| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| sally_in_wales |
Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide.I posted this elsewhere too in response to a question, but reckoned it might be useful on this forum as well- its only one of an enormous range of ways to cure a hide, but its a good one if you have never done it before!Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide. This is a quick, easy and almost totally smell free way to deal with fresh hides. It leaves the leather side white and the hair side stays unchanged. For the article below, I'm talking about a deerskin but this will work on most animals, just scale up or down accordingly. Small skins like rabbit won't take as much abuse as a large one, so just be gentle with them- big hides may need a little assistance from friends when you come to stretch them. Supplies: 1 freshly skinned hide- the fresher the better though we've had good results with frozen or salted hides as well. Large bucket with a lid (plastic dustbin for example) Very sharp knife that you can handle comfortably Section of log, or something convenient and rounded Salt Alum (most chemists either stock this or will order it- they sell it to treat bedsores) Shampoo, washing up liquid or soap Something to use as a frame, you can improvise this or even do without in a pinch Vegetable oil (additions of essential oils optional, but we like to add a bit of cedarwood oil for a nice smell) Rubber gloves- optional but handy if its your first hide! Method: First, give that hide a wash. Even if its been skinned perfectly it will still have an animal reek to it, and that will get stronger as the hide ages. If you can't put it in the bath, get it on the lawn and shampoo and rinse both sides thoroughly. Hang it up to drain until you can handle it easily. This stage will make you much happier to get good and close to the hide in the next stage! Two: The hide may well still have small scraps of flesh, or a whitish membrane with tiny blood vessels in it adhering to the skin. You MUST get as much of this off the hide as possible before curing it. The easiest way seems to be to use a section of log or similar as a support, stretching the hide hair down around it, and working over small sections of the skin side at a time, picking or scraping off the bits to leave a smooth surface underneath. You will find that the membrane will pull away in sections if you work at it patiently. Do your best to clean up the hide properly, but if you really have a small stubborn bit, don't panic, you will have another chance to scrape it once its been in the pickle- but you need almost all the skin clean for the stuff to work properly. If you are lucky, a hide sometimes needs hardly any work at all, but have a good scrape at it anyway just in case you haven't spotted the membrane. Three: Make up your solution. In the big bucket mix salt, alum and water in a ratio of roughly 1 gallon water, 1 kilo salt and 100g alum until you have enough to just submerge the skin. Tip the skin in, and splunge it around a bit to get the salt into all the areas. Put the lid on and stand the bin somewhere reasonably cool. If the hide is clean, there will be no smell at all from the bin, so don't worry about distressing the neighbours at this stage! Four: Splunge the hide every day or two , making sure you turn it over and giving the solution a chance to work. It needs at least two weeks, but after a week or so you can pretty much ignore the bucket until you are ready to continue. We once ignored a bucket for 18months, and although it looked horrific when we were finally brave enough to open it up (vomit-like scum on the surface after that amount of time) the hides were perfectly ok. I don't recommend leaving it more than a couple of months though, just to be on the safe side! Five: Fish out the hide and let it drain over a stick into the bucket. At this stage opinion varies as to whether you should rinse the hide or not- the dilemma is that if you do you wash out some of the pickle, but if you don't the hide can be a bit stiff and salty feeling. Personally, I do give it a quick wash with a spot of detergent, but nothing too drastic, and I don't let the hides get wet again after they are finished. If you need a silky hair side, then I would say wash at this stage, but pay extra attention to the final stages of the process. Six: if you can string the hide up on a frame to start drying, that’s fab. If not, do your best to get the drying started evenly (peg it to the washing line, pin it to the garage wall, lay it out on the grass hair side down on a fine day, whatever it takes). At this stage you need to go back over it and make sure all the membrane is off, if there were bits left you'll probably find they peel off (a bit like the paper on the underside of cakes!). Use your knife (a curved blade is good if you have access to it) and work right over the hide, scraping systematically to clean up any scraps and to give a uniform finish to the leather side. The section of log is handy again here, the curved surface makes it easy to scrape without cutting into the leather. Seven: The hide should be almost but not quite dry for this stage- if it has been in a frame and gone board-like, lightly spray it with water to allow you to work it. You need to start stretching the hide. If its on a frame use a rounded stick or a wooden spoon and lean into the hide, pushing the leather against the tension provided by the frame to stretch and manipulate the leather. If you are doing this without a frame, get a few friends to help and play tug of war with the hide, try