Tanning bears
 

Well after a successful spring bear hunt I’ve decided it’s time to tan my own bears in house. My question is what kind of fleshing knife works best ? What pickle type tan are guys using ? These are gonna be tanned just to hang up in the trophy room. Splitting and turning everything isn’t an issue for me I’ve done lots of it but not having a wheel I’m gonna flesh em all by hand. Just looking for some suggestions for the best tools for the job to produce a good soft tan guys. So you guys that have done them what worked best for you ? I’m likely gonna end up doing a bunch of coons to for the room as well.

More important than the type of pickle or tanning solution will be thinning of the hide.
I use a air powered mini fleshed and a bear is just about too much work for it.
Using a knife will be be a chore, but could be done.
Use the thinnest knife you own and steel it often.
Pay a lot of attention to the shoulder, neck and head and get the hide as thin as possible.
I use oxalic acid for the pickle and Lutan F, or EZ-100 for the tan.
Good luck.

I used a wire buffing wheel on my grinder. worked pretty good to thin the hide. I probably went a little deep on some spots, but over all it went well.

Haven't tried that yet.

Was that before or after it was dry.

its hard to explain, it wasn't getting hard or stiff when I started, but some of the thicket/wetter spots I needed to do at the end to give them a bit more time. if they were too wet it didn't seem to work as well.

I started with the face, and by the time I got down to the neck I was getting the hang of it.

I also used a very stiff wire wheel made from stainless, not sure a brass wheel would have the bite to take the skin down, that's just a guess though.