Hide tanning questions.

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¤_Ozark_¤_Hunter_¤

New member
Does anybody here tan hides? I would like to try this just as a hobbie really I probably wouldnt sell any unless someone asked to buy them although I know of noone who would. I really know little to nothing about it although I did do a rabbit hide about two years back with my brother but all we did was scrape excess meat off and salt the hide it has lasted but it is as firm as cardboard I figure we did something wrong or didn't "finish" the process properly. I do kill quite a bit of squirrels and will be killing a deer this week are these type of hides "adequate" for tanning? Just need all the info I can get on the process. I'm sure this would be better asked on the predatormasters forum.. but they are jerks so I'll ask here. Thanks fellas.:D
 
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Old Stony

New member
If you are willing to put in the work, there is a market with mountainman/reenactors for brain tanned leather. It seems to bring a premium price, but a lot of work to get done. Research it some, as the processes are too involved to go into detail here, but there are lots of articles and videos available about it.
It is said every animal has enough brains to tan it's own hide.....
 
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Sure Shot Mc Gee

New member
I tried to once. Brain tanning. Didn't go as I anticipated. So after that one experience with my ruining of two large deer nicely shot hides. I now send my pre-salted/ hides up to Uber Glove Company. Have a few of Uber custom made products that were made with my hides and to my measurments. Their buck skin winter coats are no doubt the warmest coat I've ever owned that stays soft as a lambs hide in the coldest of temps. When out snow blowing or ice-fishing. That 3M insulate/ Gorex lined coat stay on the hook. I grab the warm one. My Uber buckskin.
 
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Hunter Customs

New member
I heard it said once that all animals have enough brains to tan their hide, I've often thought about brain tanning a hide but never have.

I have a pair of chaps made from elk leather and they are soft and comfortable to wear.

The old master at the saddlery told me "if you ever have to cross deep water to take them off because if you fall off your horse them chaps will drowned you".
 
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T. O'Heir

New member
"...salt the hide..." That is preserving it until you get home. Tanning stinks and is really messy(brain tanning even moreso), so if you live in town you may want to rethink the idea. However, there are lots of how-to books about tanning.
"...scrape excess meat off..." It isn't just the meat you need to remove. The fat needs to go too.
 
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Gunplummer

New member
No, do not salt the hide to get it home. A lot of capes have been ruined like that. Stretch it and scrape all the fat off you can. Keep it dry. The hides will be OK for a long time that way. If you do not have the time to do that, roll the hide up and put it in a sealed plastic bag. Put the bag in a cooler with ice. Do not salt it.
 
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Cowboy_mo

New member
Google "tanning a buffalo hide in an apartment"....... I'm too lazy to run it down again but there is a great article out there by a gentleman who successfully did this. Bear in mind he was a bachelor at the time and probably didn't get his damage deposit back :eek: but it can be done.
 
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bamaranger

New member
1 try

We tried to brain tan a deer hide with bamaboy as a school project when he was younger. Read up, went thru the process, the result was a hide......as stiff as a board.

If Davey Crockett had been wearing our buckskin at the Alamo, he may well have survived.......ballistic buckskin we called it.

Trying to find some use, we lashed a crude frame from limbs, and strung the skin on the frame using leather shoe laces. We then painted a caveman style pic on the thing, pretty easy given the boys age at the time. It actually looks pretty cool, still in his room.
 
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