I am going to attempt to tan a coyote I caught a few weeks ago. I will be using your products because they were highly recommended. Now for the catch. I have never fleshed a hide, dried, or tanned a hide. I need very detailed instructions from taking the frozen pelt out of the freezer all the way to obtaining a soft tanned, case skinned pelt. Please advise all products I need to buy. Complete kit's would be more useful. I do not know anything about Ph, salting or pickleing. Our temperature here usually averages around the 60's for lows to around the 80's for the highs this time of year. Our humidity is usually high so I do not know how this will effect the drying times for each step in the process. After the hide is fleshed and dried, what steps are there before the pickle process? how do you get a stiff dried hide into the pickle solution? what type container should I use? If this works I have several coon, nutria and opossum to tan also. Thanks
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The link below gives good step-by-step instructions on tanning, as well as a slide show of skinning a small animal. Although the skinning is not the same as for your coyote, you want to start at the backs of the rear legs and cut up and skin from there, basically undressing the animal as you go. I recently watched my friend skin a coyote, and it takes a little work. You have to be careful, the skin on a yote isn't real thick and can tear.
http://www.AmysTaxidermy.com/
Start typing in key words using the search button, you won't get too much spoonfeeding here. I know, I asked the same sorts of questions a few days ago (see below). Type in things like:
fleshing
salting
pickling
degreasing
neutralizing
tanning
oiling
And consider getting a book or video, it might be of help to you. Someone mentioned a free booklet on my thread below.
I bought a kit from Cabelas, a Van Dykes Lutan F kit. It has safetee acid, Lutan F for tanning, and ProPlus oil. The kit from Rittel is supposed to be similar, and is similarly priced. The fact that he comes here and asnwers questions, is a good reason to patronize his store. I only found this place after I'd started tanning.
I have a yote in the pickle right now. I just got done with a fox.
I fleshed and then salted these pelts but didn't dry them, just left them 12 hours and threw them in the pickle. I did not turn ears, nor did I split lips or eyes. I did split the tails, but only after they'd been in the pickle for awhile. I did not shave the skins either, these skins are thin and supposedly the only place you might shave is the back and face. Without shaving, the skin will be a little stiffer in these areas. But since I'm not mounting these furs, I don't care. Fox and yote have very thin skins, and supposedly don't HAVE to be degreased. I didn't degrease the fox at all, I probably will do the dishwashing liquid step on the yote just for practice.
By the way, my fox came out good, at least no hair slipping yet. Only time will tell, on the ears. I am hopeful for the yote. And I have a coon in the freezer, I will have to do some real degreasing on that pelt since they are very fatty.
Anyway, good luck to you. Tanning is a fun hobby, lots to learn and apparently many different ways to go about things to get a satisfactory result.
Sounds like things are coming along good. That Free tanning and technical booklet is from Knoblochs just so Dwight knows it really is packed with lots of info. Just so you know use the degreasing wash with every hide you do. A quick wash in cold water with DAWN dish soap and rinse it really good, does wonders to a hide both degreasing and cleaning. Glad all is going good with your hides let us know how the yote turns out, and how you like that stinky slimy coon. ( I hate doing them)
Oh boy, I got something to look forward to!
I'll have to get some Dawn, I was going to just use the generic but everyone says use Dawn. I'm going to use some solvent for degreasing the coon.
I'll request the technical booklet here soon. I think tanning is getting in my blood. Hopefully it will help preserve me in my old age, or at least reduce the undertaker bill when I go.
Next thing to do, is find a decent source of info on skinning. Watching my friend was invaluable, but as time goes by I'm sure the memory will fade. Already I'm not completely clear on how he dealt with the anal and urinary tract areas.
Thank you for your in put. I need all the help I can get. Do either of you know anything about this Ph thing?
Dwight,
Try out some of Rittels tanning kits. The instructions are laid out real well, and saftey acid and EZ-100 are real stable to use and non-toxic. You can tan anywhere since theres no smell.
Your going to need 2 ranges of ph paper,0.0-3.0 and 3.0-5.5, these two papers will tell you where both your pickel and your tanner are.
Like I said Bruce Rittels goodies are the easiest I've found, most stable and no smell. I'm sure everyone has there favorite, and Rittels is mine. Makes nice, soft leather, and is a real nice tan.
Ron Z
It's easy. Make a straight cut from ankle to ankle, cut just above the vulva on a female, so that the vulva and anus end up on the same side of the cut. On a male coyote or fox you make the straight cut, from ankle to ankle, between the base of the penis and the testes, making sure to leave enough space between the 2 for good sewing later.
Then peel the skin back until you have the leg bones exposed. Cut through them between hock and ankle so that the feet hang down. Then pull and strip, or incise, the tail, and remove the tailbone. Then just start PULLING... you're good to go.
Be careful around the eyes. Putting your finger in to the eye to cut around it neartly will work - by keeping your cuts gentle enough not to hurt your own finger.
It is also helpful to incise the gum tissue through the mouth, as best you can. This gives you a cleaner finish later.
Cased skinning is preferred in case you decide later on that you don't want to mount, but want to sell to a fur buyer. Open and dorsal cut stuff doesn't go over well at all (if it even sells at the Damaged / IV rate) in fur auctions or with buyers.
The yote I saw skinned was a female. And he did it like you described. The guy has been trapping for several years and knows his stuff. He talked about taking pride in his skinning, which I thought was admirable.
Dwight, my kit came with pH multipaper. The directions didn't say to test the tan, just the pickle. My pickle was right around pH 1 and it stayed that way the whole time the skins were in there. I saw elsewhere that the tan is supposed to be at the 4-5 range like was said above. I'll have to test mine, I have the yote in the tan right now. One tip, you can tear off 1/4" of paper and test with it, you don't need the whole strip. Makes the pH paper last a lot longer. By the way, pH 1 is a mild acid and you probably don't want to be reaching your hands down in it for extended periods. And the tan, wewll, it tans skin so you want gloves there too. And safety glasses for both.
I degreased my yote last night, turns out the wife uses Dawn Ultra so I used the good stuff like instructed. I degreased for about 30 minutes and then put the pelt back in the pickle overnight. This morning I rinsed it good and neutralized, then rinsed again and put it n the tan. Supposed to go for 13-15 hours. Means I'll be rubbing tanning oil on the hide late this evening, and drying it starting tomorrow. I'm anxious to see how this yote comes out, since it was roadkill and sat in my truck bed for a day. It was cold at the time, but its still a dicey thing. No fur floating so far.
Bruce Rittel has allowed me to post instructions for some of his kits here
http://apakart.com/Rittel's_Instructions.html These are the instructions that come with the kits.