Page 162 - The Lost Ways

First off, never pull your hide tight and let your dogs de-fat the hide for you. I know a lot
of people do that, but it’s a mistake. Here’s why. Your dogs don’t know when you have
added your tanning mixture to the hide. Alum is aluminum sulfate, which is not good for
dogs, and the soda will give them gas so bad you’ll wish you hadn’t done that if it’s an

indoor dog.

Once you’re ready, mix up this little recipe.

❖ 2/3 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

❖ 1 cup non-iodized salt
❖ 2 ½ cups alum

This mix is enough for one good-sized beaver, six to eight muskrats, or four to five good-
sized rabbits.

You can de-fat either before or after you soak your hides for the first soak; you may find
it easier to do afterwards.

Fill a five-gallon bucket with about three gallons of warm, but not hot, water. Add the salt,
and mix with a wooden stick until the salt is dissolved. Then add the aluminum sulfate
and the washing soda. Stir again until the chemicals are dissolved. It will be a little
effervescent, but that’s okay.

Drop the hide(s) in the bucket, and gently stir with a stick. You can use a non-metallic
weight to hold the hide under water if it tries to float. Make sure your weights are non-
metallic or you’ll have a worthless hide in no time with green spots on it. Only use a
wooden stick and a rope-type clothesline (you’ll understand the clothesline later) for the
same reason.

Stir, lift out, and re-immerse your hides once a day for three days. If you have not defatted
your hide yet, do so after the three-day mark. Then look at your solution. If it’s fatty, dirty,

and oily, as it will be most of the time, then make a fresh batch using the same recipe.

Then soak your hides for four to 11 more days, depending on the thickness and feel of the
hide. Rabbit will usually tan well after seven days, whereas beaver is usually 14 days.

Now wring out your hide by hand really well and hang over a clothesline indoors overnight
with the flesh side down and the fur side up. You want to dry the fur but not the hide. The
reason for doing this indoors is that dogs and critters will come take your prize right off

the line if it’s outdoors.

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