Tanning for beginners.

[ksmit454]

I know I'm taking on quite the process… but the closet tannery too me (2 hours away) wants $14.50/sqft to tan hides. Hides are approx 40-50sqft… I think I'll try doing it myself yay that cost lol! I laid it out and salted it about 3 weeks ago. Now what next?
Thanks!

 

[M.Magis]

First, what is it? If its anything bigger than a squirrel, just go into it assuming its not going to turn out great, and it will most likey be stiff as a board. And do NOT let anyone tell you it can be easy or cheap. Its neither, and if they suggest a method that is, say thank you and ignore them.
But again, first thing needed to know is what type of skin and what is your end goal.

 

[sstterry]

Anyone that watches Mountain Men will tell you that to tan a hide correctly you need to paint it with the brains of the animal.

 

[Redgully]

I think next step is to clean it, lots of elbow greases needed. My brother got into doing this, first few were cow hides and made good surf boards after he was done. He did get better and a kangaroo skin he did came up quite nice and was soft....in patches....

 

[TCRanch]

Have you read through this thread?

Tanning hides

With the smaller processors, hides are basically waste products, but if you want to keep it at one of the processors we use, you have to buy it back. I’ve got a steer with a beautifully soft, slick coat what I would love to have tanned, but can’t find anyone to do it. Taxidermists don’t want to...

www.cattletoday.com

 

[wbvs58]

Next step is fleshing it. A high powered pressure washer with a turbo head can be usefull but you will still need to use hand tools to get everything. You need it very clean so the tanning solution can penetrate the hide. You will need someone else to tell you what's after this as it is all I know, my neighbour is a taxidermist, he has my pressure washer at the moment while his is getting repaired.

Ken

 

[FullCircleWVa]

After fleshing it, you'll need to pickle the hide to get it ready to take on the tanning solution (what i do with raccoons) equal parts white vinegar and water and around 2 cups of salt to the gallon. A few days in there stirring a couple times a day and make sure the hide stays fully submerged. After pickling, rinse it a few times in fresh water, dry the fur side and pat down the hide side. Then it's ready for the tanning solution.

 

[Hpacres440p]

I started the other thread, I've decided I might try a sheep or goat before tackling a full steer. We did rabbit hides when I was a kid, some got very pliable, some made better frisbees

 

[Stonewall Joe]

I know I'm taking on quite the process… but the closet tannery too me (2 hours away) wants $14.50/sqft to tan hides. Hides are approx 40-50sqft… I think I'll try doing it myself yay that cost lol! I laid it out and salted it about 3 weeks ago. Now what next?
Thanks!

you can buy a pretty nice cow hide for 150- 200 or so, already tanned, you can pick the color or colors and I'm not sure you can produce one for that

 

[greybeard]

you can buy a pretty nice cow hide for 150- 200 or so, already tanned, you can pick the color or colors and I'm not sure you can produce one for that

Cheap enough and tho I haven't really checked into it, I've been told these may be 'faux hides' made out of vinyl and polyurethane strands for hair......

 

[Stonewall Joe]

I don't know about Buccees hides, I have seen them, they look real to me (never have seen a faux hide that I'm aware of) but you can buy hides from several sources online, I just had some old antique furniture reupholstered with hide and leather, the easiest one is Tandy Leather, cowhides direct is also good but about 70 or 80 higher and if you're in the Houston area on Harwin (near where all of the wholesalers are) there are several rug dealers that sell hides as well for reasonable prices and they will negotiate with you

 

[sunnyblueskies]

However you do the next step.......... you need to be as tedious and meticulous as you can be. That hide needs to get as clean and thin as you can get it. The thinner the better. Problem with the cowhides is the thickness of the skin and the type of skin pores as far as I understand. It makes it very difficult for the tanning solutions, natural or chemical, to penetrate everything.
I've tried a big hide once. My elbow grease ran out and it was a pretty piece of haired rawhide.
Stonewall Joe, yes you can buy hides for pretty cheap. Some stink worse then a skunk from the chemicals used and all that.
There just is something about having a hide of one or your own cows/bulls. Call it pride or whatever and if you even tanned it yourself...........bragging rights. =D

