What made you interested in learning to tan?: My husband actually inspired me- it was his passion, and became mine. I have an outdoor fire pit with a tipi-pole-type setup for smoking. I like doing fleshing indoors because we get swarmed by yellowjackets otherwise. I use a separate, enclosed area for the messy work of fleshing because it has a concrete floor. Many tanning solution recipes call for the use of "soft" water- save clean rainwater for this purpose.ĭo you have a workshop set up?: Yes, we have an outbuilding I use to keep the hides when tanning.Highly recommend " The Ultimate Guide to Skinning and Tanning" by Monte Burch.Getting enough wood ash to make the hair slip properly on a deer hide is sometimes difficult- I prefer lye (like soap-making lye) if I don't have wood ash built up. Hogs are like a raccoon but x5! Deer are a lot of work- they can take 2 to 3 hours just to flesh a large one well. Raccoons have a great deal of fat to their hide and are very greasy. Rabbits have a thin hide- they're easy to tear if not careful. Squirrels are the best, easiest to start with in my opinion.Don't fret if it turns out not the way you want! Practice and note-taking are so important- I still make notes in a journal of what I was not pleased with, and how to fix it.Make sure to have a good knife set with a sharpener, and a fleshing knife. It's messy work- use gloves! Highly recommend a skinner's apron too.Fleshing the hide immediately is super important to prevent the hide from being spoiled and no good.Use non-iodized salt when salting or tanning hides (very cheap containers at Walmart).Before deer, I did a lot of squirrel fur tanning. (hair-on, but have made buckskin) Mainly wild game hides. What is your main hide or fur that you tan?: We pick up unwanted deer hides, and also tan deer hides for others.
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