1st hide, help, fleshing, but I have already started.

[charlieboy-shooter]

Hi,
Salted a Fallow hide but there was some flesh left on the flanks. It has drained a fair amount of liquid. ( salted for just over a week )
Question is how far back do you I flesh under the flanks ?
I have fleshed it off. The flesh on the flanks scrapped back until I could peel the flesh off on both sides. But I’m unsure if the salt dried the flesh enough so the membrane was removed when I peeled the flesh back. However, more so on the right hand side in the picture there is still a slight pink tinge. Is this normal for the flank ? Or do I need to remove this so it’s whitish like the rest of the hide and should all signs of any capillary blood vessel stains be removed ? ( also more noticeable on rhs)
I’m guessing, yes. I have re-salted with fresh salt before continuing with the next step and hopefully this will dry it more if the 1st application didn’t dry deep enough.
So, I’m worried about not doing enough but equally that I’m removing to much.

Have attached a picture after fleshing ( the salt residue is what was left after I fleshed and was the old salt reapplied and then just shook off for the photo so some remained in the picture )
Thanks

 

[Sol]

Your doing a pretty good job I would be scraping and cleaning it up a bit more, but see where the tail is and how it appears "blue" that's a pretty good indicator, however your not doing taxidermy so there's no actual real need to go that thin besides getting it softer and softer.

There was a tannery business that required them to be salted three times over three weeks so no real need to worry long as the prep prior to salt wasn't bad it should be fine and will continue to dry out your still very much in the early stages.

Taxidermy.net is great for any tanning or fleshing questions.

 

[VSS]

Looks pretty good.
You could pressure wash it - that does a pretty neat job of fleshing.
Best not to ever reapply old salt though.

Consult @T.eddie. He did one very successfully a short while back, and took some good photos of the different stages in the process.
I've had good results from the K-tan kits (Snowdonia Taxidermy Supplies).

 

[charlieboy-shooter]

Your doing a pretty good job I would be scraping and cleaning it up a bit more, but see where the tail is and how it appears "blue

Thanks. I had another go late last night and removed the pink tinge. Washed and it’s in the pickle stage now. Although it will have to sit for a little longer than 24hrs as I’m not applying the 1st tanning coat at 1am tomorrow morning ( be out shooting hopefully)

There was a tannery business that required them to be salted three times over three weeks so no real need to worry long as the prep prior to salt wasn't bad it should be fine and will continue to dry out your still very much in the early stages.

Taxidermy.net is great for any tanning or fleshing questions.

Was salted soon after skinning. That’s good to know it’s ok to salt again. Thank you for the taxidermy pointer. Like anything the 1st time. I read the instructions and spoke to Aaron at Snowdian and thought I was good to go but then once started realise, hmm I need some help.

Thank you.

 

[charlieboy-shooter]

Looks pretty good.
You could pressure wash it - that does a pretty neat job of fleshing.
Best not to ever reapply old salt though.

Consult @T.eddie. He did one very successfully a short while back, and took some good photos of the different stages in the process.
I've had good results from the K-tan kits (Snowdonia Taxidermy Supplies).

Would never have thought of pressure washing.
Only used the old salt as I didn’t flesh at home and once I was unsure what to do I thought old salt was better than none until I could get it freshened up.
It’s the K-tan kit I’m using.
I did wonder if Tom would comment as I have seen his post.

I’d checked for replies all yesterday and up until each stage last night. Then just like buses, 2 replies within minutes. Typical just my luck.
But seriously thank you for the response.

 

[VSS]

Would never have thought of pressure washing.
Only used the old salt as I didn’t flesh at home and once I was unsure what to do I thought old salt was better than none until I could get it freshened up.
It’s the K-tan kit I’m using.
I did wonder if Tom would comment as I have seen his post.

I’d checked for replies all yesterday and up until each stage last night. Then just like buses, 2 replies within minutes. Typical just my luck.
But seriously thank you for the response.

I have started doing my own fallow hides (K-tan) since the Welsh Organic Tannery stopped taking deer skins.
The Tannery gave instructions for salting and I continue to follow their guidelines in that respect.
I pressure wash the flesh side of the hides twice: once straight after skinning, and then again after salting.
The hardest part of the job I find is working the hide to make it supple. A coarse sanding disc on a power drill helps a lot at that stage.
Aaron at Snowdonia Supplies is very helpful.

 

[T.eddie]

Would never have thought of pressure washing.
Only used the old salt as I didn’t flesh at home and once I was unsure what to do I thought old salt was better than none until I could get it freshened up.
It’s the K-tan kit I’m using.
I did wonder if Tom would comment as I have seen his post.

I’d checked for replies all yesterday and up until each stage last night. Then just like buses, 2 replies within minutes. Typical just my luck.
But seriously thank you for the response.

Hi mate,
Sorry not been on here as much recently as been super busy

Yeah pressure washing is really handy. I did that before and after salting.

With regards to how much to flesh, I think you can take a bit more off if needed. What I found was you can actually start to see the hair folicals if you go to far which I was using as an indicator. No idea if that is the right way to do it but seemed to work. Also post tanning sand the hide if you think there is to much membrane or flesh on there still. And just keep stretching as it dries

 

[charlieboy-shooter]

A coarse sanding disc on a power drill helps a lot at that stage.
Aaron at Snowdonia Supplies is very helpful.

I read this in the instructions and to be honest struggle to get my head round this. Clearly a tanned hide is much tougher and more durable than I realise.
If I do another I’ll certainly use a pressure washer.
Agreed on Aaron but unfortunately couldn’t give him a call on a Saturday night.

What I found was you can actually start to see the hair folicals

Yes, I did this on a fox skin but thought I had gone to far and didn’t want to go that far on this hide.
I’ll certainly sand once complete.

Thanks for your help