tanning a pelt?

[ray299]

noobie here... I see all these different ways to tan a pelt... what exactly is it that we are trying to accomplish by tanning the pelt. I was taught to just take it off, pin it out fur side down and cover it in regular table salt and let it sit til the salt hardens. Then take a razor knife and slide if along the side up to scrape teh salt off. Repeat salting if the pelt still has moisture in it. This method yields a thick and stiff pelt, but all I do with them is hang them.

I guess these are my questions:

Why do you tan with the method you choose?

What do you do with your pelt after it's tanned?

 

Thanks in advance from a noobie.

[rocksaplenty]

My (cheap) method:

 

Strip off any odd bits of meat

Stretch out and nail hide to a pallet

Rub with cement or plaster powder to bond onto the fat on the hide bits (don't wait for the plaster or cement to set, you're just using them as an agent that quickly bonds on to fat and moisture) - make sure you've got gloves on. Scrape the mess away with a knife

Wash

Wash

Wash

Put back onto to pallet, then smoke over a fire, 30mins

Boil up the head of the animal (10-20 minutes)

Crack upon the skull and pour the brains over the hide - rub well in

Then keep working the hide until soft (takes a while)

 

The aim is to: get all meat, fat, blood out of the hide surface. Cure (with the smoke) and then add a tanning agent (brains). Then work it to soften.

Edited August 7, 2009 by rocksaplenty