I currently have a coyote in the pickle, when I went back to thin the skin before tanning and remove the ear cartilage I noticed that the hair and coloring of the skin seems to wipe away and taking some hair with it pretty easily. It's been in the pickle about a week now - is this to blame? How can I stop it from happening again and fix it this time? Any help would be greatly appriciaed. Thanks, Andy.
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We need to know more about "what happened before it reached this stage". How was the skin delivered - do you know how it was handled? Was it Air or Salt dried? How did you relax it? What kind of pickle are you using? What is the PH of your pickle? This will help.
I might not have been entirely clear here. Sorry for that. My problem is the skin of the ears. The dark pigment of the inside part seems to "slip away".
After skinning I fleshed as much material as I could. Then applied my salt. Resalted the next day and let go until dry. But it was during some hot and humid weather and some small drops of water seemed to form on the hair. I resalted again. With the more water collecting on the hair and hide I degreased and placed in the pickle. My pickle is the standard mixture 1 1/2 cups of salt, 1/8 oz Basacryl NBKU, 1/2 oz safe-tee acid to each gallon of water. My ph was about 1 1/2 to 2. I also plan on degreasing again.I hope this will clear up my problem. Once again sorry for the vague description. Thanks, Andy.
Salting in this humid weather is tuff...the longer the yote lays wet
the more moisture gets under the skin...In the summer time I only apply
salt for 24 hours then I let the fur dry like cardboard before I rehydrate
and pickle....salt absorbs the moisture from the air too which means
it may take 3 or 4 days to totally absorb the moisture by just salting.
Try this next time...use cardboard and build a air ram around a box
fan....salt your hide for 24 hours then hang him inside the ram...the next
day he`ll be pretty much be dried up...I`ve tanned 2 yotes and several cats
in the last month and haven`t had a problem...get him salted then get that sucker dried
up tight...
Try to keep your pickling simple. Salt - Acid - Water. Since Saftee Acid keeps your PH below a 2.0 - there's no need to use a bacteriacide! Your skins will be sterilized in the acid. Bacteria will not survive below (0-2) a 2.0 PH. Besides being wasteful, it will only drive up your PH, and its better keeping it low.
As for degreasing - do it once! The best time is after its been pickled 3 days, remove it, drain for 30 minutes, shave, DEGREASE, and then wash and rinse it before placing it back into the pickle overnight or longer - or until you're ready to tan it! If you degrease it prior to pickling you may weaken the epidermis, which in turn can contribute to slippage.
My own experience with Bears - is, like Travis in his post, they must first be hard dried to tighten up before relaxing. His idea of using a fan may be a big help to you in the future. Or - using a dehumidifier.
Sorry - I meant Bears and Coyotes! Drying applies to both.
Best Wishes!
Bruce Rittel
Try resalting after 12 hours instead of 24 in this humid weather.You remove moister from the salt and the capes dry out a lot faster.