I have tanned two buffalo hides with a mixture of alum, salt and water. Now the two hides are really stiff. How do I get the hides soft and flexible. Thanks.
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Thomas;
Actually all you did was preserve the hides. I don't like the alum tans. Alum is used to perserve things, and not tan them. What tanning involves is the conversion of raw skins into leather. And I don't believe a alum actually turns raw skins into leather. I like the Lutan-F tanning myself. I use to use Leukanol tan, but since going to the Lutan-f I see a big inprovement in my hides. Also no tanning is going to give you a soft tan unless you do some kind of breaking. Either using a breaking tool, or tumbling the hides. You have to break up the fibers in the skin to produce a soft and pliable hide.
Coyote
To do a proper job of tanning with alum, you have to manipulate the pH a little. You start low to get good penetration and hair set, and then basify to get a good bonding to the collagen fibers.
A vast majority of fur dressing, buffalo tanning, and taxidermy tanning is still done with aluminum sulphate as the primary agent. But as Coyote says, breaking is a different matter. To get the skins soft you must oil and break, and breaking a buffalo is nigh on impossible to do by hand.
Best bet at this point is re-tannage with EZ-100 or similar synthetic, then oil. Skins will dry much softer, though still not what you could easily wad up without breaking.