Dumb beaver pelt tanning questions...

[alanganes]

Hi all,

I have a eight or nine beaver pelts from last year, my first year trapping. I stretched and dried most of them, they are out in my shed and seem to be keeping fine. I have three that I froze after fleshing them, still in the freezer.

A few questions, please:

I am planning to try tanning a few of them, mostly because one of my daughters wants to try it. We got one of those "kits" from Van Dyke's taxidermy to do them with. "Curatan" or something like that, I think. I got that before I noticed the extensive tanning info posted here, so I have to digest all of that and see how it compares to the kit stuff. The kit looks to my untrained eye like a standard tanning regimen, pickle, neutralize, oil and break, etc. The instructions say that you should salt the pelts for a few days before starting. I did not salt the ones we dried and stretched. Should I just stick with the ones in the freezer? I can salt those after thawing. I would sort of like to do one of the dried ones, as it is the first one we caught, and fairly large. Is it too late?

If I can use the dried ones, they are obviously  pretty stiff now, do you somehow rehydrate them before pickling, etc.? Or do I just sort of jam them in the tank of stuff?
Any "risk" to that?

Any other pointers would be appreciated.

Beyond all of that, any folks in or around (The People's Republik of) Massachusetts have any pointers to places where one can sell pelts? I'm not really expecting that what I caught (or will catch)is particularly valuable, but one only needs so many beaver pelts around the house...

Thanks for any help!
-Al

[FinsnFur]

The instructions say that you should salt the pelts for a few days before starting. I did not salt the ones we dried and stretched. Should I just stick with the ones in the freezer?

It's kinda of an old gimme that the hides be salted as the very first step in the tanning process. It does several things.
It kills a lot of any bacteria which may be present, which otherwise will cause slippage.
It pulls the moisture from the skin (drying it out) Bacteria needs moisture to live and breed.
It shrinks and tightens the skin which in turn sets the hair a little better.
It keeps insects off the skin until the skin is ready to be tanned.
it's the first step in chemically converting the flesh to leather.

Do they have to be salted first? No. But's it's sooooo much better if they are.

I would sort of like to do one of the dried ones, as it is the first one we caught, and fairly large. Is it too late?

No

If I can use the dried ones, they are obviously  pretty stiff now, do you somehow rehydrate them before pickling, etc.?

Most definitely. Theoretically, the skins that you salt dry you shouldn't mess with until they are rock hard anyway. 
Mix up as much room temperature water as it will take to completely submerge the skins, and mix 1lb of salt to each gallon of water it takes to do so.
I would highly recommend an anti bacterial additive in the rehydration bath. The skins will take a good 24 hours to fully rehydrate and most likely more if they are beaver skins that are full of grease. The longer they are in the bath the more risk you run of losing patches of hair due to bacteria. If the water starts to stink...your too late.
Take them out too soon and you'll have hard spots in the skin because those spots never got fully rehydrated and wont be fully tanned.
There are lots of commercial soaks available that will cut the bacteria, and your rehydration time in half.

[alscalls]

Ya found the right guy for the job.Jimbo knows what hes talking about Hes done a bunch of em.

[coyotehunter_1]

Dumb beaver pelt tanning...

Mr. Jim... Do you tan a smart beaver the same way you do a dumb one?  :roflmao:




Alan...  Welcome to FnF.   
Don't be afraid to ask questions. We have a bunch of pretty smart fellers here that are always willing to help anytime they can. 


Good luck with the pelts.   

[alanganes]

Jim,
Thanks for the detailed reply, most helpful. I was not originally planning to tan them myself, that idea hit later on. So much for good planning. I suppose I have nothing to lose outside of my time and a few bucks.

In reading the "Tanning 101" post here today it says to add some lysol concentrate to the salt/water re-hydrating solution. I presume that serves to help kill off any bacteria. Is that correct? Would I be significantly better off using a commercial re-hydrating agent?

Thanks, Jim.

Yeah Al, I could tell from the first reply that it seemed that I had gotten on to the right guy!

Coyotehunter_1, thanks for the welcome, much appreciated. I do a fair amount of lurking around here and have learned a great deal. And yes, I caught that "dumb beaver" gaffe shortly after posting it. I suppose it may fit anyhow, they were all unintelligent enough to be caught by me! Hoping to come by a few more dumb beavers this fall, and perhaps a few dumb deer and some downright stupid coyotes, too! thanks again,

AL A.

[FinsnFur]

In reading the "Tanning 101" post here today it says to add some lysol concentrate to the salt/water re-hydrating solution. I presume that serves to help kill off any bacteria. Is that correct?

That would be correct.

Would I be significantly better off using a commercial re-hydrating agent?

You'd be a lot better off, especially since your just starting. A lot of tanning gurus will ward you away from Lysol because of it's alkaline properties, which raises the PH level later on in your acidic pickleling and tanning solutions. The trick is to rinse it well, very well.
I'd recommend, wait I take that back...I SWEAR by Rittel's products and used thier relax'R for many years. You can buy it at VanDykes fairly cheap. VanDykes

Mix as instructed, you'll be able to rehydrate your beavers in approx 6 hours, if the are rock hard.

[alanganes]

Thanks again, Jim. I'll order a bottle of that RelaxR in the morning. Thanks again for all of the guidance, it's great to have a real
pro at hand for these sorts of things. Cuts out some of the worst parts of learning curve. We will likely get started on the frozen ones over the weekend. I'm sure you'll hear a bit more from me on this!

Thanks so much!!

-AL A.

[FinsnFur]

Not  problem, let us know how it goes and gimme a shout if ya need anything.