sitting with your feet touching and hold an edge each then stretch and pull. You'll know its working because the stiff, greyish surface will become softer and whiter and often considerably bigger. This can be very strenuous- homebrew helps! Eight: When the hide is stretched as much as you think it will go, work a few tablespoons of oil evenly into the leather side. In theory almost any oil should do, I think we used olive oil last time and it was fine. We also like to add a little essential oil to the mix, partly we think it gives a nice smell, partly we suspect it helps to use an antibacterial oil like thyme or cedarwood- but this is optional. Nine: Stretch it again- the oil will allow you to supple up the hide even more. Apply a little more oil if you think it needs it, but just keep working away until you feel its done. The more you stretch and tug at the hide, the better it will be. Ten: Its done! If you started with a clean hide you should have a properly cured (alum tawed in this case) hide that will be perfectly useable for any purpose where it won't be repeatedly wetted. You can usually reuse the solution, just add a bit more salt and alum- the amounts are not an exact science- you just need a nice strong mixture. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Very interesting, I've often thought about rabbit skins but read that it takes too long and is not worth it. These steps don't look to long winded so I think I'd give it a go.
If anyone tries the steps could we have some pictures to turn the post into an article? 
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| pricey |
If I ever get to shoot another 1, since I said id do the video the've all gone into hiding  .Got some pigeon today though.
Im the same as you always thought it was to much of a effort, but this seems simple enough if followed propery. I will try as soon as I get some skins. |
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| Lloyd |
Sounds a damn sight easier than how I did it as a kid....We used salt, sulphur, can't remember what else, rubbed the dry mix on, pegged it on a board, came back six weeks later to a skin that had turned into cardboard!! | ||||
| Nanny |
tanning the hidesally, i am beginning to assemble my materials for the "off"managed to order alum from the local chemist in framlingham it was potash alum......is this correct? the chemist seemed to think so..... worked out at just over £4 a pound so ordered a couple of pounds not really knowing how much i will need......if it isn't the right stuff i still have time to cancel and change the order, you see now for the salt.........in order to buy in bulk is it ok to use water softener salt do you think? looking forward to the fruits of my labour, nanny |
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| Lloyd |
What pelt will you cure?...and what will you use it for? | ||||
| Nanny |
tanningi should be getting another deerskin (tried once before and failed miserably)i will worry about what i use it for if i ever get that far frankly.... |
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| sally_in_wales |
Re: tanning the hide
Sounds fine to me, I suppose water softener salt is still just salt isnt it?? Can't see any reason why it shouldnt work. I think I used cooking salt last time, but it should all pickle just fine. The actual proportions of the salt and alum vary depening on who you read or talk to, some go as high as equal salt to alum! ( We've always used a high salt mix, and it seems to work fine for us) So just concentrate on that initial washing and scraping, then mix up your salts without panicking too much about the exact proprtions, and all should be well. Getting the hide degreased first definatley makes all the difference. Looking forwards to hearing how you get on. |
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| Nanny |
tanninggood.....just wait for the man to ring me then and i will starti will let you know once i get as far as the end of the scraping bit |
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| thos |
Why were tanneries so infamous for causing pollution? Was it just the scale of the operation? | ||||
| sean |
Wasn't it the tannic acid which was the problem? | ||||
| Nanny |
tanningi am off to collect the deerskin on the way home from work so will keep you posted sallyas far as i can make out from what you have said, it will be the cleaning that will kill or cure so will have the best go i can and will get husband to take some photographs as i go along maybe this time...................... |
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| Behemoth |
The deeds to my house prohibit me from tanning on the premises, i think this is due to the smell and the compounds used in Victorian times. I can't make bricks either but as the garden in 20ft square I'm not sure how this would be possible anyway. | ||||
| sally_in_wales |
Ah- but strictly 'nitpickingly' speaking this is 'tawing' not 'tanning'- so get pickling and stuff the deeds! | ||||
| Nanny |
tanningskin now in the picklestill find the scraping difficult even though the skin was fresh today so hope that it will go alright i ended up sitting on my husband.s black and decker workmate with a long pole clamped in the middle of it so it looked a bit like i was riding a very skinny horse and the dog never left my side just in case i should leave that very tasty artilcle unattended. should i weight the skin down as it is floating a bit............. |
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| Behemoth |
OK - suitable material is in short supply - would it be wrong to skin a scrote?
