# How do you tan hides?



## prairiecomforts (May 28, 2006)

I am not really sure where to post this - so Angie feel free to move it if you see fit. My sons - ages 12 and 8 are very interested in learning how to tan hides. They have been taking their bb/pellet guns out since last fall and have gotten several rabbits and just today came home with 2 nice sized rabbits and their first red squirrel. They both have gotten pretty good at skinning and cleaning the animals that they are hunting but I feel it is a shame to waste the hides. Can someone give us some ideas on what we can do with them?


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

You might find a lot of good help in the hunting and trapping forum here, maybe some quick simple way to do it. 
You could also do a thread search to find any archived posts about tanning.
I do have a book with step by step instructions on tanning with the fur on or off and I'll look for it this weekend and send you an IM if you still need help.


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## themamahen (Jun 26, 2005)

how to tan hides? why with bran flakes of course, Lol i just looked this up last night mother earth has very good instructions.



http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/how-to-tan-a-hide.aspx

gl 

mama


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

For small animal skins I like to use salt and alum recipes for tanning. This recipe from off the internet is one of the simplest I could find that's good for beginners and it's similar to a salt and alum method I use on bird skins. The salt and alum method is probably the easiest and cheapest, and also one of the safest methods as it doesn't require the use of highly toxic or corrosive chemicals as many other recipes do. I think it would be suitably safe and good beginner's practise for your kids if they're going to be involved in the work of tanning the skins too. Once you all get more experienced with what's involved with tanning and working the skins this simple way you could then progress to the more complicated tanning methods and recipes that use dangerous chemicals.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:bAdUeKZ17s4J:www.freewebs.com/nwrhrbc/How%2520to%2520Tan%2520Rabbit%2520Hides.pdf+tanning+hides+with+salt+and+alum&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShcuP17R1b8VPD3HLuVk1GzdH8MsgYXvSDzfLxusogpq79Cr-SHYeE7jx8mjDDLzrVjNCXsG7avN4Ww9cZZPrfajE1he2h-kplJ_LsrJ1WHBOfRRf2bOE7G2UpDGMQCAI-JLay3&sig=AHIEtbT9ojbuHWBzePQzZa46X_0mF5600A

.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

My mama always used a hickory switch.


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## DanielY (Aug 25, 2011)

There are different types of tanning but they fall into three broad categories, hard leather, soft leather or just not decomposing skin. Taxidermists for example simply get the decomposing to stop but when their skins dry they are rock hard.
Otherwise you need to know what you want eh final leather to be used for. Vegetable tanning will result in hard leather. To get soft leather you have to use all the nasty chemicals like battery acid and such. The Mother Earth News article is good as far as getting the skin to turn to leather but it lacks a lot in the process afterward. there is a lot more work than they describe in racking stretching working and drying the skin. I might do a small animal skin for the $35 or $45 they mention but something like a deer hide would be well over $100. There is a reason leather costs so much and it isn't because of all the work the animal went through to grow it.

For just a few small skins you can get a kit from Cabela's to tan them.


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

Depends on what they want when done.. Fur still on or soft leather with no fur on it.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

(wrings hands and says in best zombie voice)
Brains.....brains....

seriously, I have done a bit of brain tanning, but nothing large..there are videos on you tube that show different animals. My favorite one is a guy doing a deer hide, and he uses his wife's mixer for the brains, and says not to tell her


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

TnAndy said:


> My mama always used a hickory switch.


HAHAHAHAHA! That really made my morning! Clever!


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## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

beaglebiz said:


> (wrings hands and says in best zombie voice)
> Brains.....brains....
> 
> seriously, I have done a bit of brain tanning, but nothing large..there are videos on you tube that show different animals. My favorite one is a guy doing a deer hide, and he uses his wife's mixer for the brains, and says not to tell her


I second the brains. My brother brain tans deer (and other) hides for a living. With brain tanning you have no nasty chemicals to deal with. Having said that, a rabbit hide is probably harder to tan than a deer hide because the skin is so thin and rips much easier. The salt and alum method is probably going to be your best bet for tanning rabbits unless you just happen to have saved the brains! Interesting thing is most animals brain is the proper size to tan their size of hide. My brother has used pork brains for his hides if he didn't have the deer brains. His leather does not have the fur on it though so I am not sure how you do that method. His hides turn out buttery soft and supple.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

1. Using a spoon, scrape all meat, fat, and membrane off the flesh side of the skin.
2. Mix a ration of 1 pound alum, 1 cup non iodized salt, and 1 gallon of water
3. Place scraped hide in solution and let is soak for several days. Approximately four
days or more for bigger hides.
4. Remove hide from solution and rinse several times using vinegar in the water the last
time of rinsing.
5. Dry hide on stretched out board. 

