Preserving A Hide

[OneBagNomad]

Brain tanning for most is Not the way to go because on big hides there aint enough brains to do the job

Simple solution is to procure more brains. Put the word out to your buddies who hunt that you are in need of brains, I bet you'll have plenty in short order. In the past, I have frozen them for later use. Make sure you use a cheap container and mark it "brains" if you're married; I found out the hard way that my wife won't use her tupperware any more after it has had brains in it.

[waksupi]

The only animals that do not have enough brains to tan their own hide, are elephants, and teenagers.

[btroj]

Teenagers have brains?

Brainiac isn't that difficult. It can be a bit time consuming but certainly not difficult. I only did a couple or deer but the results are worth the effort.
I just bought the brains at a small grocery store. I am pretty sure they were beef but whatever they were they worked.

[Mooseman]

Simple solution is to procure more brains. Put the word out to your buddies who hunt that you are in need of brains, I bet you'll have plenty in short order. In the past, I have frozen them for later use. Make sure you use a cheap container and mark it "brains" if you're married; I found out the hard way that my wife won't use her tupperware any more after it has had brains in it.

You could mark it Zombie Bait....LOL
When my Dad was alive he ate all the brains with Eggs for Breakfast forcing me to look for alternatives. Squirrel brains was his favorite.
Rich

[PatMarlin]

The only animals that do not have enough brains to tan their own hide, are elephants, and teenagers.

Not so. Most teenagers and Occupiers, have plenty of Sh$t for brains.

[timbuck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM0MR2fyYRk
Saw this on youtube. I like the plate glass for drying flat.

[giericd]

for small critters like racoons, i just keep it simple and it works. Skin and flesh the hide (coons are pretty fatty and greasy!) rince off and soak in purple power degreaser for about 6hrs. rince in cool fresh water untill there are no more soap bubbles. pat dry with papertowels. streatch out and staple (fur side down) to plywood or streatch over a streatching board and cover with a thick layer of non-id salt. 24hrs later shake off all damp salt and recoat again. after a few days it will be dry. rince off just long enough to get the salt grains off and sun dry (air dry). any left over meat/fat will be like beefjerkey and can easily be scraped off. to start working the hide i use sandpaper 80grit to get rid of all the unplesent color like blood and other stains and to thin the hide down making it nice and smooth and pure white. dont thin too much or the hair will start to slip. work it on the edge of a board untill soft this part takes the longest. after a real good hunt one night i was tired and took a short cut and it worked just as good, i skinned/fleshed the hide poured a 1/2" thick layer of salt on cardboard and layed a hide on it then flipped the hide over so salt was on both sides. i then rolled the hide up like a sleeping bag pouring salt on it as i rolled it up. once it was rolled up i placed it in a big plastic box and poured a thin layer of slt all over it. when i was done i had a dozen rolled up hides in the box. every 2 days i unrolled them and shook off the old salt and re rolled with new salt after about a week they were fine. people talk about the PH and all that but if is just a squirl or coon dont worry about all that my furs still look as good today as the day i got them, if you get a nice bear of fox i would not do it this way i would take further measures to make sure that hide would last. but for little stuff it works just fine and is quick, easy, and cheep. i have even done air dry only on coons and although the hide was dark and ugly from blood stains (before working/sanding the hide) the fur side was perfect and that hide still looks great. to make the fur to have a nice shine after all this i tried the shake it in a bag of saw dust trick but that just made a mess, just rub some baby oil on your hands and then pet the fur like you would your dog, dont put too much, rub all the fur, and then wipe down a few times with paper towels and it will look great.

[giericd]

speaking of which i have about 8 squirls to do when i get home from work.

[w5pv]

I was telling someone about when I use to coon hunt and saved the hides to sell the buyer wanted them salted down and frozen in separate plastic bags,we didn't top price for the hides but enough that helped with the expenses.He was quizzing me about using 20 mules team borax instead of salt and was wondering if the buyer had some alternative reason or use for the hides,I know borax kills a lot of bacteria but have never used it or even thought of using it on hides.

[JWFilips]

Well This is the way I used to do But that was when I was younger now I'm old!
http://www.liv18thc.com/barktan.html

[badge176]

A taxidermist buddy of mine (rest his silly soul), showed me how he'd dry the hair before tanning the salted and scraped hide. He had a clothes dryer in his shop with the heater element disconnected. He'd shovel in a grain shovel scoop of non-resinous hardwood sawdust ;medium coarse was best- like from a planer; and tumble the pelt till the hair side felt dry to the touch. I myself use a plastic kids pool to lay the scrape/ salted/ rinsed/ hung to drip dry pelt hair up and then rub in handfuls of sawdust then shake it out over the gravel drive and repeat till fur is dry (but dusty). This sawdust prep step makes the fur side look better with less fuss after applying the tanning solution - I have used tanning creme from taxidermy wholesaler or Tandy's 'Tannit'