# Tanning Game & Domestic Hides



## HomesteaderWife (Feb 10, 2019)

I talked a little bit in this thread called "Processing hides" about how we tan hides, and wanted to open an actual discussion, so people with questions could stop by and get answers from others who may tan themselves. I'll post some of my text from the other thread here, and also answer some of my own questions from below.

_PLEASE NOTE:_ Considering the subject matter, I do expect to post some in-process photos that may be considered graphic.

*Tanners:* How long have you tanned? What is your main hide or fur that you tan? Any tips or tricks to help others? Do you have a workshop set up? What made you interested in learning to tan? Show us some photos of your work!

*Interested Individuals/Beginners:* What are your goals for tanning? Why do you want to learn to tan? What sort of hides or furs are available for you to learn with?


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 10, 2019)

*How long have you tanned?: *4+ years

*What is your main hide or fur that you tan?: *We pick up unwanted deer hides, and also tan deer hides for others. (hair-on, but have made buckskin) Mainly wild game hides. Before deer, I did a lot of squirrel fur tanning.

*Any tips or tricks to help others?:  *

Use _non_-iodized salt when salting or tanning hides (very cheap containers at Walmart).
Fleshing the hide immediately is super important to prevent the hide from being spoiled and no good.
It's messy work- use gloves! Highly recommend a skinner's apron too. Make sure to have a good knife set with a sharpener, and a fleshing knife. Clean them every time or they'll rust!
Don't fret if it turns out not the way you want! Practice and note-taking are so important- I still make notes in a journal of what I was not pleased with, and how to fix it.

Squirrels are the best, easiest to start with in my opinion. Rabbits have a thin hide- they're easy to tear if not careful. Raccoons have a great deal of fat to their hide and are very greasy. Hogs are like a raccoon but x5! Deer are a lot of work- they can take 2 to 3 hours just to flesh a large one well.
Getting enough wood ash to make the hair slip properly on a deer hide is sometimes difficult- I prefer lye (like soap-making lye) if I don't have wood ash built up.
Split the tail and de-bone it.
Highly recommend "_The Ultimate Guide to Skinning and Tanning_" by Monte Burch
Many tanning solution recipes call for the use of "soft" water- save clean rainwater for this purpose.
*Do you have a workshop set up?: *Yes, we have an outbuilding I use to keep the hides when tanning. I use a separate, enclosed area for the messy work of fleshing because it has a concrete floor. I like doing fleshing indoors because we get swarmed by yellowjackets otherwise. I have an outdoor fire pit with a tipi-pole-type setup for smoking.

*What made you interested in learning to tan?: *My husband actually inspired me- it was his passion, and became mine. I got passionate about deer hides mainly, because most of the time they go to waste. People just toss them- which is such a shame to me. I enjoy bringing new life and beauty into a raw hide by tanning it. To me, tanning hides teaches responsibility, and respect for the creature even after they're gone by not wasting it.


   

(left to right= 1. most recent tanned whitetail 2. a child's arrow quiver we made from a scrap hide 3. a whitetail hide from last year 4. a rare treat- we tanned a piebald deer this year)

An article on the Mother Earth News online blog we wrote called "Tanning: A Valuable Skill to Learn"


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 10, 2019)

_May be considered GRAPHIC: _Here's a thumbnail of a recent photo of a raccoon hide being fleshed. I have it on our homemade beam, with the fleshing knife sitting behind it. (Don't make my mistake of letting the knife rust! I've had it 4 years now- I  made an early mistake not cleaning it after a use.) 
Notice the peeled back layer of flesh and membrane. There is a shine to it because it was very fat-covered, and I had gloves, rubber boots, and a fleshing apron on.


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## Baymule (Feb 10, 2019)

I was a Cub Scout leader many moons ago and decided to do deer hides with the boys. I got hides from a processor and made sharpened wood pegs. We staked the hides out in the backyard and the boys fleshed them with knives. We salted the hides and let them dry. The next meeting we shook off the salt and the boys worked them over the swing set bars. The hides didn't get really soft, but it made the kids happy.


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## Carla D (Feb 10, 2019)

I know this is something I really want to try. I don’t like the idea of letting any useful or worthy part of an animal to go to waste. I don’t believe in killing an animal for the sake of killing either. That is complete disrespect to nature’s ecosystem and disrupts the food chain. People of today waste way too much. Our durable items of 30-50 years ago have become disposable. That’s wrong. I like the idea of trying to tan a squirrel hide first time around. They aren’t overwhelmingly huge, I was told they aren’t as fragile as other animals. Ultimately I’d like to process my goat, rabbit, cow, deer, coon hides. 

