Hides Are Cracking After Ez 100 Tan

I didn't thoroughly degrease my hides before tanning, so I went through and redid the entire process. Now that they are ready to start breaking the edges are hard and shatter like glass. The skin just cracks off into pieces on the thinner parts.


Is this a result of tanning it twice, or did something else happen? I just want to make sure I don't get this result on the next ones.

 

Badger

 

These were definitely completely degreased. I did it multiple times until the water was clean.

Could it be burned from the first time of not degreasing?

FWIW the first couple I did with Curatan came out great and I only used a little bit of dish soap to degrease. Not sure why super solvent is doing a lesser job. Maybe I'll just go back to Dawn.

I know everyone says follow the directions exactly, but that didn't work. Is it ok to wash/degrease the snot out of it 3 or 4 times until it's clean as long as it goes back in the pickle?

 

Dawn may not be as good as super solvent but would it be ok to use it in conjunction with it? Super solvent would be very expensive for what I'm doing if I had to run multiple baths per hide. Could I do 3-4 washes with dawn then a final one with super solvent?

I'm not doubting you that each hide is different, it just seems odd that I did several with Dawn that came out amazing and then all the ones I did with super solvent didn't get degreased.

You keep mentioning following the directions but I did. They say to do one degreasing bath and don't mention doing it again. It may not have been done "right" but it was done according to the directions.

One thing that was differently is I used a wire wheel which seemed to have somewhat shaved it too. There was a ton of tiny pieces of rawhide/skin all over it as it was quite messy. I was thinking maybe all these turned into a sort of hide glue? When I felt the hair it literally felt like super sticky paste, not grease. Thoughts on that possibility?

 

I have nothing vested in these heights other than a ton of time and elbow grease. Anything that has a lot of meaning to me gets professionally done.

I do want to get very proficient in Home tanning because I love pelts, but sending each one off would cost an absolute fortune. Plus I’d like to get into garment making as a hobby.

 

Haaahahaha ok get angry about it!! How many times are you also going to say it in the same breath as “you didn’t follow the directions” despite the directions only saying to do it once

 

I know he has, and I was appreciative up until the temper tantrum.

My directions said “Degrease by soaking for 30 minutes in super solvent and warm water and then return to pickle.”

In multiple threads this guy has told me to “Stop thinking and just follow the directions exactly” and then tells me I should have done extra things not mentioned. So excuse me if I wanted clarification to make sure I knew exactly which way was correct.

 

O

Ok Boomer. Guess it’s hard to admit you contradicted yourself. Who’s pigheaded? I’ve told you I followed the directions yet you’re still saying I didn’t. We’re you standing over my shoulder?


Clearly I messed up. Mostly by listening to you. Before I listened to your advice to “do them all over” I may have had sticky hair but they were soft and were able to be broken in lmao!!

In all serious I have no issue admitting when I did something wrong. But I’m not going to sit here and say I did when I didn’t. I followed the directions MINUS shaving, you mouth breather. Idgaf if you believe me or not. As I already said the hair felt like it was sticky from some type of breakdown from the powdery hide fibers that got mixed in, or something else, but not greasy. Guess I should have just combed it out and ignored your advice to do it again and my hides would be fine lololol

Because I want washable garment quality hides.


I’m not fascinated with dawn. Just saying it’s a little odd that a round of regular soap was sufficient to degrease multiple other hides great but super solvent applied as per the directions didn’t do it.

I don’t think the issue was the hides not being degreased. The sticky mess on the hair felt like super glue or rendered keratin. Something other than oil or grease.