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Old 10-22-2016, 06:26 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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Default just fleshed my first bear skin.. questions..

hi, I just fleshed my first bear skin and I had a few questions

1) what would be best used to sew holes in the hide?

I'm planning on stretching the hide and then salting it, is this the proper thing to do?

it's just going to be a wall hang for my house or I may get it tanned, I have it folded up in the fridge now until tomorrow when I can build a stretcher

ty in advance for any information
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Old 10-22-2016, 07:04 PM
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shakeyleg02 shakeyleg02 is offline
 
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You can use waxed thread to sew the holes ...dont worry about building a stretcher get it salted or frozen Sooner than later ..it will need to be tanned before you can hang the hide in your house
You can just open it up and cover good with salt everywhere... let drain for couple days ,,resalt and dry it then you can get it tanned ....make sure all the meat is off and the bones are out of the feat right down to the claws so u can pack the salt in there also ..
Good luck
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Old 10-22-2016, 08:08 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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I'm wondering if this is close enough to salt?

I was worried to go any further, I exposed a few roots in places around the edges
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Old 10-22-2016, 08:40 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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You are going to have to get it tanned or tan it yourself. Here's what to do to prep it for tanning:

http://www.internationalfur.ca/prepping.html

You can tan it yourself using this formula. The directions are right on the label of the bottle.

https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/ki...hidetanformula

You'll need a strong needle to sew the hide. I use a Glovers Needle with dental floss.
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Old 10-22-2016, 09:53 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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where would you get a gloves needle?
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Old 10-22-2016, 10:04 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheN3wguy View Post
where would you get a gloves needle?
Halford's sells them. What area do you live in?
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Old 10-23-2016, 09:00 AM
kingrat kingrat is offline
 
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Best thing would be to take it to a tanning place or taxidermist that tans and let them do it.in the mean time freeze it asap.
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Old 10-23-2016, 01:00 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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can a hide be washed after its tanned? or should it be done before it's salted?
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Old 10-23-2016, 02:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheN3wguy View Post
can a hide be washed after its tanned? or should it be done before it's salted?
I would wash before tanning. A little bit of Dawn works great.
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Old 10-23-2016, 04:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheN3wguy View Post
can a hide be washed after its tanned? or should it be done before it's salted?
I wouldnt worry about washing it by the time it goes through the solutions in the tanning procedure it will be clean ..bears have a tendency to slip if not taken care off either get it to someone that knows what needs to be done or freeze it ..... do not salt and try and freeze it ..it will not freeze with salt on it
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Old 10-23-2016, 08:13 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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if I salted it, does anyone know how long would it take to dry out? or would it turn hard like a board?

if I salted it and dried it out, could it still be tanned afterwards?

ty for any information, I'd like to do as much as I can before I took it to a taxidermist for tanning.. ty in advance
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Old 10-24-2016, 09:15 AM
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salt it and let it dry. it will dry hard like a board but thats ok. best thing you can do is call the tannery it is going to. ask them what they prefer. and yes it can be tanned after salting and drying. that is usually the first step in the tanning process anyway
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Old 10-24-2016, 09:50 AM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Next time I have to sew a hole in a hide I am going to try braided fishing line. Very tiny diameter and much stronger then dental floss.
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  #14  
Old 10-24-2016, 11:37 AM
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Default bear hide

get the paws knuckled out or get it back into the freezer or fridge until you have a good plan in place good luck
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Old 10-25-2016, 12:44 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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could I use this method

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homes...-hide-zm0z01on

for tanning a hair on hide? would the battery acid ruin the hair?
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Old 10-25-2016, 12:45 PM
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walking buffalo walking buffalo is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by winmag View Post
get the paws knuckled out or get it back into the freezer or fridge until you have a good plan in place good luck
!!!!

I can almost smell it from here.


Newguy, how long has the hide been off the bear unfrozen or salted?
Three, four, six days?


You are going to lose this hide if you keep on proceeding the way you are.


If I was talking to someone who was seriously asking for advice and willing to listen, I would tell them to IMMEDIATELY put the hide in a freezer until they finalized a plan on what they are going to do with it. If a freezer is absolutely not an option, then they must skin out those paws and salt the hide. Get this done NOW and THEN figure out what to do from there.
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Last edited by walking buffalo; 10-25-2016 at 12:53 PM.
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Old 10-25-2016, 01:06 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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What have you done with the hide so far?
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Old 10-25-2016, 01:49 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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so far I have cut the head and paws off the hide, the head I'm going to skull for a euro mount, the paws I have frozen until I'm ready to cut the claws out ( I'm not interested in a head/paw on hide)

I'm left with just the hide and fur

the hide was thawed after 2 years in a deep freeze and was going to be thrown into the woods because it was unwanted, so I rescued it for practice.

I fleshed it saturday and put back in the fridge

Sunday I stretched it out on a rack and salted it

monday I scraped salt off and resalted it

tuesday (today) I'm try deciding my next step, I'd like to try to tan it myself but I can't find a good tutorial except the mother earth link above but I'm wondering if the battery acid would ruin the fur

I might cut it out of the stretcher and scrape the salt off tonight...

