# Tanning Hides ...



## NW80 (Apr 26, 2006)

Does anyone have a recipe for tanning hides?
I'm going to hunt in West Texas in Dec. and was going to shoot a couple of Javelinas. I've thought for a long time that the "nape" of the collar on them would be excellant material for tying shrimp patterns,etc.
I simply want to dessicate the hide well enough to keep it from stinking up my tying bench.


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## Capt. Lowtide (Jun 30, 2004)

I don't know anything about tanning hides, but I picked up a "Bonefish Bob Fly" in Islamorada a few years back tied with rabbit fur and the course hairs of said material making excellent shrimp feelers. 
The guide working at Bonefish Bob's swore by the fly and said it has accounted for more double digit bones than all others combined. Don't know about the bones personally, but the reds loved it down POC way.


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## NW80 (Apr 26, 2006)

"Capt" that's exactly what I had in mind for them.


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## firephil (Jul 11, 2006)

At one time Tandy had a cream to tan a hide. You could just salt it and scrape it when dry, then put borax on it to keep the stink out of it but a javelina might just have an inherant stink


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## BEER4BAIT (Jun 24, 2005)

Here goes...........The peckary is a greasy hide and lots of work to flesh,but like pigs can be done, To preserve without smell,,,,,,,,,,role the hide up in uniodonized salt and lots of it for the ride home. Flesh it means take and cut and scrape the fat off when finished cover with the salt or borax again. Next day you must start the degreaing with alcohol, rub theb flesh side until free of grease, then Tandy's or brain tan.


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## NW80 (Apr 26, 2006)

Thanks "Beer" I really thank you!


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## davidb (May 10, 2006)

I have used a mixture of Alum and Borax on clean salted hides and it worked fairly well. The recipe is in a Clyde Ormond book from Outdoor Life.

I believe it is 1/8th Alum to 7/8 Borax made into a saturated solution. Use a plastic basin or trash can. Agitate the hide daily, after three days check the hide by slicing an edge of the skin and look for a uniform white color through out the skin. Once the thicker areas of hide get this remove the hide and wash with Borax and a little washing soda (a javelina might need a little Fabreez) spread out in a shady area and let dry turnung once a day.

The hide will be cured but have a stiff rawhide texture. If you want it soft you need to apply neats foot oil to the skin side and work over a smoth post until the fibers break down and you've achieved the softness you want. The last step isn't needed for fly tying skins, just wash thouroghly to remove all salts as they will attract moisture latter and ruin the skins and anything stored with them- don't ask how I know this.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Do it like the Indians used to. Use brains. Cook some cow brains in boiling water, and make a mush out of it, and then spread the mush on a stretched hide. Let it dry, and then scrape off the dried brain mixture and the outer layer of the skin. Then work the hide to soften it. That' where your squaw comes in. She is to chew every square inch of that hide in her mouth to soften it. Once you are done you will have a beautiful white brain tanned hide like the Indians use to have. They are beautiful

I did this once on a buffalo hide. Not the chewing part. NEVER AGAIN.

THE "I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FLY FISHING FORUM" JAMMER


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## osobrujo (Jan 13, 2005)

Just call my MOM...

growning up she used to "TAN MY HIDE" regularly! LOL


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## BEER4BAIT (Jun 24, 2005)

Jammer rubbing it and smoking it will soften it up fine. I made my buckskins this way over 3 years. You dont need to chew them. In am doing the **** we got this past week and now I will have a **** hat, fox hat and a skunk with the head and legs, I want a badger big time.


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## YAKUM!!! (May 23, 2006)

BEER4BAIT said:


> Here goes...........The peckary is a greasy hide and lots of work to flesh,but like pigs can be done, To preserve without smell,,,,,,,,,,role the hide up in uniodonized salt and lots of it for the ride home. Flesh it means take and cut and scrape the fat off when finished cover with the salt or borax again. Next day you must start the degreaing with alcohol, rub theb flesh side until free of grease, then Tandy's or brain tan.


Beer4bait is right on the money - Javalinas smell something fierce to begin with. Peeeyeewwww! Keep and eye out for a gold one.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

BEER4BAIT,

Even though chewing the hides is exactly what the Indians used to do, I was just kidding about doing it for real. We took our buffalo hides and flopped them over the top of a swing set (with the swings removed) and pulled them back and forth working the hides until they were soft.

The smoking process was actually done by the Indians to waterproof the hides. They placed them over a fire made with green boughs, and the creosote from the smoke filled the pores of the hides making them waterproof. That's why different tribes' skins had different colors, because of the different woods that they used to smoke their hides gave their skins different colors.

I am a member of the American Mountain Men club. This is the club that does everything the way they did it in 1820 (no coolers full of beer and hamburger meat under a deer skin rug inside your TP). The rule is, if it didnt exist in 1840 (the cutoff date for the Mountain men), you can't have it with you. There are two execptions- prescription medicine and a camera to record the event.

We used to take 5-6 day horseback trips into wilderness areas in New Mexico wearing skins, carrying flint lock rifles and fusils, starting our fires with flint and steel, eating jerky and dried corn, etc. Now I will say that as soon as we got back to civilization we went straight to a McDonalds and had about 3 double quarter pounders, but it was nice to know if you had to you could. Probably some of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had.

THE JAMMER



BEER4BAIT said:


> Jammer rubbing it and smoking it will soften it up fine. I made my buckskins this way over 3 years. You dont need to chew them. In am doing the **** we got this past week and now I will have a **** hat, fox hat and a skunk with the head and legs, I want a badger big time.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

BEER4 BAIT,

Good luck on your **** hat. Here are pictures of my full hide coyote hat, complete with forelegs hanging down in front.

THE JAMMER


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