I am doing my first hide tan.
It is in a vinegar pickle with salt.
I started out with 8 ibs of salt, 16 quarts of vinegar and 16 quarts of water.
As I have kept checking the PH I have had to keep adding more and more vinegar to keep the PH down!
I now have 26 quarts of vinegar to 16 quarts of water!
Is this ok?
The hides seem fine but I'm getting a little worried.
This is over about 7 days.
Also, I took one cape out and fleshed it on this new fleshing machine I bought and it took about 15 minutes to do the whole thing except for the face.
I tried to flesh the face with a scalpal and its taking forever!
I'm afraid to use the machine on the face.
Is there a special kind of knife for fleshing the face?
It just seems crazy that I spent 15 minutes fleshing 90% of the hide
and its taking me 2 hours to do the face and its still not thin enough!
Any help anyone can give me would be great.
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I never measure acid amounts, I always go by pH.
As for the fleshing machine a area around the eyes, lips and nose will needed to be done by hand, UNTIL YOU GET BETTER! I spent a few years learning to flesh the eyes and lips, so dont worry you will get it.
IF YOUR WORRIED ABOUT CUTTING THE FACE WHILE FLESHING, TRY A SKIFE KNIFE, IT ONLY ALLOWS A LITTLE AT A TIME TO BE REMOVED.
Did you skin these skins out? Did you rub Borax on them? It seems a bit unusual for the PH to go up so that you would have to compensate by using so much Vinegar. It's OK to rub on Sawdust or Salt as you go - but always try to avoid using Borax.
Yup, they are skinned out and all I used is salt.
Now I am starting to wonder if the PH strips are
defective because I just dipped one into pure vinegar and it showed
a PH of about 3!
That can't be right!
If the PH strips are giving me the wrong readings and I've been
adding extra vinegar when its not needed, then the real PH could be as low as 1 or even less!
Will this hurt my cape?
Where can I get a skife knife?
im a newby also and ruined some skins with vinegar! with the expense you have into the vinegar you should have got one of bruces products they are cheaper in the long run and they hold the ph better!
You can get a skife knife at Van Dykes or an other supplier. I use a razor blade, but I do own a skife knife, just works better for me. I have more control, and with the knife I have to stop and clean all the time. With the razor blades you will need and angled steel to resharpen every so often, with the knife get plenty of extra blades.
On your pickle, if you have any slippage I would recommend you leave your skins in no more than 3 days, I soak for no more than 2 days, with fleshing after the first day.
Dave
I don't know much about the vinegar method but it sounds like any other pickle. I see nobody ask you how many skins are you putting in this solution. I see by reading more than one. When a pickle is mixed up it will only handle so many skins. I gather you have a 4 gallon mix. Sometimes that may not be enough for one, yet alone two or three. When you have too much skin and not enough "acid", in your case vinegar, then your ph will raise because your skins are soaking it up. If you don't have enough acid then your ph raises until you place more into it. PROBLEM if you let it set too long before checking it, hence overnight, then your ph may raise to levels that may ruin your capes. Bigger deer, body weight and hair length, requires more acid in the mix or bigger mixes. I live in Illinois and use saftee acid if I'm doing my own. Going to switch to formic sometime. Anyway if I mix up a pickle I mix more. For each cape I mix 7 1/2 gallon per cape. I usually mix a 15 gallon pickle and put two at a time. If its a southern deer, or a doe, I do the standard 4 gallon. Guess what no ph changes AT ALL. I have put this post on so many times. I have left capes in pickles for two months and had no problems and never added any acid. Anyway there is my two cents worth.
Well Dave your 2 cents worth is worth alot more than that to me now!
I didn't even think of the quantity of pickle to the number of capes.
It all makes sense now.
Thanks!
Glad to help, I hope things work better in the future!