I have never worked with furs before, and just completed skinning a skunk (intense!) I used a solution of peroxide, baking soda and detergent to knock down the smell, and washed both the dead skunk with this, as well as the skin, after removal from the animal.
Now I have a skin that still has some flesh/fat/chunky white bits (affected by the peroxide, I'm sure) on the inside.
I made an incision from the anus to chin, but managed to keep the feet and nose intact (there are small holes on the forearms of a couple of the paws).
I would like to end up with a soft hide, keeping the paws 'tubular', and as soft as possible...I believe that my next step is to scrape off the flesh, although this seems like it will be challenging in the 'paw tubes'. After this, I believe that I need to tan it, but I am not sure of the best method.
Currently the hide is soaking in salt water, as I learn my options.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Jen :)
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Not sure if soaking it in salt water is a good option for a long periond of time, if you looking for answers before you proceed. You should have frozen it after skinning, can always go back and do your fleshing later. Which I think is where you're at now - Fleshing. If you are going to tirn this into a rug you will need to cut the skin under the for the arms, from the armpit to the foot pad to open them up for fleshing. Plus you will need to remove all of the material inside the feet - muscle, bones, tendons, etc all the way down to the last digit. This is the last bone in which the toe nail is attached. You will also have to remove the cartilage from the nose, turn the ears, eye lids and split the lips to allow the salt to get to these areas. After you have done that you must salt the hide (flesh side) with white grain salt (You can get this from any feed store) shake the salt off after 24 hours then salt agin for another 24 hours. Then let it dry rock hard - this will help set the hair. Then you must rehydrate the hide - 1 cup of salt to ever gallon of water. Then mix an acid bath - 1 cup salt, saftee acid until you obtain a ph of 1 to 1.5, for ever gallon of water. This helps plump the skin for shaving. Which means thinning the flesh side of the skin down to help prevent shrinkage not removing the hair. Then you must neutralize the skin before tanning. Mix 1 cup salt, backing soda, to ever gallon of water. Add enough backing soda until you feel little bubbles coming from the skin. Aftering that you should be able to tan. Which ever tanning soultion you use, follow their directions. After tanning you can add a tanning oil to help get a soft skin. Hope this helps, if I forgot another thing someone please add it. Andy
I have rinsed and frozen the skin while I plan my next steps. I am not sure exactly what I am going to do with the hide, and would like to keep the feet intact. Currently the feet are peeled down to the just the digits, although these are still inside the hide. What happens if I leave them inside the hide...Is there a way to keep them soft.
I believe that I need to scrape the inside of the skin at some point (?fleshing)- is this before I start the salting steps that you describe above? What tools/techniques can you recommend for this?
Thanks!
Jen :)
I have rinsed and frozen the skin while I plan my next steps. I am not sure exactly what I am going to do with the hide, and would like to keep the feet intact. Currently the feet are peeled down to the just the digits, although these are still inside the hide. What happens if I leave them inside the hide...Is there a way to keep them soft.
I believe that I need to scrape the inside of the skin at some point (?fleshing)- is this before I start the salting steps that you describe above? What tools/techniques can you recommend for this?
Thanks!
Jen :)
The way I flesh my hides is with either scaple blades or single sided razor blades (and the fleshing is done before you salt the hide). I hold the hide in one hand letting it drap over the back of by hand and kind of use my fist as a flesh horn to work the blade between the meat/tissue and the hide. You can tell if you are there by the whitish membrane that holds the hide to the tissue. When you have some big pieces sometimes you can just peel that flesh right off the hide. It is not recommended to leave the toe bones, tissue, etc. in the foot as it will rot, cause an odor and attract bugs, it really needs to be removed for best results. Hope this helps, Andy.