I am coming up with a terminology problem. @HomesteaderWife has mentioned terms that I’m either confused about or have no clue what they are. Here’s some terms: hide, fur- is there a difference? Hair-on, buckskin, suave? I thought we’re the same. Are they not? Fleshing? Slip? I do know there are a whole lot of other terms that she had mentioned in a previous post. I don’t even know where to begin doing my research. I think I’m going to try and find some processing hide terminology and watch a few YouTube videos first. That may give me a base for this concept.

I have an interest in tanning because I feel it may become a necessity down the road. I have a gut feeling we are going to be entering some very tough times with financial stability and uncertainty. Depression, recession, or bad luck, or I lose my ssdi. I’m not sure which. I’m not even a person who reads financial reports or keeps up with the news. Just some subtle observations I’ve been making has led me to feel this way.

We don’t have any savings in our household and we live paycheck to to paycheck. It’s a bit late to be preparing for the worst case scenario, retirement, or being able to care for aging parents or helping our children in their time of need. But, it’s not too late to begin. 

My plan is small scale farming. My goal is to make it self sustaining so we don’t need to buy our feeds, hay, bedding, etc. for our animals, provide food and necessities for the family. I would be delighted if were able to as much if not every part of our animals. Food, milk, eggs, compost, hides, fur, selling, make salable items for market or bartering if times get that bad. Use every part of the plants, crops, garden produce. Being able to process hides could end up playing a really big part in my plan. If I’m not able to sell hides I can use them to make things out of. Animal toys or treats, teddy bears, clothing, home furnishings, etc. I have plans to use parts like pigs ears, tails, feet. Rabbits tail, feet, ears. Goat tails, ears, feet. Chicken feathers, feet, heads, gizzards. I’d also like to be able to live off grid with the use of solar, wind, and/or water. These are all things I want to try at some point in time. I know I went off track with my plans. Sorry I got side tracked.


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## Baymule (Feb 10, 2019)

@Carla D don't ever apologize for getting side tracked. We all have goals and want to do more than we currently am. I am with you on being prepared for whatever may come your way. Do you can? Stock up on jars, lids and rings. Do you have a dehydrator? If not, two window screens may be used.


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## Carla D (Feb 10, 2019)

Baymule said:


> @Carla D don't ever apologize for getting side tracked. We all have goals and want to do more than we currently am. I am with you on being prepared for whatever may come your way. Do you can? Stock up on jars, lids and rings. Do you have a dehydrator? If not, two window screens may be used.


Hi Bay!

We don’t have a pressure cooker. I used to do canning and jelly making with my mom when I was pretty young. I hadn’t even thought about stocking up with jars, lids, rings. I do have a food dehydrator and a vacuum sealer and bags. We have a meat grinder, jerky kit, and a large second freezer.  We even have a small farm picked out. We are trying to get preapproved for the little farm we fell in love with. I’m also trying to stock up and find recipes for our animals processed. We plan on processing our own meats, hides and byproducts.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 11, 2019)

@Carla D - Here's an explanation of some of the terms in detail

When I say *hide* and *fur *I separate the words on purpose. When most people think of *fur*-trapping, they think raccoon, coyote, fox, etc on animals with very soft hairs on them. When I say *hide*,  I refer to coarser hair quality on animals like deer or cattle. Some folks may not differentiate like this with words, but I do in order to refer to the hair just out of preference.

*green *hides: a raw animal skin that has not been tanned (it shouldn't be green in color!) Think of when folks say a green horse- a little has been done to them, but they're not finished.

*fleshing*: this is the process of cleaning any membrane, meat, and fat off of a hide after skinning before tanning from the underside (meat side). This doesn't have anything to do with the hair side of the hide or fur

*hair-on *and *buckskin or leather: *hair-on refers to all the fur or hair left on a hide to be tanned, while buckskin is deer hide that has had the hair and grain/epidermis layer removed. Leather is usually other de-haired hides like cattle or pig.

*slip: *this means the hair of your hide is coming off in clumps and leaving bald spots. not just normal light shedding- it's actually falling out in a large area and leaving the grain layer on the hide only

Any other words I can help with, and do these help you understand the ones you had questions about?

Highly recommend that book like I said- he doesn't necessarily define these terms, but it's very in detail and gives you many different options to tan, de-hair, stretch a variety of animals.