Now the softening part

1. Mix together in a sauce pan, water, 1/4 cup neats foot oil, and 1/4 bar grated soap. 
(Bars of soap have tallow which is good to use like brains) 

2 Heat the mixture till all the bar soap has dissolved, stir to help disolve faster. Then 
pour mixture into a gallon container and add enough hot tap water to make a half
gallon of mixture. 

3. Check to see if the mixture is too hot. If you cannot keep your hands in it, then it's 
too hot to place the hide in. When cool enough to keep your hands in the mixture 
you can then add the hide to it and let is soak up the solution. 

4. When hide is soaked full of the solution. Remove it and wring it as dry as you can 
get it without tearing the hide. Then hang it up to dry.

5. When hide is almost dry, start stretching it in all directions to soften it. Keep doing 
this till the hide is too dry to work with. 

6. Using a dishrag, dampen the rag in the mixture, squeeze, and wipe down the hide
again. Then place the hide in a trash bag, tied off and let set overnight. 

7. Next day, remove hide and begin stretching again till dry. 

8. Repeat number 6 and 7 till the hide is the desired soften preferred.


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Tanning-Kits-C18.aspx


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

There was a recipe back a number of years ago in BWH. I only found it on Mother Earth News but Anita Evangelista also writes for BWH.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/how-to-tan-a-hide.aspx


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## oldmanriver (Aug 1, 2004)

TnAndy said:


> My mama always used a hickory switch.


I was going to ask what has the hide done tat it needed a switching .:viking:


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I do it the indian way. Skin, scrape, rub with ashes and salt, both sides. Roll in damp towel overnight, stretch, brain tan. After it dries work hide with a smooth wood block, when dry and soft smoke it lightly with rotten wood for 12 hours. The hair stays on nicely this way. I have 40 year old rabbit skin gloves, coat collars and framed mounts. Brain tanning makes the best buckskin also, very soft and holds up well when it does get wet. I have several buckskins that I still wear after 30 years. Nothing better than deer hide moccasins with rabbit fur lining...James


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## beachcomber (Dec 2, 2008)

i use the battery acid method described on the ssrsi.org site. couldnt be easier.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

http://www.amazon.com/Deerskins-Into-Buckskins-Materials-Gatherers/dp/0965867242

This is the book we used for brain tanning. I thought it was very clear and gave excellent instructions. Keep in mind that the process is not a quick one and that you have to do the right thing in the right order to make it work.

Also, use caution when working with the brains of any animal. We know a fair amount about prion diseases now days, and the prions seem to be concentrated in nervous system tissue, expecially the brain. I'm not saying don't use them, just use proper precautions such as not doing it if you have open wounds on your hands, wear gloves if you need to, and be very careful if using brain material and sharp tools at the same time so you don't cut yourself and give the prions access into your system.


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

I use the acid tan too followed by a good rubbing of neetsfoot oil on the skin side before drying & softening for furs. Careful to keep the oil off the fur.
For buckskin I follow the acid tan with a couple soakings & drying/softening in fels naptha soap & neetsfoot like Oldcountryboy described. Then I run it through the smokehouse for a few hours.
The hardest part of tanning is the softening, no great mystery, just a lot of elbow grease. I worked on this deer hide & scraps a couple weeks before I deemed it finally soft enough - took it out of the smokehouse just last night, soon's it airs out a bit I'm ready to make stuff!


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## Gunga (Dec 17, 2005)

What an awesome thread. I'm going to tan the next hide I get for sure. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

The book "Deerskins into Buckskins" is actually where I learned most of my tanning. They also stated that if you don't want to use the brain you can use a bar of soap instead. Also egg yolks. They all have the fatty acid in them that is what does the trick in softening the hides. A bar of soap has tallow in it, which is another term for animal fat. Animal fat, egg yolks, brains, all have the same kind of fatty acid. This I learned in the book itself.


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