Has anyone heard on a Sulferic Acid Paste Tan? It's formula is
1/2 ounce pure, sulfuric acid or 1 1/2 ounces automotive sulferic acid, 1 pound of salt. Add enough water to make a paste, and spread it on the flesh side of a skin. Cover with sheet plastic and let stand six hours. Scrape off old past and apply a new layer, leaving it uncovered to dry.
If so, is it a good tan. Also when i tanned some raccoons and a muskrat i used Rittels pro plus oil to oil the skins. when they were about 90% dry i rubbed in the oil and worked the furs. I stunk so bad. I left the skins out side for about two weeks and now they are ok but do you have any advise on something else to use as oil or maybe something different i should do.
Thanks
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I can't help you with the sulfuric acid tan, but it does not seem to involve any tanning agent, just acid as used in a pickle. I have read once that sulfuric acid is a poor choice for pickling.
You did not give enough info. prior to your oiling the coon and muskrat skins to know what could have gone wrong. Most likely they were not degreased and the fat is what is rancid. How were they tanned? Were they fleshed thoroughly, salted,dried,rehydrated, pickled, shaved, pickled,degreased, rinsed, neutralized, rinsed, tanned and then oiled?
You may want to try Amy Ritchie's website for complete tanning instructions, www.AmysTaxidermy.com And if you use the orange search button on the left you can find months worth of reading on all tanning topics. Also Bruce Rittel has a website that will give you some ideas, and he can fill you in on sulfuric acid.
Another shade tree, haxidermist trick.
Get your self some books on tanning from Rittels.
Its not rocket science, but then you are not a scientist either.
What's the difference between "pure" H2SO4 and the "automotive" grade? And still ain't figured how the salt will turn to a "paste". If any of you guys live close to Tyler, move away quickly. He's a threat to national security mixing crap like that up. And Mike, you're absolutely right. We used sulfuric acid 40 years ago and it's brutal. It's a very harsh pickle at best and you always felt as if you were dealing with a plague in that vat.
But you can bet it's dangerous. On mixing the acid and water....be careful...it generates a lot, and I mean a LOT of heat. Enough so to boil the water which turns to steam, which expands rapidly, which in turn can cause the acid to violently splash or explode. But you won't see this it all happens so quickly. Always add acid to water, never the reverse. Wear safety equipment.
So to answer your question:
Pure acid is100% sulfuric and automotive a percentage of that mixed with water, usually 65% water 35% sulfuric.
But to dissuade you:
If you use pure sulfuric acid, my best guess is that after 6 hours you'll have very little workable hide left. It'll most likely fall to pieces or disintegrate. Your pH will be well below zero.
If your method does succeed, You'll always have a small percentage of sulfate left behind in the hide. It will draw small amounts of moisture when damp enough which in turn will form the acid again..Over a period of time the hide will fall apart.
For instance:
Take a look at old library books..The pages are brittle and yellow from age, The old paper was made using a process that utilized a sulfuric acid digest of the pulp. Those left behind sulfates are slowly eating away at the paper..
And:
Please don't take your acid from old batteries. They contain lead to complete their reaction. Thus the acid contains dissolved lead, one of the most dangerous forms of lead...
There are safer methods.
What is the deal George and John. All i asked was one simple question and you guys write crap resposes like that. "Move away from Tyler. He's a threat to national security mixing crap like that up" he says. It was just a question. I read that formula in "The Complete Book of Tanning Skins and Furs" by James E. Churchill. It is in the back under acid tans.
I have tanned furs before using ez - 100 and they turned out good but i was just wondering about the paste tan. Mabye next time you guys should keep to yourself unless you can actually awnser my question with information that i need.
Then you've learned a valuable lesson that may not have dawned on you yet. Look for the date of publication. Any and I mean ANY book over 20 years old or more should be looked at with doubt first. Those old taxidermy books COULD kill you and if they still allowed arsenic soap to be sold over the counter, many of you WOULD be dead. Methods have change so dramatically and drastically that it's very hard for old farts like John and me to understand sometimes where some of these ideas come from.
And cyclone, thanks. I knew I was too damned old. Back in the days when I worked in a gas station, batteries came in dry and you bought sulfuric acid PURE from the supply house. You measured out the right amount of water and put it into the cell openings. THEN you measured out the acid and poured it into the cells as well. We never heard of "diluted" acid and today's cars - well, no one knows anything about "checking the battery and the oil" any more anyway. That's what they pay the Jiffy Lube guy to do but even he can't check a sealed battery.
Hs04 is not so bad, really. Automotic is dilluted with ~35% water, that's the only difference.
The acid acts as an oxidizer to carbon based flesh which is alaphatic in nature to begin with. The Acid reduces the fat to a stable state.
Dilluted takes longer but less risk to fur and you, wash quickly with plenty of water if accident. Never add water to acid ONLY ACID TO WATER in any container. Salt pack keeps fluid from draining through to fur, that's all.
Final product can be neutralised with dilute lye solution, in vat until squeezed rinse = neutral on PH testing kit (7)=neutral. All which remains is salts as biproducts of the conversions, plus the salt paste that was added. Simple, not danergous unless in the hands of one lacking study and prudent measures. Never breath active fumes.
Hi there,
Sorry to but in on tanning hides, but I'm desperate to find how to make up a 40% to 60% strength sulfuric acid paste. Need this to increase resin yields from Pine Trees. Can anyone please help me?
Have learned a typical paste contains small amounts of a lubricant-gum ( to reduce drying out), an acid-emulsifier (to prevent separation of oil and aqueous phases), a pyrogenic silica (to act as thickener) and a carrier such as finely graded pecan shell or rice bran flour (to impart adhesive qualities to the paste and provide texture), and the concentration of the acid to make the paste as said 40% to 60%.
Would be most grateful for any assistance offered.
Best regards, John Pavlou