# Ok...lets talk tanning hides



## On a call

And no, not spanking the kids.

I have read a little about brain tanning and know a little about commercial tanning. But have no idea what works and what does not. If I am just better off tanning myself or sending it off to the tannery.

Really wanting garment quality tanning, soft, smooth, and will not dry out like some I have seen done.

So Guys, what worked for you


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## FLTrapper

If you want a garment quality tan, and have never tanned anything yourself, I'd reccomend sending your fur to a tannery. I personally like Tubari Fur Dressing, in Passaic NJ they do a really good job with garment-quality furs, and their prices are very reasonable.

Most taxidermy suppliers also sell do-it-yourself tanning kits, but there is a bit of a learning curve to home tanning, and I would only reccomend experimenting on lesser-quality furs until you get results you like. I ruined several hides when I was teaching myself how to do this. I can get them real nice and soft now, but the tannery _still _gets them softer!


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## On a call

Ok...one vote from Taxi send them out.

by the way...how well fleshed do they need to be ?


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## FLTrapper

It depends on the tannery, but most of them prefer the skins be fleshed completely (i.e. as much fat and meat taken off as you possibly can), and then salt dried or air dried before shipping. Some tanneries will charge an extra fleshing fee if there is too much fat left on.


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## On a call

I flesh fairly well...nose, ears, and neck tend to be a problem area for me however.


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## catcapper

Brain tanning is a BAD WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taxi is right---"If you want a garment quality tan, and have never tanned anything yourself, I'd reccomend sending your fur to a tannery."

BUT---theres no time like the present to learn to tan your own hides. Theres a few simple tanning and softening agents on the market that only require a person to FOLLOW the DIRECTIONS and have an I.Q. of at least 5.

You can purchase tanning kits at www.vandykes.com 
Lutan-F and Rittel's EZ-100 are good tans. The really easy tans to use are Krowtann 2000 and Deer Hunters & Trappers hide tanning formula (in the orange bottle). I have never used Krowtann but the broke hides I've seen tanned with this product didn't impress me.

I use EZ-100 when I have a bunch of hides to tan---but 1 or 2 furs---I get out the Orange bottle. Its a simple task if as with all tanning solutions you FOLLOW the DIRECTIONS. By the way, I wouldn't tan any critters bigger than a coyote with the Orange bottle juice.

Hey---Taxi is right again---"I would only reccomend experimenting on lesser-quality furs until you get results you like."

Practice on small animals like squirrel or muskrat so you can get a feel for braking the hide---You MUST brake the hide to make it soft---no tan will do that for you. Find a softening oil you like, and with some practice you'll be turning out some nice pelts.

Hey guys---now is the time to get out in the fur shed with your kids and teach'em some hide tanning (if you don't know how to tan yet, you can learn together). I'll carry memories of my Grandpappy teaching me skinn'in and tann'in til the end of my days.


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## Toxic

There are many videos on you tube to show proper fleshing. Lutan-f will give you the softest in house tan in my opinion. I do my own tanning but have been doing it my way for 30 years and counting. my father taught me. If you practice as spoken above with other skins make sure you degrease the greasey ones like raccoon and bear. get you a fleshing beam or make one and get your salt from the feed store in 50 lb. bags. the basic steps are:
1) flesh the hide
2)salt dry the hide
3)rehydrate the hide
4)pickle the hide
5) neutralize the hide
6) tan the hide
7) oil the hide and brake it

may sound like alot but its not and the internet is your friend here with all he info you will need.


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## On a call

Taxi, Cat, and Toxic....Thank you for you information !!

I am looking forward to heading out into the shed and begin tanning my hides.

Thank you Cat...great thought for getting the kids involved ! If I get lucky maybe they will bring all the neigbor kids and can let them break them


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## catcapper

+1 on the Lutan-F Toxic.


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## On a call

Thanks, just ordered Vandykes catalog


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## GritGuy

The biggest thing about tanning your own hides is the breaking process, this is where you win or lose to want to do more LOL

Most kits can get the pelt tanned, I would not recommend doing a brain tan until you learned a conventional one first.

I'd also make sure that I learned how to break a large not so want to keep hide for learning before learning to break a hide you want to keep.

Fur is much easier to tan and break than a deer, elk or moose hide, the process is quicker, goes much easier and is way less work. Which equates to a better learning curve to keep you interested in doing your own.

One usually will tan quite a few and break many more before learning how to make them soft as a commercial tanner, it can be done but these guys have machines that make it much easier time wise oh and on the back too.

If you got the dollars you can't beat Moyles in Idaho for quality on your fur.
If you got the time try a kit your only out one or two pelts to start with.


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## On a call

Thank you grit guy.

I was thinking of starting with some beaver hides I have in the freezer dried last winter.

To me it sounds like the breaking is the tuff part. What is the easiest way ?


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## catcapper

For a good tan---Beaver, raccoon and possum should be degreased. A fairly strong mix of Dawn dish soap in a 5 gal bucket of water works pretty well. About 15 mins. and stir every now and then. Rinse the hide in clear water and hang it somewhere for awhile to drain.

