Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Well-fl eshed, salted hides can be stored for long periods, but if you didn't do
a good job of fl eshing and salting, you're likely to have a real mess on your
hands, so take your time with these steps.
In 3 or 4 days, hides will be ready to ship to a tannery. With tanning prices
known in advance, you can just pack the pelts, salted and folded, inside a feed
bag in a carton. Attach a note with your return address and phone number,
and indicate whether you want natural or washable tanning (washable tan-
ning costs more).
Home Tanning
There are many ways to do tanning at home, and some approaches are more
dangerous than others. Two of the most practical ways are discussed here. Be
forewarned that neither of these methods results in a washable pelt. And the
acid must be handled carefully and neutralized well so that it does not remain
on the skin and damage it.
PREPARING THE PELT FOR TANNING
Whether your pelt is fresh or salted, it needs to be washed before
tanning. Do this in the following manner:
1. If the pelt has been salted, soak it overnight in a large tub
of cold water containing 1 cup of laundry detergent and
1 cup of pine-oil disinfectant and then rinse it in cold water
in the morning. (If the pelt is fresh, you can skip this pre-
soak step.)
2. Remove this water by running the pelt through the spin cycle
of your washer.
3. Next is the wash cycle, which is easily done in the washing
machine. Use a short cycle with cool or lukewarm water and
detergent.
4. Rinse.
5. Spin out the water, again using the spin cycle. All of the fat,
blood, and dirt should be removed from the pelt by now, and
you can proceed with your choice of tanning processes. And
pleasantly enough, the washing machine doesn't come out
any worse for having done this duty.
