Trying to tan a hide

[Keith]

G'day guys,

Managed to get a fellow doe on the weekend and I thought I would have a go at tanning the skin.
I covered it in salt and noticed that the left over flesh had started to go hard(Monday). What is the best way to remove flesh and not put holes in the skin?
At what point is it stuffed?

Cheers.

[trevort]

about time you joined in

[MISSED]

Yeah What your father in law said Keith

Contact BarryB as he is the site Tanning expert

[LoneRider]

if all else fails,you could ask my dad.
he used to be pretty good at tanning mine

[Camel]

If you haven't already, trim off any chunks of meat and fat, as much as you can now cause it will save you heaps of hard work later on. After taking off the chunky stuff, cover it again with a good covering, 1-2mm is good, of salt, not iodised stuff (don't know what the iodine does, but its always been that way), kiln dried flossy salt is the best, failing that, cooking salt, Black and Gold will do. Then roll it up again, flesh side to flesh side, and hang in a cool spot in a hessian bag, or at the very least one of those orange onion bags. You can keep them this way for a long long time, I have even had to soak rock hard goat skins to get them soft enough to tan, for over a year.

Page 1 in my thread, Filling in a dull day, page 1, shows how I do them. Its in Varminting/Hunting stories sub forum.

I showed Trev a couple of years ago how to punch off a skin and leave no meat on the skin, did he show you ??

[curan]

............don't know what the iodine does, but its always been that way.............

It stops you from being a bit slow .......

"Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodised_salt

cheers, curan

[Keith]

If you haven't already, trim off any chunks of meat and fat, as much as you can now cause it will save you heaps of hard work later on. After taking off the chunky stuff, cover it again with a good covering, 1-2mm is good, of salt, not iodised stuff (don't know what the iodine does, but its always been that way), kiln dried flossy salt is the best, failing that, cooking salt, Black and Gold will do. Then roll it up again, flesh side to flesh side, and hang in a cool spot in a hessian bag, or at the very least one of those orange onion bags. You can keep them this way for a long long time, I have even had to soak rock hard goat skins to get them soft enough to tan, for over a year.

Page 1 in my thread, Filling in a dull day, page 1, shows how I do them. Its in Varminting/Hunting stories sub forum.

I showed Trev a couple of years ago how to punch off a skin and leave no meat on the skin, did he show you ??

I didn't trim it off when it was fresh and the left over stuff has gone hard, have been trying to trim it off but have gone to far and cut through to the fur once or twice.
I will have a read through it, thanks.
Yes he did show me, but I had was already 3/4 way through. When you say soak them do you mean just with salt?
Thanks.

[MISSED]

Rum is best for soaks

[dashooter]

Persistence and a very sharp knife on a fine angle being careful. It will take a while though.


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[Keith]

Persistence and a very sharp knife on a fine angle being careful. It will take a while though.


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Ok I'm on the right track then , once all cut off just wash it then use the tanning kit yeah?
Thanks.

[trevort]

Or just call that a practice and get another in July???

With a smaller hole in it maybe


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[Keith]

Or just call that a practice and get another in July???

With a smaller hole in it maybe


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Yeahh I might have to! But over it.

[Camel]

I didn't trim it off when it was fresh and the left over stuff has gone hard, have been trying to trim it off but have gone to far and cut through to the fur once or twice.
I will have a read through it, thanks.
Yes he did show me, but I had was already 3/4 way through. When you say soak them do you mean just with salt?
Thanks.

To trim it now will take a lot of work, you will not be able to rush the job or as you have found, you will get a skin full of holes. When I said about soaking the old dried out skins, it was to get them back to a workable condition, and I just used a garbage bin full of rain water and salt chucked in, cant remember how much, probably 2 or 3 kg for the bin of water.

[Keith]

I didn't trim it off when it was fresh and the left over stuff has gone hard, have been trying to trim it off but have gone to far and cut through to the fur once or twice.
I will have a read through it, thanks.
Yes he did show me, but I had was already 3/4 way through. When you say soak them do you mean just with salt?
Thanks.

To trim it now will take a lot of work, you will not be able to rush the job or as you have found, you will get a skin full of holes. When I said about soaking the old dried out skins, it was to get them back to a workable condition, and I just used a garbage bin full of rain water and salt chucked in, cant remember how much, probably 2 or 3 kg for the bin of water.

No worries I'll have a nother go tonight. Thanks

[dashooter]

Persistence and a very sharp knife on a fine angle being careful. It will take a while though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok I'm on the right track then , once all cut off just wash it then use the tanning kit yeah?
Thanks.

Not knowing how well the salt penetrated through the meat into the skin, i would probably run another load of salt over the skin just to be sure (once you have the meaty bits off) then follow whatever process you need to for tanning solution (havent done the tanning bit myself).