Hide turned back into rawhide

[Ryan R]

I'm about to lose my mind.

I worked my fox hide until it was soft almost everywhere except the face, but it had a bunch of cuts in it, so I wet it down and stitched up the holes. I also stretched the places where the hide had still been tough to try to get them a little more supple, and then I hung it to dry.

When it dried it turned right back into rawhide, tougher then when I started working with it.

I don't understand - after using a tanning solution and breaking up the fibers, how did it go back to being rawhide? Shouldn't a properly tanned hide be able to get wet because the fibers or proteins or whatever are all broken up?

[Red Bullets]

Try rubbing the hide with neats foot oil. Smoke tanned hides will stay soft when they get wet.

[South west trappin RG]

There is allot more to tanning than rubbing the Orange botel of stuff into the hide. That's just a preserve in my mind.

[shakeyleg02]

A fox hide is not very thick and shouldnt need to be worked that hard..i suggest getting another and trying over ...get yourself a kit like ez-100 and follow the directions religously and forget about the orange bottle you will be much happier

[calgarychef]

Work it until it's gone dry and it'll stay soft.

[jmparker]

Originally Posted by shakeyleg02

A fox hide is not very thick and shouldnt need to be worked that hard..i suggest getting another and trying over ...get yourself a kit like ez-100 and follow the directions religously and forget about the orange bottle you will be much happier

x2 i've used ez 100 on a half dozen fox and they turned out great. the most important step to get a soft tan is the finishing with a good quality oil (although all the steps in the process contribute to a soft tan). i've used Liqua soft with good results. just be sure to follow instructions. ez 100 is a garment quality tan which means it will not cause any irritation to your skin if you are wearing the fur and its washable, most other products are not.

[Ryan R]

Great thanks!

Where do you get ez-100 from?

[shakeyleg02]

Vandyke taxidermy supply in the US carries it probly a bunch more also not sure if AAA in calgary does or not

[jwilson]

Rubbing an oil into a green hide cell does nothing to "tan" it. What you're doing is kinda half arse preserving the skin. A true tan goes through a pickling process then a tannin applied after like Lutan F or aluminum sulphate.

[South west trappin RG]

Originally Posted by jwilson

Rubbing an oil into a green hide cell does nothing to "tan" it. What you're doing is kinda half arse preserving the skin. A true tan goes through a pickling process then a tannin applied after like Lutan F or aluminum sulphate.

Very rite. Pickeling dissolves all non tanabel protines then the voids in the corium fibers are replaced by the tann which can consist of a bunch of different solutions. The tan is adhered properly by a slow ph adjustment to permently ad hear to the hide. There are water soluble oils that are applied to the hide when there is still a moisture content then the hide can be brought to a complete dry. If done properly my little girl can break the hide by hand in minutes. The tanning process turns the hide blanket soft an stay soft. This is just a brief explanation

[coxy95]

Southwest- just curious where have you learned all of this? I am hoping to get into doing a little tanning and short of experience would like to know what my best resource would be? Thanks in advance