I do appreciate the time and opinions offered already, ty, I am learning
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Old 10-25-2016, 02:11 PM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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this is where I am
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  #20  
Old 10-25-2016, 02:44 PM
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jmparker jmparker is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheN3wguy View Post
could I use this method

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homes...-hide-zm0z01on

for tanning a hair on hide? would the battery acid ruin the hair?
this isn't the best method to tan. battery acid isn't a good pickling acid. citric acid is recommended for greasy skins such as bear.

a good tan that i've had nice results with is Ez 100. its not available in canada unless you ship it up from the states. if i were you i would use Liqua Tan. you can get it at AAA supply house in Calgary.

If you follow these steps you will tan the hide properly:

http://www.amystaxidermy.com/pages/tanning.htm

these instruction are for ez-100 but liqua tan uses the same steps. just use liqua tan where it says to tan with ez-100.

make sure you degrease it properly!!!
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Old 10-26-2016, 12:48 PM
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walking buffalo walking buffalo is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheN3wguy View Post
this is where I am
Looks Great!

Salted and dried, you can put it aside until you are prepared to do the tanning.

I would NOT trim the hide yet. Wait until after you finish tanning it. The shape of the tanned and relaxed hide will be much different than it is stretched.


I suggest following JmParker's advice.

Get in touch with AAA Taxidermy in Calgary. They can set you up with all you need for Pickling, neutralizing, tanning and softening products.
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  #22  
Old 10-26-2016, 01:00 PM
duck duck goose duck duck goose is offline
 
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I've done a few coyotes and deer myself and here is what I have learned. If you decide to do it yourself get ready for a MASSIVE project. I will give you the cliffs notes on how I've done my deer hides and if you still want to DIY let me know and I will send you some full details. This is for a hair on tan.

1. First thing is to flesh the hide. Cut off every scrap of meat and fat so that all you have is skin and hair. Any meat or fat is going to risk ruining the hide and causing the hair to slip.

2. Next you have to clean the hide. Wash it with soap and water, I used just plain old dish soap. Wash all of the blood out of fur, get all of the dirt out of it as well, and there is going to be a lot of dirt. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do 5-6 full "wash cycles" if you will to get it clean. I have also thrown hides in the washing machine with good results, but then again I rent my house so the health of the washing machine wasn't paramount. Now is the time to get any stains out of the leather too if you want a nice clean leather finished product.

3. Salt the hide. You are going to need to hang it somewhere where it can drip as the salt pulls the moisture from the leather. Use non-iodized salt and rub a good coat into the skin side of the hide. Let this hang for about two days and reapply the salt periodically.

4. Tan the hide. Soak the hide in a water/salt/ pickling alum (can get at bulk barn) solution. I think the ratio was 5 gallon water, 1 lb salt, 1 lb alum and leave this for about 3 days. Stir the hide regularly and keep it covered so that all of the hide is in contact with the solution.

5. Dry it. After three days, take the hide out and rinse it in clean water thoroughly. Get all of the pickling solution out of the hide. You are going to need a frame slightly bigger than the bear hide to let it dry on. You will have to build something probably out of 2 x 4 to support the thing it is going to be so big. Get some screws as the hide will pull nails from a board as it drys. Screw the hide down around its perimeter stretching it as far as you can before screwing it down. Let this dry completely stretched to the boards.

6. Peel/work/break the hide. When the hide has dried completely the real work starts... it will have a thin membrane on the entire skin side of the hide. You need to peel this off and work the leather to make it soft.This can be done a number of ways from a belt sander to stretching the hide over the end of a 4x4 post. Stretch it in every direction you can repeatedly until the leather is soft and pliable. Once you get the initial membrane pulled off you are still going to have to break all of the fibers in the hide to make the leather soft. You can use a leather treater at this point (I use Neat's Footoil, its for saddles I think) rub that stuff in and stretch and work the hide over and over and over until the leather is as soft as you like.

And that's it. Haha but seriously, working just a couple hours after work each day you can expect this to probably take you a couple months before you have something comparable to what you would get at a tannery. Its rewarding but it's a god awful lot of work. Good luck and let us know how it goes.


There she is NewGuy, follow those steps and you should have something usable. Let me know if you have any questions I'd be happy to help.
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Old 10-28-2016, 06:01 AM
TheN3wguy TheN3wguy is offline
 
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ty for all the help so far, I'm getting a grasp of the processes and starting to get a shopping list together of what I need

but I have a question on shaving, how would you shave a bear hide if you don't have access to these professional shavers I've seen in some videos? would a wire wheel and grinder work?

so far everything seems attainable but this shaving seems a bit overwhelming
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Old 10-28-2016, 12:50 PM
duck duck goose duck duck goose is offline
 
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You can use a knife, but you'd better be careful. A wire wheel and a grinder will work or you can use a belt sander too.
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