Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Mesophilic on March 06, 2020, 07:10:44 pm
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A friend donated to me two bobcat skins he harvested winter 2018-2019. Mostly fleshed, and then put in the freezer for the last year.
I have some tanning solution coming in the mail, but the tracking number is showing a miship. Might be a few more days.
The hides are mostly thawed and sitting in my fridge with ice packs (I love how my wife no longer tries to murder me for my actions ;D )
Is there anything I should do right now to keep the hair from falling out or the hides from degrading?
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You could salt them then rinse them off when you tan them.
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You could salt them then rinse them off when you tan them.
Sounds like a plan. These were cased and rolled up fur side out. The head area is still frozen ao I wasn't able to fully turn them inside out. So hopefully some of the salt will work it's way in and help to melt over night. It's 32° in my shed so we'll see how it goes.
Can't possibly be as hard as brain tanning an elk hide in Nov ;D
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It would'nt hurt to refreeze your skins till your tanning chemicals come.
Your skins after thawing and before tanning should be thoroughly fleshed good.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,62713.0.html
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My tanning solution made it this afternoon. Spent a good chunk of the day fleshing and scraping, just waiting for the hides to dry some more then I'll apply the solution before I go to bed.
One of the hides was so greasy that a washing with dish soap hardly made a dent. So I worked some ashes in to the skin and let that sit for a bit while I worked on the other one. A couple of washings with more dish soap and I think I'm good to go.