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| Sally |
Re: tanning
Could do, or just poke it with a stick every now and then. As long as most of it is under the brine it ought to be ok. |
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| Nanny |
tanninseems to be pickling away quite nicely at the moment.....haen't bothered to wietght it down but give it a good swish every eveninglooks good at present................ i imagine i could take it out and give it another scrape whenever i like really couldn't i, as i can see the bits i missed? then put it back for the rest of the time so that the newly revealed bits get a good pickling or is that not the way to do it? |
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| sally_in_wales |
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, also lets you check that nothing is going 'funny'- so why not, hook it out onto a bit of wood over the bucket (so the pickle doesnt escape everywhere) and just work at the bits that were being obstinate perhaps? | ||||
| footprints |
Curing skinsMy wife is a shepherd on a farm so we have access to fresh sheep skins from home killed. Years ago I did a few skins (I'm sat on one now) Very similar methods to your own, clean fleece,scrape.I however didn't use any salt , just used a strong solution of alum. I would remove the fleeces when they had changed from pink to a greyish colour, usually a week. Washed in the bath, washing powder and fairy liquid. Hung on the line on a windy day to start the drying. brought in at night and hung on a ceiling type clothes airer. As it starts to dry worked across the back of a kitchen chair each time I thought it had dried a little more until completely dry and soft. Bought neats foot oil to apply, but never used it. What I did find that may or may not be of interest to people is that there is a chemical (from the states I think) that allows you to cure skins in something like 3 days, but perhaps more importantly it makes the skins machine washable. I know that you can order the chemical through boots the chemist, so it cannot be too hazardous can it? I don't have the name of the chemical to hand, but if I find it I will post it here. |
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| Nanny |
tanning a hideall looks pretty good.took it out of the pickle last friday and did all as you suggested sally. i have washed and stretched it a bit (no frame i'm afraid) and am now in the process of oiling it i have to say i am quite proud of it even though i doubt that it would pass the quality control test. i have taken a couple of pictures and will photograph the finished product in a day or two i still think that george's hide will just be too big for me to handle but am definately going to try some more deerskins and maybe work up to something big. i am intrigued as to what i will be able to do with the finished product |
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| sally_in_wales |
I'm so pleased its looking good! Will look forward to seeing the pictures.
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| tahir |
Glad it worked Nanny, it'd be great to see the finished skin. | ||||
| Nanny |
tanningi have definitley used more than 1 tablespoon of oil i must admit but it just seems to soak in so i have oiled it 3 times now with neats foot..................(who was mr neat and why were his feet oily?)in the end i laid it on our stone garden bench and scraped the last bits off with a paint scraper that came with our heat gun and should be used for scraping windows having also used a normal paint scraper, my bestest kitchen knife and the bread knife 
i wonder what the sammi in sweden use on the reindeer hides as shown in the ray mears prog? didn't look like they needed many paint scrapers |
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| sean |
Aha, neat is an archaic term for oxen. Hence neat's foot oil is an oil obtained from their feet.
