I would like to know how a tumbler helps to make a soft hide? Do you tumble for a while and then break the hide by hand or does the tumbler take it from start to finish. I have tanned alot of hides by hand and was wandering how much a tumbler can help.
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in circumference that you get a 5 or 6 foot drop out of it, it'll do the whole "breaking" process, if a smaller tumbler is used some "hand assistance" may be in order. That's on thick hides. I break fox, lynx and other small critters in a realitively small tumbler, [only a 2&1/2 foot drop} and it works fine. Alot has to do with what kind of tan and quality of the oil too. I'm not a professional tanner, I'm sure you'll get some better advice.
Yes - a 6' high by 4' wide is a great Drum for doing everything! you can do degreasing in it (add solvent to the sawdust) - and it shines the hair tips (friction from the sawdust) - and it drys the skin (absorbancy). But - unless you add 100 lbs. of sawdust to it - it simply wont do what you expect it to do!
Basically its the height of the "drop" and the weight of the sawdust pounding the skins that performs all the work for you!
PS - Dont build a Drum smaller than 6' X 4' if you expect to "soften" skins! Anything smaller is a waste of good money!