# Tanning deer hides.......again



## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

I know this subject has been rode-to-death, but I am just so intimidated by the whole process. I have 4 really nice hides in the freezer now. I keep saying I'm gonna tan 'em. :shrug:. What I want is a nice, soft, hair-on hide when I get done. I have visions of making my DS a blanket. Now, mind you....I ain't one of them city-type gals. I don't care to do the dirty work! :umno: I just dont want to ruin the hide, or spend a fortune before I figure out what I'm doing. Can anyone point me to a GOOD site, with GOOD instructions that are "fool proof"? I'd really like to give this a try.......and get the hides outta my freezer!! :happy2:


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

You can do it hair on, Unlike a good many critters though the hair is hallow and brittle.
You may want to save some heartache and if you do hair on make it a wall hanging or such. if you want to do a blanket or other contact Item, make Buckskin.

http://www.ssrsi.org/sr2/Hunt/tan.htm


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Okay...This just came out from Mother Earth News (online edition) from Oct. 12, 2011. I have not yet tried this but I will give you a rundown. Here's what you need:
7 gallons of water
2 lbs. of bran flakes
16 cups of pickling salt (non iodized)
2 large (30 gal) trashcans (one with a lid)
4 ft. stirring stick (wooden)
3.5 cups of battery acid
2 boxes of baking soda
wooden rack to be used as a "stretcher"
neat's foot oil
nails
wire bristle brush

According to the directions, this is enough for 4 large animal skins or ten rabbits or 6 groundhogs

Cool the fresh hide...trim or scrape all visible fat. Place in shade with the fur side down on a cold rock or concrete surface.
When flesh is cool immediately cover flesh completely with salt. Use 3 - 5 lbs for a sheepskin or deerskin. Don't skimp. (This is not the salt mentioned in list of ingredients)
If skins aren't salted within a few hours you may as well forget it.
Transport skins flat. Let the skin dry till it is crispy...This may take several days or a week or two.
A few hours before you are ready to tan, soak the hide in clear frsh water till it becomes flexible.
Boil 3 gallons of water and pour over the bran flakes. Let this sit an hour.
Then strain the flakes out of the liquid. Save the brown water solution.
Put 16 cups of salt in a trash can. Pour clean water into it...enough with stirring till it dissolves completely. Then add your brown bran liquid. Stir again.
When the solution is luke warm, you're ready to add battery acid. Read labels, and be careful. Wear protective gear. Pour the acid along the side of the trashcan to avoid splashing. Stir with the wooden stick.
Add skins to the solution and stir. Press down with the stirring stick till skins are fully saturated. Let them soak for 40 minutes. Remove skins with the stick, and put them in the other trashcan which already has some lukewarm water in it. This is the rinsing process. Stir and slosh for 5 minutes, changing water when it gets dirty.
At this point some people add baking soda to the rinse water to neutralize the acid. If you plan to have your hide be something that frequently comes into contact with human skin, (clothing) for example, I would add the baking soda. On the other hand, perhaps you plan to hang your hide on a wall...In that case, I would opt out of the baking soda. Your choice.
Remove hides from the rinse water. Let them hang on a board or the back of a chair. Using a sponge or rag or a brush, swab the still damp skin side with an ounce of neat's foot oil. Tack the hide to a stretcher (some use wooden pallets or plywood). Gently pull hide as you tack it to put some tension on it but don't overstretch. Put this in a shady place to dry. Your acidic tanning solution can be neutralized by adding a couple of boxes of baking soda. It will froth and bubble, and release a toxic gas so don't stick around while this is happening. You can pour this solution in small quantities to rid your driveway of weeds, but DO NOT POUR THIS DOWN YOUR DRAIN!

Check hide daily. When the skin feels dry to the touch at the center, but still flexible and soft, remove it from the rack. Lay the fur side down and go over this with a wire bristle brush. Don't brush too heavily or excessively in one spot...just enough to give it a suede like look. After this, set the skin where it can dry completely for at least a day. 

Like I said, I have not done this before, but I think I will be trying it with a deer I hope to get this autumn. Good luck. Let me know if you do, how it turns out.


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## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

This is the way I do it. 
Other than these instructions, I can only add to use a dull knife to clean the fat and meat from the hides, as a sharp knife is easy to cut through the skin.

http://www.shanepotter.com/hidetanning.html


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## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

pheasantplucker said:


> Okay...This just came out from Mother Earth News (online edition) from Oct. 12, 2011. I have not yet tried this but I will give you a rundown. Here's what you need:
> 7 gallons of water
> 2 lbs. of bran flakes
> 16 cups of pickling salt (non iodized)
> ...


Thanks for the great response! I only have a question or two:

1) What is bran flakes? Cereal?
2) Where do I get battery acid at?

I plan on trying this with the frozen hides in the freezer. But, DS killed a big doe last Saturday (4 days ago) and we did not put it in the freezer. We simply stretched it out on the concrete. It has been between 29-37 degrees at nights here. So, I guess it is too late for that one.......do you think?? Or, is it still usable?