If you need any other useless information just let me know. |
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| Nanny |
tanningwell i go to the foot of our stairs sean.............learn something new everyday so it is basically made from the squeezing of a cow's hoof thank you for that i will go and amaze my husband ith that piece of information i will let you know when the next pub quiz is by the way |
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| alison |
Thamks Sean, I now haw to find a way of dropping that into a conversation. | ||||
| Nanny |
tanningsally a question if you pleasei have noticed in this last couple of days of high humidity and much rain that the skin that i did is damp -ish on the edges where it is hanging on the back of the chair....... would there be a reason for this other than the dogs licking the salt? i woudl have thought if it were the dogs that they would be chewing it and not just licking it however i can't think that the skin would collect humidity from the atmosphere surely? 2 more on the go and one in the freezer. have obtained a copy of "deerskins into buckskins" as well so am preparing to launch myself on an unsuspecting public with this lot must get it right |
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| tahir |
Re: tanning
Oeoerr, what are you going to make? |
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| sally_in_wales |
Re: tanning
Hmm, not come across that myself, I wonder if the salt somehow 'migrated' to the edge of the skin whilst it was being dried, and is now absorbing moisture? Or perhaps there is a difference in the strecth and oiling across the hide? Just guesses, I've just had a look at one of ours and it seems ok, but why they should be any different is beyond me. Sorry not to have a better answer |
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| Nanny |
tanningnot a chemist or scientist so don't know myselfif i have to make a choice i will go for the stretching and oiling neither of which i was particularly happy with i had no frame for stretching so ended up standing and pulling on it and working it round if you understand what i mean mr nanny has made me a frame now and i will be lashing and stretching as you described i have put it into the airing cupboard for a while to allowit to dry slowly again i suppose if it gets damp i could restretch on the frame............ as to what i am going to make - no idea though i have found a couple of moccassin patterns i think i am still a long way from making anything |
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| dpack |
every animal has just enough brains to cure it's own hide . so downsize and dont use unesscessary chemicals. sorry to seem harsh but....
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| sally_in_wales |
Thats very true, but brain tanning tends to be a smelly process, that many people in urban homes couldn't do, and also given that most of the animals that we can obtain with hides will have been shot in the head- the brains are rarely available. Alum tawing may use a small amount of a manufactured mineral salt, but its mostly done with common salt, so I believe it doesn't pose a huge risk if the left over solution is disposed of carefully.
Do you tan with brains? It would be interesting to compare notes on how it differs and whether you've found a way to keep the smell down, pus any tips you may have on extracting said brains in the first place! All the deer available to me are culled from park herds and are shot in the head to try to ensure a swift departure, we've never had the heads available, so I don't think I could use the brains from those ones. I do have a book on tanning buckskin using fats though, which we do intend trying |
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| dpack |
brains can be smelly if the drying is slow ,plenty of ventilation ,or cold smoking speed the process which reduces odour ....a low odour method that works uses equal volumes of rough salt and tea leaves rubbed well into the inside of the skin , rolled , wrapped in newspaper (against insect attack) ,store in a cool place for two days ,unwrap and shake , wind dry as fast as possible ,work skin in hands to soften (this is hard work but leather dressing makes it easier)this method also works to make organic cat toys from rabbit feet or ears . whatever method you use .these hides are robust and long lasting.i feel the speed of drying is what is important , think biltong rather than corpse if you see what you i mean .. with bse and scrapie i think there may be sensible care taken with brain tanning but it works ace with smallish critters. it isnt much use to try it after a high velocity head shot though.if you need leather that is water resistant neats foot oil is really good (cheap too if you can get it from a tripe shop or renderers but costly in shoe and saddle shops).i dought these two,methods produce machine washable skins though | ||||
| sally_in_wales |
Do you use the brains fresh? Several recipes I have seen recommend letting them putrify a little first which seems deeply distasteful to me - though I couldnt work out why they would need to be in that state | ||||
| Bermite |
Mouse peltThanks for the info! Given the seasonal change, we've involuntarily begun to house lots of mice. Lots of dead mice for no reason seems saddening...so I thought a need to use them for a purpose. Just skinned my first mammal today. Glad to find this forum. I'll buy the alum tomorrow and have a go at it. I'm sure there will be more in the future so I'll check back on this one. Not sure what I'll do with my eventual collection but have thought about creating a mini blanket.Has anyone heard if this is not safe? Rodentia are culturally taboo...perhaps this is baseless? The carcass seemed clean. 
