# Tanning ?



## CTBloodBro (Jul 7, 2010)

Hey everyone id like to try tanning my own hides from deer this year. What chemicals methods are good and effective to use, i have looked at the kits from cabelas and some online from taxidermy shops. 

Also has anybody ever try Brain Tanning before, I ask this because we have a lot of indian culture here in Connecticut. AS my girl is Mohegan they have a Pow Wow kind of a Fair for indians, they have demo's of Brain Tanning so i think i may check it out.

Im looking to make a real soft tan something that feels very soft and flexible.


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

CTBloodBro said:


> Im looking to make a real soft tan something that feels very soft and flexible.


Without going into a big explanation, I'll just tell you to send them to a tannery. They have the equipment to do it properly, you do not and never will. It's not worth your time and will *not* be fun.


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## rtd3jfrd (Aug 7, 2009)

borax soap. hand wash and soak the hide. take out and tack it out. remove as much meat and membrane as you can. coat it in the borax soap, let set for a day or so, go back and reove the rest of the meat and membrane. I usuall get it all off rewash the hide and repeat. You have to work the hide everyday, to make it turn out soft. It is very time consuming, but fun. I have done quite a few racoons and squirels this way and they turned out pretty nice actually. good luck to ya


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

rtd3jfrd said:


> borax soap. hand wash and soak the hide. take out and tack it out. remove as much meat and membrane as you can. coat it in the borax soap, let set for a day or so, go back and reove the rest of the meat and membrane. I usuall get it all off rewash the hide and repeat. You have to work the hide everyday, to make it turn out soft. It is very time consuming, but fun. I have done quite a few racoons and squirels this way and they turned out pretty nice actually. good luck to ya


This is in NO WAY a tanned hide. Sorry.


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## rtd3jfrd (Aug 7, 2009)

wel lets see, the hide is pliable, the hair doesnt fall out, and its not rotten. I know they didnt use soap per say, but i dont think the indians sent there hides to a taxidermist either. It not they same quality you would expext to pay for, but it actually doesnt turn out bad for, i guess total price of about five bucks. Have you ever tried it?


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

rtd3jfrd said:


> Have you ever tried it?


I don't need to. I know what you have is nothing more than a boraxed hide. It is semi-pliable, and semi-preserved. It is not leather. Now, I'm sure it works fine for just a hide hanging around the garage. But the question asked about tanning, and that is not tanning.


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## mmtcougar (Feb 22, 2007)

M.Magis said:


> Without going into a big explanation, I'll just tell you to send them to a tannery. They have the equipment to do it properly, you do not and never will. It's not worth your time and will *not* be fun.


X2 I have tried alum tan, and brain tan, and it is a lot of work to break the hide as it dries to end up with a soft pliable skin, ALOT of work. If you skip a day breaking it(working the hide to break the fibers to make it soft) it is like starting over. For what taxidermist/tannery will charge you will be time and money ahead.


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## TradHarvester (May 16, 2010)

breaking the hides is alot of work so if you don't have time to do it i would say just send them to the tannery, but if you wanted to give brain tanning a shot there is a good book called deer skin in to buck skin.


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## buckeyeoutfiter (Aug 4, 2009)

i use krow tan i love it....., u flesh it out soak it for 3 days wash it mount it


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## cwt (May 28, 2010)

send to a tannsry. I have tried tans and unless you have the equipment to break it your not going to come up with that soft blanket feel like a tannery would.


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## badomen (Jan 7, 2010)

Do any of you have contact information for tanneries in the north east? I have a bunch of salted hides I need to get rid of and there doesnt seem to be much information online about where to find tanneries. Thanks


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

http://www.taxidermy.net/suppliers/tanning.php


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## badomen (Jan 7, 2010)

Hey thanks a lot... that really helped!


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## akak106 (Aug 5, 2010)

I have tanned hides. It is a lot of work. The hollow hair of deer does not hold up well. It is only good for a wall hanging. The smell of stripping the hair is nasty and takes a week or two. Again it is a LOT of work.


