How do you tan the hide to preserve feathers in hide? (soft hide)

[LittleChickWamuran]

 

[LittleChickWamuran]

 

[007Sean]

I know this is an old thread but if you want to preserve any bird skin, use Calorox. Also, good to use on small mammals. Elwood Taxidermy supply use to sell it....Idk if their still in business, I've not done any taxidermy in 10 yrs. Fortunately, I still have around 50lbs. I still use it occasionaly to mount my birds that die unexpectedly. As long as you keep it dry, it will last indefiniately.

 

[cottontail farm]

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It looks like you're having great results with the borax. Is the skin staying supple? I may have to try this.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have read that every animal has enough brains to use to tan its hide. Anyone use a brain solution?

 

[007Sean]

I have read that every animal has enough brains to use to tan its hide. Anyone use a brain solution?

Yep, lots of hard work to brain tan. I've done several deer hides, unless you just want to learn the processes, then it's better to tan hides like commercial tanneries do...ok for survivalist.

 

[annageckos]

It looks like you're having great results with the borax. Is the skin staying supple? I may have to try this.

Borax works great, but doesn't make the hide supple. It just dries and preserves it. I've used borax and salt to preserve hides of birds and small mammals. They just dry hard. Soft tanned hides need to be broken to become supple. You also need to use the right tanning chemicals.

 

[cottontail farm]

Borax works great, but don't make the hide supple. It just dries and preserves it. I've used borax and salt to preserve hides of birds and small mammals. They just dry hard. Soft tanned hides need to be broken to become supple. You also need to use the right tanning chemicals.

Good to know, thank you!

 

[Maeschak]

I don't want to butt in where I am the least knowledgable person, but I used to *try* to tan hides all the time when I was a kid with various methods (salt, borax, online chemicals), and all of those methods require a person to 'work' the hide after drying/curing to make it soft. Meaning, dry and cure the skin first in any fashion that you can and then 'work it soft.'

Working the hide just means moving it around to break some of the connective bonds- rub that dried skin over a 2x4's edge, chew on it (if hairless on both sides and not using toxic chemicals), nail the skin on a frame and scraping it with something that has a very dull edge (such as a dull butter knife or piece of wood), etc. The point is that the fibers of your your dried and cured skin are still in tact and must be broken apart before it starts to become soft. Once it starts to soften you can look into ways of applying things that will actually make it 'supple.'

Hope that helps and I'm not muddying the waters~

 

[biophiliac]

I don't want to butt in where I am the least knowledgable person, but I used to *try* to tan hides all the time when I was a kid with various methods (salt, borax, online chemicals), and all of those methods require a person to 'work' the hide after drying/curing to make it soft. Meaning, dry and cure the skin first in any fashion that you can and then 'work it soft.'

Working the hide just means moving it around to break some of the connective bonds- rub that dried skin over a 2x4's edge, chew on it (if hairless on both sides and not using toxic chemicals), nail the skin on a frame and scraping it with something that has a very dull edge (such as a dull butter knife or piece of wood), etc. The point is that the fibers of your your dried and cured skin are still in tact and must be broken apart before it starts to become soft. Once it starts to soften you can look into ways of applying things that will actually make it 'supple.'

Hope that helps and I'm not muddying the waters~

Somehow the way you explain it makes sense to me, thanks!