Hi all...let me start by saying, I know nothing of tanning leather. However I do a fair bit of squirrel hunting and I laways hate wasiting that soft fluffy hide! How would I go about tanning them to make them into something useful? here in the southern tier of NY we have a massive red squirrel problem and I have been collecting hides from them since the season opened...same for grey squirrels....can anyone give me some advice
Tandy used to carry a product called "Tannery in a Box". Don't know if they still do or not. It was enough t do a deer hide, so it
would do a TON of squirrel. I've never seen tanned squirrel, so can't say if it's worth the time and money. Rabbit is like paper,
don't see squirrel being much different. It would need some kind of backing.
well i figured squirrel had to be tougher than rabbit ...i know it is when im skinning them lol....and I was just gonna tan it and make a hat or a shooting bag so backing it wouldnt be an issue
Flesh the hide. Scrape off all pieces of meat, fat and anything that doesn't look like hide. Stretch out and salt the hide. Rub it in good and leave all that will stick to it, don't put on sparingly. Let dry about 2 weeks out of the weather. Move around in and rinse in several changes of water. Inspect again and see if any need scraped. Dunk in water with 1 gallon of water to a tablespoon of baking soda. Let soak in long enough that it's rehydrated and pliable. Say an hour to 4 hours. Mash brains into a paste. Mix in water, say 1 brain to 1 oz of water. Stretch out use a blunt stick to rub the brain mix into the hide. After drying work them on the corner of a work bench or something similar. A lot of folks will mount a boat paddle in a vise and use the edge to work a hide. With something small like squirrels I'd just stretch them on a piece of plywood, nailing them to it.
I agree with buigflipper except that I take a willow branch ( I have them in abundance) and make a frame to streach them in - it is traidonal and looks neat, for the school kids who visit my humble playground.... Squirrel should make some nice little bags about the size of a medicine bag...
ok so i started with one hide to see how i do...ive got it covered in about a 1/4 inch layer of salt and nailed to a piece of ply wood.....I fleshed it as best as I could....I got all the meat but the membrane is freaking tough! how do I get that off without spending a day on each hide? also....what effect does the membrane have if left on? all im going to do is make bags ...a hat...or whatever out of them and im probably going to back them with leather I already have ...aka (thrift store coats) .. is it an absolute must to remove the membrane? also...Ive seen the braintan method and ive also seen formulas for soaking them to tan..is one better than the other?
dont tan squirrel hide , have another use for it ! I scrape it down good , de hair it and then work a little grease into it and work it till it softens up and the hide gets almost like brain tan ! I cut this into little squares and use for patching when shooting ! fills the grooves of the rifling , grips the ball , and loads easy ! its not a whole lot of work and it saves me money I`d be spending on patching material ! I do use cloth patches when I have left over cloth of the right type , and have not seen any real difference , except skin patches never burn through !
thats a neat idea! but honestly I have about 5 yards of patching material in my closet lol.... I was thinking of making a neat shooting bag or a hat...
beowulf....if you dont tan the squirrel hide....wont it decompose?
the grease or fat that`s worked into the hide is basically a type of tanning process ! you could smoke the hides same as brain tan and they stay soft and last a long time ! use something like crisco , vegetable oil seems to work better than animal fat ! and you dont use much ! "You can make soft, washable leather with emulsified oils and woodsmoke. This is commonly known as brain, smoke or Indian tanning. Animal brains are traditionally used as the source of emulsified oils, hence the name, but you can also use eggs or a mixture of soap and oil. Brain tan is ideal for clothing, bags, beadwork and all kinds of things " Ive used neatsfoot oil and naptha soap for tanning ! the hide when finished was thin , tough and soft lie flannel ! that was a deer hide I did back in 84 , used it to make mocs , and after wearing them on hunts and to rendezvous a few years re used the leather for other projects ! somewhere out there is a scalp lock on a willow hoop , with that deerskin as the flesh side of the scalp ! trimmed it out with blue trade cloth , beads and a little paint ! tha guy who bought it said it looked like the real thing ! lol whatever you do post pics , squirrel skin bags sound interesting ! maybe some ball bags !
I plan on leaving the hair on... for a shooting bag...I ahve about 25 squirrel pelts... other than salting is there anything special i need to do to keep the hair from falling out? and I will not buy Rogain... ROFL so far I have been thinking I would do a hairless bag ..with a squirrel hide flap,,,,but i was also toying with doing a whole bag with hair on...except for the back.....I ahvnt been able to decide...I just need to learn how to tan these hides first lol.....so I have one drying ...been in salt for 2 days...its prtetty crispy already...im just having a really hard time getting the membrane off...grrrrrr if I am not using the pelt for clothing ....does leaving the membrane on affect anything?
The membrane will make it where the brain acid can't get to the hide as good. When out hunting and it gets wet it will rot. I don't use nothing to keep the hide on. For removing the membrane the easiest sway is to use a draw knife and scrape. If you don't have one an ulu or skinning knife might work decent for you.
ok well that makes sense to remove the membrane....hmmm I just keep running into the problem that I live in a one bedroom apartement....in a large complex...there really isnt anywhere for me to set up a place to flesh the hide...let alone deal with the resulting mess... while I would really like to be as true to form as possible...is there any type of soaking method to tan a pelt? I think that would be easier given my constraint on room and excess of annoying neighbors that would def not approve of me fleshing a pile of animal hides on the front lawn...lol I can hear the complaints rolling in! wtt
Wow, I don't think I would encourage you to try tanning in an apartment complex unless you are the owner! To many people would freak and you stand a real good chance of being evicted... for hair on tanning I go to Luxor or similar chemical processes but cannot recommend them in your situation
only alternative is to go camping, off season. and request an isolated camp sight,
well then it looks like my only option is to wait until I can find a place to tan them at ...until then its back to the woods
guess ill wait til I can go to someones house and stink up there yard lol....lopoks like those pells are gonna be chilling in my freezer
ok so i found a method to tan with ivory soap....from post ive read it seems to work ok...however since i ahve never done this ...Im assuming the process is a bit Mal-oderous? i found a place i can stash the hides while they tan..if theyre going to stink thats ok...but im just curious. and if anyone has ever used this method....if the hides are flesh then salted for a day or two...do i need to worry about the hair falling out?
