Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide.

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Tanning a hide- 10 easy steps to a well cured pelt or hide.
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Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 7:46 am Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Ah- but strictly 'nitpickingly' speaking this is 'tawing' not 'tanning'- so get pickling and stuff the deeds!

OK - suitable material is in short supply - would it be wrong to skin a scrote?

Sally
Guest

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 3:27 pm Post subject: Re: tanning

Nanny wrote:

skin now in the pickle

should i weight the skin down as it is floating a bit.............

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.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sun May 15, 05 5:56 pm Post subject: tannin

seems to be pickling away quite nicely at the moment.....haen't bothered to wietght it down but give it a good swish every evening

looks 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?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sun May 15, 05 7:04 pm Post subject:
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

Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 234
Location: North Wales

Posted: Tue May 31, 05 6:25 am Post subject: Curing skins

My 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.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 05 7:12 pm Post subject: tanning a hide

all 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

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 05 12:53 am Post subject:
I'm so pleased its looking good! Will look forward to seeing the pictures.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 05 12:48 pm Post subject:
Glad it worked Nanny, it'd be great to see the finished skin.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 05 2:10 pm Post subject: tanning

i 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

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 05 2:52 pm Post subject:
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.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 05 6:58 pm Post subject: tanning
well 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

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jun 10, 05 7:37 pm Post subject:
Thamks Sean, I now haw to find a way of dropping that into a conversation.

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 1:35 pm Post subject: tanning

sally a question if you please

i 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

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 1:37 pm Post subject: Re: tanning

Nanny wrote:

have obtained a copy of "deerskins into buckskins" as well so am preparing to launch myself on an unsuspecting public with this lot

Oeoerr, what are you going to make?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 05 4:06 pm Post subject: Re: tanning

Nanny wrote:

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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