the very few taxidermy tans that produces a washable tan. It's environmentally friendly and safe to handle. It contains no metallic ions, its very economical, and produces a white leathered, soft skin.

Saftee Acid should be your only choice for a pickling acid. It's a patented acid that is safe to use and environmentally safe too. It pickles at a low Ph, killing all bacteria, and remains extremely stable. This is a good acid to choose where you have pets or children in your shop.

ProPlus Oil is a superior bisulfited tanning oil built to penetrate deeply and produce soft skins. An excellent choice to use with EZ-100 tanning agent. It's a swab-on oil that's mixed 1 part oil to 2 parts hot tap water.

$32.95

[krank]

Rittel would be a sure fire way to go. Good choice if its a high dollar hide or has sentimental value.

Kim used to sell a kit of her own design that worked well. It had a pre-pickle and an alum tan. I am sure she bought the ingredients in 50# bulk and then divided into baggies.

My thoughts on tanning is to start out with a simple project that, if it fails, is no loss.

When I first started, I junked a few hides.

A squirrel is a great experimental starter. Let me say the rabbit and possum are a bit of a challenge because they rip easily.

Deer hair will always slip. Period. Huge argument among taxidermists but majority agrees that NOBODY can get a deer not to slip some.
Reason is deer hair is hollow so it breaks in its follicle. I have my first deer hide hanging on the wall for 40 years and it slips a little but hair loss is unnoticeable. I made a pair of mukluks out of hair-on and everytime you took them off you had hair all over your socks. They were mighty warm though.

[krank]

Here is a simple recipe.

A pound of salt.

2 ounces of alum

A gallon of water.

Put hide in solution and keep submerged (a rock) and keep stirred. The thicker the hide the longer it takes. A rabbit maybe two and a squirrel 3 and a deer over a week. When done, rinse and wring. Work until dry.

That is an over simplified overview of what is happening. I prefer to give it to you that way and then circle back on some highlights. Some of you get it already and some of you will never comprehend. Such is the world.

*Salt. Salt is salt. There's an old wives tale about iodized salt. Some refuse to use it. I never saw a difference. I buy 50 pound bags of feed salt which is fine rock salt. Some rock salt is filthy dirty. Ice cream salt or canning salt is good. Too much salt never hurts but too little salt and hide is slowly rotting in solution.

* Alum.....Found in the spice rack at the supermarket. Used for making pickles. Used to cost 35 cents but now its over $2. It is a good grade of alum though. I buy aluminum sulphate at the gardening store. Same thing just cheaper grade. Amazon sells alum too.

*water-just enough to cover. This mix is in ratios so if you need more water to cover then more salt and alum also. Never hot water and no pond water that has micro organisms growing in it. I have a rain barrel.

[majpkn]

Following this thread so I can hear some tips, techniques and tricks for home tan.

Got a beaver pelt in the pickle right now about 4 days. trying to figure out whether I want to pull it out now an clean it up or if I want to let it go as is. Odds are I am going to try and thin it up here this weekend prior to tan. Don't think I need to degrease it.

[trkyslyr]

Apr 13, 2018 14:17:10 GMT -6 majpkn said:

Following this thread so I can hear some tips, techniques and tricks for home tan.

Got a beaver pelt in the pickle right now about 4 days. trying to figure out whether I want to pull it out now an clean it up or if I want to let it go as is. Odds are I am going to try and thin it up here this weekend prior to tan. Don't think I need to degrease it.

Did u scrape it?

[majpkn]

Yeah, I did. I Think I coulda done a better job, but just doing one at a time to kinda figure out what to do ( and how much to do) that works

[bigjohn]

Beaver are pretty greasy and need degreasing to make sure they tan all the way thru IMO. When tanning you get what you put into it.

[krank]

I like to stretch them out and go over them with a knife and a curry comb then sand paper when dry. Makes it look great.

To degrease just wash the hide in Dawn. Good news is you break up fat in epidermis that will later spoil. Bad news is hair loses natural oil. You can fix that later with a final shampoo and conditioner. (Ask wife what is best brand)

If all you want is a wallhanger then lace that beaver wet onto a willow hoop. Rub the leather full of alum and pour a layer of salt on it and forget about it for a week. Then scrape salt off and you are done.

Here is how my family showed me how to tan. It uses less ingredients and you go easy on the fur. Nail it out and rub the ingredients in and forget soaking. When I was a kid there were no plastic 5 gal buckets and you had to use crocks. That made soaking big hides unpractical. This is a blue coon that my son shot with a shotgun...Wallhanger.

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[krank]

Apr 14, 2018 5:12:18 GMT -6 bigjohn said:

Beaver are pretty greasy and need degreasing to make sure they tan all the way thru IMO. When tanning you get what you put into it.

I have old books that describe washing beaver and coon in pure naptha(gasoline)!!! That is insane IMO. There are lots of modern grease cutters. Laundry soap or dishwashing soap is OK.

[krank]

Here is Freddie the Fox. Walleye Joe gifted me with it at the Laurie Clinic. (Shows how high prices were) I took him home and carefully skinned him.(Fox is delicate IMO) Fleshing was minimal and stretched him out and dried. I rubbed a can of McCormicks Alum (Spice section at grocery store) into the flesh side and poured a can of table salt on that. Rubbed it all around and walked away. I tipped the board slightly so moisture could run off away from hide. Knocked the stuff off a week later and pulled the nails and washed Freddie in sudsy wudsy and wrung him out. As the hide dried I worked it over a beam every couple hours.(Important to work hide till dry or it will be stiff) Freddie looks great hanging with my Mountain Man collection.

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