It's really a whole lot easier than you are probably going about it. You'll probably have to come up with your own method for lack of room.
You set up a log at belly button height on saw horse legs and slick off the bark with a draw knife. You seal them with an oil so they don't soak up all the foul smell. To flesh a hide you trap the pelt between your belly and the log. Your draw knife is dull so it won't cut the hide. You plow away from you, not really cutting. Just evening up the hide, knocking the high spots of meat, silver skin, growths and fat off. If there is a mucus membrane or slime left that's no trouble. A draw knife can be a butcher knife with the tip made safe with duct tape, a machete, an axe or tomahawk. For not having room I'd suggest you find a downed log in the woods and use a knee to pinch the hide to it, working away from you.
The only way the hide slips is from rot or chemical. Just tanning and drying will actually shrink the pores and trap them in tighter. Sorry no experience with soap.
setting in a chair, put the hide on your thigh, scrap head to tail with your skinning knife KEEP THE BLADE @90 deg. to the hide to prevent cuts Check out Cur-Tan on Mckenzies web site.
Wife made a buckskin shirt using ivory - says it will work in your situation as it does not smell bad
Please post process and results if it works good for you.
ok so i decided im just gonna dry them out for now .... so this is one of the hide that i fleshed out...hows it look? ive never done it before so im not really sure what it should look like...but im pretty sure i did it right
Yep that's fine.
that was a red squirrel it actually wasnt to hard ....i started on a grey squirrel but it was all shotup with a shotgun.....the little holes became large very quickly..so right now ive got the red squirrel salted and drying..... i was thinking of drying it for 4 or 5 days since its so small...then on to the ivory soap! unfortunatley the shotup hide did not survive fleshing
Small holes can be sewn up, big holes can have patches sewn in, no big deal.
ok so ive got some hides drying....nice layer of pickling salt...and now i wait...im think like 4-5 days drying? and dont laugh at my skinning skills lol...i wasnt worried about pretty....if it works theyre getting squared up any way ...wasnt worried about the legs
Looks fine to me! You should have seen some of mine.
took my forst hide of the drying today...this is what she looks like. let me tell ya, thats a damn thin piece of leather lol. I can see now that im gonna have to back it with something.....what should I use ? thin leather or cloth...???
What about finding some scrap canvas somewhere? That should hold up for a possibles bag.
Heck for that matter may look for a cheap canvas bag on ebay and add a hide cover to the outside as you get enough of them. You could look in the military section for bag or canvas bag and find something I imagine.
so this id the first hide i have started working...you can see the darker areas where the soap mixture is soaking in.....all i did was shave it with a veggie peeler...add some H2O and make a slurry ...then spread it on and work it with my fingers...best of all as it dries...i just wet my gingers to make it saoapy...a little soap goes a really long way...guess i didnt need to buy the 10pack of Ivory bar soap hdslp
well to see ho it did I let it sit for a couple o hours....came back n shes pretty soft....did a little stretching and pulling...and shes good to go! but what on earth am i going to do with a red squirrel hide lol
Make a ball bag outta it! or send it to your beloved Factor - he accepts all donations for the hard work he does to keep this ayslum running on a fairly even keel... pnic bunkr
the biggest problem I have now is thAT i HAVE 12 MORE HIDES to do....sigh
ROFL thats the great thing about our hobby , you are never done ! yeah they`d probably make pretty good ball bags ! maybe other things , just gotta kick the old thinker into gear ! thmbsup
well ive already started making a pattern for a possible bag...I dont think ive ever seen a hair on squirrel hide bag.. so after my collective thinking session with my multiple personalities....I feel that we have agrred to a grey squirrel bag with a tan leather back...and a top flap made red squirrel......but when we got to the shoulder strap...my personalities and myself could not decide on a cotton strap...or a leather strap. Im thinking a simple d-shaped bag would be easy...I figure itll require about 4 or 5 squirrel hides, which im going to back with thinner leather for durbailty.....however right now I need to shoot a couple more red squirrels.....they got some teeny hides! trapped me a chipmunk...but let him go as I didnt think his hide would be any thicker than tracing paper...lol
but all in all ...i think using ivory soap works fairly well.....and after the hide sitting for 3 dyas is still fairly soft, very flexible.....and it looks good too
ok folks, so I tried making a shooting bag using the hides hair on ...it just looks wierd I didnt like them....but I did end up with 2 buckskin shooting bags out of the deal! I recycled an old buckskin coat that had a split seam....I couldnt sew. anyhow...I ahve about a dozen squirrel hides in my freezer....I already offered them to someone,,,but if they dont want them they are up for grabs. free of charge and no shipping ...all ya gotta do is make me somehting with a hide (Im thinking a knife sheath would be cool)...anyhow ...if someone wants them lemme know, and if the first person declines theyre all yours