Tanning some big ole tahr bulls

H all, I have slowly stock-piled some very nice bull skins and sort of need to get onto them. I've tanned multiple skins before and they've come out really nice and soft although these skins have only been thin deer skins and a couple tahr nannys, just by using the ledgers tanning solution and lube. But from my understanding with these thick skinned bull coats, I need to add a few more steps to the process. Such as "pickling" the skin and then thinning out the skin after it's been pickled. To ensure a soft and pliable finish?

Are these steps really necessary? Mainly the thinning the skin part? because that sounds like a stupid amount of work for an average joe like me (and a big risk of creating heaps of cuts and holes in the skin). I've found a few people saying they just wait for the skin to dry and then just sand it down and break it in for the same result.

Any advice would help heaps.


Cheers,

Following with interest.

Way back, I tanned a heap of tahr and chamois skins using the Leidretters Kits, now Leiders I think. Treated the tahr no different than any other skin. But you do have to follow the basics. I salted twice and defleshed over a round post running from waist to ground level. Then I put it in the brew and kept my eye on it, sometimes making a short cut on the edge of a thick piece of skin to ensure that the formula [blue in colour] had gone right through. Then hung the skin up for an hour two to drain a bit and then stretched it out on the frame using leather straps and brass hooks. Then weighed it, frame and all, deducting the weight of the frame and straps, and brushed on the appropriate amount of lube for the weight, put it in the shed or in the shade and left it until it was all good. Then before I took it off the frame I sanded it all over with a cintride disc in the drill until it was all nice and soft. If you sand it on a hard surface you risk cutting it with the sander disc.

The important things are to salt it twice, the first to get rid of a lot of the moisture and make it easier to deflesh. the second to keep it in good nick until youre ready to start the tanning process.
Sometimes I didnt tan them for a few weeks or longer. And the other thing to get right is the weight of the wet skin, but after its dripped off most of the excess. And the right amount of lube for the weight.

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Originally Posted by Husky1600#2

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The important things are to salt it twice, the first to get rid of a lot of the moisture and make it easier to deflesh. the second to keep it in good nick until youre ready to start the tanning process.
Sometimes I didnt tan them for a few weeks or longer.....

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@Husky1600#2 is it just a case of keeping the skin frozen until you're ready to start tanning?

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Originally Posted by imaca

@Husky1600#2 is it just a case of keeping the skin frozen until you're ready to start tanning?

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Can keep it frozen until youre ready to go through the process. The problem with freezing, especially in a big bull tahr, is there is a very good chance you will get pockets that dont freeze cos the skin and hair are so thick. Or you might get freezer burn on your skin if you leave some patches exposed. If you do freeze it, then you will still need to salt it twice cos that starts the whole process.

I use to salt mine at the hut or as soon as I got home, up to 4kg of PLAIN salt for the first salting. Roll it all up, skin to skin, no skin exposed, tie it up and hang it behind the shed out of the sun and let the salt do its thing. Then a week, or more, later I would roll it out, shake off all the old salt and redo it. Some skins I tanned were over a year after the second salting, some of them needed to be rehydrated before going in the tanning solution.

Yes the thinner you make the hide the softer the hide will be and less shrinkage. Angle grinder with a course flap dick can work or linisher, other wise a good old draw knife and fleshing beam.

Thinning is best done after pickling if your doing with a knife. Pickling is a very important step, in fact years gone by the capes for taxidermy were just pickled and actually not tanned!

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Originally Posted by Billbob

Yes the thinner you make the hide the softer the hide will be and less shrinkage. Angle grinder with a course flap dick can work or linisher, other wise a good old draw knife and fleshing beam.

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Do you have a mix ratio for that green stuff, got given 4-5l by a friend a while ago. My boy wants to do a rug for himself so kept the hide off the last hind I shot. I use Lutan for the shoulder mounts ,but that Leder stuff should be fine for a 10 year old to mess around with. Once he fleshed and salted I thought I throw the hide in pickle like the capes and shave it on the wheel. Then he can mess around with it again from that stage.
Would you bring up the ph on it to 3-3.5 like Lutan then basify after tanning?
Don't know what's in that green liquid and don't want to flush out things from the hide. @Billbob

I only used Leder stuff once when I was a kid on a Possum skin. I use Trubond now.

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Originally Posted by Husky1600#2

Some skins I tanned were over a year after the second salting, some of them needed to be rehydrated before going in the tanning solution.

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Thanks @Husky1600#2 Sorry to labour the point but did you just leave them salted and rolled up but unfrozen for that year before tanning?

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Originally Posted by imaca

Thanks @Husky1600#2 Sorry to labour the point but did you just leave them salted and rolled up but unfrozen for that year before tanning?

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Yup, never froze them except maybe a day or 2 in the snow behind the hut. Have heard some guys have left them longer than a year. Am assuming the salting process is similar to the pickling process that Billbob uses, salting is dry, pickling is wet. If you do leave it hanging for some time and it goes dry, it will need rehydrating before tanning.

The salting is just a way to preserve them to store them, it also locks in the hair. Yes you do need to rehydrate before going down what tanning solution you want to go down.

thanks for the advice, I've put one hide in the solution and have another one salted, I was just wondering if the tanning solution loses it's chemical reaction over time. In the sense that once the first hide has finished tanning can I put another similar skin weight-wise in the same tanning solution batch or do I have to throw it out and start with a fresh batch again?

Each skin will "strip" some of the important ingredients from the solution. You dont need to throw the solution out, there is a formula for topping it up. Should be in the instructions.