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## Carla D (Feb 11, 2019)

HomesteaderWife said:


> @Carla D - Here's an explanation of some of the terms in detail
> 
> When I say *hide* and *fur *I separate the words on purpose. When most people think of *fur*-trapping, they think raccoon, coyote, fox, etc on animals with very soft hairs on them. When I say *hide*,  I refer to coarser hair quality on animals like deer or cattle. Some folks may not differentiate like this with words, but I do in order to refer to the hair just out of preference.
> 
> ...


Thank you for taking the time to define these for me. The only terms listed here I’m still confused about are hides, leather, suede, tanned. I guess I’m trying to figure out if for the most part is are they “interchangeable” for most people? Also when processing hides, both sides are processed? I kinda thought it was the inside that was processed not the outside. Now I’m thinking both sides must have something done to them. Either to clean the fur and prevent it from falling off. But I’m also thinking it’s the outside that has the texture seen. Is suede actually the inside of the animal skin once it’s been cleaned up. It’s kinda roughened, soft, fibers “broken lose” from the inside of the skin. Suade is actually the fibers from the inside and not the fur from the outside. If this is true, there must be different processes for skin with nice fur like goat, rabbit, coons. Correct?


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## Baymule (Feb 11, 2019)

I have some drop dead gorgeous black and white lambs this year-boys naturally. So their names are Dinner. I'm thinking save the hides to be tanned and make myself a jacket. I have 4 beautifully marked ram lambs. But I won't tan them myself, I will cheat and have it done. 

A friend took his son to the high wire fenced ranch behind us, yesterday. The owner has exotic deer and has to harvest a certain number each year. He gives away the hunts-to kids only. So our 10 year old neighbor boy bagged a beautiful spotted fallow deer. His Dad found a place to have it tanned for $100. I'll see how his turns out and will probably go that route.


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## Carla D (Feb 11, 2019)

Baymule said:


> I have some drop dead gorgeous black and white lambs this year-boys naturally. So their names are Dinner. I'm thinking save the hides to be tanned and make myself a jacket. I have 4 beautifully marked ram lambs. But I won't tan them myself, I will cheat and have it done.
> 
> A friend took his son to the high wire fenced ranch behind us, yesterday. The owner has exotic deer and has to harvest a certain number each year. He gives away the hunts-to kids only. So our 10 year old neighbor boy bagged a beautiful spotted fallow deer. His Dad found a place to have it tanned for $100. I'll see how his turns out and will probably go that route.


I bet a black and white jacket would look gorgeous on you. I love you long beautiful hair.

Your neighbor with the exotic deer. I didn’t know there was anything there than white tail, mule, black foot deer. I have been hanging out with the wrong crowd my entire life. It has been these last few months that I’m being exposed to so many new and interesting things. Now I’m going to need to google “exotic deer breeds”. I’m so curious. But darn it all, I feel like such a backwoods country bumpkin.


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 11, 2019)

Baymule said:


> I have some drop dead gorgeous black and white lambs this year-boys naturally. So their names are Dinner. I'm thinking save the hides to be tanned and make myself a jacket. I have 4 beautifully marked ram lambs. But I won't tan them myself, I will cheat and have it done.
> 
> A friend took his son to the high wire fenced ranch behind us, yesterday. The owner has exotic deer and has to harvest a certain number each year. He gives away the hunts-to kids only. So our 10 year old neighbor boy bagged a beautiful spotted fallow deer. His Dad found a place to have it tanned for $100. I'll see how his turns out and will probably go that route.



Spotty hides are gorgeous, although I may be a little biased. I've tanned my own but after the hassle of dealing with wool-on hides I happily spend the $54 to have them processed elsewhere into lovely, washable pelts. I even buy green hides off of other breeders to process and sell. Most people don't want them and I can sell way more than I produce in a year. I greatly admire people who tan their own, it's hard work!


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## Carla D (Feb 11, 2019)

@Baymule , I found Ox Ranch on the internet. They have so many amazing animals there. I would absolutely love to go on a hunt there. I have absolutely no interest a trophy mount though. If I could afford it I would buy a week long “hunt” to see how many different species I can spot. I can’t believe there are places like this that exist. It’s places like this though that may hold the remaining “12 in the world” of any species. There was a mention of some of their animals are “lab created or produced” something along those lines. That these lab animals wouldn’t survive in true wildlife. Do you know anything about these? Here are a few amazing animals I’d love to “hunt”. These are all from Ox Ranch. I don’t think I’d have the heart to kill something so magestic. If I want a trophy, I’ll hunt something like white tail or mule deer since they are plentiful at this time.


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## Baymule (Feb 11, 2019)

I looked up Ox Ranch. Goodness! They have LOTS of exotic animals, plus shooting machine guns and driving a WW2 tank! That's Texas for ya', over the top! LOL

Texas is famous for high wired fences, wild game ranches and all that goes with it.

