tanning rabbit & squirrel pelts

[biffo 0]

does anyone have any experience with oak bark paste tanning small skins? as in crushed/ground oak bark boiled up to release the tannins and applied to the flesh side of a stretched out skin.

 

will it damage the fur or cause it to slip and would the resulting tanned pelt be waterproof?

 

any help would be appreciated.

[BlueCoyote 0]

PDF file.. http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_l/l-103.pdf

 

oak tannins http://www.braintan.com/barktan/2tannins.htm

 

and this guy suggests removing all hair and flesh

http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/hist_text-arch4/msg00713.html

 

it seems, and i could be wrong because i havent read those articles in ages, that they want you to remove the fur.....

 

one more link

 

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/pl.html

Edited August 6, 2008 by BlueCoyote

[biffo 0]

cheers bluecoyote, those methods seem to soak the whole hide though. i could find hardly any info on using a bark paste other than "it was sometimes used by native americans". oh well i'll test it out on a rabbit skin and see how it pans out. i'll post the results when i get it done

 

cheers for the info

[BlueCoyote 0]

if it fails then go with brain tanning.

an old native american fella told me he uses a clothes dryer to soften the skins up. says he would put them on the no-heat setting, throw in a few pieces of wood or pair of old shoes and let them roll around until the skins were soft.

 

may not want to try that with a dryer you use for your clothes though lol he laughed and said he'd go to laundromat and have them done there.