Tanning bear hides

[Tim]

Hey there,

I'm heading up hunting bear in a week or so and I'm looking into tanning the hide (if I get my sights on one that is :wink: ). I'd like to do the tanning my self but it seems to take a certain craft. Is there anyone out there that does their own tanning / that would be willing to show me how its done?

just looking for a cheap way to deal with the hide right off the bat.

--Cheers

[kgriz]

Bear hides are a real pain to tan mostly due to how greasy they are....Tanning any hide takes a lot of time and effort and bear hides are certainly one of the worst.....if you just want to tan something I would suggest starting with a coyote as the hide is thin and takes the solution well. As for the cost for a bear.....you could come out ahead on minimum wage working for the time it will take. Not trying to be a pr*ck, just warning you of the job ahead.

[yukon john]

X2 big job, and you'll need a couple hundred bucks in supplies anyway, borax, acid, aciditiy test strips, hide relaxer, tanning oil, etc., etc. Then you need a drum to soften the hide, unless you have a women who will chew it for you. I have tanned a few hides some where ruined some were okay, none were worth it.

[boxhitch]

Taxidermy.net
Their are home methods, economical too.
Some labour, but what hobby isn't ?
Softening with oils, and kneading or breaking over the top of a small post. Thinning is virtually impossible at home, but for a hanging or rug isn't necessary

Satisfaction of DIY = priceless

[Stone Sheep Steve]

My taxidermist switched to tanning their own shoulder capes...but to do their own bear hides was just not practical. As most have mentioned above, it's a lot of work and messy.

SSS

[gibblewabble]

Add smelly to that list too, but on that note there is some satisfaction in doing it yourself. I used to watch my dad do it and now my son wants a bear rug so I guess it is time to roll up my sleeves (and his) and try it myself. For rugs you dont have to soften as was mentioned and you can sew/glue cloth to the bottom (around the edge) so that makes it a little easier, when I was 10 dad got into black powder rifles and tanned a couple deer hides for a deer skin jacket and pants and man that was alot of work.

[dray]

Every animal ( except for maybe a buffalo and some people I know) come with its own tanning kit. Brains. Ive done lots of deer and practiced this alot on squirels with the hide on. (need a squirel hand puppet?) I like soft doe skin, but hate the new ways of tanning. Many many ways to do it even battery acid. ouch is what I thought. It took me a lot of time to kind of rediscover this lost art, there are books out there on it but Im cheap and have read a lot of cheap and free books that gave me enough clues to try it. My doe skin turns out very white, bleached looking really, and its very soft, more so if I remove the skin membrane too to get "suede" If you want to try it, its easy and you can get a small road kill to practice on before using something valuable. Ill give you the steps and if you like, give it a shot. I can do a squirel in a couple days, its skin is thin so it dries nicely so lets start with it. First of course, skin it! Once you have that done, do you want to green scrape it or let it dry and do it than. It doesnt matter, but I find scraping the hide when it is still wet not as difficult. Try it both ways to see which you prefer. If you want to loosen the fur to have leather, soak the whole hide in water +ashes from the fire. This is supposed to "slough" off the hair, and it does but may require leaving in the water for a while, Ive had a deer in there for 2 weeks before. You can scrape the hair off a dry hide, its just harder. Dont soak your bear hide, unless you want a chupacabra bear skin rug. So, after you have scraped every, EVERY bit of fat and meat off the hide, stretch it on a frame and let it dry to the touch, but not dry out. It will feel cold and damp and stifff, but its not rawhide dry. You can hasten this with heaters or sun. If you let it dry ou too much, just let it soak up some water . When you have it mostly dry, take his brain you saved in the fridge.( ok, here is the part you may want to change, if you have a wife. Or, if you have a wife and wish you didnt, by all means continue following my directions) and cook it on the stove with your wifes best stainless steel pot. Add water and cook this until it emulsifies and is like thick soup. Take half of this and rub it into your hide, rub it in good you want it to penetrate. Roll up said hide, and let it sit over night. the next day repeat with the other half of brain soup and leave again a day or two rolled up. Now, take and stretch this hide again in the frame and start drying it. Dont let it dry out completley, to the cool damp feeling because you need to work it during the final drying stage so its soft. Have a pole, or chair back maybe beacause you need to pull the hide in all directions to break up the fibres. Beat it , pull it, pull it down over your pole or chair back. Keep it in the frame too and give it some loveing from a paddle maybe. Basically you want to strecth the hide in every direction a until its drying is done. This will take a while with a bear, not so long with a squirel. I smoke my hides after this step because I make leather and this helps it to return to a soft plyable state quicker if it gets wet as oppsosed to something like my dogs pig ears he gets in his nice stainless steel dog dish! heh heh! I think this should get you going . If I wasnt clear or left something out, just let me know and Ill try to help more. This is not easy to do, but its not rocket science, its more labour and stink than guts and glory. And one little tip for anyone, skin your deer legs and save them even if you dont want to tan. Cut them around the leg jsut below the shoulder and again around the ankle. Pull this off just like a leg warmer and de hair it and dry it. Now any time you need some rawhide rope start at one end and cut the width you need going around the entire leg spiraling . You can have a 1 " wide peice of rawhide 5 feeet long, or say 1/8" 30 feet long. Cheers. Dray