@Roving Jacobs where do you send your hides? Do you dry and salt them first or just send them frozen and green? 



Carla D said:


> I bet a black and white jacket would look gorgeous on you. I love you long beautiful hair.


Thank You!


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## Carla D (Feb 12, 2019)

Good morning @Baymule ,

In the past you have asked me if I have a plan. Primarily a plan for our goats and livestock. Between this thread and that question it has turned my thinking cap into full gear.

I now have a plan. Not only a plan for goats and livestock but for financial security, and pleasure in our time of retirement. I was wondering if it might be something you’d be interested in seeing and giving me some feedback on? Ive never done anything like this before. It may be clunky or clumsy, over the top grand, or missing things. You seen very smart in this sort of thing.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 12, 2019)

Definitely love hearing about others tanning or having hides tanned to craft and sell. Yea there are folks who will look funny in passing and wonder why in the heck you have a squirrel hide or deer hide for sale, but others are just waiting for something nifty like that to hang in a cabin or man cave! I had a woman buy all of our squirrel hides and tails in one pop to decorate funny hats with! Alot of crafters want tanned hides and furs to make things with without doing the nasty work themselves!


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## Carla D (Feb 12, 2019)

HomesteaderWife said:


> Definitely love hearing about others tanning or having hides tanned to craft and sell. Yea there are folks who will look funny in passing and wonder why in the heck you have a squirrel hide or deer hide for sale, but others are just waiting for something nifty like that to hang in a cabin or man cave! I had a woman buy all of our squirrel hides and tails in one pop to decorate funny hats with! Alot of crafters want tanned hides and furs to make things with without doing the nasty work themselves!


Oh Poo on them for their lack of imagination and waste not attitude.


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 12, 2019)

Baymule said:


> @Roving Jacobs where do you send your hides? Do you dry and salt them first or just send them frozen and green?



I mostly use Stern's in WI these days. I really like the product they turn out.

If the hides are coming to me straight from my processor they're already fleshed and salted so I just need to let them dry. If I get them from another producer it's a mixed bag but I usually need to flesh them and salt them. I also do like a bottle deposit and give customers who buy lambs to slaughter at home $5 back if they let me take the hide afterward and it's in reasonable condition. If it comes back with some holes I attach (homegrown) felt on the back and can sell it that way so I'm not stressed about perfect skins. I send all hides fleshed, salted, and dry. Just vacuum the salt out and fold them before they're totally stiff as a board so you can fit them in a smaller box.



HomesteaderWife said:


> Definitely love hearing about others tanning or having hides tanned to craft and sell. Yea there are folks who will look funny in passing and wonder why in the heck you have a squirrel hide or deer hide for sale, but others are just waiting for something nifty like that to hang in a cabin or man cave! I had a woman buy all of our squirrel hides and tails in one pop to decorate funny hats with! Alot of crafters want tanned hides and furs to make things with without doing the nasty work themselves!



Almost all the jacob breeders I know have piles of skulls and horns and hides all over their homes. I just have to tell people they can't call dibs on skulls when they're still in use. When you aren't raising commercial stock you find any way you can to make a little extra money and not waste any part of the animal.


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## Baymule (Feb 12, 2019)

@Roving Jacobs do you make buttons from the horns? I once saw a web site on someone who raised Jacobs and they sliced the buttons, polished them and sold them for buttons. They cut the tips off, drilled two holes and made them into buttons too. 

I'm thinking I want a jacket from my gorgeous spotty boys and some Jacob buttons would look so cool on it.


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## Carla D (Feb 13, 2019)

Roving Jacobs said:


> I mostly use Stern's in WI these days. I really like the product they turn out.
> 
> If the hides are coming to me straight from my processor they're already fleshed and salted so I just need to let them dry. If I get them from another producer it's a mixed bag but I usually need to flesh them and salt them. I also do like a bottle deposit and give customers who buy lambs to slaughter at home $5 back if they let me take the hide afterward and it's in reasonable condition. If it comes back with some holes I attach (homegrown) felt on the back and can sell it that way so I'm not stressed about perfect skins. I send all hides fleshed, salted, and dry. Just vacuum the salt out and fold them before they're totally stiff as a board so you can fit them in a smaller box.
> 
> ...


Pocket change can add up pretty quickly. Especially if it is mostly quarters and $.50 pieces. Pennies are questionable. If you understand what I’m trying to say.


