DIY Bear Tanning

[chinook150]

Hello:
Does anyone have any experience with DIY tanning of bear hides? I fully understand that you will not get professional quality, but with good technique and proper supplies how close can you get it? I know its a lot of work and I only want to do it for the experience.
Steve

[Monashee]

A friend did a bear skin fur on with alum , it isn't actually tanning and will need to be redone every several years but it works well for a rug or wall . Bear skins are fatty compared to deer , at least the one I had was like that and it wasn't a fat bear by any means. I had skinned the head out very carefully but the guy tanning it said he didn't get at it quick enough and it rotted so he cut it off , very disappointing as it took me quite a while to skin out the face

[tigrr]

Halfords used to have a kit but I don't see it on their website any more. Watch brain tanning deer hide it should be close.

[jimh]

I did several different hides including a few bear hides years ago. At that time I purchased the materials from a taxidermy supply place in Calgary. It was fun and interesting but I found the bear hides to be a pain in the butt especially breaking the hides afterwards where when you send them to a tannery they have large tumblers to break and clean the hides. Mine turned out nice but I haven't done any myself since. Too much like work. I'm getting lazy in my old age this year I even sent some weasels away to be tanned.

[WWBC]

I’m doing a bear hide right now.

First time also.

What I’ve done thus far:

1. Fleshed our hide as best as reasonably possible.
2. Salted hide overnight with non-iodized salt.
3. Made a pickling solution solution of 50:50 white vinegar to water. With a healthy dose of citric acid thrown in because my water is fairly hard.
4. Soaked hide for 4 days in picking solution adding more citric acid for the first couple days.
5. Neutralized hide in baking soda water for 15 min.
6. Clean/de-grease in a several water changes of dawn dish soap and water.
7. Rinsed clean then hung on a 2x4 frame
8. Used air compressor to dry off hair side and dog brush to clean up fur.

Tomorrow I’m going to finish fleshing/shaving the skin side to get the hide cleaned up. ( after the pickle the hide plumps up and shows more tissue to remove).

Then I’m thinking I’ll put the hide in a fresh pickle for a couple days, neutralize and wash again then tan.

So far the process hasn’t been too hard just fleshing is time consuming.

Looking forward to hearing more info from others

[WWBC]

Bump

was hoping there was some more experience and advice out there.

thanks

[brn2ryd]

I am interested in tanning a bearhide (when I get one) so I'm also interested in what other have to say.
Youtube is a good resourse as well but sometimes edited to make it look easier than it is.

[WWBC]

Update-

fleshing sucks, trying to get the last bit of membrane of the skin.

So far filleting off this thin layer with a sharp knife has been working but slow.
Thinking I might let the hide dry more and use a palm sander and a scraper to get the rest.

I’ve also rubbed a healthy amount of borax into the fur to somewhat dry clean it. (Thinking it might work somewhat like the hardwood chips the pro’s use with less mess). I’ll blow and brush it out before I pickle the hide again.

Suns out so I’m going to let it dry a bit more and see what happens....

[ROY-alty33]

Cabelas and bass pro both sell
"The Tannery Basic Home Tanning Kit"

Never used it myself but reviews are ok

ETA: Looks like Amazon sell a bunch of home tanning stuff as well

[marshman,]

Chrome tan solution, used to do coyotes with it, works very well. Got it from AAA taxidermy supply in Calgary. A bear is gonna be allot of work when in comes to breaking the leather. Good luck

[antlerking]

Update-

fleshing sucks, trying to get the last bit of membrane of the skin.

So far filleting off this thin layer with a sharp knife has been working but slow.
Thinking I might let the hide dry more and use a palm sander and a scraper to get the rest.

I’ve also rubbed a healthy amount of borax into the fur to somewhat dry clean it. (Thinking it might work somewhat like the hardwood chips the pro’s use with less mess). I’ll blow and brush it out before I pickle the hide again.

Suns out so I’m going to let it dry a bit more and see what happens....
Try using an angle grinder with a wire brush installed, works great for thinning the hide out after its been in the pickle for a few days and has plumped up. After thinning return to pickle over night then neutralize. After being neutralized dry hair and skin till slightly damp, place hair side down and apply a brush on tanning oil. Tanning oil can be had from AAA Taxidermy Supply House out of Alberta

[WWBC]

Thanks for the tip on the angle grinder. I’ll have to pick up a wire brush disk for the grinder.

I’ll check out AAA tanning supply

[Huevos]

Your most important step will be to flesh it out properly. The fat needs to be removed for the salt and chemicals to penetrate the hide. I have done a couple of bears over the years. trapper gords has a big online store that you can probably order a kit from. I know they have them there. Once it is fleshed, make sure to degrease the hide really well before continuing. Taking the time to wash it out properly will save you headache in the longrun. I wish I had more tips, but only done it a couple times. I found the instructions in the tanning kit to be very useful also. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.