# Hide working as profit



## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

So I have butchered and processed a New Zealand meat rabbit, I have the hide cured scraped and yolked, now after washing off the yolk after 36 hrs I have the hide supple. 
Fast forward to when I am going to sell it and it's dried out in places and no longer supple after I sat it in a towel in my car for 5 hrs. 
I cured with salt and sprinkled borax on the hide to repel bugs for 2 days and scraped after that to pull loose fat off before shampoo and yolk. Now here I am with a not so supple hide.

HELP ME?


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

LOL I read this as Hide your working profit LOL


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

sisterpine said:


> LOL I read this as Hide your working profit LOL


Noooooo, that is funny though, no I mean animal hide working.

I haven't gotten any help so I just took to what has taught me what I know so far, reading.
However the human elements of acquiring knowledge in a trade skill is more valuable, I have had to turn to books and poorly detailed how-to videos to get my answer since there isn't a homestead minded person on this entire community that can answer.


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

So due to lack of respondents for actual leather/hide working in this community I gave up on this post


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

It seems that not quite all the moisture was drawn out in 3 days and the yolk didn't do as I understood it to (or I missed a step) Either way now to answer my question; I have run (skin side down) the furred hide over the back of a wooden chair where the shoulders rest, I use a fan to blow air at me so the fur that let's loose and flies stays in the air off me. I did this on a chair with soft angled edges and that loosened up the fur.
(Pics soon)
Now I'm waiting for 100% dryness to repeat the motion again and finally finish the hide for use with clothing as trim on edges


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## Casey415 (Dec 30, 2016)

I have done a lot of hide work in many different ways. You can buy a great kit from Mckenzie taxidermy for tanning. What I would recommend with they way you are doing it is to make a pickling solution. Take a 1 gallon of water, 1 gallon of vinegar, and 1 pound of non iodized salt for every gallon of liquid. Soak in that mixture for 48 hours and then take it out and let it dry and then work it until it's soft. The pickling solution acts as a preservative.


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

Casey415 said:


> I have done a lot of hide work in many different ways. You can buy a great kit from Mckenzie taxidermy for tanning. What I would recommend with they way you are doing it is to make a pickling solution. Take a 1 gallon of water, 1 gallon of vinegar, and 1 pound of non iodized salt for every gallon of liquid. Soak in that mixture for 48 hours and then take it out and let it dry and then work it until it's soft. The pickling solution acts as a preservative.


Would this not slick the hair (fur) off?


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## Casey415 (Dec 30, 2016)

jimmy588 said:


> Would this not slick the hair (fur) off?


No it will the hair will stay on. That's what most taxidermist use to preserve it before adding a tanning agent.


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

Ok so this is another way of doing the process, thanks. I'm actually into the good old fashioned way that is less expensive in materials to preform and easy on my wallet. The chemical ways people now days do are great but I'm the kind of person that sticks to the old ways because they are what got us here to begin with. We can't loose those skills.


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## Casey415 (Dec 30, 2016)

jimmy588 said:


> Ok so this is another way of doing the process, thanks. I'm actually into the good old fashioned way that is less expensive in materials to preform and easy on my wallet. The chemical ways people now days do are great but I'm the kind of person that sticks to the old ways because they are what got us here to begin with. We can't loose those skills.


I couldn't agree more!! You should try brain tanning sometime it's not real hard but it makes the hide really soft. There are some good you tubes videos explaining it.


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## jimmy588 (Jun 20, 2014)

I prefer brain, had to yolk the last hide because I ruined the brain


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## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

jimmy588 said:


> So due to lack of respondents for actual leather/hide working in this community I gave up on this post


I just saw your post and wish I could help you. But I will tell you about are one and only tanning a hide experience.

We had butchered two young eight month old goats . Had they been does they would have lived to see another day and experienced life. Unfortunately they were castrated bucks and their whole worldly purpose was to become someones dinner.

Now these two bucks had the most beautiful thick spotted coats. So pretty were their hides we decided all wouldn't be lost in butchering them if we could save those hides and re-purpose them. 
Butchering day came and the execution performed so both bucks knew nothing. They were happily led to their sacrificial demise fulfilling the purpose of their short lives.

Their hides were removed carefully. Never a hair must touch the carcass less the meat be contaminated.The hides were scraped clean and rubbed with coarse salt to help dry the hide. The salt is rubbed in as thoroughly as possible. Then we rubbed the hides with powdered alum to help preserve them. Bill had two saw horses and hung each hide over one saw horse. Hair side down and the skin side up was exposed to the elements like rain and sun. The saw horses were setting under a Sycamore tree. The tree dropped its sap on the hides.

A few weeks passed and we were busy working so ignored the hides. When we did go to get them they were hard leather! I took them indoors and whenever I had an idle moment I worked the hides back and forth with my hands and eventually they became more flexible after a couple of weeks. They never got supple soft. I put one on the floor but if you slipped it would go sliding on the bare floor! I ended up putting them over a couch as a throw.
We aren't sure if the salt and alum tanned the hides or if the tree sap had a part in it. It was are one and only attempt at tanning hides.
A year went by and the hides started shedding their hair. The beautiful spotted goat hides started looking hideous. They shed so much I ended up discarding them. Call it goat's revenge as the bucks had the final say !


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## BUTTERCUPE (May 27, 2016)

Hey if your still interested in tanning naturally let me know


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

If you find that you like tanning and you get good at it there is a market for high quality tanning. It might be a worthwhile home business. There are a lot of stories out there of tanneries ruining hides. I sent out a beaver and somehow they ripped a leg hole all the way to the edge of the hide. I've read stories of much worse outcomes and these were established tanners.

One trapper said that he sends 50 beaver to be tanned every other year. When he gets them back he sells them to the tourists for a good price.


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