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 13, 2019)

Baymule said:


> @Roving Jacobs do you make buttons from the horns? I once saw a web site on someone who raised Jacobs and they sliced the buttons, polished them and sold them for buttons. They cut the tips off, drilled two holes and made them into buttons too.
> 
> I'm thinking I want a jacket from my gorgeous spotty boys and some Jacob buttons would look so cool on it.



I've made a couple of buttons to try it out but don't make them regularly. I really need to dig through my skull piles and see what skulls have matching horn sheaths and which horns can be used for separate crafts. I think Meridian Jacobs out west has buttons for sale regularly and they really are cool looking.


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## greybeard (Feb 14, 2019)

Have you ever done a beaver hide?


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 14, 2019)

Been waiting on a beaver to come through- we were supposed to trap some on a friend's pond years ago but that fell through. There aren't any near us, unfortunately- just alot of raccoons and possums mainly


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## greybeard (Feb 14, 2019)

You probably have more beaver around than you realize. They have a history of  living in residential areas around here, damming up drainage ditches and even culverts in ditches that run between the street and yards in some hi $$ subdivisions, as well as out here in the rural areas. They don't always build dams, or lodges. Many of them are tunnelers and make their homes in burrows they dig in the side of a ditch or the bank of any other body of water.
The next one I get that isn't full of holes, i'll see if i can bring myself to skin & send to you. They're nasty and stink all to heck even when alive because they spend so much time in the mud.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 24, 2019)

We've got a small article out on tanning, hoping to encourage other folks to get involved with it and to learn. 

Also wanted to share a photo of a recent squirrel tan (first time I have actually delicately split the bone from a squirrel tail, PHEW.) I normally just cut the tail off and lay it out STRAIGHT, then salt the whole thing- people use them for fly fishing lures or just decoration that way.


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## Baymule (Feb 24, 2019)

The squirrel hide looks very nice. The article is good too.


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## Baymule (Feb 25, 2019)

@HomesteaderWife what do you use to tan hides? I briefly looked at kits online, need to go back and see what's in 'em and what the process is.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 26, 2019)

@Baymule - I use the salt and alum method because it is cheaper in the long run, BUT the hides are a lot harder to stretch and soften vs. some of the bottles of tanner you see.


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## Baymule (Feb 26, 2019)

I'll probably take the easy route. LOL I just need to study a little more and call and ask questions.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 28, 2019)

@Baymule I hear that the Cabela's Deer Hunter's Hide Tanning Formula is good. Rittel's Tanning Supplies has a kit of things you can use too (some of them require pickling or relaxing steps, so just check your directions really well). Also, here's a big hint- most tanning solutions require "soft" water, so save up some clear rainwater if you can.


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## Baymule (Feb 28, 2019)

Thanks!


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (Feb 26, 2021)

Has anyone tried dying the squirrel or rabbit pelts? Would you do that before or after they are tanned? Or as part of the tanning process?


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 18, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - So sorry for my late reply in this thread - I have never tried dying the pelts, but have dyed a rabbit's foot with blackberries


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (Mar 18, 2021)

HomesteaderWife said:


> @Larsen Poultry Ranch - So sorry for my late reply in this thread - I have never tried dying the pelts, but have dyed a rabbit's foot with blackberries


No worries about lateness, it was an older thread I was hoping to revive. 

I have a bunch of rabbit pelts, a lot are white and I was hoping I'd be able to dye them but I'm having trouble figuring out the order of operations. Most guides only go over tanning the pelts. 

Usually the dye process involves soaking the pelt, so I wasn't sure how it ties into the tanning process. I thought if you tanned a pelt and it got wet again you'd have to re-work it so it didn't stiffen up.


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 18, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - Let me dig up my tanning book I use for reference. It hasn't led me astray yet, and he does mention dyes...


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## CLSranch (Mar 18, 2021)

I'm late to the thread but I'll be watching. It'd be nice to start tanning my own hides.


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 20, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - Haven't forgotten you, I'm still trying to dig up my book! I put it up when season ended, but still looking. I'll tag again when I can find it.

@CLSranch - Thank you for joining! HIGHLY recommend it! Tanning hides is an excellent way to repurpose the normal "waste" of culled and taken game animals


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 20, 2021)

An update on my 2020-2021 tanning season, for personal notes really. I didn't end up tanning anything big or picking up anything in light of all the mess going on with the virus. Plus, I took a break just to really enjoy the woods and some other hobbies. I got one squirrel, but the hide was not able to be salvaged, so I made sure to save the tail. I had one nice raccoon, and got to try out the gambrel my husband got me for...I think it was my birthday...2020? I love those tail pullers - got the full, nice tail and it did well this time to not be as covered in fat. I got to set the dog-proof trap he bought me for that too. Other than that, a slow year. Everything I did have on hand (deer hides, raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, tails) did not sell last year - the craft festival we normally set up at was delayed due to storms, then also was in the middle of pandemic.

