I have read the tanning process 101....

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now comes the questions, I did a search for pickling solutions and came out with several different mixes, my question is which would be the simplist to keep a constant ph level, yet easy to prepare? The other question is what brand of tan (or is there a homemade recipe) that yeilds good results and is usser friendly? Any opinions are appreciated as this is my first attempt at tanning and would like to have the results in my favor, thanks in advance James
 
Welcome to the board Pangborn83. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Keeping a constant PH level in your pickling solution involves a lot more then what chemical you use for the solution itself.
What you put into it as far as hides, what they are like, greasy, salty, dirty, having soap residue in them, etc, etc.
Ease of preparation. They are all pretty much the same. Weigh out the amount of chemical and salt, mix it with the appropriate amount of water and stir.
Tanning solution. I use strictly Rittels.
 
I'll have to look into the tumbler but for the time I will have to do with out. Would the EZ-Tan tanning kit be a good one to start with (very user friendly by their description) as I am looking for something simple that I can hopefully do correctly, or would their trapline tan kit do better, whichever has a better chance of a first time do it yourselfer getting a good tan I will go with. Thanks and I am sorry I am being a pain, I just don't know anything about tanning and know noone who does except for the people on this forum. Thanks James
 
The only difference between the tanning kit and the trap line kit is you get enough chemical to tan approx. 20lbs of wet drained skins in the original kit.
The trapline kit which they advertise is for small game such as rabbits, mink, squirrels, will only tan approx. 3lbs of wet drained skins.

I'd recommend Rittel's, but that is a very biased opinion /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
As far as not knowing nothing about tanning pangborn83 , no need to appologize. We'll help you.
You may want to do some more searching using the search feature, there's enough info there to answer questions from those that can't even spell the word tan /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
After the first of June I'll be going through and charging for the info by passwording all the archived topics regarding tanning help.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Just kidding /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Thanks River Runner, I will go ahead and order the EZ tan kit this afternoon, I still have the the hide dehydrating (hanging now) and can't wait to get this done and see the results but I know I will have to take my time and do it right otherwise it is a waste of time. I will have to post a picture when I get it done to show the results a newbie can have (if it turns out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ). Thanks again
 
pangborn83,

While I am not a commercial tanner like riverrunner, if ya follow the directions in Tanning 101 to the letter you will have no problems.

As to not having a tumbler, after tanning process is complete I wash my skins in Dawn detergent, dry, then cover with baby powder.

Takes all the oil out and leaves skin with no smell.

Pecos
 
Actually Pecos, some tanneries Do do that in addition to the tumbling. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Talc powder on the flesh side of the hide will soften them but very very little. They just feel softer to the touch. Did that make sense?

You'd have much softer skins minus the powder Pecos if you didn't wash them after you tanned them. Rinse them out when they are fresh out of the tan and then stretch them each day as they dry. Breaking the fibers up like that as they try to dry and shrink does wonders. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Pecos, thanks for the idea of washing them, I can't wait to get my tan kit, I have it hanging right now drying, I think I did a good job fleshing I keept getting little bits of the membrane I think, it was sorta stringy and that was in areas that had no muscle, or fat. I deffinatly think that the article river runner typed up was great and is worth the time to read (sure did tell me a lot more than many other things that I had found online). Now everything else is up to me and hopefully I am doing it correctly.
 
Wouldn't it be fun if River Runner would make us a video we could buy so we could actually SEE how he does each step?

It would be nice if he'd do it like we might do it in a home setting. I know I don't have the fancy tumblers and such and don't tan enough hides to justify one. But, I'll bet he could turn out a quality product as far as a video goes. Hell, I know I'd give twenty or so bucks for it!

What do you guys think? Good idea?

Randy
 
Well, maybe I better claify a bit. I only wash the edges of the hides where the tanning oil gets under the skin and on the hair. I only put the baby powder on the hair side and leave it set for a few hours to soakup any oil and then brush it out.

I don't exactly have a strecher so I lock my hides down in a workmate, stretch them and as I have them stretched out I rub them hard with a hachet I have the edge ground flat on. Makes a great breaking tool.

Pecos
 
She's still in the workins Buker. Time...there just doesn't seem to be enough of it in a day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Pecos , while your idea makes perfect sense, your actually dulling the natural sheen of the hair by powdering it.
If you don't have access to a tumbler you can still get real close results by rubbing good clean hardwood sawdust into the fur.
It will clean any oils out of the fur and make the fur soft and shiney as it does it, seriously. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Thanks for the ideas, I really must say this boards members are very knowledgeable on tanning, and I agree I would deffinatly pay for a video, maybe until then Jim could do another message such as tanning 101 with photo's so there is one for people with high speed conection, or ones that are willing to wait? Just an idea and I know you are probally busy Jim so if you don't have time it is okay.
 
After tumbling or rubbing in sawdust as mentined earlier, Hang your hide on a tree branch or cloths line .Then get out the leaf blower and blow off the dust. Cleans and fluffs at the same time.....Tim /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thanks for the tip on the hardwood sawdust riverrunner, will try and find some. Sorta hard to find a sawmill in this area of West Texas. LOL.

Pecos
 
On the saw dust topic would dust from a baseball batt factory work well? Seems to be big chunk dust like a chainsaw, compared to a finner dust like when cut with a bandsaw.
 
Hard to say pangborn83. What your going to be getting is turnings from a lathe tool I'm sure.

Get some and try it out if it's cheap enough. Otherwise, there has to be a lumberyard around somewhere. They wood have saw dust and if you hit it on a good day when someone was planing or working with hardwood, you could get that.

You can buy it from a agriculture feed store also.
Some pet stores in the cities might have it.
And if you still can't find any and want to order it, you can order it through a lot of taxidermy supply companys.
 
okay I gotta be doing something wrong, I hung my hide up and it has hung for 5 days, it is still not dry (well sorta dry) it will fold and be crumpled in a ball, the 101 says rock hard but I have had it in a cooler temperature hanging, how hard does it really have to be? What would happen if it was not hard as a rock and I rehydrated it then pikled? Thanks James Pangborn
 
If you wiped off all the old salt and rubbed in new dry salt each time you did this, there's no real reason it shouldn't be well on it's way to becoming rock hard. Unless...the humidity where you are is over 45%, or the hide is partially frozen.

If it was me...I'd take it down, wipe off all the old salt and go through this again by applying new dry salt, and plenty of it.

You can take it down now and go to the next step of tanning but your running a higher risk of hair slippage due to bacteria in and on the skin. It's not uncommon at all.
 
Okay well I will go ahead and try with some more salt, I was thinking about the cold, I was hanging the hide in my garage and we got a cold spell (30's at night), with quite a bit of humidity (79% today infact). Guess I will wait a little longer, I have it hanging in the basement currently, all the salt did a pretty good job at drying it (made it sorta cruchy by the time I went to hang it) so hopefully it won't start slipping on me. I was just making sure by rock hard you meant to the point you can't fold it cause it has been semi hard just not quite to the point where it was really stiff. Well thanks for the insight, James
 
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