RR Iodized or non-Iodized salt for pelts??

redfeather

New member
River Runner I have heard and read that it is best to use Non-Iodized salt for pelts - is this true?? I normally dry bobcat, fox, and coyote with no salt, but last year I used salt on 5-6 pelts that I was having tanned to hang on my fur pole and I am convinced that the salt pulled out and dryed fats that might have let a little hair slip. Please give me your thoughts from a tannery standpoint. Thanks-redfeather.
 
Well...salt vs no salt, I definitely have to say salt. Like you said, it draws more out of the hide, where glaze drying is more of a surface drying. Salt helps deter any bacteria growth also, which is my biggest concern with the volume I deal with, but even for a single unsalted, poorly fleshed hide, the bacteria rate is going to be high.
I feel like broken record preaching this, but bacteria means slippage, no matter how good you are.

Non-Iodized vs Iodized!~~ to be honost with you, as far as what you and I are using it for it makes no difference. The only reason they put iodine in salt to begin with is to make it safe for human consumption. The effect it has on tanning or drying is very little to non.
Besides the iodine that is added to iodized salt, some salts have other chemicals added to prevent clumping, etc. SOME of those other chemicals can actually act as a buffer when your trying to adjust the PH levels on your tanning baths.
As far as drying hides...they both work equally well, regardless of what someone else tells you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
RR thanks for the answer. I will probably keep using it especially on coyotes that I have to flesh alot because as noted it draws a whole lot more moisture out of the leather which means less bacteria to ruin the pelt during the tanning process.
 
Salt is only used for deer hides to preserve them for a short while. If you use it on a fur to be dried it won't dry. You will lose it as you said happened. Dry skin side out on most , then turn fur side out before it is too dry to turn without ripping it or cracking it. Some like coon and others are skin side out.KY
 
I'm not a full time taxidermist, but I do my fair share and have to admit that I'm a little confused by Tactical .20's comment that salt is only used for deer capes and will not dry furs. Most taxidermists that I know of use salt to dry everthing that is to be tanned. The salt leeches the fluids out of the skin to remove all of the fats and acids, etc. It also locks the hair folicals and helps retard bacteria growth as River Runner said. There could be a number of things that caused the hair slippage you saw. Any fat or meat left on the hide may have prevented the salt from penetrating the hide completely. Also, if the fluids were allowed to pool up on the skin, that can certainly lead to slippage. Even the heat from your hands when turning the ears can cause heat to build up and lead to some slippage. Canines and bobcats are notorious for slipping, and there are a lot of things that can cause it. As to your question about iodized versus non iodized salt, I think the reason you see most people recommend non iodized is for prices purpose only. As River Runner said, they both will do the same thing. Sorry Tactical .20 if I misunderstood what you said. I was just a little confused.
 
You are right, for thirty years I have sold fur to the fur market. I have sold some cats and badgers for taxidermy, but they were frozen whole. I had never heard of salting hides except for deer hides. I read somewhere, I think it was Groenewolds flier, stating not to salt the fur skin.
Sure 15 minutes after I spout off I went back to the trapperman.com and saw a note by a guy that gets skins for the taxidermy and tells about salting them. I guess you are never too old to learn something,heh!!KY
 
On the drying part, when I see salt or calcium cloride on the ground it looks like it attracts moisture. It looks like it attracts a lot of moisture, but then it is outside where the moisture is usually higher. KY
 
Skins that get sold on the market are rarily, if ever, salted prior to the sale. But trappers that sell dried hides are usually very good at fleshing them down to the membrane eliminating a lot of slippage risk.

Salt has been and will be for a long time, a key element in saving, drying, and preparing skins. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I've discovered in my venture of drying pelts, that using salt retards the drying process if you're in a place where it rains every other day and you don't have a climate controlled room. I've had rabbit pelts that I've been trying to dry now for over 3 weeks, and while they're still ok (I checked the fur) they are still damp! So, I'm going back to air drying because even when it's raining I can get them dry in 2-3 days.
 
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