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| sally_in_wales |
Dont see why not, but bear in mind meeces will be very teeny, very thin skins so may be a bit fiddly. Will be interesting to see how it comes out. Suggest maybe 1/3 alum to salt on such a small hide, will be quick and soimple in just a pint maybe of water. Can't believe I'm discussing how to tan a mouse hide! | ||||
| dpack |
it might be that if you have soaked the skin to help the removal of hair to make leather , the brains will be a bit off by the time the fur is loose . i have only used fresh ,there may be a reason but i dont know of it . | ||||
| Nanny |
tanning a hidejust read all this again...........have done 3 now............still using the alum and salt. the first one you saw earlier and is still going strong despite being used to cover the seat of the arm chair that the dogs lie on. the dogs have left it completely alone which is nice. the second one i scraped almost too thin, stretched it on my frame and dried and oiled, it is almost transluscent in places, a bit like parchment on the inside, the hair is fine. the thrid i tried a slightly different idea. having obtained my copy of deerskins into buckskins it mentions neutralising the salt and alum. i thought this might be a way of stopping the dampness during periods of high humidity when the excess salt is attracting the dampness in the air so i gave it a whirl. it meant soaking the hide in a weak vinegar solution. how long was a problem so i left it over night which was far too long. when i rinsed and tried to stretch the next day, the hide just started to tear so back in the pickle for a week or two and i have just gone for the previous method. i wondered if the problem was more to do with the fact that in the book it says to use a wood ash solution for the soaking and i am using allum which is a different type of potash presumably (i failed chemistry at school) i have another skin somewhere in the bottom of the freezer so will start to collect wood ash from the fire to do the skin with the proper bucking method as described in the book. there is also a dvd that has been produced which might help to show me how far to go with scraping the hair off, i think that might be one of the more difficult things to learn from a book. have yet to find out if i can play that dvd on our machines here as mr nanny says you have to buy a dvd for the correct zone (?) apart from that i have also found a site in the states that does period clothing and offers for sale complete kits to make your own moccasins for $38. that's about......what.....£25 here? i thought it might be nice to have a go and then i would have the pattern if i ever get as far as that.......you never know someone till you walk a mile in their moccasins..............isn't that an old saying? will try and stick a photo on of the second skin when i get round to it |
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| Bugs |
Re: tanning a hide
Ooh, tell us more  ... I am still trying not to notice the book on shoe making in my amazon basket...
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| Nanny |
tanning a hideit's on my machine at home bugs so will TRY and remember to find it when i get homeseemed quite interesting and i rather fancied it myself...........it included the leather and the sinews for sewing, the lot to make what looked like a nice comfortable pair of moccasins........can't remember which area the pattern was from as different tribes had different styles according to their requirements.......... |
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| Nanny |
tanning a hidehere you are bugs.the moccasin site. you can either buy the kit or go for the made up already when they send them onesstill can't make up my mind mainly because of the size difference. i would have to do a bit of research first www.smoke-fire.com/moccasins-1.asp |
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| Bugs |
Thanks very much Nanny for diging it out when you got home! I've had a quick glance and will have a bit more of a nose later, as you say it needs a bit of thought. I like the idea of buying something semi-ready made so you can get the hang of some bits and also have a pattern/tools for the future. | ||||
| Nanny |
tanning a hidehave to say they look dead comfortablei remember wearing some rally soft moccasins when i was a teenager - you can still buy them from an american site for minnetonka moccasins. i was really upset when they finally gave up the ghost i would like to think these ones could be just as comfy you would never wear anything on your hooves again |
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| dpack |
thanks for the parchment hint ,im not sure about oiling it if i want to draw on it , well scraped both sides...thanks i just got a new game with skins ..i dont know .. i'm well daft ..i do art , i do skins, thanks for putting the two together . now i'm going to find out how parchment is done ..i'll report back.. | ||||
| dpack |
wikipedia , parchment and the links seem useful . for my own reasons i liked the squirrel mention . | ||||
| Nanny |
tanning a hidei assumed that it was because i had stretched it too much and the thinest of the skin has therefore become translucentnever thought of the drawing on it side of things will do some research myself............... |
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| Lloyd |
What did you find out? | ||||
| Nanny |
that it is a lot more dificult that i first thought and that i think i had better stick to trying to just an the hides for the time being
perhaps not...................... anybody else having a go? |
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| Bermite |
Mouse pelt finishedHello again. The mouse pelt turned out nicely. Amazing how soft it's fur actually is. It's about 5 centimetres square without the head. The extreme sides are white while the majority of it is gray. The alum / salt combo worked well although the leather is very dry. I tried to apply some essential oil as the instructions said but found that the oil matted the fur so I had to wash it out again. It's been a big hit at work. I'll take a photo to attach one of these days...Thanks for the dialogue! |
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| Nanny |
bermite
have you found that the salt in the pelt attracts humidity and you end up with a damp mouse? must be down to the amount of rinsing out i don't do...... mind you at 5 cm square you might not notice............. |
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| Bugs |
Hi Bermite
we'd love to see pics - have you reached any decisions on what to use them for? I'm not being silly but I wonder if you could make cat toys with them? (Encouraging mousing rather than slow-worming, robining and frogging )
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| Lloyd |
Clearly, it should be dried with a mouse-mat! 
