How to stop tanning items from floating

[nitt]

Plastic is your best bet anything porious will soak up tanning solution

[rasorbackq]

Thanks guys for the info I like the ideas of a tote box lid weighted with a jug . I always stir at least once a day.

[Jason O]

let it float ,

[jrichartz]

just let them float and stir 1 - 2 times daily they will pickle just fine. I own Kettle Falls tannery and that's is how we have done it for the past 9 years with out any problems. I would go crazy wasting all that time moving things back a forth. just maintain your PH and do not let them dry out

[Pascal]

Some of you are saying let them float, and I know this is what you do but do you really think it is the best way to do it? It just seems that having the hide in the pickle would pickle it better . Air doesn't pickle.

[George Roof]

Pascal, the pickle works simply through osmosis.  The hides, if properly salted have left the hide "thirsty" for fluids and the acid is "sucked" into the cells.  I keep wondering how a plastic jug filled with water "sinks".  The natural boyance of the plastice surrounding a fluid of equal mass would seem to stabilize at some point.  I guess just "surrounding" the water would allow the water to be "stacked" on top of the hides.  Either way, let'em float.

[cyclone]

Some of you are saying let them float, and I know this is what you do but do you really think it is the best way to do it? It just seems that having the hide in the pickle would pickle it better . Air doesn't pickle.

Float..keep the flesh side down..


You aren't pickling the hair....

[Pascal]

George, that makes perfect sence. Thanks for the explaination. I'll probably keep weighting them down though, just for peice of mind.

[oldboar]

Just my opinion on this...

Weighting them down in say....a bucket....while home tanning does more damage than good.  I had mild slippage once upon a time, when cramming hides into a bucket...and not allowing the pickle to be exposed to the hide easily.

Placing the hide in the pickle folded over on itself...with weight on top, increases the liklihood that some of the pickle won't get to some area of the hide.

Better to make up a bigger batch of pickle, give the hides some room,stir them twice a day...and let'em float.



Jim

[lookn4awhitetail]

Agitate daily to twice daily and you wont need the submerging.  I usually only the first day will have a plastic sifter thing from a 55 gallon pickle barrel cut to fit the container, I keep the skin submerged for the first day and then just keep it agitated.  If Its the only one I am tanning at the time I will just leave it submerged...

[Richbo]

I let mine float and turn them at least twice a day while stirring the solution while doing it.  They always stay wet anyway, so there is no need to keep them totally submerged.  Never had any problems. 

[clifftax]

In all my years of tanning, I have never ever weighted them down. Let em float and for the love of god, turn them over several times a day and keep checking your pH levels when pickling AND salt concentration.