[HUSKER]

frigen awesome info Dray!!! i'm so going to try it out

[Tim]

Sounds great! They say "use you head" but what they meant was use 'its' head ;)

Sounds like I've got some experimenting to do! How do I get the brain out, aside from just cutting open the skull?

[dray]

I usually just cut the top of the skull off and scoop it out. Now, you can use the egyptian embalming method and go through his nose with a wire hook. Hey, just like a crochet needle your thinking, right? NO! NO! NO! NO! And once again NO!!! Unless you have your own crochet kit, leave hers alone. Trust me on this. Another thing I do is to get some scouring action going. You could use sand paper on thinner hides, but on deer I use a soft wire brush. Basically your trying to break up the fibers so its nice and soft. Ill scour the hide at different times in the drying to get a "fluffly" look to it. The brains penetrate better and it really makes a huge difference in the end result. Dont scour the fur side if you like the leather look, you know how its shiny and smooth on one side versus the soft "fluffy" side? I like it this way, but of course leaving the hair on nulls this. Dont worry about too much, it seems very forgiving and if you miss a step or what not you can do it over again. Experiment with differrent scrapers, I make mine out of old paint scrapers and round them adding some serrated teeth with a grinder. A dull draw knife is great for fleshing it. Get a nice smooth log and some beer and scrape your heart out. ANd one more word for the wise. After you have "brained" your hide with your brain soup, youll notice how your hands have never felt this soft and neat feeling before. Now, if logic was applied and followed through, you would think, "hey, my wife is always looking for body and facial rejuvenator" and yes, you would be right because they are, and she will truly absa-freakin-lutely love you in many exotic ways for this "miracle" anti aging cream you got for her. ( like, say if you came home with a "new" can of oil of olay.) Ride this wave bud and say know more ever about it. Even 2 weeks later as your rubbin in the "new" udder balm you got, its is not ok to laugh and tell her how much you saved by making this from the cats you pick up from the way home from work.

[greenhorn]

Haven't read the thread but I'm sure people have warned that bear hides aren't easy. I've tanned a few bear hides and they are way more work than a typical deer hide.

Main reason - the skin on a fat bear is covered in oil and fat. If you want it to tan properly you have to flesh all of that sticky fat off the hide, then get all the oils out of the skin. Easy to say but hard to do!!

[Walking Buffalo]

To get the brains without damaging the skull, use a hook as described above and pull them out from the foramen magnum (the opening at the back of the skull). You will have to pull the brains out in bits, which is fine when using them for tanning.

[Tim]

I was watching some youtube video's on bear tanning. Apparently using Dawn dish detergent is the best way to get the oils off the hide after its been fleshed thoroughly.

[greenhorn]

I was watching some youtube video's on bear tanning. Apparently using Dawn dish detergent is the best way to get the oils off the hide after its been fleshed thoroughly.

Watch the amount of time in the warm soapy water... too much time in the hot water and the hair will start to slip.

[Tim]

Yeah, I've also heard that. which is definitely something to watch. apparently no more than 10 min in the soap or slippage can occur.

But good call Greenhorn, definitely something to look out for.

[greenhorn]

No worries.... good luck and have fun!!