For hide breaking, I have a DULL axe head that I mount in a vise. Some folks use a shovel, others just work thier hides over the edge of a table. The idea is to pull and stretch and break the fibers in the skin. Or---you can build a fur tumbler in your spare time.


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## On a call

Fur tumbler....I like that idea. Will an old drier work?


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## GritGuy

Here's a tip for breaking your hides, moisture content is the key, to much and you will be breaking for ever, to littel and it will go hard as a rock and you will tear it.

When I was tanning my own I found that the best way to tell content was to tumble the pelts after oiling in a home made dryer with saw dust, then take out and lay flat at about 50 degrees for half a day, then take and watch the leather side as you pull or break over a dull blade to see what the color of the leather goes.

If it goes white your at the proper content, if it does anything else darker you need to let it dry a tad more. If moisture comes out of it when you pull or break on a dull edge your not tumbling long enough.
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I made a fur tumbler out of an old commercial laundry dryer, it was almost five feet across and four feet deep with baffles already inside. I fiber glassed the outside of it so the sawdust would not blow all over and kept it outside for the sun to heat to dry with, even in the winter it was plenty warm for drying.

I did all kinds of fur and large hides in that thing and it worked real well. I did have to gear it down though cause it went to fast, not a large problem to do, I also changed to a 110 motor. Had a small home dryer I did the same thing to for smaller pelts like mink, weasels, muskrats and such, kept it inside my work shed though. Worked very well.


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## catcapper

Good info Grit---I use a dryer for tumbling too and it sure speeds the process up and puts a nice fluff to the pelt.

I think some may have misunderstood my post above when I mentioned building a fur tumbler. A fur tumbler the size of a dryer or 55 gal drum is used for drying and cleaning up a hide and dosen't work much for breaking hides.

Help me out here Grit or Taxi---what are the big drums at Moyles called for softening hides?---Breaking Drums?.

For breaking hides, the drum needs to be 6 or 7 feet in diameter so the pelt has some fall and is not just spinning around.


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## GritGuy

Yea they are breaking drums, but also they use them for glazing and cleaning.

My large commercial dryer would break deer and elk hides almost all the way. I hide some minor pulling to do to finish them off, it sure saved my shoulders and back, I went to a crafts store and bought eight of them wooden eggs about the size of a large fist and threw them in the drum with the hides.

I had about 10 inches of sawdust in there as well to keep them eggs from punching thur the hides too, worked real well.


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## On a call

This is extreamly usefull information guys.

Off to find a used commercial drier first.

What kind of saw dust..or does it not matter ?


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## GritGuy

Yes it matters, the best is hard wood, however it's expensive unless you can find a mill near you that will seperate it, not likely though.

I used fine wood dust from a mill here that sold it as a by product, they filtered the large chips out and any glue chunks, worked pretty well though sometimes it would mat if the pelt had to much moisture left in it. Was about 5 dollars a small bag about 15 pounds or so, I used to buy 10 bags at a time and tumble twice before throwing it away and adding new. Half a bag to 4 or 5 coyotes was about right.

I would tumble with sawdust after I had broke the pelts cause it really cleaned the fur up nice, to get it all out I just tumbled some more in a clean dryer, and then snapped the fur a couples of times.

Heres another little tip for you beginners wanting to do your own leather works, when you get to the oiling process after the tan, spend a couple of bucks and buy you some leather scent from Van-***** and mix a couple of drops in your oil before you heat it up to place on the leather.

It takes all the chemical smell away from the pelt and makes the fur smell real professionally done


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## On a call

Ahhh the blessings of having a saw mill close that I think will give me all his dust ?

I think he dumps it out in the woods ? Small mill.

Thank you again !

GR8 advice and I am most certainly going to give this a try !!!

I am sure I will have questions and I know where to come.

Another.......PT blessing


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## GritGuy

Try not to get any pine dust, it has a lot of sap in it which will really mess up your fur, even though the wood is processed the small amount left is enough to really mat your fur.

You can use it with out screening but it's nicer to not have larger shavings in it to get stuck in your fur, if you want you can make your own screen for the dust out of a spaghetti drainer, or some such larger gizzy.

Best is the hard wood mill dust.


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## On a call

Yeah...I take my walnut, oak, and other hardwoods there. I am guessing if I asked him to clean out the saw or...I did it and had him save fresh hard wood I would get just that.

As for the screening...I have somthing that I use to screen salt, 1/4 inch hardware cloth on a shaker. That may just work ?

Can the saw dust be TOO fine ?


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## GritGuy

I would imagine the finer it got the harder it is to remove, that being said I used some real fine stuff from this place and I still had not much trouble removing it.


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## On a call

Ah ok. I will use and try it ! Again thank you guys for your advice !

Oh..another question....do you think walnut would be an ok dust to use ? There is an oder to it .


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## GritGuy

I wouldn't worry about an of the wood odors really, most will be adsorbed by the pelt, even though we get most of the moisture out there is still a small residual that has to dry.

I used to keep hand breaking all my fur for a week or more after the tumbler had cleaned it all, surprising how the heads can dry up tight and hard.


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