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Old 10-20-2015, 01:02 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Copperhead Road, Morinville
Posts: 19,290
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I've done a few hides with hair on with good results but I don't profess to be an expert. I used that tanning formula in the orange bottle from Halfords and it worked very well. The things that immediately come to mind to me is that I never used near 25 lbs of salt, not even near that much. I fleshed the hide and salted it, making sure that it was worked into every fold, Fold it in leather on leather and rolled it up. Let sit for 24 hours and do it a second time. After doing it twice, it went into a salt bath for about 8 hours and then washed with dish soap, rinsed spread and dried. I might have done that twice, not too sure.

After awhile when it wasn't wet but still damp, I applied the formula and folded and rolled it up. I don't recall exactly how long that I left it like that but I believe that it was only 24 hours. After that I spread it on plywood and secured the edges loosely to allow for it to shrink.

I think that you need to have another look at your research. Here is what stands out for me:

- 25 lbs of salt is way too much. You'd have a layer about 1" thick,
- check out the use of borax. I'm relatively certain that you only use it to tan hair off hides as all the hair will come out with it if you use it,
- the length of time seems way too,long to me. I don't recall it taking me more than 3 or 4 days from start to finish. Using the formula my be different though.

It's late, I'm tired and I'm depending on my memory so give me a chance to read what I wrote in the morning and I'll double check everything. The process may be completely different from what I used but what you described sounds a lot different from what I did.
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