Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
So, after reading H Wally's thread regarding home tanning (http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378763), and getting a couple encouraging and informative PM's from him regarding me having a bear pelt ready to get working, I set to work to get my pelt tanned!
Some background...
I had shot a decidedly average brown phase black bear sow last year, but after being quoted $400 - $500 from various local taxedermists to get the pelt professionally tanned, I decided that just wasn't in the cards. One taxedermist did offer to professionally deflesh and salt the pelt for me for a cost of $180. He told me that this would allow the pelt to be stored in my basement for years awaiting tanning, either by me (I had discussed home tanning it with him) or professionally. It was getting fairly late in the fall and I was stuck between simply not having $500 for a professional tanning job, and not having enough time to deflesh and salt my pelt myself, so I took the middle road and accepted his option and the pelt sat in my basement for a year.
After doing a fair bit of reading on home tanning I decided that, lacking a suitable brain for tanning, a chemical tan was in order. The taxedermist who defleshed my pelt reccomended a product called Liqua-Tan for home tanning, and I quickly found it on-line and ordered a liter of it, along with a hide softener and professional cleaning soution. Cost for these supplies was about $90, and according to the instrucions, should be enough for two bear pelts.
So, now that I had all that I needed, I got going. Here's a basic step-by step of what I did, with pics.
Find a bear pelt...
Got the pelt professionally defleshed (no pics). Instructions for defleshing yourself are fairly easy to find on the net, and some good ones are on H Wally's thread.
Gather up my tanning supplies...
Wash and degrease the pelt in a solution of 10 gallons of water and one liter of washing oil. I did this in a standard garbage can, and agitated it regularly for about twenty minutes.
I could clearly see grease and fat building up on the surface of the cleaning solution. I hadn't realized bear pelts were so naturally oily. After washing it this way, I dumped the solution and rinsed the hide in cold water for a few minues, as per the instructions.
Next, while the hide was still damp, was to apply the actual tanning agent, Liqua-Tan, with a paintbrush. I warmed up the tanning solution in an old coffee can on the stove, as the instructions suggested it worked better warm. While this was going on, I spread the hide out on a tarp in my kitchen to work on.
Once the Liqua-Tan was the temperature of a nice hot bath, I carefully brushed it on the inside of the hide, being particularly careful in areas like the inside of the paws and face. As per instructions, at this point, I rolled up the hide and let it stand overnight.
The next day it was time to apply the hide softener (Liqua-Soft) over the tanning agent. I basically repeated the process from yesterday, heating the softening oil in a coffee can, spreading out the hide in the kitchen and applying the softening oil on the hide exactly as the tanning oil went on.
After this the hide was hung for drying for two days. Once dry, the hide needed to be worked (very little actually) to soften it up, and I got this done in a couple of hours. According to the instructions on the tanning products, I was now officially done. However, I thought the hide felt a little oily, and after comparing it to a couple of professionally tanned hides in the basement, I found that it definitely was. What to do now, I wasn't too sure. I decided to hand wash the entire hide in a bathtub of lukewarm water and use some of the wife's expensive doggie shampoo to try and clean the hide. After two water changes and a clear rinse, it seemed to work great.
I dried the hide two more days. I had read somewhere on this site about using an old dryer, some 2x4 blocks and sawdust to dry and soften a pelt. I didn't have those exact things, but I kind of wanted my pelt a little softer than I had it, so I used my upright dryer, a pair of tennis shoes (to beat the hide up a bit) and a towel (to absorb any last bits of moisure) and threw the whole thing in for 60 minutes on air dry. I checked it every ten minutes and it worked like a hot damn!
Here's the final product...
I compared it to three professionally done tanning jobs I have on hand. I have some very slight hair slippage (you can only see it on the inside of the pelt as some hairs are coming through to the inside), but looking at the hair side, my (mostly) home job is at least as good as pelts I had sent away and gotten tanned previously (before such things cost as much as they do today). Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.
The process I did was simple, and, even having the pelt professionally defleshed, cost me about half what I would have paid to have it tanned professionally. And it was quite a bit of fun, and I definitely feel this pelt has more "value" to me than one I got done by someone else.