I'm hoping to mainly get deer legs this season if I can. I love using the bone, and my bone windchimes were so popular that I really need to make another set. I also want to make and sell an incense holder or two from the leg bone - I made one for us just to try it out, but I think someone could appreciate them.

Hoping to get some Oak bark next time we cut firewood and try tanning with it. I tried acorn tanning with a piece of buckskin just to see what it would do, and the color was interesting but didn't seem to take to tanning well. Oak bark needs to be harvested and stored dry - can't leave it sitting out in the rain for it to leech out the tannin. One method I heard for using it was to pulverize the bark into a fine powder. However, I've also seen some information on having to use the bark tanning multiple times at multiple strengths, so I need to look more into it. I would like to FINALLY get around to try egg tanning a raccoon or rabbit hide.


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 20, 2021)

Some recommended items I've found great use for during tanning:


Monte Burch's book “The Ultimate Guide to Skinning and Tanning”
4lb Alum Powder - for use in salt and alum tanning (use caution when handling)
I gave the orange trapper's formula by Cumberland's a try this past year on my raccoon and really liked how it turned out
The "Deerskins into Buckskins" book breaks down real buckskin making, and if you want to learn more in detail about it, it's a great read!
This combo kit has the gambrel I really like, and is the kit my husband got me as a gift. While I am not as much of a fan of the fleshing knife, it is a great set to get started with. Has a gambrel, fleshing knife, skinning knife one tail stripper, and two tail zippers (those are a huge help to getting a nice tail left on the hide)
I'm more of a fan of fleshing knives similar to this one that are flat instead of curved, but opinions vary!


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## HomesteaderWife (Mar 24, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - I managed to find my book and combed through every chapter a few times, but could not find any info on dying the furs. I even picked up my other buckskin book, but no avail. I found some info on those using it for fly fishing lures, but the issue is that I don't know that the hides would be viable/suitable for large crafts or hold their tan after that because it's not something I have experience in. I would test very small strips of a hide first if I were you.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 14, 2021)

Just bumping this thread in case anyone needs it. I try to check in when I can for those who want to ask any questions or share their own experiences.

Going to try and use a raccoon hide sometime soon and make either a bag or a cap out of it, not sure which, and do a little video on it. I need to make one about the buckskin bag too. Someone asked for a little video on tanning but I’ll have to wait until season opens again for that. Any other ideas on what someone would like to see?


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 14, 2021)

Maybe how to tell if the hair is going to slip? Or how to avoid that?


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## HomesteaderWife (May 14, 2021)

LPR, great thought! I might take some of the base tips I tell people normally in forums and make something out of it including tips on that and what causes it


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 14, 2021)

Are there any extra steps needed if I am going to take a pelt out of the freezer and try to tan it? Rabbit pelts, straight off the rabbit and placed in a Ziploc bag and then frozen, some are a month ish old, some are over a year. There might be some close to 2 years frozen. Do they get freezer burnt? Did I ruin them by waiting so long?

Do I thaw, then soak, then deflesh, then tan? Is the thawing part of the soaking? If I want to dye it do I try to dye as it's soaking after defleshing before tanning? Or tan then dye then rework the pelt if it got stiff? Have been planning to use the egg yolk tan method.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 14, 2021)

Larsen, when I get home I will give more detail on that for you! I’m mobile and I want to make sure I get my book out for thawing details as I often skin and tan fresh. When you froze them, it depends on how you folded them also, as to how salvageable they could be


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 14, 2021)

HomesteaderWife said:


> Larsen, when I get home I will give more detail on that for you! I’m mobile and I want to make sure I get my book out for thawing details as I often skin and tan fresh. When you froze them, it depends on how you folded them also, as to how salvageable they could be


Thanks! I think we are going to cull bunnies this weekend, so I'll have some fresh to try with too. I have a bunch of pretty chinchilla rabbit pelts in the freezer I'd like to try to tan, I'm hoping I didn't screw them all up. Guess I'll just have to raise more bunnies for more pelts, lol.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 14, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - Here's a big question on your hides - how did you put them in the freezer, as in, how did you fold them? Did you fold flesh to flesh, or is the meat side touching any of the fur sides? Did you salt them prior? 

I am going to dig up both my books as far as freezing and thawwing. I'll put some info here in a bit.