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## killdoes (Jul 12, 2010)

East Coast Tannery, Telford Pa 18969
215-799-1900


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## CTBloodBro (Jul 7, 2010)

What is the best way to store a hide once fresh off the animal. Should i flesh off what i can then put salt on it to pull any moisture, then freeze it?


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## M.Magis (Oct 2, 2003)

CTBloodBro said:


> What is the best way to store a hide once fresh off the animal. Should i flesh off what i can then put salt on it to pull any moisture, then freeze it?


 No, just skin it and freeze it ASAP. Never salt and then try to freeze.


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## CTBloodBro (Jul 7, 2010)

ok thanks magis!


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## Teh Wicked (Jul 30, 2009)

every Taxi does it different...Some use salt fresh off the animal, some dont...I never really seen any difference in using it and not using it.

I worked with a Taxi while I was in high school. I was in a butchering class for vocational school. During the hunting season for whitetails we would work for a local butcher. He had a nice facility that we all worked out of. He paid us nightly $2 per deer to skin them. We worked for him during these peak hours for credit towards our class, and also just to help out a local business man. Well anyways, I done this for like 3 years and quickly realized it severly cut my hunting time. I got to hunt maybe 2-3 times during the whole season.

So once I realized I could not hunt and do this work I shifted to doing a little taxidermy. Which we could shedule our hours for pick-up during the day and still have morning and evening for hunting ourselves. So we would always hand out fliers of how people should care for there possible mounts, hide or euro mounts.

Euro mounts are the easiest...Basically you just cut the head off the animal and thats it, nothing really to preserve. If the weather is hot enough you can lay out a animals head and let the flies land on it all day. Then the next day put the head under a brush pile and just walk away and come back about 6 months later toa perfectly clean head and antlers. I done a few personal friends Aligators heads, bears, boars and whitetail this way. Works well, cheap as hell but it has to be the right time of year for the flies to lay eggs inside the hide. This way maggots will hatch inside the hide and they will eat literally everything away. After its done you just give it a bleaching and its pretty much done except for a little bone trimming.

As for hides...Well we done it this way, it may not be the best, it may not be the worst but it worked...
After the hide is taken off the animal we recommended using non-iodized salt. This is important...Non-iodized salt...a good liberal coating on the meat side of the hide. Of course the hide need to be as clean as possible. So using a old kitchen knife or butter knife to get as clean as possible was best to get as clean as possible. layer with salt, roll up and put in a cool dry place and leave it at a slight angle to allow any fluids to drain. 24 hrs later...NOT 27 or 30 hrs later....24 hrs later come back to the hide and open up the hide and scrape off all the wet salt, reapply in the same fashion. 24 hrs later again you start working the hide with a 50/50 mixture of denature alcohol and glycerin. We always used a 1 gallon bucket and usually mixed up 2 cups of each in the bucket. Then applied with a foam paint bruch while the hide was layed out on a flat board. Then we would use a round plastic squeege. Really working the hide with the chemical. everyday at the same time for 7 days this was done. After the 7th day we would let it sit in a cool dry place to dry. Then your hide is "cured"...Tanning is a whole other process which can be done in many different ways as well. But most of the kits you can purchase will do the job sorta...But if you want just a wall hanger or something for display, a cured piece is just fine. If you want a blanket...Well, dont hold your breath on your first piece. Or even your first 20 pieces...It takes ALOT of time and elbow grease to get them that soft. usually big machines are used in the process to help break up those fibers that hold it together, but the real trick is to get the fur to stick and not shed while also making the hide itself very soft and pliable.

Shoulder mounts....Well its tricky, but sort of the same way as a hide. Alot depends on the hunters shot...If its a good shot the neck can be cut off and thats all we need...We liked to have a little bit of extra hide to be taken with the neck to really make a full mount. Other wise would would have to trim down the form we used to fit what the hunter gave us. But that hard part here was getting the hide off correctly. Curing it and being sure not to tear or deform it. then forming it onto the false animal neck or whatever we was using. Lots of chemicals was used so to keep the fur intect on the skin. The ears was the hardest part, and im not even going to try to explain how its done...


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