Deer Hide
Deer Hide
How can I save my deer hide?
I always want to save the deer hide (with the fur) after hunting season but I am not sure how to do it myself. I had a friend that said something about soaking it in a bucket with Borax and water for 1-2 days. Then scrape the meat and fat out, then salt it for 1-2 days and then something about a hide conditioner. But I don't remember everything and I can't get ahold of him to ask him. Any tips?
The best thing to do if you want to have it tanned is to generously cover it with non-iodized salt mixed with alum. 'Work it into the fur and flesh side well and roll up the hide. This will draw out the moisture and the alum will set the hair and keep it from coming out. You will need to find a tannery to send it to because it is just too much work to tan it yourself. There are tanning kits availabel from such places as cabel's (www.cabelas.com) if you really think you want to do it yourself. it is not the soaking of the hide in the solutions that is the work, it is removing all traces of flesh and fat from the flesh side before tanning the hide and then working the tanned hide over something like the end of a baseball bat to break up the collagen in the hide and make it soft. If you don't do that last step, you will end up with a hide that is as stiff as cardboard. It's lots of work and you don'tr really save much, if anything, over just sending it to a tannery.
I tanned a deer hide once and that was enough for me. Way too much work and you don't really save anything over sending it to a tannery. Now I just send them to a tannery and let them do all the hard work. After a few months, they send me my hide back all nice and tanned and soft as butter. I put them away and save them up for a few years and then have something nice made from them like a jacket, gloves, etc.
Tanning a Deer Hide Part II
Look For Deer Hide On eBay By Scrolling Down:
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