how to preserve pelts
08-18-2005, 04:59 PM
#2
Dominant Buck
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ramsey , Indiana
Posts: 22,545
RE: how to preserve pelts
Defatting the hide and salting it as it's pegged to a stretcher board is usually a good first step , this will produce a "green" hide that will keep for quite awhile.
There are a wide variety of tanning methods for as reason . I used to carve leather , which calls for a vegetable tan so that the leather will take the tooling . Most shoe leather is chromium tanned , and I have a recipe for a solution for tanning rabit hides that includes alum ,among other things . Which method depends on what the final use of the hide will be . If it's intended for display then you wouldn't want a tan that causes the hair to slip .
There are a wide variety of tanning methods for as reason . I used to carve leather , which calls for a vegetable tan so that the leather will take the tooling . Most shoe leather is chromium tanned , and I have a recipe for a solution for tanning rabit hides that includes alum ,among other things . Which method depends on what the final use of the hide will be . If it's intended for display then you wouldn't want a tan that causes the hair to slip .
08-21-2005, 07:52 PM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: WI
Posts: 806
RE: how to preserve pelts
What I do is just skin it like a deer or any other animal and tack it down to a piece of cardboard. sprinkle some salt n let it dry. for me it only takes a day. i dont know if thats the way to do it though because when its done drying its really stiff and smells weird so i dunno. thats what i do though.
