Post by: police women of America on March 19, 2015, 12:05:41 PM
But I'm also hoping I can get some tips on tanning the hide because everyone does it differently and I'm planning on doing it myself this year.
feel free to share photos, directions, or stories, anything helps thanks! :hello:
Post by: Red leaf 67 on March 25, 2015, 06:52:07 AM
Post by: police women of America on March 25, 2015, 01:15:09 PM
Learning tanning will require some trail & error. There are many ways to do it sucessfully, no matter how you do it, patience & elbow grease are in order. Will you be doing hair on or hair off tanning? Para tan, a Knobloch product works well for hair on, Bark tanning works well for hair off, so does traditional brain tanning even done with soap worked in. If you have access to a few hides, you may even want to cut a hide in several pieces & try different methods to see what works best. Smaller pieces are easier to manage as well. One tool that has helped me is a wire cup brush (hardware store item) chucked in a drill. These are used to remove rust/scale from metal originally, but works great for treating tanned hides after stretching & before oiling... leaves a nice soft suede nap. If you ever want to talk tanning, I have tons of resources. A very practical & useful skill to have.
thanks! I'm going to do hair on. is it better to pickle the hide or salt it? everyone does it differently but I cant decide witch to do. maybe both?
Post by: Kuduman on March 25, 2015, 01:23:33 PM
1 Measure split and flesh
2. Salt and re salt after 24-48 hours
3. Dry to white hard condition 7-10 days
4. Re-Hydrate
5. Pickle 3-5 days Keep PH below 2.5
6. Shave
7. Neutralize
8. Tan
9. Wash
10 Finish prep and mount
Post by: police women of America on March 25, 2015, 07:24:16 PM
Here is my step by step processthanks! ill write that down for when I make leather.
1 Measure split and flesh
2. Salt and re salt after 24-48 hours
3. Dry to white hard condition 7-10 days
4. Re-Hydrate
5. Pickle 3-5 days Keep PH below 2.5
6. Shave
7. Neutralize
8. Tan
9. Wash
10 Finish prep and mount
Post by: Weehunt66 on March 25, 2015, 07:58:26 PM
Post by: Red leaf 67 on March 26, 2015, 04:37:40 AM
Post by: police women of America on March 26, 2015, 03:00:29 PM
Yes, the double salting & the pickle steps are important! get some pH test strips if you can, they will eliminate the guess work for the pickle & tanning solutions. If you desire soft pliable leather, the breaking/ stretching, & oiling steps are time consuming/ tiring, but necessary. This is where the cup brush makes a difference ( you could also try coarse sand paper 60 grit before the oiling( final step) I have used the ez tan 100 with good results also.. Bruce Rittel productthanks ill do that!