Steps in Preparing a Hide NEED Help.

gethuntin

gethuntin

Member
I have a few coyotes now that i decided i would like to try and put up to tan and just hang in the house or my office etc.
I dont have any of the neccessary tools yet. I have ordered a cheap fleshing knife, tail stripper, hair comb. And i am going to make a fleshing beam. I have 50 lbs of salt.And i plan on getting Bottle of Tanning agent today.

But i know theres a proccess which i cant seem to put together seems like theres several ways and the sticky in the Trapping section doesnt work.

Basically would like to know once i skin it can i salt it and freeze the hides until i am ready to sit down and go through the process and wait for my supplies.

Or do i need to flesh it salt tehn salt it?
 
Check the Trapping and Fur Handling forum. There should be some good info there to help ya.

I personally don't salt. Just skin and freeze, pull them out later for the fleshing and drying.

Tony
 
Originally Posted By: TonyTebbeCheck the Trapping and Fur Handling forum. There should be some good info there to help ya.

I personally don't salt. Just skin and freeze, pull them out later for the fleshing and drying.

Tony

Yeah i was just thinking i should have posted this there. I tried to go to the sticky that RidgeRunner posted but it doesnt work it takes me to the old forum and sign in, and it still doesnt bring it up
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Topic was just opened in trapping forum by another member w similiar question ill look there

Thanks.
 
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go to Vandykes taxidermy online, they have every scenerio you could run into on their page, troubleshooting, etc. plus their supplies are cheap. i salt cause i don't know when i'll have time to tan. you can salt and then once dry, brush off and comb out the fur and still hang on the wall indefinitely.
 
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Originally Posted By: gethuntinI have a few coyotes now that i decided i would like to try and put up to tan and just hang in the house or my office etc.
I dont have any of the neccessary tools yet. I have ordered a cheap fleshing knife, tail stripper, hair comb. And i am going to make a fleshing beam. I have 50 lbs of salt.And i plan on getting Bottle of Tanning agent today.

But i know theres a proccess which i cant seem to put together seems like theres several ways and the sticky in the Trapping section doesnt work.

Basically would like to know once i skin it can i salt it and freeze the hides until i am ready to sit down and go through the process and wait for my supplies.

Or do i need to flesh it salt tehn salt it?

If you're going to freeze it, DON'T SALT it. It will never properly freeze. If you already salted it, get it on a stretcher now. I use Lutan-f by van Dykes on everything I tan and it works great. Some people will tell you to salt it before putting it in the pickle, some will tell you not to worry about it. I don't want to get into that argument, but one thing I will tell you is you better have fleshed those things real well if you haven't frozen them yet. Sounds like the best thing you can do right now is check to see if they have started to slip, and if not, skin them and get them in the freezer without salt ASAP. When you tan them, make sure to turn the ears, split the tail, and thin down the area around the eyes and lips/nose but not so much that the whiskers fall out. By the way, alot of this can be taken care of in increments once it's in the pickle.
 
yep, the pickle is the key, as long as it stays 2.0 it can stay in for weeks. my last cat stayed in for 3 weeks. i would pull it out neutralize then flesh, then do it again until it was done. i use the Luftan also, works great. salt or no salt, fleshing is the key.
 
Originally Posted By: roadkill46yep, the pickle is the key, as long as it stays 2.0 it can stay in for weeks. my last cat stayed in for 3 weeks. i would pull it out neutralize then flesh, then do it again until it was done. i use the Luftan also, works great. salt or no salt, fleshing is the key.

I agree with everything except the neutralizing part. IMO you can just pull it out of the pickle, do some minor fleshing and dump it straight back into the pickle- You can do this as many times as it takes to be completely flesh/membrane free. I'd save the neutralizing until I was actually ready to tan. At least that's what I've always done. Roadkill46, if you neutralize each time you pull it out of the pickle, it seems you would be inviting pH issues. Maybe I misunderstood you. Either way, since you're ordering a bunch of stuff, pick up some pH test strips, because like Roadkill suggested, you have to keep the acidity of that pickle under 2.0-- read the instructions of whatever tan you choose and follow them closely. You can pm me if you want and I'll try to walk you through it.
 
