HOW TO PREPARE YOUR HIDE TO BE TANNED
Customers have their hides tanned for many reasons. Some tanned with the hair on… some with the hair off. It’s all personal preference and what you’re planning to use it for.
Once you have tanned hides, you could have a coat made, or gloves, or knife sheaths. Many things. Most people who have their hides tanned with the hair on, want the animal’s hide made into a rug or wall hanging. We’ll teach you how to do all those things in subsequent articles. For now, we’re going to talk about preparation for tanning.
Once you have the hide entirely off the deer, we’re going to clean it up and make it look good. Take your sharp skinning knife and gently remove the bigger pieces of muscle, sinew, and fat. Be careful, you don’t want to puncture through the hide. Get all you think you can without the risk of cutting through the skin. If you’re unsure, leave it alone. But, it is best to clean as much off as possible.
Don’t wash off the hide with anything. Just simply try to get as much as the junk as you can.
Spread the hide out on the ground. Hair side down. Gently pull on any areas which are stuck to one another. The entire skin area has to be exposed. Unfold any folds of skin. Unstick anything stuck. Then, take a large container of salt and generously pour over the entire exposed skin. Salt every single inch. Don’t be skimpy. Be liberal. Now using your (rubber gloved) fingers, gently rub the salt into the entire hide. It’s very important to get the salt rubbed into every inch of this hide. It helps to get the blood out (blood will spoil your hide) and it is a great preservative. The salt will enable the hide to be transported to the tannery.
Contact the tannery of your choice. Actually, do this at any point prior to sending. Ask them what their requirements are for getting animals tanned. Follow their procedures. Each tannery is slightly different than the next.
Most tanneries want the hide almost dry so nothing is dripping or leaking. Shipping is less for a dry hide also.
Roll or fold up, package well and send.
Do you have a homemade fleshing board, if so what type wood and how big of a piece of wood do I need to make one? Explain to me how yours is made. Thanks David. E-mail address is dbates42@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteDavid:
ReplyDeleteYes. It is a homemade fleshing board. Made out of pine 2 x 6 piece, 4 1/2 ft long. The nose (top) of it has to be about a 1/2" wide. Measure down 8" and draw a line across your board. Measure from the center of the top over to the edge of the board where you measured 8" down, this will be where the shoulder of the beam will be. Kind of arc this, from the 1/2" wide top down to the mark and cut out. This way you have a slight arc; from the nose to the shoulder of the board. The rest can be straight down. The front needs to be rounded. Take a plane or scraper and round the edges from the center to the edges. This way, when you put the hide on there, it'll be slightly rounded and easier to get the meat off. It might be helpful to look up fleshing beam on the internet and you should be able to see a picture of one. It's hard to explain. I hope I explained this good enough. Email back if not. Thanks again. Rick
I was wondering what it costs for the supplies to do a shoulder mount for a white tail? Glue, eyes, form, pins, apoxie, ...ect.
ReplyDeleteAlso how do tamidermists determine how much to charge for their work? Thanks
Troy
Churubusco, Indiana
emial: packerssuck0@yahoo.com
Troy:
ReplyDeleteYou can buy a whitetail kit out of McKenzie Supply that has all the supplies in it you need for less than $100. If you're only going to do one mount, that would be the way to go. Otherwise, your cost for individual tools can get pretty pricy. But, you can make do with stuff you may have around the house. If I had to guess, and that's what it would be, to purchase individual items for one mount, including the tools, I'd guess several hundred dollars. But, that would be for professional use. For beginners, I'd just learn to use what you have.
