Gator Hide tanning

[skinningman]

Question? My sister killed a small 6ft Gator and wants me to tan the hide soft for her to make a purse out of it and a belt. Is a standard reptile tan good enough to do this or will I need to add any additional steps. I usually just mount heads so this is new to me. Thanks for any help.

 Mike

[psycho]

Your best bet IMO is to send it to a tannery if that is her plans.  Good Luck  Dan

[skinningman]

Thanks Dan, I will do that. I was wondering if that would be easier than to do it myself. Thanks again.   Mike

[psycho]

Yeah you really don't want to try and tan a gator hide yourself if you want a soft tan.  I can't do it at least.      

[wetnwild]

Unless you are talking about the belly skin, it will never be soft even if commercially tanned. If you have it done by some of the exotic skin tanneries that specialize in garment quality tanning, where they shave it paper thin so if is plioable enough to sew and manipulate into a wallet or hgandbag, that is the only way to get it to the pliability you will need. a taxidermy tannery is out of the question.

[skinningman]

Thank you everyone. I really do appreciate everyones help. I will give it back to her an let her know her options. Thanks again. Everyone on here is very helpful to me. As I only do this as a hobby as I had to retire young and I have to know have back surgery. So it helps to keep me busy and is very relaxing.



 Mike

[trikesorz]

Would a standard reptile tan be good enough to tan an alligator skin? I got one from my uncle last year (not the entire skin but a big portion) and it's dried out out and I've been wanting to tan it but I don't want to mess it up.

[wetnwild]

You can use the  Rittels tan on it, but you will have to pickle it first to get good reaction. You will also have to use a hand grinder and break up the solid membrane covering on the mear side to break the fibers and get good penetration
tom

[skinningman]

Tom, You said in your response the mear side of the gator hide. is that the inside of the hide you are talking about being ground down. Sort of a stupid question, but just never heard the word used thanks.  Mike

[trikesorz]

You can use the  Rittels tan on it, but you will have to pickle it first to get good reaction. You will also have to use a hand grinder and break up the solid membrane covering on the mear side to break the fibers and get good penetration
tom

before or after pickling?

[Gatorjaw]

Specialty leather in Louisiana doe's a great soft tan on alligator.