r/HideTanning

Any tips?

I found this large snake shed (about 51”) this morning and would like to frame it. Are there steps I need to take prior to framing it (e.g. do I need to soak it in something)?

Is there anything else I need to consider (is framing this not an option, will it get moldy or something, etc.)? TIA!!

First attempt on a raccoon. I’ve been scraping and scraping but nothing comes off besides liquid fat. So I’ve been trimming with scissors… my tools are in the last photo. What should I do? I’m using a fleshing pole as well.
Also yes I know it has a lot of holes. It’s my first time :(

I am making bark tanning solution out of acorns and acorn caps. How can I tell if it's strong enough? pH is around 5 now

So I currently live in an apartment but had this opossum hide I wanted to tan. After harvesting the hide, I pinned it to a quick frame I made and worked on it with a sharp knife to get as much membrane and subcutaneous fat off as I could (2-3 hrs of work) without realizing it was a big mistake and I made a bunch of holes in the hide! Eventually I got tired of that very inefficient way of fleshing and salted the hide and rolled it up in the freezer in a ziplock bag for the next year and a half.

Now that I'm moving in with my girlfriend, she told me I had to take care of the hide before we move in together.

After doing the briefest amount of research possible (a couple articles and watching one guy from Applachia tan), I found this protocol from Van Dyke's that seemed to sum up everything I had seen. I ordered all their reagents they recommend (Ultimate acid, Degreaser, Tanning solution, and Leather oil and conditioner ~$90 for all + $30 shipping, so a little expensive but I estimate this amount of reagents would tan at least 10 deer)

I figured it would take me about 10-14 days to tan my hide, so with 14 days to go, I started the process first by building a fleshing beam out of some scrap lumber I had lying around.

Then I followed the Van Dyke's protocol I found (briefly listed below). I found it was really easy to follow and I think pretty much anyone could do this.

The protocol

1. Flesh
2. Salt, roll up the hide on an incline
   1. change salt after 12 hr
3. Pickle with degreaser for at least 3 days (I did 4 and agitated every morning and evening)
4. Neutralize the pickle to pH 4-5 with sodium bicarb
5. Wash in degreaser
6. Sew up holes
7. Paint on the tan (overnight)
8. Apply 3 coats of leather conditioner/oil waiting until the hide is 70% dry before each one and stretch (hide did not require any breaking)

Some details

Since I am also in an apartment, I did the salt and pickle steps outside in the treeline in a small bucket I painted camo.

The hardest part was pH'ing the pickle. I'm a scientist by trade and have lots of experience pH'ing solutions. The reason this was so hard is the pickle is just Urea and Sulfuric Acid and when you add the base (sodium bicarbonate solution), you have to add juuuuust the right amount to keep the pH at 4-5. Adding a hair too much and the pH will flip to basic and the pH of sodium bicarb (8-10). This could have been made easier if Van Dyke's supplied a buffer solution (solution that resists pH change between a certain range depending on the compound). I also could have made one but that would have required going into work and getting some chemicals so I just went back and forth between adding acid, then base, then acid, then base.... until I got it right.

The other issue was since the acid-base reaction with bicarbonate generates CO2 gas, this was making a BUNCH of bubbles (like an inch of bubbles!) in my solution because of the degreaser. And these bubbles were more acidic than the solution so it was difficult to determine the pH accurately with pH paper just by dipping it in.

After the degreasing bath, the hide finally stopped smelling like opossum! (The fat also smelled VERY strongly of opossum during the fleshing)

I learned to sew to sew up the holes my sharp knife fleshing had made, and my biggest mistake was picking clear thread. This made the process so much harder! But I got there.

The tanning solution smelled pretty strongly of nasty chemicals but I had a spare room to put it in that I sealed off with plastic and put a fan in the window for a quasi-negative pressure room. I would definitely do this step outside if possible.

After applying the leather conditioner/oil, I tried to 'break' the hide by rubbing it over a 2x4 but found that it really didn't need that and just stretched it with some tarp clips that I saw from another post on here and that seemed to work great. I changed the position of the clips slightly every 1-2 days to try to stretch it evenly. And after the first day I added more clips.

The Conclusion

It was a really easy experience for my first time tanning and I think the hide turned out great! Now I just have to decide what I want to make out of the hide. I'm thinking a pair of mittens with wool lining, buckskin palms, and opossum backing or a hat. I'm taking opinions if you have suggestions!

I now want to tan a lot more but it's difficult in an apartment situation.

Photo list:

1. Fleshing with a sharp knife
2. Building a fleshing beam
3. Fleshed hide (after purchasing scrapers)
4. reverse side of the hide
5. Hide in the bucket
6. Hide after 2 days in the pickle
7. pH'ing the hide
8. Sewed up the holes in the hide
9. Hide after tanning solution (paint-on) overnight
10. Hide after first application of leather oil and conditioner
11. /12 Hide after 3 applications of leather oil and conditioner (front +_ back)

There’s this thin layer of flesh along the edge of the snake skin. I don’t want to tear the skin scraping it so checking if it is actually necessary. I’ve put it back in a glycerine/alcohol bath for now. Thanks for your help.