As far as charging customers; it's up to the individual and what the market can bear. If you're experienced, you can command more money. A beginner can't charge the "going rate". Just charge what you think is right. As you get better, you can charge more. Quality improves - prices go up. If you're a beginner, at least try to recoup the cost of the supplies for that mount and something for your labor. - Rick
hi Rick im new to the taxidermy world im starting out with mounting a deer head, what do u use after fleshing the cape do u tan right away or do u salt the hide and tan later i bought a deer cape to start with i didnt do anything with it i put it in the freezer. i wanna start working on it soon thank u for your time my email prjackel4@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteprjackel4:
ReplyDeleteI've got quite a few free videos on this Google site that will help you. They go step by step, most everything you'd like to know on mounting deer heads. I'd start with the series on Preparing Your Deer for Taxidermy, then, go onto the series on the actual Mounting. That should help you out. After you watch these, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime. - Rick
Hello my name is broc, I have never tanned anything but I'm gonna try to take the road less traveled and tan an alligator myself because everyone is telling me it can't be done. I bought a book called breakthrough reptile and amphibian taxidermy. It tells me almost everything I wanna know to do my flatskin wall mount. The method they Suggest to use is first make make like a brine or pickle, then after you neutralize it, you make like a pickle with lutan F. The only thing they don't make to clear is the first part of the process when it comes to fleshing and salting I don't know if I'm even supposed to salt it or not since I'm using a salt brine. If you know any information I would greatly appreciate it, almost nobody really knows most taxidermist just send them to the tanneries
ReplyDeleteThanks
Broc
Broc:
ReplyDeleteYou need to flesh it well. After you flesh it, salt it well. Go to the Feed Store and buy a 50lb bag of salt. This'll cost about $5. Lay the hide out, flesh side up, and salt it HEAVILY. This sucks allot of moisture out of your hide. After a day, shake the salt off. Rinse hide. Get your pickle ready. Submerge hide in the pickle. Put a couple of boards on top to hold the hide under water. Agitate regularly, stir it. Make sure the pH doesn't rise on this. Most times when you put the hide in, the pH will rise after a bit. You'll have to put more acid in to keep the pH low. An alligator hide is pretty thick. I would pickle it at least two or three days. Remove from pickle. Throughly rinse in cool water. Now, you'll need to neutralize it. Put the hide in a different tub with the neutralizer. Submerge, leave in for an hour or two. Don't forget to agitate. Hang hide up to drip dry for awhile. Get your tanning solution ready. Keep in mind that allot of hides are lost in the process of not keeping on top of the pH level. Remember; mix well, agitate frequently, closely monitor the pH. Lastly, follow the instructions for tanning that came with your LutanF.
Feel free to email me anytime. Hope this helped. - Rick
Hi Rick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting up all the videos - they are a great source of information. I have a question that seems wasn't covered yet - it concerns making buck skin. I am not going to try my hand at taxidermy just yet. I saw on your videos the steps on preparating the hides (cleaning,fleshing, etc) and tanning with the tanning paste (very convenient!). On other youtube videos I watched the steps for removing hair and grain from the hide. Would this be the only extra step to execute before doing the tanning step in your video series, and then I pick up your approach or what else would I need to do to create the buck skin from my deer hides using the tanning paste, and would I need to use the tanning paste on both sides (flesh and former hair side) of the skin? Thanks again and looking forward to read you answer,
Raynier (WA) raynier59@live.com
Raynier:
ReplyDeleteFor the buckskin, e.g., hair off, I would follow the directions for getting the hair off from the videos you watched. This entails putting it in the very alkaline solution to make the hair slip. Then, grain your hide. Take the grain layer off. Neutralize the hide next with some baking soda and water. Next, wring it out and put the tanning creme on both sides. Fold it over. Cover with plastic or newspaper so it doesn't dry too fast. Let sit overnight. Next day, rinse the hide in a mild soapy solution. Rinse off, cool water. Make sure you get all the excess tanning creme off. Wring hide out as much as possible. Now, the fun part. Breaking the hide as it dries. Do not let the hide get hard. If it starts to dry out, spray with water. Keep breaking until it's soft. This process takes quite awhile. To make a waterproof buckskin you need to smoke it. That way, whenever it gets wet and dries out, it won't get hard as a rock. Let me know if you have any more questions. I'd be happy to help. Thanks for the good words, too. I'm glad you posed these questions, I'll make a buckskin video next. - Rick
Iam going to mount my first bear.Can i use the tanning cream for a full body mount?If i decide on a rug instead,what method of tanning do you rec. I would like to start my own small business but do all my tanning inhouse.Is that possible? Is that how you do it? Thank you for any advice BVandeilen@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteBVandeilen:
ReplyDeleteYes, you can use tanning creme for a full body mount. That's what I do. You can also use it for a rug, but, it's easier to send it out to be tanned because of the work you'll have to do to get it soft enough for a nice rug. I've done it, but, it is a lot of work.
