Salting buckskins

[loki04]

Gentlemen,

I think I understand how to make buckskin, or at least I can kid myself that I do. But this year I am taking college classes again, and will not be able to put the time into tanning that I should. I have heard of salting a hide and coming back to work on it later, but having never done this, I figured it best to ask people who might know about it before doing irreparable damage to the hide. What Do I need to know about salting down the hide? How do I get the salted hide (green?) into the tanning process? is there a time limit as to how long I can store the green hide before tanning?

Thanks for the advice,
Loki

 

[Robert Egler]

I've never done it with deer skin, but I've done it with fox, squirrel, and beaver skins. I've kept them as long as a year and they have tanned ok. But you better get advice from someone who's worked with a deer skin since the hair on deer is different than that of fox, etc...

 

[paulvallandigham]

I guess we first need if you want to keep the hair of the deer on the hide, or will you use it with the hair off?

You can put a heavy coat of salt on the inside of the hide, but you really need to flesh it, and remove all the sinew, connecting tissue, and any fat or meat, for the salt to penetrate the leather. Unless the salt penetrates, the hair is likely to slip, giving you a hide with bare spots.

You can't use TOO much salt. More is better.

When you take the salted hide out of its wrapper, and the freezer, you want to soak the hide in clear water to get all the salt out. Use a couple of rinses and soak the hide for at least an hour each time.

Once that is done, you can rub in the tanning solution- be it brains, or some other mix.

The problem with fur slipping almost always goes back to how well the fleshing was done before the hide was salted. Its hard work, until you have done it several times. Then, you develop a feel for the hides, how to hold them, what direction to scrape them, etc. to be the most efficient in fleshing the hides quickly. :thumbsup:

I would recommend that you first practice on small game hides, until you learn the techniques. Save the bigger hides until you have that "Feel". :hatsoff:

 

[loki04]

Sir,

Usually, my tanning starts the day I acquire the hide, but I cannot take the time to do it right this year. Although I have used braintaning methods successfully before, I have never salted a hide. I do not want to do irreparable harm to the hides by salting, but the only other option I have is to discard the hides.

I do not want the hair to remain on the hide. You speak of fleshing the hide prior to salting; does this still need to be done if I will be removing the hair? You also mention freezing the hide; does this create problems with the hide processing (cell lysis)? If the hide is well salted, does it still need to be frozen?

Also, what kind of salt is required? will bulk salt work, or must it be table salt?

My apologies for the multitude of questions, and my heartfelt thanks for your time.

Loki

 

[Robert Egler]

Yes, the fleshing still needs to be done or the salt can't get into the hide. You do not need to freeze salted hides. I use table salt since the smaller size per grain gives larger total surface area to absorb. You do need to keep the hide dry after it dries out with the salt.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you don't want the hair left on, then you don't have to freeze it. HOWEVER, the reason we freeze anything is to stop or at least delay bacterial decay of the flesh( hide)during storage. I would still freeze the hide in a sealed bag if I was looking at long term storage( more than a couple of weeks) before I am going to get around to processing the hide.

If You have access to one of those vacuum machines that suck the air out of plastic bags, use it, as Depriving bacteria of air at least kills the Aerobic bacteria. That only leave the Anaerobic forms to damage the hide. Salt works fairly well, but is not perfect in fighting off all bacteria, unless the hide is completely encased in salt.

When the French controlled Illinois Country in the 16-1700s, they shipped tons of buffalo tongues and hearts back to Paris, where they brought huge prices as a delicacy, by packing these parts in barrels full of salt. It was the best "Preservative" Early Man had for thousands of years.

 

[Robert Egler]

I agree with you that freezing and vacuum packing would work very well, but I've kept fleshed fur-on skins salted for as long as a year and had them tan fine. Kept in a dry place, not exposed to outside humidity. But a bigger reason that I salt without freezing is that my wife is NOT going let me keep a hide in the freezer! :haha:

 

[gmarc]

If you dont want tthe hair to slip, properlyy flesh the hide and use a mixture of salt and alum.

 

[Bill Austin]

For making buckskin I just salt the hide when I get it, I don't flesh it, just rub salt all over the flesh side, fold it flesh side in and put it in a plastic bag. I have stored them this way for well over a year. The hair will start to slip in spots but that's about it. When you are ready to start tanning just throw it in some water for 24 hours to rehydrate, flesh and then start graining.

 

[LRB]

Borax seems to work as good or better than salt. It washes off much easier. Stops insects and bacteria. I have had a hair on raw hide in my shop for about four years now, and it is as good as the day I hung it there. A taxidermist friend recommended that to me.

 

[Robby]

Loki, The buckskin quivers in the picture are well over ten years old, one winter, and one summer hide. They were put on a stretching frame and fleshed, hosed off and allowed to dry completely, that's it. Hair is still tight. I have used Borax on hides that I could not get to right away, and think it works better than salt. Good luck

Robby

 

[paulvallandigham]

Thanks for the idea about using Borax on the raw hides, instead of salt. I would feel much better using the Borax on hides, than using salt. I have tried salt, and while it works, I worried about the condition of the hide the whole time it was in storage. I KNOW that Borax will do the job of fighting off all kinds of bacteria. :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Bill Austin]

Borax is good for a dry preservative but it has a ph of around 9 or so. That makes it hard to soften into braintan. It works good for preserving a hair-on skin that is not going to be softened.

 

[CWC]

Freezing hide - no need to salt or flesh first. Just seal it in a plastic bag and throw in the freezer. Won't damage the hide at all. To tan just throw the frozen hide straight into the bucking solution. It will thaw in the solution.

Salting - no need to do a complete fleshing job. Just get the big chunks of fat and meat off, if there are any, and then spread with salt and dry. To tan completely rinse and soak off all salt. Then flesh and proceed as usual.

Drying - if you have time to do a complete fleshing job you can dry the hide without any salt. You now have a hair on rawhide. To tan just throw it straight in the bucking solution and it will rehydrate. If you can't fit the dried hide in your bucking tub you can rehydrate by getting it nice and wet and then spreading a wet towel over it. Let it set for a couple hours and then check it.