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## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

foxfiredidit said:


> This is the way I do it.
> Other than these instructions, I can only add to use a dull knife to clean the fat and meat from the hides, as a sharp knife is easy to cut through the skin.
> 
> http://www.shanepotter.com/hidetanning.html


What type of product to you end up with? Where you pleased with the product? Did you do hair-on or hair-off method? Thanks for the site...I printed the material off. Seems easy to follow......hopefully! :bow:


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Bran flakes would be cereal, yes. You can get battery acid at any auto parts store, like Auto Zone, Napa, etc. (Nasty stuff...be especially careful with it.) good luck.


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## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

luv2farm said:


> What type of product to you end up with? Where you pleased with the product? Did you do hair-on or hair-off method? Thanks for the site...I printed the material off. Seems easy to follow......hopefully! :bow:


I was happy with the outcome for sure. No toxic materials to worry about. I tanned 3 hides and used the first small one for the bottom in an antique hand-made wooden straight chair I found at a flea market. The other two I used for rugs.

I only used the receipe for step 4 for the use I had for the skins. Making a deer hide soft and pliable by hand is labor intensive I would think, but I didn't have a use for a soft tanned hide with the hair on anyway. I wanted the hair on, but wanted the rugs to lay stiff and flat on the floor. The main thing is you don't want the hair to "pull" whatever use you have for it. With the first hide I did for the chair bottom, the hair began to pull after 18 months. The chair got a lot of use though. It still looks okay with the rawhide kinda look and the remaining hair. I put it aside so folks don't use it as much. 

_What I did for the rugs was to go with the receipe but I added 2 cups of Borax to the ingrediants at the suggestion of a taxidermy friend._ I did them one at a time. Then just tacked them to a full sheet of plywood and let them dry inside a building. 

Good luck, its a bit messy but I think you'll have something you like when complete.

Oh yes, wanted to add that if you intend to trim the hide, be very careful to lift the hair up and trim underneath it to cut the skin. If not, then the tirm job looks a little funky. That's a little tedious, but well worth the little extra time it takes. I only wanted the "main body" of the hide, without the long legs attached.

WARNING: Deer skin rugs make excellant puppy chews !!


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## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

luv2farm said:


> Thanks for the great response! I only have a question or two:
> 
> 1) What is bran flakes? Cereal?
> 2) Where do I get battery acid at?
> ...


Is this hide still usable??

Thanks to both of you for your help....I'll let you know how it turns out!!


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## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

luv2farm said:


> Is this hide still usable??
> 
> Thanks to both of you for your help....I'll let you know how it turns out!!


See if the hair pulls out easily when you pinch some and pull on it. If it does, then you could probably still use it for a hair off hide. But then, I'd just bring it in and smell of the underside. Your nose can tell you if any part of it is rank or not. It should smell like fresh meat, I'd think. Any bacteria growth since it was killed would alter the fresh smell. This is all speculation, but if the hair didn't pull, and it smelled fresh on the underside, I'd go for it.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

luv2farm's must have me on Ignore. Oh well saves me time next round...


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

foxfiredidit said:


> *See if the hair pulls out easily when you pinch some and pull on it. * If it does, then you could probably still use it for a hair off hide. But then, I'd just bring it in and smell of the underside. Your nose can tell you if any part of it is rank or not. It should smell like fresh meat, I'd think. Any bacteria growth since it was killed would alter the fresh smell. This is all speculation, but if the hair didn't pull, and it smelled fresh on the underside, I'd go for it.


its called slip. you need to freeze or dry a hide/fur if your not going to get to it to soon.

the other big thing is to flesh it out right away. fat and muscle tissue. 
I don't care what method you use with out that you stand at best a mediocre job.


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## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

||Downhome|| said:


> luv2farm's must have me on Ignore. Oh well saves me time next round...


DownHome.....I most certainly do NOT have you on Ignore!  I DONT even know how to put someone ON Ignore!!! :stars: I'm sorry that you feel offended!! I do apprecite your response to my question and your link to the survival site, but, I couldn't get it to pull up except a short video on the bottom. I probably just need to play around on there for a while, to see if I can find anymore information.......

My apologizies.....I didn't mean to offend....:cowboy:


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## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

Don't worry, you didn't offend him.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

foxfiredidit said:


> Don't worry, you didn't offend him.


thanks for speaking for me!

had she offered the above info. well been a bit different.

its a good site though, I never got any video off it?

there's about 20 or more links on Tanning on that page.

try the main page http://www.ssrsi.org

Not really offended,more just a ignored kind of thing. again had you of said cant access that link and a acknowledgment no problem would of gave you a different link.


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## luv2farm (Feb 15, 2008)

||Downhome|| said:


> thanks for speaking for me!
> 
> had she offered the above info. well been a bit different.
> 
> ...


Yeap! That works for me. :clap: All I was getting was the 2 blue header boxes at the top and the "catagory" list down the left-hand side of the page, along with a small 2 minute video clip at the bottom. There was no other info on the page. I can SEE IT ALL now that I have gone thru the main home page. Lots of good info there :bouncy: I need more paper in the printer. Thanks!

Once again, sorry if I short-sided you! :smack


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

NP.

the design isn't so great and navigating it is a bit of a pain, but lot of info collected there. On many different things.

You probably already found it but just in case Click the "Self-Reliance" button in the left hand list,in the main topics you will see "Hunting, Skinning, Tanning" click it and in that category you will see "Tanning Hides" which will take you to the page I originally posted.

Don't know why it did not show unless its some sort of anti-leech thing. so people cant attach links to their web pages well circumventing the main site.


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