tanning

[steve66]

does anybody have any good tanning formulas?  i have a big book about tanning and hide care and all that fun stuff but i havent had a chance yet to read through it?  anybody know how much it would cost through a taxidermist?

[DennisB]

Steve:  I use two or three pounds of common table salt and a small (2-3 oz.) jar of powdered alum dissolved in 3 or 4 gallons of warm water for skins from anything from cottontails to caribue.  The exact ratios of salt to alum aren't critical, but too much salt will be hard to get out.  I have a whitetail cape on the wall that I tanned this way in 1968 that looks as new as last year's buck.
Good luck,

[.308sniper]

Cool if I get lucky during squirrel season ill try it out.

[field989]

sorry for my not knowing what exactly is powdered alum??

[DennisB]

powdered Ammonium Alum.  Most drug stores (sorry, couldn't spell farmacy) carry it near the witch hazel, glycerin, and astringent stuff.  Kroger here in ft worth has it in 2.75 oz. bottles on the spice rack aisle, for whatever reason.

Anyway, mixing the alum is supposed to draw up the pores of a skin during tanning so the hair doesn't slip out.

[field989]

how much salt and do u just dip the hides and let them dry

[.308sniper]

Can we get a step by step?  I would like to try this.

[DennisB]

I have a grey fox in my freezer from last fall that I'll get to soon (I hope).  Here's basically what I do:

In a plastic 5-gallon bucket, dissolve two pounds of table salt and a small jar of alum in about two gallons of warm water.  Top off with two more gallons of water once it’s well dissolved.

Put the skin into the solution, and stir it around to get it really soaked.  You want to ensure that the solution gets to all parts of the skin.  It will float—stir several times a day for 3 to five days.  

Five days ought to be plenty to tan fox/bobcat/coyote sized skins.  Remove it from the solution and rinse thoroughly—use lots and lots of water to get all the salt out.  Lay the skin out to dry.  I use a chicken wire frame so it will drain and air out.

Now the real work begins.  Before the skin gets potato chip dry you will want to work it to break up and loosen the skin fibers.  I sometimes use a short stick of wood carved to a dull point on one end and blade on the other end to bust up the fibers.  Once you get it loosened up enough to lay flat and roll up/fold up to suit you, you're done.

[huntmdown]

DennisB,
 ;DThanks for the wealth of information!