Tanning Hides

[HawkinsHollow]

Trapped my first beaver yesterday. Connibear 330 in a crossover from the creek to my pond, like shooting fish in a barrel. Perfect catch, right behind the head. Nice sized but not a monster, about 40 pounds. I have only tanned one other animal before, a coyote I killed a few years ago. That went pretty well, and I still have the pelt. It is just a skill I feel like I want to learn. It seems like it would be cool to have a pair of beaver fur mittens and a hat that started as an animal harvested off my land. Soft fur is so nice. I am also going to try to make leather out of the tail. There are plenty of beavers along this stretch of creek I have and taking 1 or 2 a year is not going to harm the population at all. The skinning and tanning process has been a bit of a learning curve so far. I bought a special beaver skinning knife and it got me about 1/2 way through the process before it became too dull. I had hopes of skinning it clean to lessen the fleshing needed, that didn't turn out as planned. They make it look so easy on Youtube! LOL! I have it in a pickle right now for 3 days and then I will take it out and flesh it better. Stay tuned to see the results.
My goal is to get proficient enough to tan a few beaver, a deer or 2 and maybe a bear. My neighbor hunts bear and he says they usually just toss the hides. Anyone have experience tanning hides? Any tips or tricks for this fledgling tanner?

 

[Jstpssng]

Everybody has their own methods but I used to clean skin until I got to the back, then just rough cut to get the hide off, then put it across my knee and clean skin the rest.
I haven't laid steel in almost 30 years and things have changed a lot. The season didn't start until January 1 so the ponds were frozen and the fur was prime. Now it starts in October which doesn't help overall prices and I don't even know how to trap them in open water.

 

[Joel/ak]

We always just brought the hides to a tanner....much easier

Seriously though, tanning doesn't come out good if its not fleshed right. We seen it too many times where folks just throw salt on it and they think they fleshed it like a pro. Just made alot of bacon and the hair pulled.

Fleshed it down to the folicles before doing anything else

Sent from my SM-S901U using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[Rockbadchild]

The best advise I can give you is have three knifes, a snap off hook blade to make the initial cuts along the paws and belly, one for the paws and head and one for skinning, that way your sharp knife stay sharp longer. I also recommend these replaceable blades they make it a lot easier... don't get discourage it take a long time to get good and fast and unfortunately its not by doing a beaver a year that you will get there. You should see my uncle at it, its a work of art. I try to skin as clean as I can, it speed up the scraping process. Everyone has its own preference. Can't help you for tanning every time I ask I was told its not worth it, send it out they do a better job you ever will for a fraction of the time (their hide will be softer and its easier to work after) but that's just what I've been told.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Everybody has their own methods but I used to clean skin until I got to the back, then just rough cut to get the hide off, then put it across my knee and clean skin the rest.
I haven't laid steel in almost 30 years and things have changed a lot. The season didn't start until January 1 so the ponds were frozen and the fur was prime. Now it starts in October which doesn't help overall prices and I don't even know how to trap them in open water.

I set them in trenches along the banks where they go eat, or next to the beaver house in the trench where they go put mud on top of their hut. Some people do land set but I much ratter submerge, less likely to catch something you don't want and way less chance for it to get eaten by some other animal once you catch it. Our prime is November after that they get poop burn or injuries from fighting amongst them.

 

[oosik]

We hunted moose on a homesteaders land when we lived in AK. He tried tanning a moose. Didn't work out well - at all. Too big a hide for somebody with very limited experience.

 

[Jstpssng]

I did a pine marten once. It came out pretty good, except that I didn't know to split the tail. I had it about 15 years before I got tired of it and tossed it.
I thought it was a road kill when I picked it up but it was full of bird shot. Hunting them is illegal in Maine.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

We always just brought the hides to a tanner....much easier

There are no tanners around here. You gotta send it out. By the time I send it 2nd day air, wait 4 months, pay $40 and then get it back I could do it for WAY cheaper. I thought about sending it off but honestly I want to learn how to be proficient at it myself.

The best advise I can give you is have three knifes,

YEP!! I just bought 2 more and a good ceramic honing steel. I have a good sharpener that makes a great edge eaily but to stop, clean the knife and sharpen. PITA I will just all of them sharp and ready to go.

 

[rumwrks]

Been a while. We did soap tan (buckskin) for deer and mostly bark (tannin) tan for fur bearing animals. I remember us trying chrome tan once but I don't think it worked very well as we had no idea what we were doing with that. How hard it is depends a lot on the type of animal, sheep are almost self tanning, deer aren't to bad, cow or elk or moose are a lot thicker so a lot more work. Most of the fur bearers skins aren't to thick so weren't terrible, mostly coyote and fox by us, never tried a beaver so can't specifically speak to that one.

A few things I learned.. You can't flesh them to well, you have to get ALL of the fat off at least. Any little bit can wreck the tan especially with fur on tannin tanning. Getting the hair to set can be a bit of a trick, a proper pickle does help... managing the PH/amount of tannin in your tanning bath so that it's high enough also helps. Finally working the hide in by hand is IMHO by far the hardest part. You have to work it, and keep working it, and make sure you get the edges all the way until it's plumb dry. You can wrap it and take breaks but it's a lot of working on it. We had a stitching horse like setup with a smooth post sticking up in front of you to work them over for smaller stuff. For larger hides (like deer) we'd stretch them on a frame and then use a smooth ended stick to kind of push on them covering with damp towels and a tarp in between.

If I had to recommend one resource it'd be the old book "Tan Your Hide!: Home Tanning Leathers & Furs by Phyllis Hobson". Is it perfectly accurate? no there are a few bits in there but overall I'd say it's one of the more accessible and useful books on the topic.

​

 

[rontaki]

Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred
Tan me hide when I'm dead
So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde
And that's it hangin' on the shed!
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down