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- Dec 29, 2012
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This is a first for us. . . so kinda learning as we go. Yesterday, we picked up Norm's hide along with his hide. The butcher had itfozen, so we at first placed it in an ice cooler to start thawing out. Since bacteria will start growing & we need to keep that down, today I am going to mix up 50lbs of uniodized salt with some warm water in a 50 gallon drum a long with a couple cups of a disinfectant like Pinesol. As it is thawing I will be separating it as much as possible as we go. Once thawed plan is to let it drain by spreading it out on wooden pallets. When that is done, removing any meat or fat over 1/4 inch. Then laying it hair side down on wooden pallets and salting it with around 100lbs salt. We will be doing this down at the shop so we can get it out of the weather and hopefully dry. May end up putting a fan on it to help it out. Once the salt is dried and no draining, flip it over for the other side. After its dried, not stiff but pliable, the next step of tanning can start or can be folded hair to hair rolled and placed in a box for up to a couple months.
This is the first attempt at this so if anyone has done this before and can give suggestions, please do so. Right now, we are planning on keeping the hair on, but it really depends on how the butcher handled it after skinning. My hopes are making a rug out of it, but plans change so we'll see how it goes.
This is the first attempt at this so if anyone has done this before and can give suggestions, please do so. Right now, we are planning on keeping the hair on, but it really depends on how the butcher handled it after skinning. My hopes are making a rug out of it, but plans change so we'll see how it goes.