As far as tanning in house, it'll save you money. You'll lose time, but, you'll also know that your hides are well taken care of. I do most of my tanning in house. I try to use environmentally safe products, ie., citric acid, safety acid, as these are water soluable. They aren't as dangerous as some of the other acids that you could use. Remember to follow the directions carefully when tanning and pickling.
Feel free to email anytime. Good luck. - Rick
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI watched all 5 videos explaining the fleshing and cream tanning process. Very informal! You said that after the tan sets for its period of time to rinse it in cool luke warm water.Then to clean the fir of blood or any other dirt "what do i wash that with?" rinse with water or soap of some sort? Thank You!
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI watched all 5 videos explaining the fleshing and cream tanning process. Very informal! You said that after the tan sets for its period of time to rinse it in cool luke warm water.Then to clean the fir of blood or any other dirt "what do i wash that with?" rinse with water or soap of some sort? Thank You! BLMyers84@gmail.com
Brandon:
ReplyDeleteYes, wash it in soapy, luke-warm water. I use dish soap, Dawn in particular. Just seems to work best. Then, rinse that off in cool water. Thanks. - Rick
I recently pickled and tanned a zebra hide. Even after oiling it is still really stiff and am having a hard time softening it. I believe there are some areas i didn't get thinned enough. Was wandering if there was a way to rehydrate and start back towards the beginning? Thanks Tony deadbonecollector@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteTony:
ReplyDeleteI would mist the leather side of the hide well; just to get it damp. Roll up and put in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a day or so. It will get soft again. This is called Sweating.
When you take it out of the bag, start breaking it right away. You have to keep after it until it's dry. Also, thin the thicker areas. You can do this before you Sweat it. Use a wirewheel, it works good for this.
These hides off large animals require a lot of work.
Good luck.
- Rick
After you flesh out a bird what do you do next salt and tan it like you would a deer? I'm thinking about attempting to mount my first pheasant your videos were great as far as fleshing the bird goes just wondering what the next step is? Thank you for the time you put into making these videos for us beginners!
ReplyDeleteFirstAttempt:
ReplyDeleteAfter you flesh the bird, soak it in luke warm soapy water for about 15 mins to break down the fat and clean the blood up. Rinse in cool water to get soap out of feathers. Towel dry. Then, gently blow dry with a hair dryer. When feathers are dry, prepare to mount. Use Borax or dry preservative for the skin. This does a very good job. Sprinkle on the flesh side liberally then prepare to mount bird. - Rick
Rick,
ReplyDeleteYour website is a wealth of knowledge. Thanks so much for providing the videos and comments. This is my first season hunting and I'm looking forward to the whole experience including processing my own dear and tanning a white tail deer hide with the hair on (thanks to the helpfulness of your videos). I was wondering, if there are any ticks on the hide, will the pickling process kill them? Do you go over the hair side to pull them off before you start or does the process kill them/cause them to back out of the skin? If I can help it, I want to keep them out of the house when I bring the final product in the house.
Thanks!
Ashley
Pennsylvania
allthings85: If you leave the game hang outside and it gets cold, the ticks will drop off. No fresh blood supply either. A refrigerator, freezer or the pickle will also do the same trick. Ticks like things warm, if temp falls below body temp, they want off.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote an awesome email to me. It was nice to receive. If you think I can help further, please feel free to contact me. - Rick
Rick,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your response. That makes sense and makes me feel more at ease. Looking forward to giving all of this a try. Now I just need a deer! No luck with that yet.
While I'm writing you, something else I'm a little confused about after reading varying instructions from different sources. When the skin is off and fat/sinew/meat is cleaned off and you go to salt the hide for overnight, is it alright to leave the skin lie flat with the liberal coating of salt? Or should I be hanging it on a saw horse so the fluids can drip off as the salt is working? If I am liberal with the salt, it will fall off anyway if I hang it on a saw horse like some have suggested. Not sure the best way to go about that? Thank you in advance for your guidance!
Ashley
allthings85:
ReplyDeleteThe salting process is to rid the hide of fluids, a preservative, and to aid in the acceptance of the tanning cream. So, it can't be laid flat, must be at an angle for the fluids to drain away. I hang my salted hides from a large hook to drain. You do have to liberally cover the entire flesh side of the hide & gently rub in. The point being to cover the entire hide. You may get some salt falling off, but, primarily it will stay on the hide when hung.
Good luck to you getting a deer to process. Take your time. If you don't get a good, clean shot, wait. Thank you. - Rick