I just neutalized some hides that were pickled in saftee acid. I used one ounce of baking soda to a gallon of water. After I put my hides in this seperate bath I checked the ph with ph paper. In the liquid part of the bath my ph was between 5 and 6. I added some of my pickle to try and bring the ph down. I also held the ph paper pinched between the hides in different places and the level was 4. I left in netrualizing bath for around 20 minutes. Which level is best to go by?
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Trying to read the PH of a skin in solution is difficult - even using a PH Pen type PH indicator. The best it can do is read only the surface its exposed to - and not the inside of the skin - so my advice is - don't bother! As long as your skins average PH is above a 4.0 PH before it goes into an EZ-100 tan - it will tan! EZ-100 likes a skin whose PH is higher then the 4.0 of the tanning solution. Usually after soaking it in the neutralizing bath (which starts out at about a 7.9 PH) for 30 minutes the skins PH will drop somewhere between 4.5 - 5.0 PH. This is good. However, keep in mind that this is a short neutralization and the center of the flesh is more than likely lower - in the range of 3.5-4.5 PH. This good - because the tan will seek out the lower PH inside and then tan (or fix itself) towards the outside of the skin at a much slower rate (16-20 hours).
Dont go for a longer neutralization! In leather they can soak it for hours - but they dont have to worry about an epidermis and hair slippage. We do. 30 minutes is long enough for fur and hair skins. Just accept that you cannot hope for a complete neutralization throughout the skin and any PH readings you try to take on the skin are erroneous!
Thanks for the info.
I want to know, what is the pH of human skin?