Beauty ‘is’ skin deep – 10 steps to tanning a hide from Anthony Puddicombe
Tanning an animal hide and turning it into an attractive floor rug is a rewarding experience. If you are planning on taking the skin (or meat) for later use, then time is of the essence after you have despatched the animal. Obviously the hotter it is, the quicker you will have to work. Basically, once the animal is dead, bacteria will start to break it down. With the hide it targets the base of the hair follicles and if not stopped, you will acquire ‘hair slip’ and the hide cannot be saved.
Preserving and tanning the hide:
Step 1. When skinning the animal, make precise cuts, as this determines the overall shape later. It’s all about making it look as symmetrical as possible.
Pay particular attention to the tail. It’s a fine area that needs delicate cuts, so take your time.
After removing the hide from the animal, either lay it out flat or hang it over a branch or wire fence (flesh side up) to cool. Shade is best and a breeze will help. The skin should be cool to touch before you roll it up to take back to camp. Don’t roll it up until it is cool, otherwise it will promote bacteria growth and that dreaded ‘hair slip’ will set in.
Step 2. As soon as possible, you will need to salt the hide with fine table salt (do not use course or pool salt). The 1kg bags at the supermarkets are cheap and easy to transport.
Roll the skin out flat, making sure no edges are rolled over. If you notice any thick lumps of fat or meat or blood clots from the entry or exit hole, trim them off with a sharp knife, as these will limit the effectiveness of the salt. Don’t be tempted to wash it, as it will breed bacteria. Sprinkle a coating over the hide, but put more where the blood clots are.
A fallow skin uses about 3kg of salt on the first coating. Now fold the sides into the middle so it’s skin on skin, then roll the hide up (fur outside) and place in a hessian or cloth bag (a pillow case also works) and hang the bag in a cool place out of the sun.
It needs to stay like this for the next 24 hours. A fair bit of blood and salty liquid will drain out. This must be allowed to drain, so don’t put in a bucket or plastic bag as this will promote bacteria growth.
Step 3. After 24 hours, roll out the hide and shake a heap of the old salt and blood off, then lay flat and trim off any fat, meat or clots that you missed and re-salt. This is vital, so don’t skip this.
A skin might take 2kg the second salting. Again, fold and roll up and put back into the cloth bag. It needs to stay in this state for at least seven days before the next process. This salting procedure becomes part of the tanning course. After this second salting the liquid dripping out should be non-existent. If it persists, then after 24 hours, shake out and re-salt, again.
Step 4. The hide can stay in this bag, in a cool place for up to several weeks. But after seven days you need to decide if you are going to start tanning it in the next few weeks. If not possible, then place it in a plastic bag (you don’t want freezer burn) and put in the freezer, where it will keep for at least a year.
Step 5. Time to remove all the fat and meat from the hide, so you are just left with the skin and fur. This is called ‘fleshing’. For small skins like rabbits, cats and foxes, you can use one of the small single-handed fleshing tools available.
For larger skins such as goats, deer and small cattle, the two-handed fleshing tools are the go. They do take practice and if you are not careful you can cut through the skin, but they are far more effective on thick large hides and will save you a lot of time and effort.
The other apparatus is a fleshing beam. Mine is made from a Koppers log, with a piece of 150mm plastic drainage pipe over the ‘working’ end. The A-frame is there to elevate one end, so it should be about belly button height.
A piece of marine carpet is used for cushioning when you do the ‘breaking’ step last and is not needed for fleshing, but mine is permanently attached. When using the fleshing knife work from the head end first and towards the tail.
To stop the skin from sliding down, have part of the hide folded over the end and push your stomach up against it to hold it. I wear a welder’s apron so the mess from the hide doesn’t go all over my shirt and it tends to grip it better. Once you have removed the flesh and fat now it is time to wash it ‑ use fresh water with a little detergent and hand wash it. Then drain the water and repeat until the water comes out clear. Once clean, drip dry it, and prepare the tanning bath. The skin needs to be in a tanning bath as soon as possible.
If you have any large holes or cuts in the hide, now is the time to stitch them up. The skin will take on the new shape while tanning and will barely be noticeable. If you try and sew the holes up after tanning, it will leave a noticeable lump and won’t look as good.
Step 6. The Leder tanning formula always works, but feel free to use what you like. There are tanning formulas for thin hides (rabbit, cat, fox, wild dog, goat and deer) which are up to 3mm thick. With a different formula and additives for thicker hides (more than 3mm) like deer stags/bucks (their neck hide is surprisingly thick) and cow hides. Here is a suggested formula for thick hides, like that of a large deer:
- Fresh water, 53L
- Tanning formula, 750ml
- Fine cooking salt, 4.5kg
- 30 per cent Sulphuric acid, 172ml.
It seems strange to add an acid to the solution, but this is to help the tanning solution penetrate the thicker skins, as it only enters from the skin side on haired hides.
