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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Terry,
The only time that I have ever had this happen was when I put a couple of muskrats in the tanner when the weren't totally rehydrated.
What did the hide look like when you put it in the tanner?
Don't exactly remember but that could be it I guess, I just soaked it for 2 hours in the Ultrasoft and went ahead with it. What should I be looking for to be sure it's fully rehydrated? It was very limber. My main concern is it tanned and will it be ok if it wasn't totally rehydrated? I did soak it in the tanner overnight. Like I said, this was the first one I've tanned myself so any and all info is greatly appreciated. By the way I like your name. :)