Preparing a Cowhide for Tanning

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Danil54grl

Danil54grl

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This is a first for us. . . so kinda learning as we go. Yesterday, we picked up Norm's hide along with his hide. The butcher had itfozen, so we at first placed it in an ice cooler to start thawing out. Since bacteria will start growing & we need to keep that down, today I am going to mix up 50lbs of uniodized salt with some warm water in a 50 gallon drum a long with a couple cups of a disinfectant like Pinesol. As it is thawing I will be separating it as much as possible as we go. Once thawed plan is to let it drain by spreading it out on wooden pallets. When that is done, removing any meat or fat over 1/4 inch. Then laying it hair side down on wooden pallets and salting it with around 100lbs salt. We will be doing this down at the shop so we can get it out of the weather and hopefully dry. May end up putting a fan on it to help it out. Once the salt is dried and no draining, flip it over for the other side. After its dried, not stiff but pliable, the next step of tanning can start or can be folded hair to hair rolled and placed in a box for up to a couple months.

This is the first attempt at this so if anyone has done this before and can give suggestions, please do so. Right now, we are planning on keeping the hair on, but it really depends on how the butcher handled it after skinning. My hopes are making a rug out of it, but plans change so we'll see how it goes.
 
Danil54grl said:
This is a first for us. . . so kinda learning as we go. Yesterday, we picked up Norm's hide along with his hide. The butcher had itfozen, so we at first placed it in an ice cooler to start thawing out. Since bacteria will start growing & we need to keep that down, today I am going to mix up 50lbs of uniodized salt with some warm water in a 50 gallon drum a long with a couple cups of a disinfectant like Pinesol. As it is thawing I will be separating it as much as possible as we go. Once thawed plan is to let it drain by spreading it out on wooden pallets. When that is done, removing any meat or fat over 1/4 inch. Then laying it hair side down on wooden pallets and salting it with around 100lbs salt. We will be doing this down at the shop so we can get it out of the weather and hopefully dry. May end up putting a fan on it to help it out. Once the salt is dried and no draining, flip it over for the other side. After its dried, not stiff but pliable, the next step of tanning can start or can be folded hair to hair rolled and placed in a box for up to a couple months.

This is the first attempt at this so if anyone has done this before and can give suggestions, please do so. Right now, we are planning on keeping the hair on, but it really depends on how the butcher handled it after skinning. My hopes are making a rug out of it, but plans change so we'll see how it goes.
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One of the most important parts of the process is to properly flesh the hide. All fat and grease needs to be scrapped off the hide.
My sister and brother-in-law own a slaughter house and ship truck loads of hides to the tannery. A few years ago one of the cows that came in for processing happened to be pregnant. My brother- in-law had the unborn calf hide tanned and gave it to me for Christmas one year. It's the softest hide I've ever seen.
 
Danil54grl said:
This is a first for us. . . so kinda learning as we go. Yesterday, we picked up Norm's hide along with his hide. The butcher had itfozen, so we at first placed it in an ice cooler to start thawing out. Since bacteria will start growing & we need to keep that down, today I am going to mix up 50lbs of uniodized salt with some warm water in a 50 gallon drum a long with a couple cups of a disinfectant like Pinesol. As it is thawing I will be separating it as much as possible as we go. Once thawed plan is to let it drain by spreading it out on wooden pallets. When that is done, removing any meat or fat over 1/4 inch. Then laying it hair side down on wooden pallets and salting it with around 100lbs salt. We will be doing this down at the shop so we can get it out of the weather and hopefully dry. May end up putting a fan on it to help it out. Once the salt is dried and no draining, flip it over for the other side. After its dried, not stiff but pliable, the next step of tanning can start or can be folded hair to hair rolled and placed in a box for up to a couple months.

