# Anybody tan hides?



## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

I am learning to tan hides. I'm practicing on rabbits using alum/salt. I'm not doing bad and have had some nice skins turn out. I just finished 4 rabbits. 1, a mature doe came out great, the other 3 were young rabbits so a little thinner which is what I usually use. when I took them off them boards and was fluffing the hair I noticed the hair came off in chunks leaving big spots of hide on the 3 younger ones. Is this what they call hair slip? I was trying a new method that requires soaking for longer than I usually do by 3 days. I usual only soak for 2 days.. I'm also wondering could it be the time of year. The rabbits are starting to molt. Any thought are welcome


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## Hillbillybob (Jul 30, 2007)

If you are wanting to tan hides with the fur left on the hides the best time to collect hides here in Missouri is from late November to the Middle of February as the fut is long, firmly attached to the hide and the animal has it's winter coat.
I use the brain method myself and it is just a lot of hard work but I believe in the end the hides are better and I like the softness of a brain tanned hide.
Hillbillybob


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2007)

Yep, it might be just a little too warm to be pickleing any hides this time of year. If those hides get a little too warm the hair will slip. Your best bet is too throw the fresh skinned hides in the freezer and wait till the weather cools down. 

Good luck!


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

I have thought about brain tanning but the "yuck" factor comes into play, I sure I'll get to that point sometime soon as I just got over the yuck factor enough to gut the rabbits myself.

I never thought about the heat. I live in Northern Ont and for the most part it hasn't been too hot. but the pail was left on the back porch where the sun can get it. I have e soaking now so I will move the pail to a cooler spot.

I know the ideal hides are in the fall but I like to use as much of my rabbits as possible. I don't sell my furs. I practice on them. I hjave a black bear and a deer in the freezer I don't want to touch until I have all the bugs worked out of the process.

Thanks guys for your help, I get lots of help with rabbit keeping but know no one who tans hides.


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## tryinhard (Jul 19, 2007)

How does the brain tanning meathod work?


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

tryinhard said:


> How does the brain tanning meathod work?


Here you go


http://www.mdc.mo.gov/teacher/highered/crafts/craft20.htm

big rockpile


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

If you decide to take the hair off.If you use Woodash to help slip the hair,make sure you rinse it good and wear Gloves.

I wasn't doing this and lost the hide and some meat off all my fingers.Took months to heal.

big rockpile


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

I'd like to recommend a good book, I learned from this book how to work animal skins and furs, as well as fish skins and bird skins with the feathers still on. It's titled _Tan Your Hide_, written by Phyllis Hobson. It was published quite a while ago but is still considered one of the best beginners to advanced books on the subject. This link tells about the book, plus also recommends other books for people who are more advanced and experienced.
http://www.amazon.com/Tan-Your-Hide-Tanning-Leathers/dp/0882661019


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2007)

jil101ca, you don't necessarily have to use the brains. There's people who will swear that it's the only way cause that's the way the ****** done it. But there are other products that will do the very same thing. It's the fatty acids/omega acids that's in the brain that makes the hide soft. You get the same results with egg yolks and even a bar of homemade or store bought soap, cause they have fatty acids in them too. 

Here's my recipe for softening a hide

In a small suace pan add a small amount of water and heat to boil. When it starts boiling grate 1/4 of a bar of soap and let dilute. Then add 1/4 cup neats foot oil. Turn off heat and add this mixture to 1/2 gallon of hot tap water. Mix well and check temperature. If the solution is too hot to keep your hands in it, then it is too hot to soak the hide in it. 

Double the solution for deer hides. Use this to soften the hides after you have pickled them. If you can find the book "Deerskins into Buckskins", I would recommend you to buy it. It is of great help.


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## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

r.h. in okla. said:


> Here's my recipe for softening a hide
> 
> In a small suace pan add a small amount of water and heat to boil. When it starts boiling grate 1/4 of a bar of soap and let dilute. Then add 1/4 cup neats foot oil. Turn off heat and add this mixture to 1/2 gallon of hot tap water. Mix well and check temperature. If the solution is too hot to keep your hands in it, then it is too hot to soak the hide in it.
> 
> Double the solution for deer hides. Use this to soften the hides after you have pickled them. If you can find the book "Deerskins into Buckskins", I would recommend you to buy it. It is of great help.


