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Thread: Hair on tanning means tips & tricks?

  1. #1

    Default Hair on tanning means tips & tricks?

    Any body got a whiz-bang way of tanning furs/ hair on with emphasis on soft supple hides to make clothing out of?

    I know a buch of coyote hunters. I want to mane me a coyote parka....

    edit: mods is this has already been covered plese let me know where feel free to delete this post.
    Last edited by TresMon; 01-26-2012 at 10:12 AM.
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    Tres
    Website has been updated for 2012!! http://wildernessmeans.com/

    NOTE: I'm a machinist, gunsmith, writer, and instructor of many outdoor topics looking for gainful employment in any geographical cool place to live. Resumes posted on website.

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  2. #2
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
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    Lol I just asked this in YCCs post. Are you trying to brain tan or does it not matter? I just got a coyote but i'm taking the hair off..

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by RandyRhoads View Post
    Lol I just asked this in YCCs post. Are you trying to brain tan or does it not matter? I just got a coyote but i'm taking the hair off..
    It's doesn't matter to me if I brain it, use eggs, or whatever natural(enough) stuff. Just don't want the hair(insulation) to slip, and want it to be clothing-soft.
    ---------------------------------------------
    Thanks,
    Tres
    Website has been updated for 2012!! http://wildernessmeans.com/

    NOTE: I'm a machinist, gunsmith, writer, and instructor of many outdoor topics looking for gainful employment in any geographical cool place to live. Resumes posted on website.

    John 14:6
    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

  4. #4
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
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    First flesh and salt (non iodized of course). Get this http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/K7100-P10667.aspx and follow directions. Easy and works great.

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    Senior Member Stairman's Avatar
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    I put this up a while back on another site. Follow the thread down to Stairman. Be carefull with coyotes, all canines hides tear easily.http://www.survivaltopics.com/forums...2-tanning.html

  6. #6
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    I would be very interested to see how those chemical tans hold up. But if you want quick, simple tanning for furs, then van Dykes has got the kit for you!

  7. #7

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    Thanks everyone!!
    ---------------------------------------------
    Thanks,
    Tres
    Website has been updated for 2012!! http://wildernessmeans.com/

    NOTE: I'm a machinist, gunsmith, writer, and instructor of many outdoor topics looking for gainful employment in any geographical cool place to live. Resumes posted on website.

    John 14:6
    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

  8. #8
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stairman View Post
    I put this up a while back on another site. Follow the thread down to Stairman. Be carefull with coyotes, all canines hides tear easily.http://www.survivaltopics.com/forums...2-tanning.html
    Really? I just brain tanned my first coyote and couldn't believe how strong it was. Then again i'm used to jack rabbits...

  9. #9
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    We played tug-of-war with the hide we were softening at class on saturday. everyone was blown away by how strong it is. I hope we have time next saturday to finish the bobcat. A fur trapper attended, said he sold the green hides, but now wants to tan them himself, so I'll try to be doing some vids on furs in the coming weeks. Emphasis on try.. I gotta figure out this new whizbang machine..

  10. #10

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    Cool on the vids. Keep us posted.
    ---------------------------------------------
    Thanks,
    Tres
    Website has been updated for 2012!! http://wildernessmeans.com/

    NOTE: I'm a machinist, gunsmith, writer, and instructor of many outdoor topics looking for gainful employment in any geographical cool place to live. Resumes posted on website.

    John 14:6
    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

  11. #11
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    I am very interested in this. I have been donating hides for years. I would love to keep them for myself!

  12. #12
    Senior Member wholsomback's Avatar
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    As a taxidermist the most overlooked step in all tanning is the fleshing and proper salting of the hide.Hair slippage is caused by not doing this properly.Do not skimp on the salt,I use 5# of salt when doing a coyote hide because I usually salt it twice,once before the fleshing and once after.The first salting helps get the leftover flesh to be easier to get off with the draw knife and the second salting makes sure the hair is set.Then it's off to the pickle and then tanning.

  13. #13

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    I have brain-tanned several goat buckskins and also done several brain-tan furs. I'd be wary of chemical tans personally...only chemical I have used in tanning is hydrated lime for buckskins in order to swell the hide and make it more easy for graining, which sometimes helps depending on the hide. What I do for a fur is preferably get a fresh one, or if it's salted wash the salt out by immersing the fur in a 50/50 white vinegar/water solution...the reason being is that if you don't acidify in the vinegar the fur has more of a tendency to slip while fleshing/softening/etc...you also want to keep the fur out of water as much as possible during the entire process...

    anyways after you flesh put it in the vinegar/water for a hour or two to let it acidify and "set" the hair...after that you want to rinse out the vinegar with a few changes of water and rinsing...and then you dry the fur side as much as you can with the sun/or a hairdryer all the while keeping the flesh side damp...then once the fur is as dry as you can get it you want to brain it...put the brains or other emulsified oil onto the flesh side..(I use oil/soap instead of brains works the same)..I usually use a pumice to penetrate the emulsified oils into the flesh side and rub it in vigorously, also fold the hide over onto itself and leave it to soak up for a while...you have to get the flesh side uniformly oiled and stretched...I hand-stretch the hide the whole time while rubbing the oils in...when it starts to get almost dry I repeat the process several times...

    after this point I start to soften...lots of people use frames and I have used them before but I like stake/hand softening better, it's more work but it tends to produce softer furs...I prefer a shovel blade pointed upwards attached to something sturdy so it doesn't move around that much...at this point, you simply need to keep softening and re-braining as many times as needed until the hide is uniformly soft and the brains (or oils) have penetrated into the hide. Usually it takes me 3 repeated oiling and softening cycles to get a soft hide...it's more work with thicker hides and you need to soften while the hide is going from still damp to completely dry, as if you soften when the hide is too dry and not brained enough you will start to get rawhide and or cracks in your hide....every softening will make the hide a little bit more soft, but will still require re-braining in order to get it as soft as you want....once it's nice and soft I smoke it with punk flesh side in the same way I smoke my buckskins with my hide smoker...hope this helps...
    Last edited by matt47; 03-10-2012 at 02:17 PM.

  14. #14
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    I agree that furs take more brainings. I'll have to try the vinegar trick sometime. If you keep the fur side as dry as possible, I don't have much issues with slippage. Normally only when I hand soften and keep pulling on the same areas. I'm kinda clumsy and brutish like that. Using a frame keeps me from handling the fur so much.
    Have you tried using smoky brains?

  15. #15

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    Yea I much prefer fresh hides for furs and buckskins...usually Iīve been buying salted hides and often itīs hit and miss whether it will make a good fur...which I donīt like but thatīs how it goes...sometimes the hair starts to slip when fleshing on the beam and itīs too late to save some of them ...I am going to be doing some more furs right away again as I have access to cheap salted goat hides right now but am in the process of making-acquiring another wet scraper for fleshing as I left my old one in Canada a few years back..

    .I havenīt tried the smoky brains..only time I actually used brains was in Canada some years back when I was apprenticing with a brain tanner and we were working on some deer buckskins...I much prefer the olive oil-soap instead as itīs available everywhere, cheap and works great for furs and buckskins, every hide I have tanned with it has come out just as soft as brains...but I will do some more with brains in the future no doubt...
    Last edited by matt47; 03-26-2012 at 02:32 PM.

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