This is the first attempt at this so if anyone has done this before and can give suggestions, please do so. Right now, we are planning on keeping the hair on, but it really depends on how the butcher handled it after skinning. My hopes are making a rug out of it, but plans change so we'll see how it goes.
Click to expand...
Just google how to tan hides and you will get all kinds of info. I remember reading about scraping the fat off and believe you need to get it down a lot more than a quarter inch though. I also remember using either sulfuric acid or alum? I think using just salt makes the skin hard and dried out. I usually read several different articles and then go with a mix of the info based on what I have or am comfortable with. Good luck. If you ever need info on how to eat a ribeye, now there's something I'm an expert on! :)
 
I think I am leaning on the Alum and Borax solution for the tanning process right now. . . It just seems like it would be the most 'do-able' for me. I have it soaking on my back deck right now and was surprised at how much of the hide has already thawed out since we had freezing temps last night. I had to break ice off the water troughs for the goats and cows this morning. I did open it up more so it can continue thawing, just the middle right now to go. Hopefully tomorrow I can start fleshing if not by Monday for certain.
 
Danil54grl said:
I think I am leaning on the Alum and Borax solution for the tanning process right now. . . It just seems like it would be the most 'do-able' for me. I have it soaking on my back deck right now and was surprised at how much of the hide has already thawed out since we had freezing temps last night. I had to break ice off the water troughs for the goats and cows this morning. I did open it up more so it can continue thawing, just the middle right now to go. Hopefully tomorrow I can start fleshing if not by Monday for certain.
Click to expand...
I think that's a better choice than the acid tan. Another good choice is brain tanning. Every animal has enough brains to tan their own hide. It's just a little messy is all. There's many different tanning methods available; chrome, vegetable, brain, oil, acid and many others.
One of my summer projects this year is to build a fur shed. I plan to start tanning most of my fur skins.
 
Well, I was hoping to get some muscle power to help me out but with hunny working so many extra hours recently, it looks like it will be just me and that cow hide gets pretty heavy when wet. Just don't want to have an accident waiting to happen if using an acid based solution. I have been reading up on Hide Tanning in the Foxfire book 3 and how they used to do it. It gives pretty vague instructions, but I get ideas and go from there. I like the idea of using all of the animal that is keeping us feed as much as possible and this is just one more thing that will help keep us self-sufficient.
 
Danil54grl said:
Well, I was hoping to get some muscle power to help me out but with hunny working so many extra hours recently, it looks like it will be just me and that cow hide gets pretty heavy when wet. Just don't want to have an accident waiting to happen if using an acid based solution. I have been reading up on Hide Tanning in the Foxfire book 3 and how they used to do it. It gives pretty vague instructions, but I get ideas and go from there. I like the idea of using all of the animal that is keeping us feed as much as possible and this is just one more thing that will help keep us self-sufficient.
Click to expand...
It is satisfying to not waste things. We live in such a throw away world but I try to contribute less to it. I'm even using my Christmas tree as kindling vs just torching it in my burn pile. My plan next year is to buy a potted evergreen and then plant it after the holiday. Can't believe I hadn't thought of that before! Anyways, I'm glad your not going with the sulfuric acid. It just seemed a harsh way to do it. I saw a show on some guy that tanned cow hides, from multiple generations. They had concrete lined pits that the hides went in to soak and were rotated through in succession. It took over a year before he had a finished product, but they produced one of the softest premium leather around. I guess practice makes perfect. Here's to your start!
 
The cowhide finally finished thawing out last night so started with the fleshing today. I had read about using a pressure washer with this but either I am doing it wrong or the pressure washer doesn't have enough pressure. Doing it the old fashioned way, by hand. . . didn't get it all done today and had I known, I wouldn't have picked a cowhide as the first tanning project. On the up side, it is a little over half way and since it is so cold outside, I do not have to worry about it rotting in the salt brine barrel.
 
