Aluminum sulfate/pickling salt tan for fur on hides

[DC]

I can see all the pictures.

[Hawkdancer]

Got the pictures this time - they take a while to load.  Good thread, thanks for the info.  I see a "run" coming on that book! Lol!
Hawkdancer

[BowEd]

That's good.It's good to see an interest in this.In a way that I hope I can convey the same sort of enjoyment I get from it.Pic of just the two chemicals used.

Van Dykes Taxidermy supply can be a source for the aluminum sulfate.I bought a 50 pound bag quite a few years ago from a local supplier myself.Keep it in a 5 gallon pail nowadays sealed.Might have 15 to 20 pounds left I suppose.It's hardened and clumpy now so I just bust it up with a hammer and screen it fine with a window screen.Pickling salt can be gotten from a grocery store.

[bjrogg]

Ed I believe that's probably what I'm using to. I got what Van Dykes calls Lutan kit. I think it's aluminum but not sure. It looks like that. With this kit you pickle in water with salt and safety acid to lower ph level between 1 and 2 for at least 72 hours. If I understand right you just massage in the pickling salt and don't use a pickling bath right?
Thanks
Bjrogg

[lebhuntfish]

I'm definitely keeping track of this one.  Very nice tan along Ed! We have needed something like this on here for a long time. Well done!

Patrick

[BowEd]

Thanks Pat.I see many on here talk about wanting too or have hides etc. so this is just 1 easy quick way of doing it.The picture in a persons' mind of the finished product needs to be kept there because sewing etc. comes next too,but I've always felt rewarded from the effort.
BJ...I'm pretty sure the pickling gets done as the tanning is being done.There are many other successful methods of tanning out there.Even a paste made to apply to the flesh side without a bath.The formula is 2 pounds of pickling salt with 1 pound of aluminum siufate.Like most bath tans progress of penetration is checked with the edge sliver cutting test.I usually test where it's thickest.Then I know it's done every where else.I trim lip/eye/and ears of material to thin those areas too since mounting it is not the goal either.I keep the bath temperature at room temperature around 70 F.I would'nt go below 65 F or above 75 F.The colder the bath the longer it will take,which means more soaking time.Something I try to avoid.I don't like it too warm either.
I've never experienced problems down the road later from slippage of hair or bugs etc. with this tan.As many know hair slippage is something that a person will see right away even before tanning.Fat burning the hide is what I call it.Irreversible!!!.It can happen even before drying the hide or freezing it.I would'nt reccomend tanning a hide showing that.It won't be saved by tanning or pickling or freezing it.For tanning I don't reccomend drying the hide onto a frame first either.Even if fleshed well before drying.Especially fattier hides like coon or bear unless tumbled very well in a tumbler with cob grit or toweled very well.Degreasing and relaxant type chemicals need to be used most times in a soaking bath then loosen the leather for proper penetration of chemicals tanning.I prefer to freeze/thaw/and flesh/salt and tan.
The way I see it what salt does is that every hair follicle sets in a pocket of oil type substance or surrounded by it.Salt will help dry that up and constrict or shrink around that hair follicle to hold it in.

[bjrogg]

Great show Ed   I'll try not to ask to many questions but I'm always interested in the different ways people tan hides. Might be more than one way to skin a cat but there's also more than one way to tan it.
Thanks again and my daughter in law just gave me that book.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

BJ...It's good to ask about the details.Many times I overlook or take them as known info or for granted that can make a difference in a nice piece of fur or a failure or rags.I will do my best to leave no stone unturned.It takes time under good mentors to learn how to handle fur properly to avoid problems.Many things get covered saying that.How to skin/flesh/dry/store properly prior to tanning are very important too.In my younger days I hung around fur sheds a lot.Coon hunted continuously then got into buckskinning so with me it was a continual long term exposure learning process,but I'm sure there are things about tanning different ways that I hav'nt tried that I could be enlightened about.
I am lucky to have a first cousin who is a taxidermist/artist and an authority on hide reclamation though but rarely ask questions from him.He will send most all his capes/hides to a tannery.Except birds and fish of course.He himself has no desire to brain tan.I love it.I think he feels it's too much work and the primitive side/desire in him does not abide.
That's why for all general uses though this aluminum sulfate/pickling salt tan is a safe/cheap/durable/low physical effort/nontoxic way anyone can get good results from.

[BowEd]

I brought the salted hide into a warmer enviornment and after 2 days now it has drained considerably.I thnk the salt has done it's work well enough.I have shaken off excess salt and gotten a pail full of luke warm water to rinse and clean the fur and hide good.I rinsed it a good 3 times to be sure I had all blood and dirt removed.

I then got myself another pail of luke warm water with a fair amount of dawn dish washing soap in it.I made sure I washed every part of the hide.I then rinsed the soap out with another 2 rinses of fresh clean water.

I then mixed my 1 pound of aluminum sulfate into a gallon of warm water making sure it was dissolved.Then in another bucket I dissolved my 2 pounds of pickling salt pouring the 2 together into one bucket leaving me with around a good 4 gallons of tanning water in the bucket.I put the hide in and swirled it around some making sure all parts are exposed.I will reposition and stir the hide at least 3 times a day now.I will wait now a few days and check with a sliver cutting test to see the chemicals progress.It looks a little cloudy but that's ok.

[Mounter]

I have always been curious about alum tans, thanks for sharing...  I was up late last night and googled, "what's neetsfoot oil made from?" You may already know? But seems in the old days it was from rendered cows feet and shin bones, now a days from lard... highly refined I'm guessing.. I know it worked great on the old baseball gloves. Lol.

[BowEd]

Yes...Your right it has been used to rejuvinate leather.There's 2 kinds out there or used to be anyway.1 is neats foot oil compound and the other 1 is 100% neats foot oil.Your right I think it's made from hoofs.I buy the 100% stuff.
The likeable thing about it is that it can be emulsified with water at a warm state to be rubbed into the leather as it is drying and a person is stretching to soften the leather.Being careful to not use too much oil.1 to 1 ratio is plenty.I hate over oiled tanned hides,but I don't like dry flinty hides either.

[bjrogg]

Glad you don't mind all my questions Ed. You are so right about all the details and a difference between a good hide and trash. I think that's one thing that scares people away from trying this. It does take a considerable amount of time and effort to do this. If you try it and end up with a less than perfect hide you are less likely to try it again. I lost the fur around the ears on my first red fox. It took me a long time to get up the nerve to try tanning another one.
Your neetsfoot sounds very similar to the softening oil in my Lutan kit. After I took Yogi out of tanning bath I let him drain off real good then mixed oil 2 part hot water to one part oil and massaged into leather. It always feels oily until it starts to dry and you break the hide. Then it's soft and white if everything works right.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Well it's been 3 days.I did my sliver cutting test from along the edge of the face of the coon[a thicker area leatherwise] and it was white clean through.Otherwise it would look translucent like.Looks to be done.I rinsed it again a few times in clear water,then mixed up a good cup of borax into 3 to 4 gallons of water and put the hide in that for a good 8 to 10 hours.Took it out and rinsed it again a few times in clear water.I usually whiplash  as much of the excess water off the hair and hide and let it drip a couple hours.I now put it onto a sheet of wood flesh side down with a slow fan blowing over it against the grain of the hair till the hair is good and dry.I will then flip it over flesh side up to get the flesh side started to drying and eventually working it soft as it dries.At this stage I will check periodically to be sure it does'nt dry out too fast.

[neuse]

Great tan along Ed.
Thank you for posting.

[Chief RID]

I'm coming in late but all good. This is good detail and great pics. Thanks for all the work.