Directions for Tanning Animal Hides
Creating handmade leather goods from soft, tanned hide can be a very rewarding experience especially if you choose to tan the hide yourself. Learning to tan a hide also builds a connection to the past when this was a daily ritual for Native Americans and early settlers.
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Things You'll Need
- Animal hide
- 5-gallon bucket
- Wood ashes
- Shovel
- Rubber gloves
- Wooden frame
- Nails
- Buck knife
- Braided nylon cord
- Metal scraper with sharp 45-degree beveled edge
- Scissors
- Pan
- Eggs
- Mayonnaise
- Ziplock® bag
Instructions
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Preparing and Tanning a Hide
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1
Acquire a hide soon after the animal has been butchered. Deer and cow hides are easily obtainable in most areas from local butcher shops, taxidermists, or through deer hunting.
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2
Fill a five gallon bucket with water, three-quarters full. Scoop 2 1/2 shovels of wood ash into the bucket. Stir with the shovel. This mixture is called lie water. Soak the hide in the mixture of lie water for seven days prior to tanning. Change the lie water after two to three days. Soak the hide in water overnight to clean off the lie. Use rubber gloves to handle the hide when it is coated in lie mixture---it can cause a chemical burn if it contacts skin.
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3
Lay the wooden frame on the ground. It should be a least 1 foot wider and 1 foot longer than your hide. Hammer nails every 3 to four 4 inches halfway around the outside edge of the frame. Lay your hide in the center of the frame. Pierce holes every 2 inches around the entire hide with a buck knife, about an inch in from the outside edge.
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4
Tie the braided nylon cord to one of the holes in the hide and run the cord up to and around the first nail on the frame. Continue the cord back down to the hide and through the next hole in the hide, then back up and around the next nail in the frame. Repeat this process all the way around the hide and frame. The cord does not have to be tight at this point.
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5
Pull the cord tight after the final loop around the hide is complete. The hide should be stretched taut in center of the frame. Stand up the frame. Hold the metal scraper parallel to the floor and run it from the top of the hide down to the bottom to gently scrape off the flesh on the hide. This is called fleshing. Turning the scraper at an angle or perpendicular to the floor can tear the hide. Scrape the hair and skin off the backside of the hide using the same method. Scrape the entire hide while it is still wet. Cleaning all the flesh, skin and hair off the hide allows the oils to penetrate during tanning. The hide should be white after it is scraped sufficiently. Allow the hide to dry overnight.
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6
Use scissors to cut out the scraped hide from the stretched, unfinished edges. This is called rawhide.
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7
Soak the hide in a bucket of hot water until it becomes soft. Wring excess water out of the hide, then set it in a pan. Add two heaping teaspoons of mayonnaise and two eggs for each 2 square feet of hide. Mash, mix, and rub the mayo and eggs into both sides of the hide with your hands. Fold the hide and place into a Ziplock® bag of appropriate size for hide. Dump the excess egg and mayo mixture into the bag. Seal the bag and leave it overnight. Squeeze the hide and mixture in the bag periodically.
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8
Rinse off the hide, then squeeze out any excess moisture. Work out the hide by stretching and pulling it continuously until it is completely dry.
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1
Tips & Warnings
During the final stretching phase, under-working the hide or allowing it to dry when it hasn't been continuously pulled and manipulated will result in hard, tough leather.
Wear rubber gloves when dealing with lie mixture. Use proper safety procedures when handling a buck knife.
References
- Photo Credit animal-hide image by sumos from Fotolia.com