Yes, I've used a similar recipe, that is a good one. That book "Deerskins into Buckskins" is one of the books listed in that link I provided above, a good book.


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

Can you use the soap recipe for fur on? Also I am assuming this is done after soaking in the salt/ Alum solution. Also what about the egg yolk, do you just rub the yolk on the hide after alum tawing and let it dry or are there other steps? Thanks for the book suggestions, will look for those. I also tried neetsfoot oil to soften a hide I don't really like but I really don't like the oily feeling it left. After it sits will the oil soak in better or will the skin always feel oily? Thanks alot guys for your input, nothing speaks like experience....


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2007)

Not sure just how rough you can get with a rabbit hide since they are so thin. But I do deer hides. I first pickle them in the alum/salt method for a week to 10 days. Then I rinse them overnight in a barrel full of water and the waterhose slowly trickleing in. I then wring the hides out of as much water as I can possibly get out and let semi dry. I then plunge them into the soap/n.ft.oil/hot water bath and then wring it out as much as possible. I then let it semi dry again. When it is semi-dry, then I start pulling on the hide in all directions to break the fibers up. I do this till it is too dry to work with. I then take a wash rag and soak it in the soap/oil solution, wring it out, and wipe down the hide. Roll the hide up and place in a plastic bag and let it sit overnight and then once again stretch it out in all directions. Repeat the plastic bag method till desired softness is achieved. 

Yes, you can also use the soap/oil method with fur on hides. Good luck, just keep at it and you will learn what to do.

Oh, not to confuse you but the method I just stated is for hair on. When I'm just making leather I skip the salt/alum pickleing part and soak in a Hydrated lime solution to remove the hair.(approx.3 days) Then I pick up with rinsing in a barrel and continue on.


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

I raise domestic rabbits and their skin is thicker than a wild rabbit. I'm sending some off to the freezer today so I'm going to try the soap/oil method. Buying tanning solution is getting expensive at $13 a bottle. I go through alot . Thanks for the help and I'll let you know how the furs come out.

PS: what is the difference between a hide, skin or fur??


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2007)

I guess hide and skin are the same thing. Fur would mean it's a hide/skin with the hair still on. Leather/rawhide/suede would mean it has had it's hair removed.


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## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

I stole this article from my blog...It's a different spin on your question, but it should still fit well in this thread!

--Sharon



*How To Skin a Snake, and Make Beautiful Snake Skins for Belts and Hatbands
*
.................................................................................................
*Warning, this is rather graphic, and not for the fainthearted!*


Here's how I do snakes, for the meat and beautiful skins.

First, I lob off the dead snake's head and bury it deeply, then I pour a little ammonia over the "grave" so that critters I care about won't get the notion to dig it up and play with it.

Then I hang the headless snake upside down for a few hours to bleed out. When the dripping is done to my satisfaction, I take the snake down and lay it flat. I start at the cut off head side of the snake with my knife just barely under the skin, at that exact spot where the row of belly segment "scales" meets the skin on its back. Then, CAREFULLY, ziiiip down with a super sharp knife blade. Not too deep! I don't want to poke any stinky innards. Then I do the same thing on the other side of the belly scales.

Next, carefully separate the meaty part of the snake from the mess of innards with a super sharp knife. Slide the packet of innards off, nice and easy, without rupturing anything or else, phew-ee! I find this part easier to do when I am wearing rubber gloves. For some paranoid reason, I always look around the innards for any possibility of baby snakes that might have been about to be born, had I not shot mama. They can bite, too.

After the innards are out, rinse the snake well, pat dry with a cloth. The top skin can then be peeled off in one piece. I use a dull knife to help "move" the skin off the meat, wherever it is needed. 'tis too easy to mess up a pretty skin with a super sharp knife.

You might find the most interesting things in snake bellies. I have pulled a full grown rabbit out of a 6 foot long eastern diamondback snake. The rabbit still had live "wolves" or bots squirming under its skin...These big ol' bot grub looking things are larvae of some kind of fly. The darned things will grow large under the skin of a rabbit, squirrel, dog, other critters...breathing out of holes chewed out of the host's hide. Some can get almost as big as half your thumb in length, and about as big around. I don't know why folks call them "wolves". I just call them disgusting. We don't generally shoot rabbits and squirrels for food during the "wolf" season, late spring and during summer. After the first few frosts, critters are generally parasite free. But for Mr. Rattlesnake, it was open season for rabbits.

