For those of you who have tanned a deer hide with hair on I have some questions. 1st - When leaving the hair on do you still go through the process where it involves bran flake water and battery acid? 2nd - How long do these seem to last with human contact? Will hair fall out right away?
Never heard of either one...I would think a properly tanned hide wit hthe hair on it would last for years with human contact without losing hair at all. Maybe I have too high expectations? I see cow hides with the hair left on them in some of the ranch supply stored around here and they are durable. Bear rugs also come to mind.
I sent a deer hide to a tannery in FL last year and had a hair on tan done. It only cost $35 for their services and that is shipped back to you. It cost me about $25 to mail it to them salted. Turn around time was 9 or 10 months but I was very happy with what I got back. This place is old school and difficult to get in touch with but they do good work. You don't drop any money until they are done with the order. They call you up when it is done, you give them your funding info and they ship it out to you The prep you put into the hide is what will determine the qualify of the hide you get back and if the hair will slip or not. My taxidermist told me that the hide will spoil faster than the meat. He said to remove as much fat as possible and salt immediately. Use non iodized salt and lots of it. Total cost was $60. Way easier and in my opinion affordable. I have always wanted to do one myself but my taxidermist talked me out of it. He said to get it the way you would want it would take days worth of "breaking" the hide to make it soft.
To do a good quality soft tan on a deer hide takes alot of time!! 2nd point _ I have done a ton of tanning and have never heard of any thing you mentioned in your OP. 3. Tanning isn't hard.... stretching and breaking is where the real work comes in, if you don't mind a stiff hide you can do one quite easy, I actually leave alot of my furs stiff if I will be hanging them on the wall, all others of course will require breaking. There are many ways to go about stretching and breaking. and deer hide is one of the toughest to do IMO. If you would like more details shoot me a PM and I will give you my number and talk to ya about it if you'd like. The initial tanning is easy. Skin the deer, flesh the hide (remove all meat and fat etc, thin the hide (mostly important if you want a soft tan as if will make breaking much faster and easier. If you are tanning the hide yourself there is no need to apply salt directly to the hide, go to the grocery and by a few bags of pickling salt (non iodized) I like one bag per about every 5 gals of H20. Mix the brine well and allow the hide to soak moving the hide around every 12-24 hrs. For a thick hide like deer pickle for at least 3 days. You can go longer, I have left hide in brine for a week or better but I do change the brine out every 3 days if it goes longer. Once pickled you are ready for tanning solution. There are MANY out there, I prefer Lutan I order it from VanDykes Taxidermy supply. Mix and soak per the mfg instructions. You can also by a hide conditioner from them that works very well when it comes time to break hide. Once the hide has soaked in the tan you need a way to stretch the hide before it dries, for a deer a large sheet of plywood can work, but I have a rig in my shed on the wall that works better. Think lots of I hooks in a rectangular shape with wire and clips attached. You attach the clips firmly then cinch the braided wire tight... real tight. You can buy commerial strecthers and I use them for smaller furs the are tanned tubed but this method works well for deer or any split hides. Stretch until dry, then you are ready to break. Again many ways to do this, run back and work across a dull shovel, drill and wire wheel, by hand with a hide scrapper... etc, basically you need to break down the fibers in the skin to make them pliable. Easiest way for me is an old dryer in the garage works just like a commercial hide tumbler. lol I have only barely touched on the most basic points here, there are many products out there that claim a one application tan etc, from my experience you get out of it what you put into it. I havent even brought up PH balance etc....... Anyway if you are only looking to do one deer hide it is likely cheaper and easier to send it off, unless you just want the experience then well, go for it! Once you do one and get the hang of it you will want to tan lots of stuff.. Good Luck!