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| Greywolf |
Aha! this is where the 10 steps is
I've been given a bag of rabbit skins by my local butcher, didnt ask how many, found out today it is 28 of the little critters so Im going to try this out
Thanks for the hints and tips Greywolf |
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| Nanny |
now have another 3 deerskins awaiting the treatment in my freezer along with an overly salted one upstairs that will need to be re-rinsed and stretched
can't really do it this time of the year as it will be too damp to dry it outside and i can't get the frame through the back door let alone have anywhere to stand it in the house clearly a summer type job but the good news is that i have managed to source soe wood chips that i can use for smoking hides (if i ever get that far!) and also for the smoker that our mate wants to use for hams etc |
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| dpack |
salts can attract water so a thourough wash and ..... wasp galls from oak . quite a strong brew .a three day tanning . then dry . and waterproof . | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
I now have four rabbit skins, I'm soaking them in salt water while I get ready to try tanning them - I hope that's ok.
Bugs, do we have any alum? For the stretching it has occurred to me I could easily rig something up with a workmate type workbench that will help stretch the skins. |
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| Bugs |
No! Where might it be got?
Edit...read the thread, Bugs:
I'll put on my best old and warty look and go the chemist that doesn't give me funny looks any more. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Any luck? I got stuck in a Harveys Pub for lunch... |
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| Bugs |
I haven't been out
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| Nanny |
if you are doing rabbit skins you might be able to stretch them on a sort of emproidery hoop type thing........saw some old cowboy do something of a similar nature to a beaver hide on the ray mears survival programme
he used a metal hoops i think i still have 3 deerskins in the freezer waiting for the good weather to take them out and scrape them so have plenty to keep me busy for a while are you going to make a davey crockett inspired treaco hat with the skins? go on................you know you want to |
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| Treacodactyl |
I did manage to get two skins off with the tails still attached. I think it's best to see how well they tan before making anything but someone did mention underwear patterns a while back.... |
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| Nanny |
of course if you leave the tails on you could then have some playboy bunny briefs............ 
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| Treacodactyl |
It's a good job I don't like my photo taken.
But the fur is strokeable |
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| Nanny |
oh i say...................... bugs? are you there? this could be your moment................. |
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| Bugs |
Hello hello hello.
We've only got four skins. I'm not sure my prioritising skills can cope with that conundrum (and no, there's unlikely to be an article and if there is there will be no photos  )
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| Treacodactyl |
Re: Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hi
I'm having a go at a few rabbit skins which have been kept in salt water for a few days whilst I gathered the other items. They still have a layer of membrane with a little flesh attached and I'm finding it difficult to clean up. In places it can be peeled away from the skin but this can cause holes. Scrapings doesn't seem to have much effect, could it be because the soaked skins were too soft? I've rinsed them now and letting them dry for a bit to see if that helps, any tips for rabbit skins? I have nothing planned for them, I just thought it would be worth practising on something free. |
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| Nanny |
i find the scraping the hardest thing to do. it takes me a very long time on a deerskin and sometimes i have two or three goes...i think you should be able to do it all in one but i can't
i use a paint scraper among other things and lay the skin on either the stone bench in the garden or a fence post that i lan my chest on to and then work away from, i know what i mean but it reads a bit backwards if ther eis too much salt you could try rinsing them a bit before scraping again to make it a bit softer but it is elbow grease in the end i think unless sally can say differently of course...............