That was weird, but the weirdest darned thing I ever saw in snake innards, was a snake's own beating heart. The rattlesnake was shot at 3 pm, here it was 9 pm, six hours later, and the heart was still beating, even though it was cut out of the snake's body. Stranger still, eight o'clock the next morning, the heart was beating, but barely. I am not making this up.

Speaking of snake reflexes, they continue moving for a while after they have been skinned. Something about removing the skin exposing nerves, I guess. If this bothers you, pop it into a bag, and freeze it for about a half hour or so.


*A well done snakeskin makes a fine belt or hatband
*
After the skin is off, I use a dull knife or serrated rib bone or clam shell to get off every bit of whatever is not classified as "skin". Rinse well. Wash the skin by hand with detergent or soap. Rinse well. Rinse it some more. Pat the skin dry with a clean cloth.

Make a mixture of half glycerin/half boric acid (you can buy both at a drugstore). Coat both sides of the snakeskin with this mixture. With tiny nails, gently stretch and tack the edges of the skin onto a board. I like to put a length of wax paper between the skin and the board. The wax paper should be positioned so that the edges of the paper can be wrapped around the top side of the skin. This helps to conserve and hold the glycerin mixture in place, next to the skin.

Leave it like this for a couple of months. Longer is even better. Every couple of weeks, wipe off the glycerin/borax mix and renew it with a fresh application.

I have done the same thing using automobile antifreeze, instead of glycerine. I didn't care for the slight green tint on an eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I tried it on. It would probably work pretty good on a darker snake, though.

After the snakeskin has absorbed a great deal of glycering and boric acid mix for a few months, wipe the skin with a clean damp cloth, and it will be ready for any project.


*How I prepare snakemeat for cooking or freezer*

I clean the skinless and gutless snake with heavily salted water, and rinse well before freezing. My favorite part is the "backstrap", the two rows of muscle meat on either side of the spine. This can be chopped up and cooked like shrimp, YUM!! The flavor is delicate like lobster, almost, but sweeter.

The rest of the snake I cut into segments, then boil it in salted water (about as much salt you would cook noodles with). As soon as the meat begins to fall away from the bones, I lift the segments out, let cool...debone the meat. This meat can be used in an almost unlimited variety of recipes. It can be added to Jambalayas, Gumbos, stews, sauces. It can be added with ingredients to make patties for frying...

Although I have only eaten rattlesnake, it is my understanding that all snakes are edible. Some are said taste better than others. I heard that water moccasins taste horrible, in a cod liver oily kind of way.

There is no venom in the meat. The only poisonous part of the snake is in the head. Long after the snake is dead, reflexes are still strong, and it can still inflict damage, however unknowningly. Extreme care must be taken with the business end of a snake, dead or alive.

By the way, you may find this difficult to believe, but I used to be deathly afraid of snakes and other 'thangs'... I learned (the hard way, of course) that the more I confronted my issues head-on, the more empowered I would be. With every exposure, I grew less and less afraid...although it was just a tiny bit less, each time.

Now lookit me!!! I'm eating my durned issues for dinner.




This copyrighted material may be reprinted by you for noncommercial use, if the following credit is given:

This article is an excerpt from Mrs. Tightwad's Handbook #1: HOW TO SURVIVE DISASTERS AND OTHER HARD TIMES. For more information, see the left sidebar on this site: http://purecajunsunshine.blogspot.com/


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

Good thread. First off, I tip my hat to you for starting with rabbit....if you can perfect your technique on those thin skinned critters you can tan anything. Like the modern day conversions although I'm still fond of "old school" as well- wood ashes and brains here. Nothing like spending a couple of hours on a breaking spike to let you know how good we have it nowdays....can't make a fist for three days LOL. Told my wife when we were dating that I wouldn't marry a woman that couldn't/wouldn't chew a hide to soften it. She profered that unless I changed my attitude I would die a sad miserable man.....I still would like to at least SEE a woman that will do that before I die though.


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