I'm fairly new at taxidermy and wasn't taught to salt the skins prior to pickling/tanning. With some unsuccessful hides, I thought I'd research and try it. Some of you swear by this practice, and it makes sense. I've read some conflicting advice on the drying time, though. Does it help to dry the skins "rock hard"? Or, is it okay to rehydrate after only about 48 hours of salting and double-salting where the skin is dry but still somewhat bendable?
I have salted a skin this weekend, and it's going on probably it's 60th hour (2 1/2 days). So far, no hair is jumping out... yey!
Another thing: I plan to rehydrate this thing in a 5 gallon bucket with 3 gallons of water and 6 pounds of salt for 4-5 hours. That right? Then I'll rinse it and move it directly into safety acid. That right? I sure hope this works... but if it doesn't, it's a practice hide.
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Without leaving myself wide open for attack since that is what a lot of people on here do...
There really isn't a wrong or right answer for your questions. It might work for you and someone else but it might not work for the people in another area. This is what works for me and I'm sure if you search with the orange button you will find at least a couple other ways of doing it.
I have salt dried hides for a minimum of 12 hours and have salted them to rock hard conditions. Humidity and temperature will dictate the amount of time that your hide should be salted. I generally like to salt my hides at night rolled up on an incline. When I get home from work the next day I unroll and then brush of old wet salt and then apply a new layer to the skin lying flat on a sloped surface and leave it that way. The next day I will take the hide and rehydrate and wash in water with a handfull of salt and bactericide (just for good measure). For extremely salt dried hides I place hide in a solution of ultra soft, salt, and a bactericide overnight or until the hide is relaxed. If the hide is greasy or dirty I will then degrease with a degreaser or dawn detergent. Then I allow the hide to drain and place into the pickle. This method seems to give me my best results. I have tried a few different things and I generally always go back to a very salt dried hide.
Good luck and it's good to see you have learned from some mistakes in your past. You should be ok -- you might not need that much salt in your three gallons of water.
Dan Moon -- Grasshopper
Dan Moon -- Grasshopper
Dan Moon
You don't need to do that to ryhydrate a hide. I just use water with Rittels ultra soft, no extra salt, no bacteriacide. Just follow the direstions and you will not have any problems with you hide. I have soak them in the water and ultra soft for 18 hrs and no ill effects.
The method your trying is not needed, you have way to much salt in the water. If you going this route then just a pound to a gallon but I don't do it this way cause it's just not needed but it's a safe way and may take a while longer for it to rehydrate.
and three different answers! It sounds to me that you are following Bruce's recommendations, and I think you are on the right track. I do not use a bacteriacide when relaxing the hides, I let the salt solution take care of that. I have not used Ultrasoft yet, as deer capes that are salt dried rock hard will soften up fine without Ultrasoft, for me.
Bacteria like warm wet conditions, so the opposite is what you are trying to achieve. Bruce recommends that you fold salted hides on an incline, never roll them as this causes the fluids to puddle, although I have never rolled them to try it, it would seem the fluids would just run out of the end. Once the hide starts to dry out on the incline, I hang it up and put a fan on it to dry it fast, flesh side out and hair side in.
I have read that drying the hide rock hard helps "lock" the hair in the epidermis and preps the epidermis for the various soaks that are soon to follow. Bruce told me once on the phone that leaving a hide in a soak for an extended time is like staying in the bath tub too long, rock hard drying is supposed to prevent slippage in the soaks.
Glen Conley would have a different viewpoint to add, and he has a website with a lot of info. on his method. You can find him with the orange search. Good Luck.
Thanks for the help. I didn't have any bacteriacide or Ultrasoft on hand, so I used the salt brine method and the hide was relaxed from a stiff pliable state in about 3-4 hours. I then rinsed and placed in the pickle. I'm about to pull it out of the tan now, and it looks successful. Yay! I noticed a total difference with adding the salt drying method before pickling. The hair seems really set, and my pickle bath was much prettier.
Thanks again,
Kristi