info needed on the steps of how to tan a hide

[richardzane]

those look like some good scrapers Pappy,
I made one similar shaped from a snapped off old file (here) and i use it to get started (at the neck area)
but i find that i have to be SO careful with the angle, or it'll pop through or I can easily scar the hide I'm scraping, with one misplaced pull.
the cabinet scraper edge (because it has such a miniscule burr) can handle strong pulls and leaves the hide evenly scraped.
but i'm always looking for the easy way!

[Pappy]

Yes I have a couple like them I made and found the same thing,guess I just didn't get the angle just right when I made them,they work but a lot harder to use than these I have now. Back when Jesse was around he ordered these for us somewhere on line.They should last forever if taken care of but I do plan on trying the cabnit scraper,just never thought about using one.Thanks.
   Pappy

[richardzane]

youre welcome,  I have a hide stretched drying now and unfortunately the guy who skinned it
musta really wanted to use his new hunting knife, so it has a lot of slashes.

I'm hoping that using the curved cabinet scraper, (which i used on my last skin for the first time)
its going to ride over those nicks and slashes easier. I'll give a report about it.

[Pappy]

I have a few that are the same way,I now only keep hides that I skin myself,no knife except to get it started at the legs.I have also started using a sander with 60 grit on both sides of the hide and that will thin out the thick areas and also help clean up any slashes. I have used sanding stone but they don't last very long,the sander seem to work better for me, not very primitive , but O well.
   Pappy

[richardzane]

here's a pic of the process using a curved cabinet scraper.
I started it up close to the neck edge with the standard scraping tool...you can see the little nicks!
once it was started,
this top part here? took about ...sheesh...20 seconds. I use the scraper in both hands just like you do when scraping wood.

the second pic is the scraped hide.. it was a little damp at the bottom,but the scraper worked ok anyway. I go pretty close to the edges.
one larger hole (on the left) the scraper did pop into and made a couple tiny 1/8" tears in it ... i wasn't being careful...

after the hairs gone,
the scraper works good for thinning the hide too.trying to save these shavings for hide glue.
 nice to have such an all purpose tool you can put in your pocket.

[n8tr boy]

That's awesome guys. I picked up a deer skin from the ditch "someone" through after they skinned out. It had been a road kill they took home and took all good meat off and then discarded near a friends house in the country. Score. Used a beaver skinning knife to flesh it out. Took 3 hrs as they did skin it well and was slightly froze yet. HAve it soaking for the 4-6 days then will scrape off hair. Might try using the beaver knife again but will be hard on blade. Like the wood scraper idea

[MWirwicki]

I'm really enjoying this post.  I had a date with Pappy and the fellas at Twin Oaks this past December and we were gonna do a hide, so that I could learn.  Unfortunately, I couldn't make the trip so, I'm without the "hands-on" training I was very much looking forward to.  I am going to give it a go, here at home with maybe a small hide that I have in the freezer.  The pictorial would be great, Pappy.

[Pappy]

I will see if I can put something together,need to make another business trip South Matt.  . n8tr,do you plan on wet scrapping ? soaking 4 to 6 day in what ? you may have bucket of mush.I would check it regular and when the hair starts to slip go for it. The problem with slipping the hair is the hide is just a very short way from spoiling so you have to be more careful to not let it go to long.
dry scrapping it really don't matter once they are fleshed and dried they will last for years kept in a good environment. 
   Pappy

[n8tr boy]

Thanks pappy. In water checking daily with fresh water also. I'm using a product called "hide tanning formula" from my trappers outpost. I have used it for tanning pelts for guys and thought might try on deer hide. If you think this might not work let me know, I'm just in the soaking stage 1-1/2 days so should be no problem stopping now.

[Pappy]

Should work if you have used it on pelts,never used before so can't really say,but
bet it will. Let us know how it goes.
   Pappy

[richardzane]

I'm no expert, but having some good successes with no special tanning formulas but just brain itself.
There's no need to wait till the hair slips if you scrape it stretched dry.
you scrape off the epidermis (or scarf skin whatever you want to call it) along with the hair.

[richardzane]

if you want to stretch soaked hides, you can take one out and lay it on a concrete surface and squeegie the water off  .

I may be crazy, but i lace the entire hide loosely(about 2" apart) with cord before stretching it on the frame. this way cord is being tugged against cord, not hide.
 
lay it out flat as possible and use short pieces of bailing twine to stretch-out and tie the neck and the legs int he right directions before doing any stringing (otherwise it might bunch to one side)
I like using the bailing twine because its different in color than the stretching cord. once its all stretched taut, you can cut the twine loose if you want.

[n8tr boy]

Thanks richardzane. The instructions say to soak to get hair slip, scrape, then place in a salt solution for 8-10 hrs. rinse in cold water. Thin skin where needed and hang to dry.Then warm up tanning solution and apply to hide  evenly massaging into all areas. Let stand for 12-16 hrs then over the next 2-3 days pull and stretch as it dries to "break" the grain.

[primitivepaulette]

The only time you really NEED to soak a skin that you wish to make leather with is when it is totally dried out and that would be to fully rehydrate the skin. THAT is usually done with a saltwater brine.

I don't soak my skins any more than I have to. I just scrape them. I like scraping them best when they are right off the deer, but this isn't always possible or practical when you have lots of deerskins to do. People drop off their deerskins here and well I collect a LOT of them.. so now I use a powerwasher to flesh them and then I take an animal shears to clip the hair real short. The reason I do that is that they all bag and freeze in a much smaller size.. so that is good.. I can squeeze more in a smaller space. I bag them after salting and then freeze.. usually they stay damp.. Damp, the skin is already ready to scrape.. I usually scrape all the loose hair off the flesh side, then flip over and 'grain' them. I grain them over a narrow beam. Wood is best. Anyway, they all scrape different. Some times on the bigger hides they'll scrape JUST super.. I am talking absolutely no soaking.. of course I've used the washer to both flesh and wash the blood and dirt off the fur side anyway.. so I've gotten the skin side WET. and simply frozen it. If I salt them the skin doesn't readily freeze together.. well salt and freezing is kinda odd anyway but salt will pull some unwanted elements out of the skin anyway.. well anyway, If my skins are simply too difficult to BRUTE strength the hair and grain off of. I simply soak the skin so that it is relaxed and then hang it up to drip the excess water out of.. , you wouldn't want this hanging in the wind or anything because then the flesh could dry out and then you'd have to rehydrate it to work it.. lol.. (don't ask me how I know this).. anyway I work lots and lots of skins and I can get a wet scraped skin to soften and appear like a dry scraped one, see??



this is me the braintanner.. with brawn AND brains.. lol.

[n8tr boy]

Thanks paulette, that's Awesome> That is good lookin buckskin. I will maybe be changing the way I do this one. I need to look at the manufacturers website to see what else they recommend before I change it. I have another one to do and will brain that one and see the difference