IMO, if you're wanting soft hides, you're best to send them to a tannery. You can home tan the hides with lutan, krowtann, mckenzie tan etc, but as they dry, they get stiff as a board unless you hand break them and once you try that, you'll wish you sent them to a tannery. If on the otherhand, you don't mind if they dry hard, then go with the krowtann. it's about $26/ quart and will tan quite a few yote size critters with one qt. Simple to use, just rough flesh and put the hide in the water/salt/krowtann solution. turn the hide every day for 3 days and neutralize with baking soda after that. No ph checks necessary!
 
I use and perfer BORAX to Salt. And like its been said, make sure you are fleshing right or you are wasting your time and the hair will eventually slip. Sending it to a tannery will give you the best results if you want a nice clean pelt with soft fur and leather.
 
i neutralized twice. this was due to me being like highly sensitive to the acid. i would not have thought that a low acid like that would have eaten me up but it did. so what i do now is pickle for 3 days, pull it out and drain, then neutralize, then dawn dishwashing liquid, this seems to really loosen that inner membrane and really plump the skin up to flesh again, then i rinse it off and put it back in the pickle. always buy A BUNCH of test stips, pool supply store or walmart, since the kits don't give you enough. i don't seem to have any ph issues and my skins don't slip, or at least they have not up to now. after i tan i break the crap out of them and put them in my wifes dryer with a bunch of tennis shoes, no heat. she doesn't like it but once i showed her that it would not hurt the dryer she was ok with it. kinda loud though!!!! everyone has their own secret recipe, this one works for me. basically, follow the directions on the package and the more you work with the pelt the better off it will be. the tanning 101 thread in the fur handling section is a great read also. i have only tanned 5 pelts so the others here have much more experience than i, but whatever works. this was a very good thread. thanx!
 
Thank you for the help guys. Just a little overwhelmed of steps to take and when. everyone kinda found there own way of what works for them and now i am trying to figure out where i am at and what could be the best way.

I skinned one coyote last night but i tried to turn the ears and messed it up bad. forgot the step of folding the ear in half and taking a scalpel to cut the membrane to get to the inner ear.
Still have the other two to skin but decided to freeze them as i ran out of time messing with the ears on the other one. Hoefully i can get at them Thurday and they dont slip.

I decided it wont be a good enough pelt to display so i wil just take it to the furbuyer. Is it best to stretch it or when i am done salting let it dry folded once?, i bought 2 stretchers when is best to put it on the stretcher? And if i want to tan my own pelts just for display is there a time i need to put it on the stretcher. Thought i read mainly stretch it for the market.

Thanks again i will figure this out eventually, i have to i have supplies coming
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Originally Posted By: nofiveoIMO, if you're wanting soft hides, you're best to send them to a tannery. You can home tan the hides with lutan, krowtann, mckenzie tan etc, but as they dry, they get stiff as a board unless you hand break them and once you try that, you'll wish you sent them to a tannery. If on the otherhand, you don't mind if they dry hard, then go with the krowtann. it's about $26/ quart and will tan quite a few yote size critters with one qt. Simple to use, just rough flesh and put the hide in the water/salt/krowtann solution. turn the hide every day for 3 days and neutralize with baking soda after that. No ph checks necessary!

If that's been your experience, you haven't tried very hard. Coyote hides, right after fox, are one of the easiest hides to break. Now if we were talking about a buffalo, I'd say tannery for sure. I have a whole garage full of coyote, fox and badgers that I tanned myself that says anyone willing to try can EASILY learn to tan.......and they're all soft broken.
 
Originally Posted By: Brendan43Originally Posted By: roadkill46yep, the pickle is the key, as long as it stays 2.0 it can stay in for weeks. my last cat stayed in for 3 weeks. i would pull it out neutralize then flesh, then do it again until it was done. i use the Luftan also, works great. salt or no salt, fleshing is the key.

I agree with everything except the neutralizing part. IMO you can just pull it out of the pickle, do some minor fleshing and dump it straight back into the pickle- You can do this as many times as it takes to be completely flesh/membrane free. I'd save the neutralizing until I was actually ready to tan. At least that's what I've always done. Roadkill46, if you neutralize each time you pull it out of the pickle, it seems you would be inviting pH issues. Maybe I misunderstood you. Either way, since you're ordering a bunch of stuff, pick up some pH test strips, because like Roadkill suggested, you have to keep the acidity of that pickle under 2.0-- read the instructions of whatever tan you choose and follow them closely. You can pm me if you want and I'll try to walk you through it.


+1 i have a deer skin that has been in a pickle since march. just check the ph once in a while and keep a lid on the bucket to stop evaporation and all is good.
 


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