So I am tanning a hide and have some questions. I know it says get all the flesh and fat off, but I got most of it. As you can see there is some left; I don't have a fleshing knife and on first pass this was the best I could do. I figured better to get it salted and then go back to remove some of the tougher pieces. Pic before salting So I salted it last night and came out this morning to check and it looked like this: I am guessing the salt is drawing the blood out, but I did not think it was this wet. What should I do? Pat it down with a towel and re-salt? I was thinking it could be dew, but i looked and the grass didn't have any dew on it, so I don't think that was the reason the hide was so wet this morning.
If you plan to tan the hide, 100% (with no exception) of the fat and meat MUST be removed. You can use a regular knife if you dont have a fleshing knife. You can also use a pressure washer. The pressure washer works very well and wont risk cutting a hole in the hide. After you flesh, then you salt. Place the hide on a sheet of plywood and raise one side of the sheet so the incline allows the moisture to run off. The next day, remove all the wet salt and slat it again. (use more salt than you think you should. You can use too much salt) Now you are getting ready to start the brine (pickle) or remove the hair (if you want to tan the hide without hair) You can then thin the hide and remove the inner membrane. (do this for both hair on or hair-off tanning) how do you plan to tan the hide? What method?
I am doing it for hair on and I will see if I can get a pressure washer. I know I didn't get all the meat and fat off, but wanted to get it salted asap so it wouldn't rot. I plan on going back and refleshing in a few days. So what about the red stains/line around the hide. I could spend hours fleshing that, but thought it might make more sense to just cut it w/ scissors as it's only 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide.
I recently started taxidermy, didn't have a fleshing knife but had a 4" angle grinder. I got a wood sanding disk and gave it a shot and in my opinion worked fantastic. If you have a grinder it's a cheap way to save a ton of time. Salting pulls all the fluids from the skin which later is replaced with the tanning agent, I salt three times removing all wet salt each time.
Use a pressure washer. I did some taxidermy in the past and fleshed with a pressure washer. I used both, a cheap electric one and gas powered. The gas powered is much better. To save me typing, just go to youtube and watch a video. Be aware that it makes a mess everywhere. Don't hold the stream in one place very long. A turbo nozzle works better than the flat stream. Sent from my SM-S902L using Tapatalk