Next bear, I'm planning on a whole DIY situation, with a brain tan.
Some background...
I had shot a decidedly average brown phase black bear sow last year, but after being quoted $400 - $500 from various local taxedermists to get the pelt professionally tanned, I decided that just wasn't in the cards. One taxedermist did offer to professionally deflesh and salt the pelt for me for a cost of $180. He told me that this would allow the pelt to be stored in my basement for years awaiting tanning, either by me (I had discussed home tanning it with him) or professionally. It was getting fairly late in the fall and I was stuck between simply not having $500 for a professional tanning job, and not having enough time to deflesh and salt my pelt myself, so I took the middle road and accepted his option and the pelt sat in my basement for a year.
After doing a fair bit of reading on home tanning I decided that, lacking a suitable brain for tanning, a chemical tan was in order. The taxedermist who defleshed my pelt reccomended a product called Liqua-Tan for home tanning, and I quickly found it on-line and ordered a liter of it, along with a hide softener and professional cleaning soution. Cost for these supplies was about $90, and according to the instrucions, should be enough for two bear pelts.
So, now that I had all that I needed, I got going. Here's a basic step-by step of what I did, with pics.
Find a bear pelt...
Got the pelt professionally defleshed (no pics). Instructions for defleshing yourself are fairly easy to find on the net, and some good ones are on H Wally's thread.
Gather up my tanning supplies...
Wash and degrease the pelt in a solution of 10 gallons of water and one liter of washing oil. I did this in a standard garbage can, and agitated it regularly for about twenty minutes.
I could clearly see grease and fat building up on the surface of the cleaning solution. I hadn't realized bear pelts were so naturally oily. After washing it this way, I dumped the solution and rinsed the hide in cold water for a few minues, as per the instructions.
Next, while the hide was still damp, was to apply the actual tanning agent, Liqua-Tan, with a paintbrush. I warmed up the tanning solution in an old coffee can on the stove, as the instructions suggested it worked better warm. While this was going on, I spread the hide out on a tarp in my kitchen to work on.
Once the Liqua-Tan was the temperature of a nice hot bath, I carefully brushed it on the inside of the hide, being particularly careful in areas like the inside of the paws and face. As per instructions, at this point, I rolled up the hide and let it stand overnight.
The next day it was time to apply the hide softener (Liqua-Soft) over the tanning agent. I basically repeated the process from yesterday, heating the softening oil in a coffee can, spreading out the hide in the kitchen and applying the softening oil on the hide exactly as the tanning oil went on.
After this the hide was hung for drying for two days. Once dry, the hide needed to be worked (very little actually) to soften it up, and I got this done in a couple of hours. According to the instructions on the tanning products, I was now officially done. However, I thought the hide felt a little oily, and after comparing it to a couple of professionally tanned hides in the basement, I found that it definitely was. What to do now, I wasn't too sure. I decided to hand wash the entire hide in a bathtub of lukewarm water and use some of the wife's expensive doggie shampoo to try and clean the hide. After two water changes and a clear rinse, it seemed to work great.
I dried the hide two more days. I had read somewhere on this site about using an old dryer, some 2x4 blocks and sawdust to dry and soften a pelt. I didn't have those exact things, but I kind of wanted my pelt a little softer than I had it, so I used my upright dryer, a pair of tennis shoes (to beat the hide up a bit) and a towel (to absorb any last bits of moisure) and threw the whole thing in for 60 minutes on air dry. I checked it every ten minutes and it worked like a hot damn!
Here's the final product...
I compared it to three professionally done tanning jobs I have on hand. I have some very slight hair slippage (you can only see it on the inside of the pelt as some hairs are coming through to the inside), but looking at the hair side, my (mostly) home job is at least as good as pelts I had sent away and gotten tanned previously (before such things cost as much as they do today). Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.
The process I did was simple, and, even having the pelt professionally defleshed, cost me about half what I would have paid to have it tanned professionally. And it was quite a bit of fun, and I definitely feel this pelt has more "value" to me than one I got done by someone else.
Next bear, I'm planning on a whole DIY situation, with a brain tan.