Danil54grl said:
The cowhide finally finished thawing out last night so started with the fleshing today. I had read about using a pressure washer with this but either I am doing it wrong or the pressure washer doesn't have enough pressure. Doing it the old fashioned way, by hand. . . didn't get it all done today and had I known, I wouldn't have picked a cowhide as the first tanning project. On the up side, it is a little over half way and since it is so cold outside, I do not have to worry about it rotting in the salt brine barrel.
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I had never heard of trying to pressure wash a hide before, but I'm glad you tried it. You never know, you might have invented a new and improved way to do something, or not. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Anyways, I've read that staking the hide to something like a piece of plywood with some nails will help keep it stretched tight while you scrape it will make it easier. It would be nice to have a sharp blade too. I'm looking forwards to reading your updates on the progress though.
 
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This is what my hide is looking like so far. What I have found that works pretty good for me is laying the hide on a 35 gallon drum that has been laid down on its side and taking the knife in the picture and scrapping it. What I wish I had was a draw knife. We used to have one in an old trunk in the back shed but it has seemed to have grown legs cause it is no longer there. Figured that once I get it dried, I would sand it down smooth. I can understand why a fleshing machine has been invented because this does take awhile to do. Anyone who is thinking about doing this, wear old clothes cause you will get nasty and also some rubber gloves would help. After a few hours, the salt will start irritating your skin.
 

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Danil54grl said:
This is what my hide is looking like so far. What I have found that works pretty good for me is laying the hide on a 35 gallon drum that has been laid down on its side and taking the knife in the picture and scrapping it. What I wish I had was a draw knife. We used to have one in an old trunk in the back shed but it has seemed to have grown legs cause it is no longer there. Figured that once I get it dried, I would sand it down smooth. I can understand why a fleshing machine has been invented because this does take awhile to do. Anyone who is thinking about doing this, wear old clothes cause you will get nasty and also some rubber gloves would help. After a few hours, the salt will start irritating your skin.
Click to expand...
No doubt a draw knife would have helped, but you're getting through it with what you have great. I think about in the early days the guys working at a slaughter house must have been really grimy after doing this all day long. When your done that hide will mean a lot more to you than any you could buy.
 
Danil54grl said:
This is what my hide is looking like so far. What I have found that works pretty good for me is laying the hide on a 35 gallon drum that has been laid down on its side and taking the knife in the picture and scrapping it. What I wish I had was a draw knife. We used to have one in an old trunk in the back shed but it has seemed to have grown legs cause it is no longer there. Figured that once I get it dried, I would sand it down smooth. I can understand why a fleshing machine has been invented because this does take awhile to do. Anyone who is thinking about doing this, wear old clothes cause you will get nasty and also some rubber gloves would help. After a few hours, the salt will start irritating your skin.
Click to expand...
A fleshing beam and a two handled fleshing knife really make the job of fleshing easier. Once your hide drys you can use an electric grinder with a wire wheel to get anything off you might of missed. I've never tanned anything yet but with trapping I always fleshed every hide prior to stretching and drying the pelt. I used to send a lot of my better quality pelts to a tannery in Idaho. About a year ago I sent some wolf, wolverine, lynx, beaver, marten and otter pelts to be tanned. I made a rug from the biggest wolf (7-1/2 feet) and another from the wolverine.
 
Right now I have it soaking in a mixture of aluminum sulphate, borax, salt & water, stirring it a couple times a day. I think you are right about fleshing knife. I did find an old telephone pole balanced on a couple barrels that helped but I know I got an upper body work out.
 
This is the progress that I have made with my hide. Sweet Hunny made me a frame and we salted it then stretched it out on that and put it in the gazebo to dry. The frame is 8ft x 8 ft just to give you an idea on the size. This morning I took a wire brush to it to get all the salt off then took a vibrating sander to smooth it out. Actually used up all the sandpaper we had at the house so will need to make a run into town to get more, probably will do that tomorrow after work.IMG_20170130_121441.jpg IMG_20170123_174217.jpg I did end up losing most of the belly hair, probably scrapped down to far, but with it being the first, I'll take it. Norm was a bigger boy than I thought. . . ☺
 
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