Thread: Simple tanning recipe

Hi team
I would like to try tanning some possum pelts, I read online that kerosene and baking soda is one way of doing it. Has anyone done this and have the recipe + hints and tips? or any other good methods?. I don’t want to go all in just yet, I just prefer to try my hand first and am not looking for luxury leather results.
Thanks in advance for your input.

yes,Ive got baking soda and kero ones here that were done 30ish years ago and they are still good...just dont get them wet.
the leadleiters kits are really good and there are a few other kits around that work well too.its not rocket science to get a really good end result,just take your time and dont rush it...the better you brick it afterwards the better it will come out....pumice stone is great.
the local library is your friend,there are many books written 30-40 years ago if not longer that are full of knowledge but people no longer read books ,preferring to ask uncle google.

The first one I ever did when I was about 14yrs old, I used Meths instead of Kerosene - it still preserved but went very brittle LOL

Just mix up kerosene and baking soda into a paste and massage it in while its pegged out is how I did it.

Yes, works great. As stated mix to paste, leave to to dry till it flakes off. Will last for decades. Hardest part is getting all the meat etc of the skin first. The cleaner it is the better the end result. Also works on deer hides.

Sent from my SM-G525F using Tapatalk

Thanks team
I will give it a go and post some results in the near future.

Originally Posted by hunter Al.7mm08

Yes, works great. As stated mix to paste, leave to to dry till it flakes off. Will last for decades. Hardest part is getting all the meat etc of the skin first. The cleaner it is the better the end result. Also works on deer hides.

Sent from my SM-G525F using Tapatalk

I did a lot of tanning 40 years ago and the tool I used to use for flensing was, I think, a type of bricklayers tool called an 'escutcheon" hammer, but of course the spelling may be wrong!
You could make a tool from a fork for light and small skins by cutting the tines down and bending the head in a right angle.
Those Ledreiters kits used to be great, and easy to use.

I found this - https://outdoorsupplies.co.nz/tanningproducts.htm

Leder Tanning Kits - (formerly Leidreiters)

Never tried but people using salt and vinegar for the first two steps, clean it up, and for the rest process dry it out, scrape, soda, soften...you know the drill.

Originally Posted by MarkN

I found this - https://outdoorsupplies.co.nz/tanningproducts.htm

Leder Tanning Kits - (formerly Leidreiters)

I’ve used this before with good success. I didn’t know anything about tanning, couple YouTube videos later and the leader tanning kit end result was a pretty decent home job skin.

I actually used a high pressure water blaster to cut all the flesh off the skin, worked a treat.

Kero and BS works but the kit is much better, you get a flexible pelt.

Another way is brain tan them - I did a few like that years ago and they're still good.

The American indians did it, and if you want them waterproof you smoke them.

I used sheeps brain I got from the butcher and half cooked it, then rubbed it in the skin. A brain is mostly fat and it's said the only animal that doesn't have enough brain to tan its own hide is the American bison - so it's entirely possible to tan a possum skin with its own brain - should you be bothered extracting it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnkO...ist=WL&index=1

all thats needed is borax and alum powder to make the paste then some neatsfoot oil to finish and soften the skin, video looks easy enough will use this roar hopefully

Originally Posted by SF90

Another way is brain tan them - I did a few like that years ago and they're still good.

The American indians did it, and if you want them waterproof you smoke them.

I used sheeps brain I got from the butcher and half cooked it, then rubbed it in the skin. A brain is mostly fat and it's said the only animal that doesn't have enough brain to tan its own hide is the American bison - so it's entirely possible to tan a possum skin with its own brain - should you be bothered extracting it.

So no head shooting then.

I remember meeting a bloke at Golden Bay making saddle gear with leather he tanned himself using tree bark - the way it was done in the past, tannin in the bark 'tanned' the skin. I dont know if it works for hides or only for slipe skins. the leather was superb

Your leather shoe soles are tanned using bark - the word 'tan' being derived by the principal of using tannin (from tree bark) in the process of preserving skins.
You can tan using tea leaves .............
Lots of ways to do it - the alum one was quite popular back in the sixties and seventies, then seemed to go underground a bit when the Leidreiter kits came out - and I think that's chrome tanning.

Tanning basically changes the chemistry within the skin whilst making it more durable. I used to process 'parchment' which uses lime to alter the skin chemistry - made it like paper - and that parchment given reasonable care could last 500 years. The Declaration of Independence is written on it, so is the English Magna Carta, the Book of Kells and so much more - it was the 'paper' before paper was made and called parchment.

And shooting a possum in the head is probably better than splitting the skull open with a chisel to extract the brain ................

In most cases concerning anything - there's usually more than one way to skin a cat ................... - I know three different ways to skin a possum.
Which prbably isn't much to boast about