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| Treacodactyl |
Thanks Nanny, I'll try the paint scraper this weekend. | ||||
| Nanny |
to quqlify that just a tad, it's the type of paint scraper that comew with a heat gun that has several different edges on it
if you get a chance to have a look at a copy of deerskins into bucksins, it shows you how to use a pole or log to rest the bigger skins on and angle it to make any scraping easier i have started to do that as well as it saves your back from hurting |
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| dpack |
oak wasp galls shredded to into very strong tea make a good tanning mix (after a 3 month dry salting ). stand the skin in the brew for 3 days and wind dry .the tea may be unnesscessary . | ||||
| sally_in_wales |
Hey dpack, when are you going to do us an article with all these alternative tanning suggestions that you have tried in? Would be really useful to be able to compare pictures and instructions.
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| Treacodactyl |
Yep, that's what I thought and I have one.
Any more tips to remove the flesh from the skins everyone? I can see scraping is going to be the main reason for not tanning/tawning skins until I get some more free time, seems a shame. |
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| Nanny |
that's why i have a couple in the freezer....until i am really good at it and quick, i set aside a morning or afternoon, so some then put it back in the pickle until i can get to it again.
i think that if you can get the skins really fresh, like straight off the animal it is easier, i have never been that fortunate |
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| Treacodactyl |
I thought that, next time I skin a rabbit I will remember to take more care. That's a good reason for having a go now when it doesn't matter, I'm always learning what to do which I quite like. It would be good to watch someone who's done it many times. |
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| Nanny |
there is a dvd produced by matt richards, the writer of deerskins into buckskins...isbn 0-9658672-4-2 which would show everything you need to know.....i don't know if it is playable in this country
i have been seriously thinking about trying to get hold of it because it shows the fleshing and getting the hair off and how far you should go etc. i got the book off amazon i think, it wasn't all that expensive and certainly goes through the process quite thoroughly and in plain language...it was a very interesting book and there is a web site as well - braintan.com although i only visited it a few times. soem of the clothing produced by tanners in the us is absolutely superb, incredible work and well beyond me but his tanning book gives you all you need except the time to do it in..... a lot of his processes could be used on any type of skin i would really like to get into doing skins a bit more perhaps i should investigate the dvd a bit ..... |
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| dpack |
oak wasp galls are an ace tannin source .
remind me to post recipies please |
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| sally_in_wales |
they are indeed, make ink with them a couple of times a year at least. Not always easy to find round here though. | ||||
| judetheabstruse |
Hello, there. Does anyone have the name of the three day curing chemical that can be ordered from Boots?
Jude |
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| Nick |
I've just spent some time in the tanneries in Morocco, and they were doing this, but using cow's urine and pigeon droppings. More environmentally friendly, perhaps, but did it ever stink... | ||||
| tahir |
When Bermondsey was a big tanning area it used to be done with human urine and dogs crap. | ||||
| Nanny |
very true and collecting doggy doos was a job of one of the poorer strata of society according to that prog that tony robinson did all about the worst jobs in history i personally think i shall stick to salt and alum i have managed to get hold of a scraper, made for me by a local blacksmith but still can't get hold of a copy of the dvd for our player as it wasn't one of the more expensive ones and won't play all the different zones still want to do it properly but will have to wait now till we get to wales.......... |
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| Pea |
Hi can anyone remember this? I have a skin from my Balwen lamb that I would like to do. Hopefully I can get the potash Alum from boots but, if not I might be able to get the other product. Cheers Pea |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
The post at the head of this thread has now been articlified here.
A. |
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| unlacedgecko |
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 |
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 |
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.
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| sally_in_wales |
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? |
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| kevin.vinke |
Ok will try the smallest first, nothing vetured and if it doesn´t work try the bath method. Thanks Sally.
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| kevin.vinke |
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 |
a wire dog brush works wonders on fur/dags
less wriggling with a skin as well |
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| Stormcrow |
sheepskinWe 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? |
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| Pea |
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. |
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| Welshy |
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
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| regan |
tanningive 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. |
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| sally_in_wales |
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 |
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. |
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| Treacodactyl |
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. |