I have absolutely no experience with tanning, but I'm combination poor/cheap/independent (heavy on the cheap). I got a roadkill coyote, and a trapper friend gave me a fox and coon pelt. I want to make some quivers out of them. I bought a couple of the Van Dykes Lutan kits out of Cabelas. I haven't started the coon, but have soaked the fox and yote for three days now in the pickle (Safetee acid, still at pH 1). Stirred daily. I was told both fox and yote have thin hide, so I figured I wouldn't need to shave them, since I don't mind if they are somewhat stiff. For my application it would almost be preferable.
I salted them and left them for only 12 hours, then threw them in the pickle where they've been for 3 days. I neutralized the fox this morning and put it in the Lutan soak. After reading some of the threads here, I'm starting to worry about whether I pickled it adequately. Especially since I didn't scrape the hide during pickling. It was skinned pretty clean and I tried scraping it before salting, but didn't want to tear either pelt.
My questions are many.
1. Do I need to shave these thin skins to get the pickle to take?
2. Should I reneutralize the fox and put it back in the pickle?
3. Should I neutralize, rinse and salt and let them dry somewhat and start over?
4. What is meant by splitting the eyes and lips? I didn't do this.
5. What is meant by removing nose cartilege? Is that the little round tubes of the nostrils? I didn't do this either.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I am trying to learn fast. Like I said the yote is still in the pickle, and I haven't started the coon yet.
Return to Tanning Category Menu
What common household/woodworking tool can I use to shave these hides if they need to be thinned? And how about breaking, can I do that on a dull axe head? I'm thinking my head's too dull.
I just read more in the archives. I see that splitting the tail is necessary? We stripped the tails off the meat/bone and I didn split the tails. I have tried to get both salt and pickling solution down in there though. And if you split, do you have to sew them back together afterwards I suppose?
This is interesting stuff, wish I'd come across this place a little sooner.
In further reading, I see where getting a skin hot makes the hair slip. Now I'm glad I was freezing my butt off trying to scrape these skins the other night. At the time I wasn't so pleased.
Jump in at any time. Though I can entertain myself adequately in the meantime.
Looks like you should have done at least a little research first, ya know probally every libary ive been in has books on tanning and taxidermy and they dont cost anything to read, not to mention probally every question your asking has probally 50+ replies located within the little orange search button.
1. Do I need to shave these thin skins to get the pickle to take?
>>>>it will take but may not take uniformally
2. Should I reneutralize the fox and put it back in the pickle?
>>>>finish pickeling then nuteuralize
3. Should I neutralize, rinse and salt and let them dry somewhat and start over?
>>>>Youve allready started see it through
4. What is meant by splitting the eyes and lips? I didn't do this.
>>>>>eyelids and lips are like a fold of skin you need to poen these up and remove any meat in them
5. What is meant by removing nose cartilege? Is that the little round tubes of the nostrils? I didn't do this either.
>>>>>>your not mounting them so after there done pickleing just cut them off and yes there the tubes.
I know you said your cheep but if your serious about tanning and are going to continue do your self a favor and invest in a book at least.
Thanks for the info. I guess I thought the kit would have enough instructions to see me through. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. This all started with me picking up a very nice roadkill coyote, and it snowballed from there.
Like I said, the fox is now in the Lutan so I'm going to carry it through and see what happens. I'll turn the ears inside out and split the tail and hope for the best there.
I'm going through the searches and trying to glean info, it is tough to slog through 50 posts to find a pertinent tidbit. I did see where there is minimal shaving required on these thin-skinned animals, just some on back and face.
Dont get me wrong Im not belitteling you or what your doing in any way and if I can help I will but alot of people come into this thinking that its a cake walk and it realy isnt. People spend alot of time and money learning how to tan and taxi. And just want you to know what your in for. Dont let the snowball stop rolling if your serious like I said invest in some books and\or videos or hit a libary and become proficient in it. I know the 50 or so posts are tough to get through but youll learn alot if you can get thru some of the crap that goes with it. Try these they have some really good info and of course use the search button it really is a great thing;
1 http://www.hidetanning.net/
2 http://www.AmysTaxidermy.com/ look at her HOW TO TAN section its really good
3 and of course; http://Rittelsupplies.net/ Bruce Rittel has great products (as do many of the other suppliers listed under the suppliers link above) and Bruce has a world of knowledge he seems very willing to pass on. I could go on for awhile like this but these are a few places to start Some of the supplier sites have instrution areas in their sites and links to other great sites. Sorry if I came over wrong in my first reply I was just trying to help and hope this helps a little more.
We offer a Free tanning and technical booklet to anyone who emails their address to us here at Knoblochs. Tom You will need to degrease them hides as well. We will also have videos available soon.
The free books makes tanning simple.