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 15, 2021)

No salt on any of them. We did put the meat sides together, most of the pelts we kept tube shaped and didn't open them up all the way. 

Maybe one of your videos could be on the best way to prep pelts for freezing until processing them later? That's one YouTube video I haven't been able to find yet.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 15, 2021)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - great idea on video topic. Here's some info on freezing/thaw of hides:

Do not salt the hides before freezing. Salt draws moisture. When storing to freeze, make sure flesh side touches flesh and never let the flesh touch hair. Alot of blood in your fur side causes hair slip, and with something like deer you'll notice hair slip around a wound hole usually. This is not something you want to do in the heat and with lots of bugs, so hopefully you have an enclosed area to work with. 

Monte's book says: start preservation process immediately after skinning (aka for you, freezer storage)- some hides can freezer burn if left in too long (says fat/membrane layers can stick to the hide and freezer burn to skin making it almost impossibel to remove, you'll have to evaluate your older hides as you go...mentions wrapping tightly in a plastic bag to help prevent, but label it so you don't grab the wrong thing or maybe date and work on oldest ones first). Fleshing the hide out before freezing would help with space and make for less work later. He also mentions something I've learned - if you wait to flesh it until after thaw, there is a risk of hair loss (the "meat/blood juices" I would call them will cause that). Do not allow skin to sit for a long period of time after thaw or it can deteriorate and hair will fall out. He mentions belly skin on rabbit being thinnest, and says easiest skinning is done while carcass is still warm. Be careful when fleshing to not get the hair roots, use careful movements. Tube ("case skinning") shaped hides should enable you to make a wooden or pvc fleshing beam for easier work.

Try different tanning methods and see how each one turns out. Try a salt-alum paste, a brain tan, an egg tan, a bottle formula tan. You'll learn about "breaking" the hide once almost dried to stretch it out and get it smoothed and flexible.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 15, 2021)

*Fun news!* Great ideas for videos so far, alot of which will most likely be pre-trapping/hunting season, so for now I'm going to focus on some projects with finished hides that can be done the rest of the year. I only took one raccoon last year and I plan to make a little bag with it, and I'm going to go step by step on how I do it. I was very debated on whether to make a cap with it or a bag, but lots of people have how tos on that. This one needed to be something different! So here's a very poor spoiler drawing of what I am hoping to make:


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## HomesteaderWife (May 24, 2021)

The bag didn’t turn out QUITE like I planned, but it’s finished up! I want to try this again sometime with a liner and belt loop instead.


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## Kusanar (May 24, 2021)

Saved it to my watch later list (I'm at work right now)


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 24, 2021)

Same, saved video for later. Might be able to watch it at lunch.

Hubby and I butchered 9 more rabbits last night, I really wanted to start on a few of the hides but couldn't find my darn tools. Going to track down the tools before we start the next set of rabbits, we still have at least 14 to butcher.


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## HomesteaderWife (May 24, 2021)

@Kusanar - Thank you!

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - Thank you kindly as well! Good luck working those rabbit hides. I'd love to have enough to make a blanket/throw one day.


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (May 25, 2021)

HomesteaderWife said:


> @Kusanar - Thank you!
> 
> @Larsen Poultry Ranch - Thank you kindly as well! Good luck working those rabbit hides. I'd love to have enough to make a blanket/throw one day.


Rabbit math. It's like chicken math but soft and fuzzy. If you get a buck and a couple does, you too can have way too many rabbits. Or two bucks and 10 does like me...🙃

How many rabbit hides would you need for a throw? Once I tan some of the pelts I'll have to measure to see what's the average size of useable pelt is per rabbit. Will also depend on how long they grow before butcher. Younger kits are more tender but the skin is thinner. Older are a little tougher but thicker skin and bigger.

Average litter is 6 kits, raise till 8-12 weeks, cycling doe as pregnant 31 days, nursing 4-5 weeks, wean kits & rebreed doe, just need lots of grow out cages and feed. Little buggers eat a lot.


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## abraeri (Nov 2, 2021)

I'm tanning some goat hides I have. They been salted for around 5 days now and I'm trying to figure out what tanning solution to use. I want something permanent (water proof), and it seem alum tanning is not permanent. Is acid tanning permanent?


