I purchased my auto tanner in late Feb, just now tanning first skin (racoon) and its the first one I've ever tanned. It was already skinned, I fleshed, salted, let drain 1 day, resalted, let dry for 2 weeks. Rehydrated yesterday in cool water with Rittels Ultrasoft for 2-3 hours and then put in tanner with 1.5 pounds autotanner crystals (flat skin) and 1 gal. hot water. Began running, noticed tank jumping slightly when turning, read their instructions on rolling skins, stopped tank, unrolled, then just let it sit mostly the rest of the first 2 hours and occasionally turned tank over 1-2 times to get good coverage. I then took out and shaved down pretty thin on Dakota 4 detail flesher but noted that skin wasn't uniform in color but rather was white in streaks and still brown looking in between. Anyway, I did shave over the entire skin and then put back in tanner and since I figured it would roll up again and I would have to tan it according to their instructions for that, I added another gallon of hot water and 1.5 pounds more of crystal and let it soak for 4 more hours under pressure and rotated tank 5 turns every half hour. I then quit and let it sit in tanning solution under pressure, made sure it was submerged, overnight. When took out this morning, its still not totally white but has patterns of varying color. My question is, is it tanned and do racoon skins not turn completely white? I did shave it down pretty thin. Like I said this is the first thing I've tanned and the first racoon skin I've seen tanned. I intend to tumble and oil now and let it sit the rest of the day and then bag and freeze tonight. One other quick question is what is the best way to repair small holes on a flat skin such as this one, sewing?
Thanks for your help!
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Noone can tell you for sure. I think the streak left are from it twisting up in the tank. I also think you are lucky the hair did not slip when you added hot water. Go ahead and check to see if the color is the same all the way through the hide, even with streaks it could be tanned.
Repairs are best when sewn.
Could be greasy spots.Did you degrease the skin?
degrease with dawn in cool water, someone else suggested might be that it wasn't rehydrated fully? I rehydrated in cool water with Rittel's Ultrasoft for 2 hours. I asked them what was the way to tell if it was fully rehydrated but got no response, it was very limber with not hard spots that I could tell? Like I said, I did even let it stay in the tank overnite after seeing this and having the rolling problem. Thanks for the input John, I'll check the hide to see if the colors all the way thru. Has anyone solved or have any solutions to the hide rolling up in the tanner?
Terry,If I had to take an educated guess I would say your hide wasnt totally rehydrated. I would next time use warmer water to rehydrate your skins. You have to mix your Ultrasoft with some lukewarm water before you submerge your hides. I believe you may have some dry areas that did not rehydrate. I would use a commercial degreaser such as Kemal from Knoblochs or Rittels super safety solvent instead of Dawn. Dawn detergent can really mess up the Ph in pickling and tanning if any soap is not totally rinsed out of the hide. Like I said this is just an educated guess but it sounds to me like it was not totally rehydrated and the crystals were not able to penetrate.The rolling in the chamber really should have no bearing.Coons tend to work better if dorsal cut with skin side out or case skinned but it shouldnt matter. Good luck, Mark