Mark
mark@Knoblochs.com
I split the tail on the fox yesterday afternoon, it looks like the tan might've gotten in there because I'm not seeing any hair coming off to this point. Took it out of the Lutan F last night, and rubbed it good with the Pro Plus. I can see where there is some membrane in various places, but a lot of it is the blue color of thinned hide so I'm hopeful. I layed it in the bathtub overnight (understanding wife) and it didn't dry that much so it is hanging here in my office today. Hope I don't get a lot of visitors.
I also split the tail on the yote that is in the pickle. No big wads of fur coming off this one either. I'll be shaving the hide before I take it to the next step, now that I see what needs to be done. I have high hopes for this one, and I'll definitely do the coon justice as well.
On using a wire wheel on a grinder for shaving, does this throw stuff everywhere? Should I be setting it up outside or can it be done in the garage? Will I be liable to cut through the hide doing this? I may just take my time and scrape it with a knife.
Well that is today's installment. Hopefully I'll have good news to report on the fox, I have a fan on it and I'm hoping to be able to break it this afternoon.
Sorry didn't mean to leave you or anyone out just trying to get him started Knoblochs has great products also. Thats one other thing TOM dont be afraid to use different products and methods and pick which works best for you.
Really, I did deserve to get a tongue-lashing for jumping into this without doing my homework. And I'm not sure I will be doing a whole lot of tanning, but it certainly is interesting stuff and theres a whole lot of details to attend to. I am enjoying this a whole lot, and my boy is watching closely and even the wife has been interested. She even let me use the bathtub to apply the Proplus, what a woman. I was told not to use her dryer as a tumbler though.
As for degreasing, I did skip this step on the fox, mainly because it seemed to not be greasy in the first place. It really had no fat on the hide from the git-go (I didn't skin it so I don't know about the nutritional state of the animal). I will certainly degrease the yote and especially the coon, that coon had some serious fat on it of course. Hopefully the grease on this fox won't cause me problems. It is drying nicely in the fume hood here at work, and I'm stretching it and the hide is turning a whiteish opaque color when I do the dry areas. I think thats what its supposed to do?
Thanks also for the offer of the booklet, and for the useful websites. I will be checking them all out. I noticed Mr. Rittel was a resident expert here, that is excellent. I wish I'd ordered my first stuff from that company, although I did talk to a fellow named Olin at Van Dykes and he was helpful in answering some of my newbie questions.
I never did get the ears turned on this fox, is there a trick to that? I've been careful to get the solutions down in the hair side of the pelt at each step though. And what are the little brown lumps under the skin of this animal? Are those ticks or something?
I like that girl! Namely because her website says you can tan light skins such as fox and yote without shaving, and tells what to use to shave (scalpel) if you don't have a shaving machine. And, she also says that degreasing is not necessary for fox and yote, which is good because I skipped that step on this fox (will do the yote though just to be safe). All in all, a good terse description of the process.
One thing I'm seeing, is that there is some conflicting info with respect to which steps can or cannot be omitted in all this. Things like shaving the skin of thin-skinned animals, degreasing, salting or not salting, and drying or not drying prior to pickling. I suppose this is just personal preference based on one's own experiences with the business. But its tough for a new guy like me to come up with a game plan. Basically, my game plan came about from a lack of knowledge, I'm not sure I'd have omitted the steps I did (no shaving, no degreasing, no double-salting nor drying prior to pickle) had I read about these steps from the beginning. But its going to be interesting to see how this first pelt comes out.
My fox is finishing up drying now, and it is coming out pretty soft even before I break it. There are some areas that are drying slowly, but I read in the archives and found some remedial measures. I turned the fur side out and dried that in front of a fan, then reversed it again and let it hang overnight. If the last few spots don't dry, I'll rub sawdust on them. But I think I just need to let it dry another day and it'll be done. Then I'll lightly sand some of the areas that are a little rough-looking. But, no hair is slipping yet. I suppose I will see some slippage on the ears in time, because I did not flip them.
Next up, yote. I am going to shave on it some tonight. And then I have to get the coon started, will give it the double salt and dry first just for the experience. This is certainly an interesting hobby. Too bad it will be over soon, and I will have to wait until next winter for more hides. I already have one daughter who is asking for the fox quiver. When I get the quivers finished I'll post some pics.
Last night when I got home, I stretched on the fox again and the rest of the hide turned white! I don't think I'm going to need to do much breaking at all, the thing is pretty darned soft and plenty good for a quiver. I turned it right side out, and some of the fur is still a bit oily, so I have it in a bag of pine shavings and am shaking it now and again (poor man's tumbler). If that doesn't do it I'll find some mineral spirits to add to the sawdust. A good blowing out of the shavings and I'm finished. Of course I'll be watching the thing over the next fe months to see if anything winds up slipping. Especially the ears, I didn't turn the ears.
I did a little more fleshing on the yote, and checked pH on the pickle. Still right around 1. This weekend the yote will be carried through the rest of the steps. I need to learn more about turning ears, I looked at the ears on the yote and it wasn't immediately obvious what I needed to do so I left it until I can search this site for more explicit instructions.