Tanning/Preserving a hide (leather)

[cruiseroutfit]

Alright, I know we have some leather experts amongst our ranks. I was gifted a reindeer hide this last month and I've just got home with it. The hair is gorgeous but the back side leather is still a bit nasty. They recommend I tan it. That is as much as I know. I plan to spread it across a wall or perhaps drape it over a chair?

Here it is:



And the side that needs attention:



Something I can handle? Something one of you can handle for a fee? Call a taxidermist?

 

[Kevin B.]

If I remember right we used a lye bath, but we were taking the hair off. We'd clean the flesh, soak it in lye and scrape both sides clean, then rinse it and dry, then soak it again and work it until it was supple and stayed that way. I might be leaving out some steps, it's been a minute since I was a Boy Scout . If you're keeping the hair I think you'd skip the lye I think?

It's a damned lot of work either way. Smelly work. I'm as cheap as anybody and a die hard DIY guy, but having smelled what a soaking hide smells like in the summer, I'd take it to a guy for sure.

 

[DAA]

You could pay to have it done professionally. I've heard good things about Moyles.

http://www.moytown.com/services.html

Probably about $150. That's what I would do.

But... depending on the way it was handled and conditions it has been stored in, it might turn out pretty ratty looking. Can have a lot of hair lost in the tanning process if it has slipped. Almost looks like it might have been tanned (pootly?) already? Can't really tell from the picture though. But how well I think it might turn out would decide whether I'd pay to have it done.

It has been many years since I tanned any coyote skins but I had excellent results using Lutan F. A lot of work in the prep but that's where the quality of the results happens.

https://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Lutanreg-FN-Kit-Instructions-by-VanDykes-W130.aspx

Doing your own, gently, can save hair that might be lost in commercial processing. I'm positive you could do it easy enough and only doing one the time and work wouldn't be bad. I used to do coyotes about a dozen at a time.

- DAA

 

[DAA]

And Kevin is right my garage smelled like a charnel house.

- DAA

 

[bryson]

You could pay to have it done professionally. I've heard good things about Moyles.

http://www.moytown.com/services.html
- DAA

 

[cruiseroutfit]

So, anyone up for a project?