As mentioned on another thread I've been using one of the snowdonia tanking kit's in an attempt to tan a fallow buck hide that I thought was quite nice.
The hide went straight into the freezer after I skinned the deer, fast forward a month or 2 I took it out and defrosted just enough to be able to unroll. I then used a jet wash to flesh the hide which other than getting wet and cold seemed to work quite well and saved a lot of time. I then washed the hide and fur with some warm water and washing up liquid. Let it drip dry for a couple of hours and then salted and left in the garage for a couple of days.
After salting I touched up the fleshing with the jet wash again just to be safe, then dunked up and down in warm soapy water to remove the salt and any "juices", I again let this drip dry for a bit while I prepared the tanning solution.
The kit came with very clear instructions so followed those and submerged the hide, it was is for probably 3/4 days and I would shake it every day to make sure the hide was floating and solution reaching all areas. Once out of the solution I rung the hide then washed the fur again at which point it was allowed to drip dry for a good few hours.
I had a pallet handy so stapled the hide to this once the majority of the water had run off, didn't pull it super tight, just enough to open it up and take up the slack. I left this in the garage out of direct sunlight for a couple of day however because of the cold it was taking far to long so moved it to the lean to with the blinds down for a day or so, then outside during the day in a shaded area, then thought why not and had it in the lean to facing the sun.
Once it had dried a little I then started using a coarse bit of sand paper and worked round the hide. I did this a few times over the course of a few days as it dried more I sanded and so on. Once near enough fully dried I took it off the pallet and started to stretch it. I've still got a bit more to do but it does seem quite soft which is nice. Once fully stretched I'll work round it with a knife to make neat and even. But so far so good
The hide went straight into the freezer after I skinned the deer, fast forward a month or 2 I took it out and defrosted just enough to be able to unroll. I then used a jet wash to flesh the hide which other than getting wet and cold seemed to work quite well and saved a lot of time. I then washed the hide and fur with some warm water and washing up liquid. Let it drip dry for a couple of hours and then salted and left in the garage for a couple of days.
After salting I touched up the fleshing with the jet wash again just to be safe, then dunked up and down in warm soapy water to remove the salt and any "juices", I again let this drip dry for a bit while I prepared the tanning solution.
The kit came with very clear instructions so followed those and submerged the hide, it was is for probably 3/4 days and I would shake it every day to make sure the hide was floating and solution reaching all areas. Once out of the solution I rung the hide then washed the fur again at which point it was allowed to drip dry for a good few hours.
I had a pallet handy so stapled the hide to this once the majority of the water had run off, didn't pull it super tight, just enough to open it up and take up the slack. I left this in the garage out of direct sunlight for a couple of day however because of the cold it was taking far to long so moved it to the lean to with the blinds down for a day or so, then outside during the day in a shaded area, then thought why not and had it in the lean to facing the sun.
Once it had dried a little I then started using a coarse bit of sand paper and worked round the hide. I did this a few times over the course of a few days as it dried more I sanded and so on. Once near enough fully dried I took it off the pallet and started to stretch it. I've still got a bit more to do but it does seem quite soft which is nice. Once fully stretched I'll work round it with a knife to make neat and even. But so far so good