Because of what’s in the formula, you need to use either plastic, stainless steel or enamel bathtubs (with no enamel chips). These materials do not react with the chemical.
Plus, it is strongly advised to wear rubber or latex gloves, as well as eye protection. The size of the container also needs to be sufficient so the hide is not cramped and can be rolled over and turned easily so the solution gets an even ‘take’ on the hide. If the container is too small, you will have air pockets and areas without enough solution, causing bacteria growth and ‘hair slip’.
Once the hide is in the tanning solution, lift it out and roll it over several times in the first hour. Then for the rest of the time it is soaking. You do it once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Depending on the thickness of the hide you are tanning, it can take three to four days for the thinner hides and up to 14 days for thick hides. A fallow hide takes about five full days for the chemical to soak right through. To test penetration, take a sharp knife and at the thickest part of the hide, usually the neck or rump, make a cut in about 2cm. It should be a greenish/blueish tinge all the way through. Once complete, wash the hide in soapy water until clear, then you are ready to move on.
Step 7. This determines the end result, which if done correctly can produce a beautiful soft hide, with white leather. If you do it wrong it can result in stiff leather, that cannot be softened or a green oily hide that looks and feels horrible.
You will be applying the leather lube to the skin before it dries, and it stops the fibres ‘locking together’ and becoming stiff. If this happens, the hide cannot be saved. Use the Leder formula. Again, it has different formulas for thin and thick hides, for fallow buck I use the ‘thick’ formula. So, after you have washed the hide, let it drip dry in the shade. This can take 20-30mins for small skins and up to an hour or so for thicker ones – but under no circumstance let it completely dry. Once there are no more drips you need to weigh the skin and this weight calculates how much leather lube you need to apply. If you weigh it before it is drip dry, you will end up with a false weight, meaning you will apply too much leather lube and the skin will be oily. An 8kg hide requires 800ml of the Leder leather lube. Before applying, you need to peg out the skin, (hair side down). Use a sheet of 12mm ply, drawing a grid pattern on the ply first. This allows you to peg it out in a symmetrical pattern, because the shape you peg it out in, is its finished shape.
Use a staple gun, with staples long enough to penetrate the hide and hold it securely, no more than 5cm apart and closer around tight curves. Don’t pull the skin too tight, just enough to take the wrinkles out. Pulling it too tight makes it stiffer and harder to soften later. Now apply the leather lube with a paint brush, being sure to apply it all over and not miss any patches. Once the whole hide is done, you will have some left. With this you re-apply to the thickest parts of the hide, generally the neck, rump and down the spine. Keep applying it until it is all gone. Don’t skimp.
Step 8. Now is the waiting game. This is where patience is a virtue. Some tanning failures have come from being impatient and removing the hide too early and the leather lube hasn’t had a chance to soak all the way through.
Try for the hide to lay flat the whole time and let gravity help the lube soak in. The hide will gradually lighten as the lube soaks through, so you will need to wait until all the dark patches are gone. A fallow hide takes about 10 days in a North Queensland autumn climate. If your climate isn’t conducive to things drying, you could set up a pedestal fan on low speed to help this process. But don’t rush it.
Step 9. Once all of the leather lube has soaked in, the hide should be a light colour. Remove all the staples. The hide will be a little stiff, but now you ‘break’ the hide, to soften it. This will be done on the fleshing beam or for smaller hides like rabbits and cats on a flat surface.
But you will need about 25mm of foam or other soft material, to cushion the hide while you are breaking it. This is hard, but the more you work the hide, the softer it will be. For a fallow hide you can use a two-handed fleshing knife again. For the smaller skins you can utilise the one-handed fleshing knife, but use the back side, not the teeth side.
Work the skin all over, from different angles until you are happy with the softness. For thin skins, you will need to do it again after 24 hours. For thick hides after you have done the initial breaking, lay it back on the ply, leather side up and sand all the lumps and bumps out and dress the leather to a smooth finish. Use an angle grinder with a 40-grit flapper disc. The disc needs to be course otherwise it will clog up and not sand. You can be quite aggressive with it around the thick areas (neck and rump) but be careful on the thin areas as you don’t want to sand all the way through.
This process will not only make the leather side look more attractive, but it also helps to soften the leather when you repeat the breaking procedure for the second time. You can keep sanding and breaking as many times as you like until you are happy with the appearance and softness.
Step 10. This really makes a difference to the overall appearance – trim the edge of the hide to remove the staple holes, the irregular and dry crusty edges. With a sharp knife, hold the edge up off the table and make a continuous slice all the way around the hide, except the tail.
Do not cut down on the hide while it is flat on the table as you will cut the hair and spoil the edge. The same applies for scissors ‑ do not use them for the same reason. Also try and get the trim as symmetrical as possible, so both sides look similar.
This attention to detail can make a big difference to how the hide looks. Now you can put it on your floor and admire your handiwork.