Salting a hide

[WalkedUp]

I decided that I would have a go at tanning the menil fallow I shot on Saturday. Skinned it today but really struggling to clean the membranes off enough to salt. Had to get to work today so was too rushed to finish it. It may well be that this is an ill fated attempt but even doomed to failure I am learning for next time. 25kg rock salt waiting but I couldn’t get it clean enough.



Any tips?

 

[Dunwaters]

It is already clean enough to salt. Salt it, hang it up to drip, scrape it, salt it again stretch it and leave it for a few days. Once it drys out a bit the membranes will be much easier to strip.

 

[VSS]

Rock salt? I think that'll be too coarse.
You want salt that's the same particle size as normal table salt.
I get it in 25kg sacks from an animal feed mill, where it's used as an ingredient in ruminant rations.

Use a pressure washer to clean it up. Much simpler than faffing around scraping it with a knife.
Then salt it well (several kg of salt, enough to more-or-less bury it), leave for a few days, shake off the salt, then salt it again (a bit less salt this time, just a light covering all over), fold flesh sides in, roll up, store in a cool dry place until you're ready to tan it.

 

[Cyres]

Critical to salt it ASAP. Ordinary kitchen salt is fine.
When I took skins to Moorlands the first thing they did was unpack it and salt it despite receiving it salted.
D

 

[Donkey Basher]

Can’t remember where I saw it, could have been one of those Murican back woods programmes on the gogglebox, but have seen a pressure washer used instead of scraping. They did it with half of it hanging over the edge of a table & jet washed the bit on the table, then swapped it around & did the other half. Keeping the lance pretty flat to the skin & a fan pattern to get under the edge & lift it off.

 

[WalkedUp]

I went and borrowed a pressure washer but for some reason it wasn’t aa effective as I hoped. It just made the membranes stringy without stripping them off. It was fun to do but the majority I had to do with my fingers. Frozen cold and plenty of nicks but they had just enough strength to rip the bits of flesh off. I reckon I got 90% of the flesh off but have had to leave it there. My mistakes are multiplying but still good to learn. I’ve left it to dry in a covered trailer with crate beneath and slope for drainage. The rock salt may not work but I’ll have to pick up proper salt ahead of the skinning next time. Will keep everyone posted on progress / further mishaps.

 

[Bonzo dog]

Get a 25kg sack of PDV food grade salt from amazon circa £20. This is basically table salt, so much finer than rock salt thus having much better salt to skin contact.

 

[VSS]

I went and borrowed a pressure washer but for some reason it wasn’t aa effective as I hoped. It just made the membranes stringy without stripping them off. It was fun to do but the majority I had to do with my fingers. Frozen cold and plenty of nicks but they had just enough strength to rip the bits of flesh off. I reckon I got 90% of the flesh off but have had to leave it there. My mistakes are multiplying but still good to learn. I’ve left it to dry in a covered trailer with crate beneath and slope for drainage. The rock salt may not work but I’ll have to pick up proper salt ahead of the skinning next time. Will keep everyone posted on progress / further mishaps.
View attachment 461170View attachment 461171

You should be able to get them this clean with a pressure washer:

(The blue tint on the nearest one is because I've just started applying the tanning solution. The pic is a screenshot from an instructional video I was making).

 

[WalkedUp]

Jesus, mine is nowhere near that clean.

 

[VSS]

Jesus, mine is nowhere near that clean.

It needs to be.
Have another go after salting. You might find it comes away more easily.

 

[shbangsteve]

You should be able to get them this clean with a pressure washer:
View attachment 461292
(The blue tint on the nearest one is because I've just started applying the tanning solution. The pic is a screenshot from an instructional video I was making).

Where do you get the tanning solution from ?

 

[VSS]

Where do you get the tanning solution from ?

It's K-Tan from Snowdonia Supplies.

 

[WalkedUp]

Get a 25kg sack of PDV food grade salt from amazon circa £20. This is basically table salt, so much finer than rock salt thus having much better salt to skin contact.

I definitely should have followed your advice rather than lazily pray that it would work regardless. What I’ve now got is a pickled hide. Still wet but lovely and salty… not ideal. The moisture from the air is now in the wet sand. Errors that I’ve discovered:
1. Rocksalt is not right for this.
2. My shed is far too damp with poor ventilation.

A good man learn’s from their errors, a wise man learn’s from others’.

 

[VSS]

I definitely should have followed your advice rather than lazily pray that it would work regardless. What I’ve now got is a pickled hide. Still wet but lovely and salty… not ideal. The moisture from the air is now in the wet sand. Errors that I’ve discovered:
1. Rocksalt is not right for this.
2. My shed is far too damp with poor ventilation.

A good man learn’s from their errors, a wise man learn’s from others’.

Wash it all off and start again.
If there's no hairslip while you're washing it, you might just have got away with it.
There's still hope.

 

[tom308w]

Get some borax powder and use that.just use like salt.

 

[Polar Lynx]

What we do with beaver and small boar is nailing the skin on a board with meat side out and let the birds do the cleaning over the winter. No salt.

 

[VSS]

What we do with beaver and small boar is nailing the skin on a board with meat side out and let the birds do the cleaning over the winter. No salt.

If you tried that here you'd get maggots in it, even in winter.

 

[WalkedUp]

I’ve belatedly ordered the salt. No slip so far so hopefully it isn’t completely lost. Still great to have learnt from all my mistakes.



Interesting regarding the flies, two weeks ago the weather warmed enough to start the blue bottles again for the year. The battle starts again.

 

[VSS]

I’ve belatedly ordered the salt. No slip so far so hopefully it isn’t completely lost. Still great to have learnt from all my mistakes.

View attachment 462959

Interesting regarding the flies, two weeks ago the weather warmed enough to start the blue bottles again for the year. The battle starts again.

If you want any hides to practice on, let me know. I usually have more than I need. I've just binned seven! I don't bother tanning winter fallow skins, but they're good enough to learn on.

 

[WalkedUp]

If you want any hides to practice on, let me know. I usually have more than I need. I've just binned seven! I don't bother tanning winter fallow skins, but they're good enough to learn on.

That would be amazing yes please!