Tanning

[Robert58]

Can anyone tell me how to tan a Coon skin and face with the hair on?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[Haggis]

Have you visited www.braintan.com? There is plenty there for the would be furrier.

 

Haggis, I always used a solution of 4 lbs of salt, 1 ounce of sulpheric acid in a gallon of water. It was cheap and easy to come by but that was back before there were ANY tanning kits on the market. It works just fine.

Make enough solution to cover the hide, soak it for 2 weeks, stirring it every day, then take it out and break it. A coon isn't bad to do at all. In the breaking process I always rubbed in a little neatsfoot oil because it made the hide a lot softer. Once you have it broke dry make a "tent" out of it and cold smoke it. That way it won't get hard when it dries out if it gets wet.

There a literally hundreds of recipes for tanning hides and I expect they all work. The key, at least to me, was in the breaking of the hide. That's where the elbow grease comes in.

Vic

 

[musketman]

I include an additional step that is not really part of the tanning process...

I shampoo the hide with a comerical lice-killing formula, it might just be me, but I'm not goung to put a lice ridden hide on my head...

Why take any chances...