Tumbling Media

Bow Hunter

Bow Hunter

New member
Greetings To All,

I just finished building two fur tumblers this past week-end, one for myself and one for my hunting partner. Now I need to know about which tumbling media. I plan to do mostly coyote hides but I do have 2 bobcat hides to do and expect to do racoon hides as well. Which media do I use - hardwood, corn cob or ????????

Also, how much do I use. I have a 55 gallon drum.
Do I put the media in at the beginning or tumble the hide(s) for a while first?

I see in one of my catalogs that there are different size media. Any help will be appreciated.

My tumbler turned out great and turns 21 rpm at the drum, hopefully this is satisfactory. What do you think! Spent less than half of the catalog price.

Thanks to all, in advance!
Bow Hunter
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Whoa there Bow Hunter. We ain't tellin' you nuthin' till we see some pics of the tumblers. Now start clickin' that shutter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
You can use corncob and it can be bought at most petstores in 50 lb bags fairly cheap. They use it to put in the bottom of bird cages.
 
Bow Hunter
If you can find a source for course grade CLEAN hardwood sawdust, you'll be able to do buffing and cleaning with the same media.

If you buy your media from the same place you seen the pictures of your tumbler, I can tell you you will pay about four times what you really need to.

I buy mine from a company that sells shavings to the feedmills for livestock bedding. They will carry a good clean grades of hardwood.

I built a tumbler myself a while back and here's the tech article I posted with photos;
How to Build a Tumbler
 
River Runner,
Thanks for the info. I used the pictures you posted of your tumbler as inspiration to build mine. I chose a different design however, after I discovered the price of the bearings.

I appreciate the heads up on the tumbling media. Any suggestions on how to use it. Will it damage the fur if tumbled too long?

Bow Hunter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
With good clean media you can buff a hide in about three hours. When I say buff I mean give the flesh side of the skin the suede feel and appearance. If the media gets old and loses it's sharpness it'll take longer.
The hardwood is obviously hard, and if you reach into it and grab a fistfull and squeeze it as hard as you can, it'll actually poke through your skin like...well....just like a hardwood sliver /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
When it loses that sharpness it's time to change it.
Buff your hides inside out.

Cleaning the fur.
I like to tumble mine for cleaning 3 1/2 to 4 hours. If you get a lot of oil in the fur when oiling you may want to do it longer. Obviously here youll have the skins fur side out.
You can also buy additives for the tumbler to mix with your media. It will help to pull off any oil spilled into the fur and give it a sheen when your done.
Crap! ...I told myself I wasn't going to give away all my secrets. Oh well.

As far as the amount of sawdust. The trick is to NOT crowd what's in there. Meaning your furs and the media combined. If I'm tumbling 4 coyote hides, I'll have approx. 15 to 20 pounds of sawdust in with them, buffing or cleaning. Which will be roughly 3/8's full on an empty drum.
Deer hides I tumble 1 at a time and use a quarter of a drum of sawdust.
 
crapshoot,

I apologize for not thanking you for your response. I always appreciate any and all info that members of the board supply. Please forgive my oversight!

Sincerely,
Bow Hunter
 
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