P.S.: I have one bull hide in a little freezer since a few years already.......that son of a gun was a pain in the ass and had to be shot and butchered in order to get him to go home from pasture. So doing that hide would be vengeance for being an ass............ if I just had the energy and elbow grease to try again. Hahaha

 

[Stonewall Joe]

However you do the next step.......... you need to be as tedious and meticulous as you can be. That hide needs to get as clean and thin as you can get it. The thinner the better. Problem with the cowhides is the thickness of the skin and the type of skin pores as far as I understand. It makes it very difficult for the tanning solutions, natural or chemical, to penetrate everything.
I've tried a big hide once. My elbow grease ran out and it was a pretty piece of haired rawhide.
Stonewall Joe, yes you can buy hides for pretty cheap. Some stink worse then a skunk from the chemicals used and all that.
There just is something about having a hide of one or your own cows/bulls. Call it pride or whatever and if you even tanned it yourself...........bragging rights. =D

P.S.: I have one bull hide in a little freezer since a few years already.......that son of a gun was a pain in the ass and had to be shot and butchered in order to get him to go home from pasture. So doing that hide would be vengeance for being an ass............ if I just had the energy and elbow grease to try again. Hahaha

I understand the wanting to have one of your own hides deal, I've got a couple of very unusual colored steers by a brahma and out of some crossbred cows here but I guess I'm just getting too lazy to want to try and there's no place around here to do it. I've bought several of the hides now and haven't gotten any that stink. They were all very well done and soft enough to use as upholstery. Maybe I was just lucky.

 

[tex452]

Anyone that watches Mountain Men will tell you that to tan a hide correctly you need to paint it with the brains of the animal.

My bother use to brain tan deer hides.
He would scrape all the hair off then the membrane on each side, soak in pig brain solution.
Lots of twisting and stretching, it turned out really nice and soft, it's a lot of work.
He made me a quiver out of it along with switch cane arrows and a hickory bow.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

I understand the wanting to have one of your own hides deal, I've got a couple of very unusual colored steers by a brahma and out of some crossbred cows here but I guess I'm just getting too lazy to want to try and there's no place around here to do it. I've bought several of the hides now and haven't gotten any that stink. They were all very well done and soft enough to use as upholstery. Maybe I was just lucky.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with buying a hide. Suppose it all depends where you buy them from.
And being too lazy........ I can't blame you for that either. Hahahaha re.: look at the hide sitting in my freezer.

I inquired at a tanning place a few hours away from me and the price I was quoted was just about the price we get for an older cow when we sell. Don't understand how all that math works. Sure, it takes a lot of work and time and input by a tannery to do a hide, but how can a store sell a hide for a fraction of all that cost in return?

 

[Hpacres440p]

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with buying a hide. Suppose it all depends where you buy them from.
And being too lazy........ I can't blame you for that either. Hahahaha re.: look at the hide sitting in my freezer.

I inquired at a tanning place a few hours away from me and the price I was quoted was just about the price we get for an older cow when we sell. Don't understand how all that math works. Sure, it takes a lot of work and time and input by a tannery to do a hide, but how can a store sell a hide for a fraction of all that cost in return?

I figure if they have to keep track of which hide is yours, vs batch mechanized runs, that's where the time ($$) equation rolls in. I would love to throw mine in with a batch tannery, but I doubt I would get "mine" back.

 

[M.Magis]

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with buying a hide. Suppose it all depends where you buy them from.
And being too lazy........ I can't blame you for that either. Hahahaha re.: look at the hide sitting in my freezer.

I inquired at a tanning place a few hours away from me and the price I was quoted was just about the price we get for an older cow when we sell. Don't understand how all that math works. Sure, it takes a lot of work and time and input by a tannery to do a hide, but how can a store sell a hide for a fraction of all that cost in return?

Those hides you see for sale cheap are usually shipped from some third world crap hole where they're "tanned" with questionable chemical by some 12 year old being paid pennies per day.

 

[M.Magis]

In regards to getting your own hide back, any reputable tannery will have a punch code system where all hides are punched and tracked. I always add my own punch code too, just to make sure. So far I've always got mine back.

 

[Bestoutwest]

I have one hanging in my house from our last LH. I did about 1/2 and it cost me close to $400. It was worth it. Now I just need to figure out what to do with her.