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## HomesteaderWife (Nov 6, 2021)

@abraeri - the salting will help preserve them for now, not sure about acid tanning but I often alum tan then smoke my hides to help proof them. You could use a bottle tan for a quick solution - the orange bottle. Alum tans them but needs extra help like the smoking process

Edit- some people also use pure neatsfoot oil. I picked it up in tractor supply near the horse tack. When hide is near dry and ready to stretch, I brush some of that on the flesh side and stretch it after application.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 17, 2022)

Hi all, reviving this thread a little bit. Made a video discussing tools for the trade a few months back and a new one about salt coming out soon. I want to help answer questions about hows and whys so if you have any input or ideas please let me know. I want to do a comparison of a few tanning methods also.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 17, 2022)

Also, if anyone out there has used EGGS for tanning, I would love to ask a few questions about methods and results!


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (Feb 19, 2022)

Watched your videos, they were good 😊 I am hoping to get some time to work the rabbit pelts in our freezer this spring, so we will see if there are major issues since I didn't salt any before freezing them. I'll post here with updates.


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 20, 2022)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - I've seen mixed reaction to salting before freezing, but I have also tanned hides that were frozen. I'd say your factors will depend on how long they've been stored, how they were folded or stacked when put in, and how you thaw. If they were stacked on top of one another, or if they were folded in a way that the flesh side was touching hair side, there could be hair loss. Long term storage of frozen hides can cause freeze burn. In Monte Burch's "The Ultimate Guide to Skinning and Tanning" book he talks about taking the frozen hides and putting them in several changes of cool water to thaw. Don't hang them out alone, or put them in hot water. Time is important gettign them saved and keeping your fur. Once that hide is moving and not stiff, go with it. Have your tanning method prepped before you thaw. Depending on what tanning method you are using, have some salt on hand. 

In the end, preserving a hide with smoking will help at the end of the process can help. I got really into Matt Richards' book "Deerskins into Buckskins" because he breaks down in much more detail why certain steps are done, how the makeup of the skin is and how it is changed and he talks about how the smoke is that preservation. I had a chance to correspond with him and he pointed out how the alum tanning I was doing was unstable on its own without the smoking to make it permenant. I had learned the lesson years prior after stretching a salt-alum tanned hide and softening, only to come back and the hide was very stiff and had little "crystal" looking spots on it. When I smoked them, I didn't notice this. 

Sorry for my rambling! As for tanning, have you thought of how you'll tan them? If you have quite a bulk, salt/alum would be an inepensive method. Find yourself a deep rubbermaid or a plastic trash can (metal corrodes) - Monte has the salt/alum recipe in the book I could share. If you're soaking them in a solution, have some gloves and turn them a few times a day and uncurl them in the alum. If you don't work the hides and make sure every part of it has exposure to the solution, those parts won't take. They'll be all green/blue and yucky looking. If you haven't tanned before, start with one and don't get overwhelmed. 

I do not have experience with egg tanning JUST yet, but I will say that after talking with Matt and asking some questions regarding it, don't wash the egg out. I've seen a bunch of videos of people egg tanning then washing the hide afterwards. I'm going to work on a comparison video with some raccoon furs where some are bottle tanned, egg tanned, or alum tanned. Curious to see how it pans out, let me know if you are tanning any of yours that way!


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 20, 2022)

I wanted to know a little bit more about salt myself, so recorded something about it once I did some digging with some helpful tips included. Intro could be skipped, it's just explaining to any new viewers that tanning is a good way to be resourceful and even those not hunters/trappers could still get into it and help cut back on waste from throaway hides.


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## Larsen Poultry Ranch (Feb 20, 2022)

I was actually going to try using egg, since I wanted to avoid chemicals. The rabbit pelts are in Ziploc bags, several to a bag. We tried to be careful and keep flesh sides together as we put them in the bags. Some are several years old now. It will be a learning experience even if the hides don't turn out. 

I will try thawing using several buckets of cold water rather than warm water. Maybe put some salt in the water too?


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## HomesteaderWife (Feb 20, 2022)

@Larsen Poultry Ranch - I'm not sure but in Monte's book he mentions using 1 ounce borax to each gallon warm water needed to cover hide as a relaxing bath for frozen, dried, or salted hides. The directions on a tanning formula I have mention two days of salting, then a soak in some warm water with salt (doesn't specifically say, but I think it is meant to be a relaxing bath). 

Once the hides are wrung and start to dry where you can pull them and it turns white, it's time for the eggs. Seems like 1 egg yolk + water + a dash of neatsfoot oil or olive oil can do one fur. I am currently drying and stretching a raccoon I used 1 egg yolk + about same volume warm water + dash of neatsfoot on. Once it starts to dry and starts to turn white again when you pull on it, time to stretch and soften. I'll add some photos when I get it done - this hide was salted, relax bathed with the salt and water, then egged. I'll smoke it when I can as well.

Save those egg whites to cook/bake!


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