Home Grown Deer Hide Tanning

[rwbowman]

I have a doe hide in the deep freezer from one year and three days ago. I spoke to a professional tanner who said as long as I rolled the hide up and kept it frozen, it will last "forever". Well,forever has come and I want to tan this hide at home, without spending a large chunk of money. It's a beautiful hide and I'd like to soft tan it hair-on. Does anyone here care to share their methods?

Thanks!

[Butchie]

[Tsalt]

I've had good results following the instructions from this old Field and Stream article by Keith Mcaferty...

Tanning a deer hide is a rite of passage, cementing blood ties to our hunting forebears who depended upon skins for warmth and who respected slain animals by never letting any part go to waste. Using an alum solution (you can find ammonia alum at pharmacies) departs from tradition—ancestral hunters used brains for tanning—but will render your hide soft and supple. The reward is a memento that serves a dual purpose as a beautiful wall hanging or a comforter for a winter night. —KEITH MCCAFFERTY

STEP ONE Skin the deer and bone out the tail. Scrape every particle of fat and flesh from the hide with a knife. Begin the tanning process or preserve it with a generous layer of non-iodized salt. Salted hides can be air dried until the onset of warm weather, or frozen.

STEP TWO Soak the skin in water in a plastic garbage can until it softens, changing the water often. Drain, then pull the skin back and forth across the edge of a board. Scrape it with the back edge of a knife or an old hacksaw blade with dull teeth. Do not expose the hair roots.

STEP THREE Dissolve 2 ½ pounds of salt in 4 gallons of water in the garbage can. In a plastic bucket, dissolve 1 pound of ammonia alum in a gallon of water. Slowly pour the alum solution into the garbage can, mixing thoroughly. Soak the skin for four days, occasionally stirring to make sure the hide is well coated. Rinse thoroughly with running water.

STEP FOUR Tack the hide, hair side down, to a piece of plywood. Partially dry it in a sunless place, then rub in a coat of fat liquor oil (3 ½ ounces of neat's-foot oil combined with 3 ½ ounces of warm water and 1 ounce of ammonia). Work in half of this mixture, allow it to stand for an hour, then repeat. Cover with plastic overnight.

STEP FIVE Remove the tacks, dampen the hide with a wet cloth, stretch it, then rub it back and forth over a sawhorse. Redampen it and repeat, applying additional fat liquor sparingly. When the hide is perfectly supple, smooth the surface by chafing it with fine-grit sandpaper.

You can purchased the ammonia alum from Van Dykes supply... 5 lbs is like $15.  This is a buck my son killed last year which now graces the couch in my office...

[rwbowman]

Thanks Tim! I'll wait for the weather to cool and get after it.

[reddogge]

The old adage was each animal has enough brains to tan its own hide.

[Jack Hoyt 75]

There is several good books and dvd's on it.  Brain tanning is supposed to be easy to do if you dont mind some work.  I know Dakota Line Snares (trapping store and website) sells several books on tanning online.  I am sure you can find the books many places online.  Brain tanning is supposed to make the buck skin very, very soft.  It would be a old school, natural option.  Others will know more and be able to give specifics.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

[mjh]

brain tan dot com

wouldn't say brain tanning is easy, wouldn't say it is hard, takes a little effort though....

I've brain tanned a few but I've never done hair on...

have some fun with it!

get some krotan from a taxidermy supply store.
  its super easy stuff to tan with.
    a lot of taxidermist use it nowadays.
     me included. 25 bucks for a quart and you can tan 4-5 whole skins with it, maybe more.
i do about 8 capes with a quart
makes a nice white skin, just takes time and muscle to stretch hide out after tanning process. only other thing you have to buy is 4 LB box of canning salt. and you can leave the skin in the mixture for as long as you want(at least 4 days) until your ready to finish it.

   dang good stuff, I think.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Tanning is easy as long as you've done proper fleshing, softening is were the work begins!!!

I use aluminum sulfate, 1 cup of alum, 2 cups of salt to one gallon of un chlorinated water. Mix as much as needed to cover what ever your tanning works on all furs. Been using this tanning formula almost 30 years. About the same as the alum tan above but you can throw the hide right in this tanning solution no need to dry it out first.

 Lots of people talk about brain tanning being easy but never do it because it's to much work, been there done it there is a lot to it and it's all work if it wasn't everybody would do it.

Tracy

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Forgot nice work  Tsalt        

Tracy

[Sixby]

I tanned one years ago with an old formula. made a quiver out of it a used the quiver for years with no hair loss and the skin stayed soft.
Here is how it went. I fleshed out the hide then washed it in a five gallon bucket with gasoline, you have to remove the animal oils from the hide.

Then I washed and rinsed it with strong laundry soap until I removed most of the gas smell. I now put dry sawdust over the entire hide and rolled it up. When almost dry I tacked it to a piece of plywood and rubbed in neats foot oil as it dried. When dry you have to break the hide to soften it. This requires working it over a two by four or sawhorse and pulling and stretching the hide. It actually worked really well for me. Cost was a couple of gallons of gas and some soap and neats foot oil.

God bless, Steve

[backyardbowhunter]

I've done a couple deer hides with a wet tan, Lutan FN. Got a kit and followed the instructions. Worked great. As Tracy said, the hard part is fleshing and softening. I also did a coon and beaver tail and they work too.

[Matt Fowler]

I have tanned 8 skins following Matt Richard's book, Deerskins into Buckskins. Made 1 shirt so far. It is labor intensive but hair on should be easier.

[2bird]

Rory if you have my # text me, I got a bottle of stuff you can just have if you want...

[Tsalt]

Matt... that is a sweet buckskin shirt!  I gotta make one of those!

[Matt Fowler]

Thanks Tim. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It is a lot of work and time though. That's 4 skins in that shirt.