Acid Swell

You need to use cattle grade mixing salt. You can get it at your local feed store.

 

It also could be your water. Sometimes the water company changes formulas.

 

Sometimes it truly amazes me some of the things I read on here.

 

Now, now George, we all need help from time to time. LOL
I'd stay away from the course salt. Get yourself some hide salt or go to your local Super market and get some cheap cooking salt from there for your tan mixes etc. Disolves quickly. make sure it is plain salt with no additives.

 

You need some salt in all your solutions nuetralizing, washing etc. 1/4 # per Gal will suffice. You pickle needs 1# per gal.

 

60 minutes in the baking soda ??????????????????? Isn't that a bit long ?

 

As I have mentioned before, anytime a skin is subjected to acid, salt has got to be present to prevent acid swell ! once this happens to a skin it is useless, garbage, Irreversibly damaged . Safety factor - SALT !

 

Hudson, I had a lifesize axis deer hide blow up on me in a neutralizing bath because I DIDN'T add salt. I talked with Bruce Rittel and he told me that was my culprit. Don't know for sure, but I'll take the advice of someone who does this for a living.

 

The salt stays in.

 

This is my opinion, and I have said it before.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING, AS ACID SWELL!

Its ALL OSMOTIC SWELL! Without salt, or enough of it, a skin, IN ANY GIVEN SOLUTION, will "swell", or get rubbery.

The tans and oils used, for TRUE leather tanning, a very resistant to swelling, because they dont care sooo much about stretch. A TRUE leather tannage, is trying to fill all the "voids" in the collegen structure, by tanning, and re-tanning again!

Taxidermy tanning, is much different, in this perspective. WE, in Taxidermy tanning, have no desire to fill in all the "voids", by "stacking" tannage, opon tannage, to fill them.

WE desire, to, tan the skin structure, and oil it, but we have to leave the small(microscopic) voids to allow the skin to stretch. We dont want them filled!

To make a long story short, a skin that is tanned for Taxidermy, will STILL swell, even after it has been tanned! The tannage for OUR capes, is NOT as resistant to water, and requires salt, to prevent osmotic swell. Thats just a fact of life.

I hope someone understands this? Acid isnt the culprit.

 

Well put OS.. I was watching for you to chime in on one of your favorite subjects. Now how about KT??? while you are on a roll.

 

Absolutely get rid of the "Rock Salt"! It contains too many minerals that interfere with the chemicals you are trying to use for tanning! That can cause problems! Even a color change in the Tan!

Do not neutralize so long before tanning or applying the paint-ons! 20-30 minutes is sufficient - longer is detrimental and could weaken the epidermis! And due to the long period of soak you use - yes - acid swelling will occur! Neutralization before the tan is only intended to raise the pH of the piece slightly - not completely neutralize it throughout.

 

Pigsrus, I, possibly better than most, understand a thirst for knowledge, but knowledge should start at home. This site had a poor search engine compared to the OLD forums (at the top of the page) but most questions such as yours, especially for beginners and new guys have been answered a multitude of times . . . if only people would look before they type.

But ACTUALLY, I wasn't addressing your post as many of the things you did were correct while a few of them led you to your problems. THAT is what the forum is for and it worked well in your case. The REAL issue I was addressing was the one about the water companies changing the "recipe" for their water. That's a new one on me as the FDA applies rather stringent requirements on "city water" to include mineral content as well as pH. And if you were using a well of your own, that's a whole nuther matter. Still, in the years that I've been doing this, if you follow the proper steps, the WATER has been the last ingredient one needed to concern themselves with.

 

You really need to ditch the rock salt. That 5% is enough to throw everything akilter sometimes. For the price of regular salt, it's not worth it. I use regular salt off the shelf. I bought a 25 pound bag of "ultra fine bakers salt" at the local grocery for less than $8. It dissolves very quickly and is absolutely clean of impurities.